World of Bloody Evolution
by Stormshroud
Summary: The Grimm have been the predators of Humankind and Faunus since the dawn of time. The Dust has only halted the tide, but has not pushed it back. Jaune Arc discovers his Semblance in his hour of need, and the Grimm will learn to fear their new predator. Yet, he must overcome the madness within his Semblance, lest he become one of those he hunts... AU. Jxmultiple. Cover by Aedevel
1. Trailer: Red and Grey

Ruby Rose was a normal girl, with normal interests. She liked to play games and tinker with weapons. Her weapon of choice was completely normal, gigantic folding scythe with anti-material sniper rifle, gravity-wind-coriolis compensating scope and a high-capacity, triple row magazine. She had painted the entire thing red with some moving parts left black, and placed her signature 'Burning Rose' crest upon one of the more prominent flat surfaces on the scythe. The folding capability made it possible to place her weapon into her holster, located at the back of her hip and covered by her red cape made from soft, flowy fabric.

Ruby's dad, alongside quite few other people she knew, had told her that her choice of red-and-black apparel, corset and knee-length skirt combined with her cape made her look like a Red Riding Hood from the similarly named story. Ruby _really_ didn't like the comparison as she had seen the story in question and Red Riding Hood didn't have a giant folding scythe-gun, instead opting for lunch case full of healthy food and making Ruby immediately dislike the comparison. Instead she had opted to take the opinion that Red Riding Hood was copying _her_ , but forgetting all the important parts.

Like her Scythe, which she had affectionately named as Crescent Rose.

Ruby also loved to browse catalogues on new Dust crystals and weapons (something she was sure Red Riding Hood _wouldn't_ like to do).

In fact, she was currently in a shop called "From Dust till Dawn" reading one of said catalogues. It was quite interesting read in her opinion, detailing new elemental combinations that could be inflicted on target by layering Dust inside thin-walled factory-hollowed bullets ('42 lien for 10 bullets, get yours today').

Dust crystals were the core component on all modern weapons, engines and technology on Remnant, it being elementally attuned crystal-like substance mined from deep underground or found above ground in wilderness beyond the kingdom's frontier that could, after being refined and processed, perform as extremely efficient selectable-result power source...

A tap on Ruby's shoulder broke her off from her daydreams. She looked over to see a man in red-and-black suit as he reached to tap on her shoulder again and pointed at his ears, apparently unable to speak over the headphones Ruby had over her ears.

The man looked like he _really_ wanted to say something to her.

"Yes?" Ruby asked as she took the headphones off, turning fully to face the man.

"Hands up girl, do you have a death wish?" the man said, brandishing a red falchion at her.

"Umm, are you robbing me?" Ruby asked, both confused and unimpressed over the man's choice of weapon.

"Yes" the robber said.

"Oooh, okay" Ruby responded with curious and excited voice before placing the catalogue she had been reading back to shelf, turning around to face the man, and slamming the red carrying case of her folded-up weapon to his crotch. The pained wail that the man made was something no 15-year old girl should ever be forced to hear.

' _Well, time to be a hero_ ' Ruby thought, unfolding her Scythe from its carrying form and chambering a round of .50 caliber Red Type 4 explosive Dust into the integrated sniper rifle's chamber. She saw the robber's friends starting to advance towards her with their weapons drawn inside the small, somewhat cramped Dust shop.

Ruby swung her Scythe around, took aim and fired at the concentration of charging robbers, trying to spit the group apart and fight the robbers one by one.

She was slightly curious as to why the robbers were using falchions in this day and age though, firearms were quite readily available and the robbers were not going against Grimm so it's not like they needed the cutting power.

Then again- high-explosive weapons were probably bad choice inside _highly volatile_ Dust shop, a thought that occurred to her far too late as she saw the round she had fired not only scatter the robbers, but also crack the dust container on nearby a shelf and setting up a chain of sparks.

The chain of sparks was followed by massive multi-colored firestorm as more and more exposed Dust containers broke to fuel the chain reaction, until resounding _Booom_ shook the store and Ruby felt the shockwave of an explosion roaring towards her.

' _Ooops'_

* * *

A lonely figure was sitting at the edge of darkened building, facing down upon the sluggish nightly traffic in Vale. The figure was clad in worn grey and white clothes with hood covering its face. The figure was cradling its head, two long canvas bags lying discarded behind him as nightmare racked the figure's body.

̢Ţ̴̛͢à̴͢͝͠ļ̨́̕͏ơ̶n̵͢ş͘͢͞.̴̧ ̶̸E̢̛͜͞ĺ̴̨̀͡ǫ̶̧̕͡ṋ̨̛́́g̴͜a͝ṭ͞͝ẹ҉̵ḑ̸̛̣̕.̀҉̡̡ ͢͏̴B̧͠ĺ̛͢ơ̕ǫ̶̢̛̣d̸͡ ̷̛͘͟͟f̛̀͘͢ŗ̵́͞e͏̨̛͠͡s͟͠h̴̷̴͜͠ ̧̀͠i̸͘҉҉ǹ̵̨ ͢͏͜͢ţ̴h̸͝͝͏e̴̢͢ ̸̶͘à̸̸͢͢i͏̧r̢̡

͏̴̴̧̨̨̡̛͡S̸̢̨͠ć̴̶̸̨ŗ̧҉̧e͏͡͡a̧̡̨̛̕ḿ͟ ̶͝o̷̢͘͘̕f̴̀͜ ͏̧p̷a̵͘i̶̡n̡̡̛͟͜.̵̸̡͠ ҉̵͟͡͞

The hood fell off to reveal blonde hair and male features, blood flowing from the man's nostrils as the nightmare kept up its assault upon the man's mind.

 _He… He was…. Who?_

C̶r͏̢͞͠͡o̡̢͘w̴̢͜n̷̷̛͟ ̵̕o̶̷̸҉f̢͟ ̷͜B͏͞ò̵̀ņ̶ẹ̶҉̵̛.͢҉͢

͏F̶̛̀͟o̷̡̡͠u̴̢͘҉r̵̶҉̸͝ ̧͘a̡҉̷̧́r̸̕͢͝m̸͝ś̸̢͝҉ ̵̴c̴̴á́͢͡ŗ̛͠r҉͟y̶̛i̕͏҉n̷̡͠g̨͝ ̧̡͘͟F̛͠ó̶̧͢͠ư҉͘͡ŕ͜͏̨͝ ̴̢͟͢B̨̛ḷ͏̧̕͟͡a̡͏̀d̴҉̀͠e̴̵͜͏ş̶̨́

̡̀͝M̷͘à̶͘͜͟t̶̢̛͢͠ ̵̧͘ǫ̴̀͟͜f̧ ̶̸̶͠c͢͟͡h̴͟͝͞i̡̛͞t̢͢͏̵̕i̸̶͟n̷̵̸͜͡.̸̡͢ ̶̵̛͜͠Ş̨̢͠͞e̡̛ḁ͟͏̴ ̵̨̧͞o͜͡f̶̨͘͢ ̧҉C҉̶̀l̨͘a͟͠w͠͏͝͏s̵͢,̸͜ ̧́T͏̷̢a̵͜l̴͜͝ọ̷͘n̶͠s̶͢ ̵͝͏̶ṣ̢̨͝t̡r͏̡e͏͞a͘͏̡k͏̧

 _N̴͙̯̙̔̆͐O!̸ͯ͌̐͐̋̈͂̇̉͟_

No!

 _Jaune. He was Jaune. Arc. Family. He remembered female voices, blond hair and blue eyes. Man with blonde hair and blue eyes carrying sword and shield. Hope._

 _B͝ļa͜cḱ ̵ḩair̛ ͡a͘n͜d̀ ͡blo̴o͞d͟ ̶r̀ed̢ e̶y͞e͟s ̸b͞e̛hin̡d ̸m̨as͞k o̧f҉ ͘b͝one._

 _NO!_

He woke up to the familiar stench of smoke and sounds of fighting coming from a burning building nearby.

* * *

"Stop, drop and roll you idiots!" a man in white, or rather what had once been a white, suit yelled at his cronies as he calmly walked out of the flaming dust shop with his hat on fire. The gangsters, some of which were still on fire, attempted to follow the man's orders with various results.

"Seriously you all were worth every cent, truly you were. At least you all had aura so i don't have to pay extra for getting bloodstains off the suit." the man added, tapping the ground with his walking cane for good measure before turning to face Ruby, who had fared better than the thugs when the Dust shop had exploded.

Ruby had been thrown out of the dust shop through the display window but she had managed to catch a nearby light pole with her Scythe and bring herself to stop, bleeding extra energy off by firing her Scythe's high impact sniper rifle to the air and using its recoil to regain her footing.

The gangsters had not been as lucky, most of them having been thrown off the shop and were now littered around the street and shopfront. Few of the robbers had also caught fire from the volatile crystals they had been carrying.

"Who are you? Why were you trying to rob the shop? And... is your hat on fire?" Ruby asked in quick succession before twirling her beloved Scythe around in her hand. She slammed the scythe to the ground and took aim at the leader of the gang, using the scythe's blade as a monopod for the weapon.

The man in now-grey suit began to answer, but halted when Ruby's last question sank in, causing the man's expression to switch from cocky to full-blown panic in a blink of an eye. The man tore the flaming hat off his head with blinding speed and started to slap the burning fabric furiously to put the fire down, his orange hair coming off it's elaborate swept-back look and flowing freely in front of his face. After a brief but desperate battle, the fire was put out- revealing a lump of burnt fabric and ash.

The man fell to his knees, cradling the burnt hat against his chest like it was the dead body of his beloved comrade.

Ruby felt kinda bad for the man who now bore striking resemblance to a scarred and shell-shocked war-veteran as he stared at his ruined hat.

"Red girl. I am Roman Torchwick, Master criminal of Vale... However for tonight I'll make a special exception to be your executioner as well" the man now identified as Roman Torchwick said, still not taking his eyes off his ruined hat.

Ruby looked at the man with a slightly nervous gaze, before a screech of brakes forced her attention elsewhere. Turning around, she saw a black van coming towards her from the nearby alleyway, forcing her to pull her scythe's blade off the asphalt and dodge the car trying to run her over. The van pulled over near Roman, it's doors opening to disgorge a new set of gangsters whom pulled out various pistols and steel blades, all of them aimed at Ruby.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get her" Roman commanded before standing up to aim his walking cane at Ruby, popping the cane's end-cap up to reveal rifled barrel and a crude crosshair.

' _Not good_ ' Ruby thought before having to dodge a whistling high-explosive shell and a hail of gunfire that accompanied it.

* * *

Grey and white clothes ruffled in the air as cold wind blew against Jaune's body.

He was watching the fight unfolding below him from nearby roof, taking the high ground to investigate situation before diving in head-first. He had learned young what the consequences of hasty and unprepared actions were. Yet, he could not just _ignore_ the burning and the gunshots, not if he still wanted to become a Huntsman.

If he still want to be one?

He kept looking down to the fight, choosing not to answer the nagging voice at the back of his head.

Red-skirted figure was fighting against group of men in red and black suits as the Dust store behind them burned. Grey-clad figure with orange hair was watching the fight and intervening whenever red figure was about to take down one of the men. The scene seemed... familliar.

 _Blonde hair. Screams and shouts._

 _Gleaming blade of silver, knocked away._

 _Burning pain. Familiar voice._

 _Blood._

Jaune shook his head. ' _Now is not the time to be having second thoughts or flashbacks from the past'_ he admonished himself as he continued to watch the fight unfolding below.

Jaune knew neither side so he opted to watch and try to find out what the objectives of each side were.

Below Jaune the orange-haired man with cane man cackled as he managed to land a solid hit on the red-clad girl, launching the figure across the street and into a lamp post. The girl crumbled to ground from the hit.

Jaune leaned forwards- something was... _unnatural_. He looked at the girl, feeling the signature heat of his semblance pool in his face as it molded his eyesight to see better in the dark.

The girl had silver eyes.

B̴̧̛ų̷̛͢r҉҉̕͢n̛͢͏ì҉̷͘͢͢n̶̵ģ͠ ̶̧̢f̷̕͠l̴̡͢͏̡e͏̡̢͡s̡͏ẖ̷̸̶̡̕

҉̴͟Į̕͟͝c͘͢͠ę̀ ̡̧́͘͡s̢̕͜ṕ̡̧͝͡͝r̡͞e̴̡̧à̢̕͘͜d̛͏̵i̡͜͜ǹ̢̛͝g̡̛̕͜ ҉ì̧̕̕͞n͠͞͏ ̴̶̢̛͝ẃ̷̸̢͞à̸̢͘͟v͠͏̛e̶̵͜ ̷͝͏͘ó̸̸̢͝͡f́͜ ̴̷̨͢͝f̷͜͜͏͘i̷̴͝͝ŗ͞è̴͘͘͝͞

̵͘͠͠B̸̡̕ļ̶̛͜ó̸̵ó́͘d̶͢ ̴̴̨͟͞s̡̕e̶͏̸͠è̴̷͝͞p̶̀͘͡i̸̵͘n̢͢͡ǵ͡҉͏͘ ̵̸̧̨̛t̴̢̡h̴́͢r̴̴ǫ̴̨̛͢ṳ̶̸̧̀g̛͝h̛́͘͢͟ ̷t̵̨̢̧͞h̡̛̕e̛ ̷̨̛͠҉c̛̀̕͠͝ŕ͘͏͡a͜͟͝c̢͞͝k̵̶̕s͘̕͞

̷̶́F͏͝͠l͏͏̵á͞s̶̢̛͠h̴̡͠͞e͢s͟͟ ̴́̕o̡̡͢͟͡f̧̕͢ ̧͝͡ś͏̨͜į͘ļ̵͟v̨̡͜͜e̡̛ŕ̵҉

He felt the tell-tale of the Shadow pressing in the back of his head. Something _It_ remembered or knew. Something the Grimm in him feared.

Jaune felt something warm in his face, wiping it and finding himself bleeding from both of his nostrils, again. She had something important.

His decision was made.

He pulled away the string that kept the two elongated bags closed.

Two long, serrated bone swords the colour of blood emerged from the bags and into the chilly night.

* * *

' _Okay, situation has devolved from_ _Not Good to Bad_ ' Ruby thought as she tried to swing her Crescent Rose at one of the thugs, only to be forced to change her trajectory at last second when Roman fired his cane-cannon at her. She could feel the shell whizzing past her face too close for comfort.

She couldn't keep this up forever. Eventually she would slip, and her Aura was not infinite.

Aura may be the Strength of one's Soul, unlocked to protect their owner from harm and channel their power- but it was unfortunately not as infinite as some poets had claimed soul to be. Ruby could feel her Aura wane with every dash she was forced to make in order to attack and dodge.

Not to mention how she basically started the entire fight with two thirds of her Aura gone because of the totally-not-self-inflicted explosion.

Ruby was pulled off her thoughts as her attempt to gouge one of the gangsters left an opening in her stance- which Roman quickly exploited, hitting her hard in the stomach and launching her into light pole. The hit and the crash were enough to break through her nearly depleted Aura, causing her to collapse heavily on the street.

Her vision was hazy as she lifted her head to look around and assess the situation once more. ' _Really Bad'_ she thought groggily as she saw Roman Torchwick taking aim at her with his cane, cocky smirk on his lips.

"End of the line, Red. Be a dearie and die quietly" Roman said as he fired his cane-cannon at her- however at the last second a pair of barbed, spined darts hit him in the forearm and shoulder, knocking his aim off. Thrown off balance, the shell that would have crippled Ruby flew past her and into the dark alleyway behind her. Roman was unhurt though, his Aura glowing purple as it stopped the darts from penetrating the man's skin

"Who did that!" Roman yelled towards the direction where he assumed the darts came from. "Come out and surrender before you _really_ get to my bad side..."

The self-proclaimed criminal mastermind's threat was interrupted as more darts rained down, the lethal barrage originating from the rooftop of nearby building.

Roman managed to either avoid or parry most of the darts- however the gangsters were not as lucky, darts breaking through their aura and piercing deep into their flesh with twitching fins jutting out of their dress suits. The panicked gangsters to fell over and started to roll on the ground before going still.

' _Poison'_ thought Ruby from where she still laid on the street, her legs not cooperating with her attempts to get up.

Roman fired his cane-cannon at the source of the spine-darts, causing explosion of dust and concrete shrapnel as the shell hit the invisible attacker. The rain of darts stopped and dust started to cloud over the street.

Ruby doubled her efforts to crawl over to her scythe, before pair of soot-covered dress shoes appeared in her field of view, one of the shoes lifting up to kick her over on her back.

"So, that was a thing. A friend of yours, Red?" Roman jeered. "Any more surprises? Perhaps a teacher coming from somewhere with a clipboard and a magical unicorn?" he tapped the pavement with the cane, taking a step to stand next to Ruby and swinging the cane at her head. The golf-like swing connected with a resounding knock, causing Ruby's world to explode in black.

* * *

"Sheesh, this is not my day, is it?" Roman said to no-one in particular while looking at the unconscious girl in front of him, thick cloud of dust reducing visibility of his surroundings. ' _Well, the heist is a bust, time to leg it_ ' he continued in his head.

Roman took a two-handed grip of his cane and raised it above his shoulder, preparing to end the nuisance that had cost him the dust shop robbery.

He totally wasn't murdering the girl because she had caused the fire that destroyed his favorite hat. Nuh uh.

Roman swung his cane down...

A shuffle from behind Roman caused him to turn to see a red serrated blade slicing through the concrete dust, aiming for his gut.

The bludgeoning swing of Roman's cane turned into a parry as he was forced to stop his killing of the teenage girl in order to barely avoid getting gutted. The singular red blade was soon followed by another one, this time swinging from Roman's right hand side and forcing him to jump away from both the red-clad girl and the sword-carrying form still partially clouded in the dust.

Roman regained his footing only to see sudden streaks of purple and lilac flying towards him from the end of the street- the concrete rubble lifting off the street and turned into projectile weaponry by sources unknownst to him. The furious projectile attack forced Roman to roll away again and clear even more space between the combatants, swinging his cane in front of him to block stray pieces of shrapnel.

Strong wind caused by the salvo of repurposed rubble cleared most of the dust from the air and returned visibility- revealing a mature woman clad in black pencil skirt and long-sleeved white shirt. She was holding a riding crop which she swung down to cause more of the repurposed rubble to launch towards Roman.

"OH COME ON! When I was talking about the whole 'teacher with a clipboard' part I was joking!" Roman yelled while attempting to parry or block most of the projectiles. Few of the projectiles got through his guard, slicing wounds on his hands and tearing away at his already-tormented clothing and his Aura started to deplete quickly under the barrage.

The woman responsible for the shrapnel assault adjusted her glasses. She was not amused by Roman's antics as she looked at him, her green eyes flashing as she once again lifted her riding crop-looking Dust-Caster to resume her charge.

On the other side of the street the red-clad girl was being protected by a blonde man in worn grey and white clothes while holding a pair of red swords. In Roman's mind there was no doubt that the man was the one responsible for the earlier salvo of darts. He memorized the man's features as the dart-thrower was finally visible, the dust covering him finally gone.

' _Really now. Two crazy combat brats, and a Huntress all at the same time. I'm not getting paid enough to deal with this_ ' Roman thought as he slipped his hand inside the soot-covered jacket to press a switch, activating his back-up plan to escape.

The van that had contained his reinforcements exploded in a resounding boom and sent a wave of shrapnel around the clearing. The barrage of sharp metal forced the woman in skirt to concentrate her attention and power into blocking the shrapnel while the man with red blades merely continued to stand in front of the still unconscious red-clad girl, parrying shrapnel flying at the pair with his swords.

Thick cloud of black smoke engulfed the street and shop-front alongside all fighters as the smoke canisters inside the crippled vehicle caught fire, completely obstructing the view of the street. The woman in skirt dismissed the smokescreen with wave of her riding crop after recovering from the criminal mastermind's sudden counter-attack.

When the smoke cleared Roman was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Ruby woke up with a startled gasp, filling her lungs with concrete dust and smoke and instantly caused her to start coughing.

The hacking cough didn't help her headache that originated from the bruise where Roman had struck her, and neither did it help the feeling of soreness that had spread through her entire body after her Aura had broken.

She looked around and tried to take in her new surroundings as she coughed- The street was littered with rubble and the unmoving forms of the gangsters, and there as a burning van next to the destroyed storefront. The conflagration that had engulfed the store was slowly dying down to sizzling cinders as the internal sprinkler systems continued to perform their automated tasks. ' _The fight is over? I'm alive? Who...'_

Sound of leather striking flesh snapped her out of her daze, causing her eyes to focus on the more immediate scene in front of her.

A gorgeous woman with green eyes was slapping her riding crop against her open hand, sending an evil eye at her and the man that was standing behind to Ruby, mere two feet away from where she was lying on the ground. Naturally spooked by the fact the man had been just standing there without uttering a word, Ruby half-jumped half-crawled away from him, before she remembered that he had appeared just in time to keep Torchwick and his goons from killing Ruby.

The man had blonde hair and blue eyes and he was carrying a pair of very odd swords, bearing appearance of deep-veined bone like as if they had been carved from ones of some great animal, yet her weapons-crazy side reminded her that something didn't add up.

' _Does Remnant even have animals whose bones could be carved like that?_ _Wait, what are those tubes in the pommel of the blade? Did he use the blade to shoot the darts? Is that a vein going up in the side of the blade?'_ Ruby thought through the haze of headache and sore pain before deciding that she wanted to introduce herself to her saviours.

"Whooh aff uu? Iffh ihhhss Ruhsy. Hiis?" She mumbled, her voice sounding weak and tired not to mention the dust in her throat probably wasn't helping. ' _Nailed it.'_

The woman in black skirt on the other side of the street pointed her riding crop at the pair. ' _Okay maybe I didn't nail it. Screw it and get out? Yeah that sounds good... if my legs worked anyway...'_

"I am Glynda Goodwitch, Huntress and a professor at The Beacon Academy, and you two are in big trouble."

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch sighed as she brushed a fleck of ash from her black pencil skirt and adjusted her glasses. She could tell that the confrontation tonight would cause her both paperwork and grey hairs as she saw a young, likely a huntress candidate girl clutching a extremely over-engineered gun-scythe while trying to lift herself up from the ground.

The fact the girl was staring at Glynda with her wide silver eyes didn't help, as Glynda knew the meaning of the eyes, and that there was only one person in Remnant who still had those. ' _Taiyang... Just what are you doing, letting her just wander alone and attack group of robbers? Doesn't he realize what's at stake?'_

Beside the red-clad girl, the strange young man in worn clothes carried a pair of bizarre bone-like swords with stance of someone who had been using them for _long_ time, yet at the same time his posture didn't quite tell the same- conveying both age-honed expertise _and_ bizzare cluelessness that made her confused as to what he truly was doing in the square. As she narrowed her eyes towards the young man he lowered his swords and stood back into more relaxed stance, or if she was being truly honest, he relaxed into somewhat awkward stance that clearly conveyed he didn't really know what he was doing in there.

A sizzling boom pulled her mind into the more material part of the scene as a small dust crystal exploded inside the nearly extinguished shop, reminding her once more of the whole 'burning shop, exploding cars and dozens of robbers including one ex-huntsman' thing that needed clearing up.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

The Interrigation room was dark, and the seat Ruby was told to sit on was small, uncomfortable and placed in such a way that he had very little moving room between the table in front of her and the chair, making her feel discomfort in a way that would be impossible to pull off accidentially. The only light source in the room was pointed at her, causing her already pale complexion to flush out even further and making her face appear almost snow white.

The Vale's police station was not a friendly place.

Truth to be told, Ruby had not liked the look of the Vale Police Station from the outside, and she liked it even less from the inside where she had been taken after the fight against the robbers- once she had undergone a brief but comprehensive medical examination to ensure that she would not suffer long-lasting consequences from the roughing up she had received.

However that hadn't calmed her as she was worried sick over her dear friend from whom she had been separated for almost a full hour, and no-one was answering her questions about her sweetheart's health!

What if someone had scratched her Crescent Rose!

Ruby was not sure if she could forgive anyone for mishandling her dearest friend.

The signature click-clack of high heels on the hard floor rang in Ruby's ears as the woman responsible for the noise walked around her in circles, drawing her off her mindscape and back into the present.

Glynda was looking at a large Scroll she held in her hands, apparently going through the footage of the fight that had been caught on the city camera surveilance network with the wide screen of the handheld data and communication device flashing as the fight against robbers was recreated in full high definition.

"I hope you realize your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady" the female Huntress from before, Glynda Goodwitch, said as she continued her walk around the table where Ruby was sitting with her hands on her lap.

"Uh... I can accept a medal, if that's what you..."

"You put yourself and others in great danger…" Glynda continued, ignoring Ruby's words which was likely for the best.

"They started it!" Ruby tried speaking over the Huntresses monologue, but her luck had ran out as this time Glynda didn't ignore her.

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home with pat on the back…" the Huntress continued despite the younger girl's outburst while stopping beside her in a way that caused Ruby to freeze up in fear.

As the meaning of the woman's words sunk in, Ruby's eyes lit up momentarily. ' _Pat? I mean, I'm pretty awesome, right?'_

"...And a slap on the wrist." the Huntress finished, drawing out her riding crop to slap it in front of Ruby and causing the teen to jump back in fear.

' _Okay right, maybe not so awesome on closer inspection...'_

"But, there is someone here who would like to meet you." Glynda continued, folding her crop back to its carrying form and standing aside to reveal gray-haired man in comfortable-looking black suit with green undershirt, appearing to be in his late thirties. Ruby however knew that looks could be misleading when it came to Hunters-

After all, having one's Aura unlocked from its dormant stage would cause skin imperfections, wrinkles and minor scars to heal to the point where things like acne scars, wrinkles or saggy skin were extremely rare- and when combined with the naturally healthy bodies that resulted from the athletic lifestyle, nearly all Hunters and Huntresses were beautiful and fit. On the downside, the minor regeneration would also make any age estimations based off looks almost impossible. Or perhaps it was another upside, she wasn't sure yet. Either way, Hunters were nothing short of idols in the eyes of public both for their looks and for their abilities.

The man brought forwards a tray of chocolate cookies, causing Ruby's thoughts to tangent off her previous line of thinking with brutal efficiency ' _yes yes yes cookies cookies squeeeee_ ', and the man placed it on the table in front of Ruby, causing her arm to twitch towards the tray as she restrained herself from indulging in her favorite treat. The man's other arm held mug full of some steaming liquid, however the way the man held to it made it clear that Ruby would suffer the same fate that she would inflict on anyone getting between her and her cookies if she went between the man and his mug.

"Ruby Rose. You… have silver eyes." the man spoke as he was looking at her with his deep green eyes. He took a sip from his mug.

"Uhm, uhhh... okay? I mean, thank you, me... nevermind." Ruby was speechless and slightly creeped out, her hand still slowly inching towards the plate of cookies. ' _Why does everyone keep talking about my eyes? They are just regular eyes_. _It's not like grey eyes are super uncommon either..._ ' she thought as she tried to figure out what the man was after.

"So, where did you learn to do this-" the man nodded towards Glynda who had her Scroll open towards Ruby with a video of her fight against the robbers playing in full-screen.

"S-Signal academy and before that, dad and uncle taught me." Ruby answered, however the pair of adults looked slightly sceptical. ' _What, it's true!'_

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapon combinations ever designed?" the man in green and black asked.

"Well, one teacher in particular." Ruby answered, thinking of a certain lean man with black, wind-swept hair and light red eyes, carrying silver scythe and standing on top of pile of dead beowolves, irritating, cocky smirk on his face. "Plus its not like Crescent Rose is the most dangerous weapon in Remnant, there's the Atlesian Batalyst Fusion Gun mark 9000 combined anti-everything weapon system..."

"I believe he meant most dangerous to the user" Glynda interjected, causing Ruby to blush a bit and hide her hands under the table.

"Well, I guess... anyway, Uncle Qrow, or 'old crow' as he liked to call himself helped me learn to use Crescent Rose without accidentially hurting myself. I don't know why he calls himself that though, uncle Qrow is really cool." she continued, grabbing one of the cookies absentmindedly from the tray in front of her and eating the chocolate chipped treat in one bite.

The single cookie was the rock that broke the dam of her self-control, and she began to stuff herself full of the treats at frightening speed.

She just now realized that she had not eaten anything for almost eight hours.

"I see. It seems that our common associate, Qrow, has trained you well. It's very unusual that a young girl like you could stand her ground alone against trained ex-huntsman and dozen other armed criminals." the man took another sip from his cup."Say, has Qrow mentioned who I am or do you perhaps remember me?"

"You'ffe the heafmafter Ofpin of Beafon afafemy... urgh, sorry... the largest school of hunters and huntresses in Vale. I mean, you've visited dad couple of times in the past, right?" Ruby answered, swallowing a mouthful of cookies mid-speech and grasping for more... only to be struck with soul-crushing terror as she found the tray empty. Small indignant whine escaped her, causing Ozpin's lips to quirk upwards.

"Say, what are your plans for the future?" Ozpin asked Ruby as Glynda folded her Scroll and returned it to her hip-pouch.

"Well, I'm planning on becoming a Huntress like my mother, to help and to save people. I've trained to become one ever since she… well, didn't come back home." Ruby answered. "I'm pretty sure you know that already though. I mean, okay, we haven't met before really but since you and dad are friends I guess and dad can't really stop talking about how great Yang and I are to just about anyone willing to listen, I'm pretty sure you know more about me than I know about myself. No offense, I mean, uh... c-can we forget that last part?"

Ozpin looked over to Glynda, who sighed and nodded slightly.

The Headmaster of Beacon looked back at Ruby, tilting his head to the side.

"Well, okay. I'll forget the last part of your speech, and let's also sweeten the deal- You're in." he said, causing Ruby's eyes widened comically to resemble silver saucers.

"You are hereby granted the right to attend Beacon Academy in the starting semester as first-year student and until your graduation as Huntress. I'll file the necessary transfer papers for Signal Academy. However, you can refuse the transfer if you don't feel ready for the…" Ozpin continued only to be interrupted as Ruby launched herself at Ozpin, shaking the professor's free hand vigorously.

"Thank you thankyou _thankyou_ thankyou I'll accept! Yay! I mean yes!" Ruby spoke at thousand words per minute while attempting to yank Ozpin's arm off his shoulder.

"Yes, quite. Thank you. May I have my arm back?" Ozpin asked, slightly shaken, causing Ruby to instantly let go of his hand and speed back to her seat, few stray rose petals flowing in her wake.

Glynda cleared her throat loudly in the background, clearly indicating her opinion towards such familiar actions.

"Now as we have that out of the way, I believe we have one more item to address." she begun, looking meaningfully at Ozpin who sipped from his mug and adjusted his glasses.

"Miss Rose, what do you know about the man who stood to assist you after your Aura broke and you lost consciousness?" Ozpin asked, looking at Ruby with serious expression.

"Eh- erm, I only saw him by brief glance, I doubt I have met him before though. I think he shot the gangsters with something but I didn't know with what…. Ohmygod you have to let me look at his weapons! I have never seen anything like that! Why did he make them look like bone and did they have dust injectors looking like veins, I don't know how to hemanagedtoforgethemetaltoincludeinjectorsfordust…" Ruby's recounting quickly became a fast-paced mess of words as she became increasingly excited, feeling her second great passion to surface.

Weapons.

Glynda sighed as Ozpin's eyes glassed over.

* * *

"Right... did you find anything from the police databanks or our own records regarding our next guest?" Ozpin asked and Glynda nodded as she and Ozpin gazed into the now-empty interrogation room through the observation mirror after seeing slightly calmed-down Ruby off the station and turned her over to her dad, Taiyang Xiao-Long who had been called to fetch Ruby.

"About him... To be frank, it is complicated." Glynda adjusted her classes and brought up her Scroll. "The city traffic records reveal nothing about him, however blood test shows… complicated and impossible results. The genetic code is ninety-seven percent match to a certain deceased Jaune Arc, who was lost during a bandit raid at village of Shion two years ago. The merchants that discovered the village had been looted reported no survivors, making his presence here highly unlikely."

"Perhaps he escaped." Ozpin mused. "I imagine there's more to it however. What about the remaining three percent?"

"The remaining three percent make absolutely no sense." Glynda answered with wary tone. "The excess genetic code changes like virus, absorbing the remaining code and morphs itself to create new segments, fusing into whatever matter we try to contain it with and using it to start regrowing itself until reaching a equilibrium where it returns to its ninety-seven and three percent split."

"I see. So he must have found his own way of escaping Shion, and that shifting likely related to it." Ozpin theorized. "After the tragedy that befell Shion village, quite few members of the Arc family were declared missing alongside rest of the villagers. That doesn't, however, mean certain death no matter how likely it may have been."

"That was two years ago. There is no way he would have survived alone in the wilderness for that long, not when he would have been so young during the events" Glynda interjected. "Even if his body somehow adapted to his surroundings, the forests of Mistral are teeming with Grimm and if he's here without any travel records to indicate him using transports, then he must have come to Vale on foot, crossing the border by swimming or boat- both unlikely scenarios for someone who was fifteen by the time of their disappearance."

"Yet it seems that he has done so regardless. Or at least most of him has." Ozpin said, taking deep swig from his now-refilled mug.

The door opening on the other side of the one-way mirror interrupted the pair, and the headmaster of Beacon and the assisting headmistress of Beacon saw the young man in question being escorted to the interrogation room with two heavily armed VPD police officers, before he man was sat on the chair Ruby Rose had vacated mere minutes ago, and the officers left the room.

"I'm honestly quite surprised that he allowed himself to be taken in over trying to escape or attack" Glynda sighed as she observed the blond-haired teen take in his new surroundings. His hands were resting on his lap, and he wore a somewhat baggy set of prison clothes as he had been given a change of wear since his own clothes were essentially unsalvageable- not to mention that the clothes bore White Fang insignia on closer inspection. "I thought for moment i would have to fight him as well when Torchwick fled and he raised his weapons at me, yet he calmed down instantly after I introduced myself as a professor of Beacon academy" she added.

' _Curious. There is something he wants from Beacon if the name alone is enough to change his behaviour so radically'_ Ozpin thought. Putting his mug down, Ozpin turned fully towards Glynda.

"Is the analysis of his weaponry complete?" he asked, pulling his Scroll from inside his jacket and unfolding it. "You mentioned something about his weapons being somewhat uncommon."

"Yes. I've sent you the results- the _weapons,_ if they can be called by that name, are something the specialists have never seen before. Ozpin, the darts were _alive_ " Glynda exclaimed with small shudder. "The same could be said for his swords, since the specialists found entire nerve- and circulatory system within the blades, although both of the weapons had died by the time the research team got their hands on them."

A picture of spined, barbed dart took majority of the screen as Ozpin opened the folder sent to him by Glynda, showing the projectile weapons that had been dug out from the criminals after their delivery to the hospital. The segmented, spine-like dart appeared to twitch occasionally, attempting to weakly burrow itself into the metal sheet it was placed upon.

"The surgeons have managed to extract the darts from the surviving robbers, where the darts had somehow managed to pierce extremely deep into the flesh and even managed to somehow… _burrow_ into their victims." The stern woman recounted. "To make matters worse, the darts were covered in poisonous substance that we have not been able to identify yet, and as a result all those who were hit by the darts through their Aura are either dead or in deep coma. The apothecaries are synthesizing a neutralizer for the poison but there is no guarantee that they will succeed or that the victims will actually manage a full recovery, although the substance bears similiarities to snake venom."

"What about his swords?" Ozpin asked, bringing out another picture. "It is clear to observer that the blades have a blood red colour likely due to the circulatory system you mentioned with serrated and partially barbed, organic-looking edge. However this…" he said, pointing out at the picture of now bone-white and crumbling weapon.

"Yes, it seemed that the blades started to decay instantly after being outside of his immediate area. The colour change and the fragility suggests that the weapons are somehow connected to our 'guests' Aura, are dependant on seperate circulatory system to support it with blood in vampiric symbiosis, or the weapons are perhaps part of his Semblance" Glynda clarified. "It is crystal clear, however, that these weapons are not usual mecha-shift weapons Hunters use, or even conventional or Dust-based weapons. The weapons may even be case of an undocumented Grimm form, even to point where the weapons vaporize slowly upon perceived death much like other Grimm forms. That claim is... unsettling." The last declaration left both occupants of the room quiet while the pair digested the information.

"Not to mention how little miss Rose knew about her saviour." Ozpin sighed after the moment had passed, taking hold of his mug once again.

"Well, it's time we introduced ourselves" Ozpin braced himself before walking to open the door leading into the interrogation room.

* * *

Jaune Arc was in quite bit of a pinch.

Damn his instinctual behaviour. He just had to go investigate the explosion, to intervene on the fight, and then try to kill the leader of those gangsters.

' _On the positive side I think i saved that girl with silver eyes, so it's a plus. On the other hand I most likely got into trouble with Beacon. On the third hand, perhaps just going 'yeah I'm going to kill that guy' wasn't a good idea, all things considered.'_ Jaune thought. ' _Yeah, probably not. Chances are I got a bit too agitated by the scene, but that doesn't change the fact_ _I'm screwḙ̞̙ͅd̶'̘͙͍̹̦̳.̝̬̙͍'_.

S̷̀ì͟ĺ̵̴̡̡v̧̛é̕͡͞ȓ̴̴̕͜͝ ̧̕͏é̴̸̡̨ý͠ę̷͢ṡ̴̸̨͜.͞

He groaned, slamming his head down against the hard table. The hit served him well as it snapped his focus back to the present and away from the memories of the Shadow that had once again started to creep over his consciousness, attempting to engulf his rational self in order to revert him into more primal emotions- to destroy, feed, and seek more.

Before he was able to celebrate his temporary moment of clarity further, he felt the signature tingle of his Aura kicking in, numbing the pain from the self-inflicted injury before it started to even register properly. _'Dammit.'_

 _'Well... at least my Aura is fixing my wounds.'_ Jaune sighed as he rubbed his forehead while wishing that his Aura stopped the rashy feeling which always accompanied the spine-like darts growing inside his forearms, replenishing the 'living' darts he had spent during the fight against Torchwick. As luck were, he was left scratching his arm lightly when a door opened to the interrogation chamber he had been escorted to.

A man in black suit with green undershirt and the familiar stern-looking blonde woman were standing in the doorway

"Good evening, mysterious stranger" said the man, taking a seat in front of Jaune while the woman stood to the man's left, her riding crop in her hand. "Or should I say, Jaune Arc?"

"You know who I am?" asked Jaune, confused. ' _Did I introduce myself somehow?_ '

"Yes. As it turns out, your father was a paranoid man, enough so to provide the medical bank of Vale a blood sample of all his children. I'm guessing it was made in case should something happen to him, his family or his home, the family members would be recognized by the city even without all the necessary identification papers- ones that you failed to provide" The man noted. "But where are my manners. My name is Ozpin, and I serve as the Headmaster of Beacon Academy. My lovely assitant is assisting headmistress of Beacon, Glynda Goodwitch, although I believe she already introduced herself. I trust you have heard of us?"

"Yes, I've heard of Beacon. I…" Jaune began before it hit him. ' _Headmaster of Beacon?!'_

Glynda must have noticed the sudden stop in Jaune's speech and interjected "You were reported Missing after Shion village dropped from Cross-Continential Communication Tower network. That was two years ago. Why have you not attempted to establish contact with Vale until now?"

"I was… uuh... training." Jaune said, fidgeting slightly.

"Training for what exactly" Ozpin asked, looking at Jaune over his spectacles.

"To... uh, to become a Huntsman like my father. To stop what has happened to Shion from happening to other people as well. For my own sanity..." Jaune answered, mumbling the last part in unintelligible voice.

"We observed you using some… unconventional weapons. Would you like to elaborate?" Ozpin asked, hearing the last part but choosing not to comment.

"It's my Semblance. It allows me to… change… myself. To make myself into weapon. It's quite complicated, honestly." Jaune answered, scratching the back of his head where the signature pressure of hunger was starting to build. He would need to eat something soon as forming new spine-darts was starting to chip away at his Aura reserves and body mass- or risk the Shadow growing stronger to the point he'd be reduced to his baser instincts once again.

Glynda looked slightly distraught while the headmaster was expressionless, which wasn't exactly helping Jaune's confidence.

"So I take it your… darts were part of your Semblance?" Ozpin continued, placing his empty mug on the table. As Jaune nodded the man continued "Your darts were responsible for the deaths of 7 people tonight..."

"They were ganging up to try and kill lone girl! With guns!" Jaune interjected heatedly, choosing not to comment on the real reason why he chosen the girl's side. "I couldn't just _not_ do anything!"

"And what you did was that you took seven lives." Ozpin said, pushing his glasses up his nose. The cold light from the interrogation room's solitary light reflected in the surface of the glass, hiding Ozpin's eyes from the view as the man tied his hands together in front of his face. Ozpin rested his chin on his hands, still looking at Jaune. "Is this… regular occurrence when you choose to intervene?"

"No." Jaune answered. ' _Or at least I hope it is not…'_ he added in his head, feeling a memory of a red blade, held by his hand, slicing apart flesh and bone with frightening ease.

 _Flicker of rè̩̦d̬̘͖̟_

 _.̨͘Ṣ̢͟c̢r̵̴͠è͟a͠҉̢m̵̷̸̛s͘͞ ̶̀͜à̛͢͢ṉ̀̕d̷̀͟ ̢̡̕b̢̕͠ę̸͟͠g͜͢g̴̡͘͞ị͟͠͏̢n̨̛͟͠g̷̶͡.̢͢_

 _̨̧͜͝͠R͜͟͡e̢͘͠ḑ̶̸͢ ̷̨͢͟͠t̷͞͏r̡͘͠a͏̀į͟͡͝l͞ṣ̶̶̢͞͠ ̡́͏ó̴̕͟f̷̢҉͢ ̵͘͢͟͡r̛̕͜͞è̕̕d̕҉̢ ̷̵̸͞b̴̡̨҉l̷̛͞a̴̸̛͘d́̀̀͞è̸̷̛s̀͘͠͝͞ ̡̛͟f̶̸̸͠ļ̡à̀s̷͡h̵̡i҉͏n̶͟͟҉͡ǵ̛͢_

 _H͡ḭ̢s̴ ͡h͏o̢ǫve̶͠s͢͝ ́͟͝ćḻe̴áv͟įng̴ ̀͘b̢lǫ̛o̴͏d̴̷̛y ̶̶ṗ͘a̶͟t̴h̀_

 _͂̀͆ͤͣͤ́̅ͮ̀̂͛́̚͢_

Jaune shoved the memory that was only partially his own back to the subconsciousness where it had come from, feeling pressure building on his forehead as he fought back a headache.

Ozpin stared at Jaune for long time.

Jaune started to fidget on his seat.

He felt the hollow sting of thin air-veins opening inside his arms and leading up to his lungs. The small holes in the side of his forearm widened slightly to accommodate a matured spine-dart, its razor sharp black head poking out of his skin slightly yet hidden by the fabric of his long-sleeved shirt. ' _Not now!'_ Jaune thought furiously while trying to calm himself down, and he felt the razor dart pulling itself back inside his arm..

Ozpin glanced at Glynda. Glynda shook her head.

"Mister Arc… Welcome to Beacon Academy"

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

Two equally confused voices broke the silence that had fallen after Ozpin's declaration.

* * *

"You can't be serious, Ozpin!" Glynda raged at the headmaster after the blonde young man had been escorted back to his temporary prison cell.

"He is a murderer, a criminal! If you think someone like that should be allowed to interact with the students…" she continued her tirade only to be stopped halfway by Ozpin's gaze. "He's clearly unstable, if he goes on a rampage admidst the students, how many..."

"The court will rule the incident in Vale as self-defence in face of lethal force and in defence of other. I will see to it, even if I have to pull some strings. And you know more than any other that not every student in Beacon with prior combat experience gains it by fighting _Grimm_." Ozpin stated, cutting Glynda mid-sentence.

"In fact, I believe one of our new faunus students might have such weight on her shoulders as well" he continued, causing Glynda to think back on the entry examination of a certain mysterious black-haired cat faunus. She had overseen the girl's display of prowess mere week ago.

"She was different! Even though she choose to elude the details, she carried the weight of her actions with her! That man, mr. Arc, didn't show even _slightest_ bit of remorse or even react to the recounting of his actions, other than by being embarrassed and perhaps wary of the punishement!" Glynda stated heatedly "No remorse at all! He is not sane, and I will not have him attack and injure any my students!"

"Our students. Regardless, I saw something else within him." Ozpin interrupted her

"Elaborate, please."

"You and Peter Port, our Grimm Studies teacher, regularly deal with students who suffer from traumatic reactions to things they see or do during their missions, whereas I occasionally consult the older hunters who seek my aid." Ozpin continued his speech, seeing Glynda hold her temper for moment. "You see, hunters who have… seen and done things of more unsavory nature tend to grow a resistance to it- It is a defence mechanism, as you are aware. Over time, they can see and commit acts that would break more defenceless mind."

Ozpin paused for dramatic effect. It didn't have any effect on Glynda.

"Anyway, I saw one such defence in mr. Arc. This was not his first time killing someone, and not even the second. It's not that he is amoral, as we could see from his quite obvious desire to attend Beacon for the reasons he listed and saving miss Rose from a certain death" Ozpin finished. "I just belive that he just... doesn't see any value in the lives of those robbers. Logical, since if bandits attacked Shion when he was present then he'd likely have some sort of hatred towards people he equates as the same."

"He could have lied." Glynda interjected, still not convinced by Ozpin's reasons.

"Oh, he certainly could have, yet he choose to save Miss Rose... Plus, should he appear to be a threat, I would rather have him be a threat which I know of, rather than a threat whose whereabouts I am unaware of"

"So you are saying that we don't have a choice? What if he is one of _her_ agents?"

"What I'm saying is that the fate has dealt us our cards, and it's up to us to play our hand."

 **AN:**

New story, new life, new universe.

A new take on 'Jaune has *instert something* semblance' story. He is such a fantastic tabula rasa character to pick up...

This time, his is the ability to... well, we'll find out shall we?

Eventual major canon divergence.

 **Notes about the contents of the story:**

-The storyline for this fic was planned with information available up till season 4's end, thus the fic's mechanics (Aura, Grimm, Gods, etc) will be largely separate from official canon.

-The fic will be rated M due to violence, suggestive and more-than-suggestive themes and scenes.

-Some of the chapters have Omakes- these are not connected to the story, nor (always) follow the canon

-Do review if you like what you have seen so far. I value outside feedback greatly as it helps me to grow as a fledgeling writer.

 **Chapter markings:**

.

..

...

Timeglass dot indicates a time skip.

* * *

Line indicates a scene swap

...

Triple dot Indicates a perspective swap

 **Notes about the tone of the story:**

It should be noted that while the story will have it's fair share of drama and horror, it will also have a generous amount of comedy and crack to pace the serious moments- I did not wish to make a purely horror or drama story since if you stuff too much drama into a story, it becomes predictable and loses it's impact. I try to balance the serious moments with comfort and comedy to give the drama more meaning.

Also, the romances of this story are _not_ realistic. They may have a small flair of realism, but if you came for realistic romance then you will leave disappointed. This is not a slice of life story. For more accurate representation, think of the romance part of this story like trying to ski down the side of a mountain: A slow build-up as you start the journey, followed by a stumble on a rock, which then leads to a avalanche that buries half the town downslope, causing untold amounts of death, destruction and property damage. And the avalance has tentacles.

The romance in this story is weird.

 **Timeline:**

-The following Chapters (2-5) detail the 'Wandering' era, or 'how we got here'. Do note that these chapters are a bit more dark than the next era of the story. This is effectively a 'origin story' (insert batman reference here)

-Chapter 6 begins 'The Beacon' era, continuing directly from where this chapter left off and is slightly less dark than the previous chapters.

 **Update schedule: Expected weekly**


	2. We are defined by our Actions

Jaune Arc was standing atop a pile of chilling corpses of his enemies. Grimm in various forms, creatures of dark and worshippers of evil were littered across field of red before walls of Vale City. Flags of yellow and silver that carried his Crest were raised upon the ramparts of city walls, the soft fabric of the banners billowing in the dawn's cool breeze.

The wind tousled Jaune's mane of golden hair, blue eyes looking down at the remaining Grimm creatures and their wretched Grimm King he had pinned under his heel. The horrid creature attempted to get up from where Jaune had it pinned under his foot.

The Grimm King's crown of dark metal laid broken and discarded while Jaune's crown was made of jewels and gold. The Crown gleamed in the light of the dawn as Jaune began his speech.

"It is Over. Your evil reign has ended and by my Sword, the Hopebringer, I banish thee and thine wretched race from Remnant!" Jaune declared in booming voice before raising his burning silver blade above his head.

With great roar he swung it down at the chest of his greatest foe and with a thud of steel meeting Grimm flesh, the back of Evil was broken.

The King of Remnant stood and turned towards the city of Vale, its valiant defenders waving flags bearing his symbol and cheering his name. " _Jaune! Jaune! Jaune!_ JAUNE _!_ "...

"JAUNE, WAKE UP!" a feminine cry snapped 15-year old Jaune Arc from his delightful dream. He glanced towards a old clock in the wall after discovering a small pool of drool on a book that he had used as pillow. The clock revealed that Jaune had fallen asleep reading his favorite storybook in the Arc family lodge's small library.

' _Wait. it's already 5 in the evening. That means…._ ' Jaune thought groggily ' _Oh no. Dinner. Must not be late. Father is coming here, today, must prepare. Clean room. Brush teeth. Become hero._ ' he pushed himself up from the table with slightly shaky hands and slid off the hard wooden chair to chase the scent of freshly cooked food.

Late evening sun illuminated the dining room and kitchen of the Arc Family's summer holiday lodge in Shion village. Outside the window yellow and orange leaves danced in the autumn wind, and the wind occasionally sent audible groan through the old wooden building.

The lodge had been recently refurbished and cleaned as the Arc family had grown to ten members, although the building did show clear signs of aging.

The Shion village was regular holiday location for the Arcs as the village was famous for its safe and beautiful hiking trails combined with calm atmosphere- making it a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the City of Vale where the family lived for most of the year.

"Ah, there you are. Were you reading again Jaune?" his mother, Juniper Arc, asked as Jaune walked into the kitchen while trying to rub the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes. Juniper Arc was well built woman on her late forties yet looked easily decade younger, her deep blue eyes giving Jaune an inspective gaze as she scooped food from frying pan into her plate.

"Ehehe, maybe?" Jaune answered to her mother's question while trying his hardest to look more awake than he felt. Juniper's eyes narrowed and Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Uh-huh. It seemed more like you were trying to absorb the book via osmosis brother..." a slightly snarky voice commented from the dining table.

Glance to the other side of the room revealed his oldest sister Sapphire holding the youngest of the Arc sisters, 8-year old Coral, in her lap. Sapphire was looking at Jaune over the dining table where she had been trying to convince Coral to eat her vegetables. She had apparently succeeded in her task as Coral had conceded defeat and was grudgingly chewing on carrot, her cheeks puffing adorably. Second-oldest of the sisters, Jade, was eating half-heartedly while looking out of the window at the breath-taking scenery towards the forest.

Rest of Jaune's seven sisters were still in either Atlas or Vale, having decided to go abroad or stay behind in order to spend more time with their respective friends.

"I found you snoring away on top of the book pile you call library- were you 'reading' those hero fantasy novels again? You were so cute I didn't want to disturb you" Sapphire smiled saccharinely, pulling out her Scroll to show picture of Jaune sleeping on book. She turned the Scroll towards to their mother who cooed at the picture before taking her and Jaune's now-filled plates of food to the dining table.

Sapphire had saved money for long time to afford herself a top-of-the line Scroll, and she was quite proud of it. It also made her one of the few people in the town of Shion to own a Scroll beside the rest of the Arc family. She loved to impress the young kids (and when her mother wasn't looking, the young adults...) in the village by showing videos or pictures she had taken from Vale to them.

Jaune, however, lacked a Scroll for a reason that he didn't really understand. Apparently he was too " _young and impressionable"_ , and such he had not been allowed to have one- and when his father had asked what he wanted instead of a Scroll, Jaune had asked for a pile of fantasy books.

The books he had received were now adorned with worn covers and most of their pages had notches from use, however he didn't love them any less for it.

As Jade took a glance at the picture Sapphire was showing her Jaune blushed brightly while trying to shovel food down his throat as fast as possible in his desperate attempt to escape the inevitable teasing.

Sufficient to say, he failed miserably.

* * *

"So, dad is coming home today, right?" Sapphire asked after dinner while glancing at her Scroll "it's almost six already. Did he call that the ride was delayed or is he just taking his sweet time?"

"Patience, Sapphire. His mission likely took longer than usual, and although I don't know the details of it I'm sure he would have sent a message if he was delayed by more than few hours." Juniper answered from her seat in front of the fireplace where she had retreated to fix and patch some of their more worn clothes.

"I'm sure he will come- dad is too strong to be delayed by some Grimm!" claimed Jaune from beside his mother where he was once again looking at the ancestral blade and shield of Arc family, Crocea Mors, rested above the fireplace. The family would always bring the sword and its scabbard-shield with them in order to honor their ancestors and to stop thieves from stealing the blade from their family home in Vale when it was unoccupied.

Juniper saw Jaune looking at the blade and sighed quietly. Neither she nor her husband, Nicholas Arc, approved of Jaune's dreams. Her husband was always telling Jaune that he would help him become a Huntsman ' _when the time is right_ '- and by ' _right time_ ' she knew Nicholas meant ' _never_ ' or ' _when Jaune realized it was foolish idea_ ' yet he was unable to shatter Jaune's dream.

Not that she blamed him.

She knew Nicholas was no hero. Or a blazing champion of light like how Jaune saw him. She knew Nicholas was just a tired Huntsman who had seen the cruelty of world and wanted to protect Jaune from all of it.

Jaune had not seen Nicholas when he had come back from the dreaded mission that had cost him the rest of his team or heard the pain-wracked sobs of a broken man when Nicholas had confided her in the horrifying missions he had undergone.

The truth beneath the propaganda that is constantly fed to the people of Remnant- farms and towns overrun, intelligent and highly adaptable Grimm capable of killing entire hunter teams, frontier outposts "losing signal" to the CCT, a communication network that linked all the four kingdoms, only to be discovered looted and butchered by the bandits or wiped out by the Grimm. Hunters were spread thin and many pleas of aid for hunters were either ignored or the hunter teams came too late to make a significant difference.

No. If Juniper had any way of influencing Jaune's future, she would not have him become huntsman. Yet she knew Jaune had inherited his father's stubbornness…

She stood up from the chair near the fireplace and walked to the window overlooking towards the village of Shion. ' _Where are you, Nicholas…'_ she thought as she scanned the road.

' _Oh?'_ She thought she had seen few figures move near the village. The lodge was outside the actual village but still within the walls of Shion- the walls were built generously, allowing quite bit of space between the town center and most outlying buildings.

She moved closer to window in order to get a closer look and saw something that froze her in place instantly.

Wisps of smoke and fire were starting to rise from the direction of the village alongside faint sounds of gunfire and streaks of tracers rounds. The Grimm would not set buildings on fire and any Grimm attack would cause the sirens of the village to alert the villagers.

Only one reason remained as to why the sirens would be shut off was if someone had shut them off before attacking. The only force that would be intelligent enough to infiltrate the village before attack would therefore be...

Bandits.

...

"Children, we must go, now!" Juniper said in clear and commanding tone from near the window. Jaune looked up from his usual thoughts about heroes and monsters to see his mother watching at him and the sisters. Her face was paler than usual, and her expression was stern yet her eyes were scanning the room erratically.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Sapphire asked from her seat, trying to wonder why her scroll had lost connection to Shion's communication tower which disconnected it from the local wireless network.

"There is no time. We must leave the lodge, now. Get your camping packs and meet here in five minutes. Dont argue with me!" Juniper said as Sapphire was about to interject. Juniper disappeared down the hallway leading into her husband's study, leaving rest of the sisters and Jaune to look at each other before shrugging and leaving to grab their prepackaged camping packs.

The entire Arc family was always expected to have a camping pack ready when they were in the village instead of inside the major cities, although _why_ they had to have one ready was the question that always confused Jaune. His father had always answered that it was for " _insurance"_ and never elaborated, which Jaune had never truly understood.

' _Perhaps dad had a surprise trip planned, and that was why he was late?'_ Jaune thought.

He left the living room and headed to the family lodge's basement, having stored his camping package in there since he had little room to spare in his, uh, admittedly unkempt room.

He saw his camping package in the dark basement and reached to pick it up... only to fall over as he discovered that it had been filled with rocks and sand- Likely as a vengeance from his sisters for one or more of the pranks he had pulled upon them.

Jaune groaned.

* * *

' _Where is Jaune?'_ Juniper thought frantically. They had to get away from the house- she knew from her husband's tales how bandit attacks upon outskirt villages proceeded. First the communications tower was destroyed in stealthy attack, cutting the village off from the kingdoms. Then the village was attacked proper, its huntsmen and defenders slain to the last men. The houses would be looted and survivors rounded up to be tortured until they were miserable enough to attract Grimm, which would then mop up rest of the village and cover the traces of bandits when the dropping off from CCT would be investigated.

She didn't want that to happen to her family. Nicholas had told her that should bandit attack occur, only way to survive would be to flee the village, clearing as much ground between the village and themselves before the Grimm would start to flood the village.

The bandits would be too busy killing the defenders and people who put up resistance in defence of their homes to take care of fleeing villagers- but only if they would flee before resistance would be overrun. The Grimm would be more interested in attacking the concentration of humans than to pursue a single human or small groups of humans- however the Grimm would eventually go through the village and then start to pursue the nearby stragglers still in the area.

Juniper knew their window of escape narrowed with every passing minute.

"Where is Jaune?" Juniper asked aloud from Sapphire who had taken to herself to carry Coral while Jade had their camping packs on her shoulders.

"Eh, he is probably repacking his camping gear- we might have replaced his stuff with rocks after he pulled that 'hair dye swapped with glue' stunt" Jade answered from where she had been tying her shoelaces.

Juniper paled even further.

"Mom, are you alright? You are really pale" Sapphire said, starting to get suspicious of her mother's actions. Something was amiss.

That was before Juniper lunged at Sapphire, grabbing her by the shoulders and beginning to talk in fast-paced, hurried voice. "Sapphire- Listen. you must take your sisters, and lead them to…"

Loud sound of breaking glass interrupted Juniper's speech as dark figure broke through the lobby's window, showering the sisters and their mother with shards of glass and wood.

* * *

Jaune was sweating profusely as he was re-packing his camping set, having taken the rocks away and now tried to stuff all the necessary camping gear back, such as some of his comics and set of board games.

He sneezed as dust got to his nose, accidentally sending little bit of snot at his now ready camping set before wiping it away sheepishly.

' _Well, I'm set to leave, time to see what dad had in store for us'_ Jaune thought as he closed the map pouch after checking if it still contained one, its velcro tie feeling a bit unsteady from being in the dust for too long.

Jaune was hoping that his father had not planned another 'survival trip' up in the mountains near Shion. He swore he had felt the hard rocks in his back for full week after they had returned from that hellish vacation- That, or his sisters had sneaked rocks into his bed.

Jaune picked up the bags by the straps and started to make his way upstairs. When he had reached living room he could hear his sisters and his mother speaking in the lobby.

Perhaps they had seen dad come down the road and that's why they were all waiting?

He got an idea. His father had always been reluctant to talk to Jaune about Huntsman's job as hero and saviour of people (and slayer of monsters, bane of evil etcetera...). Jaune could tell that his father didn't think that Jaune was ready for 'official' Hunter training.

' _Perhaps if I greeted dad with Crocea Mors in hand, holding it with ease and care, he would recognize that I'm ready to be trained!'_ Jaune thought. ' _After all, how could I be trained if I couldn't even hold a sword?'_

With that brilliant plan in mind, Jaune stood to take Crocea Mors off its holder above the extinguished fireplace. He strapped the shield-scabbard into his belt, choosing to keep the blade at hand. The sword felt heavy but not unmanageable while the shield was hard to carry on its folded form, its point of balance too high for his liking and making it jump uncomfortably on his hip as he walked.

As Jaune was getting used to the weight of the sword, he heard glass break in the lobby.

The sound of breaking glass was soon followed by female screams and loud, rough male voices.

It did not sound good.

' _Mom? Sis? What is happening?'_ Jaune thought before dropping his camping pack, holding to the Crocea Mors tightly.

Without hesitation, he made up his mind- if his family would be in trouble, he would save them!

No matter what!

He ran to the lobby.

.

..

...

What greeted him was a scene of chaos.

His sisters were huddled in the corner of the lobby- Sapphire was holding up a frying pan she had pulled from her camping kit, Coral was crying, and Jade was looking shell-shocked with blood on her face from the nasty cut on her forehead. Jaune, however, didn't spend too much time looking at the sisters as his attention was caught by three burly men with their backs towards Jaune.

Jaune saw that two of the men were were holding onto his mother, her face showing tell-tale signs of bruises and she was bleeding from a cut to her face as the third man was twirling a dagger on his hand.

Jaune saw red.

He charged, his red-tinted vision and ringing ears partially blocking the scream that came from his mother as Jaune shouted a war-cry he had learned from one of his books.

The Ancestral blade of the Arc Family streaked silver through the air and into the gut of the man with the dagger as he turned towards the charging teenager.

Feeling the blade sink deep into the flesh, Jaune started to pull the blade away only to see one large hand grabbing his face and other hand punching him hard in the stomach, before sliding the hand off to the side.

Jaune fell over to the wooden floor, his sword slipping from his fingers as the man it was stuck on doubled over.

He heard his mother and his sisters screaming his name. Odd, he couldn't quite see straight as he looked towards the hazy forms of the sisters.

Lightheaded, Jaune tried to stand up only to feel a hollow, gnawing sensation in his stomach which made his legs feel as if they were made of stone.

Jaune tried to push the offending object away only to feel his hands slip on something wet. He lifted the hindrance upwards and tried to focus his eyes on it only to discover a red, lightly ribbed tubes of… stuff… spilling from inside him through a massive wound on his stomach. A red-covered steel knife protruded from his side at the edge of the wound.

He passed out.

* * *

 _Pain._

 _It Hurts._ _ **IT HURTS ITHURTS**_ _!_

 _Twitch. Light shone through. Man speaking?_

 _Man. Hit. Hand. Red-covered tubes._

 _Screams._

 _Calm voice._

"...And through our actions, archive immortality..." Jaune heard a male voice speaking in hushed tone.

He felt tired.

"Jussht few moore minuuts, moomh…" Jaune mumbled. A nightmare must have passed, and he needed more sleep. Perhaps he could find his blanket? He felt around with his right arm, looking for the soft sheet, yet all he found was hard wooden floor.

"Thank Oum, it worked… It worked… Jaune…" he heard the male voice speak again. It sounded familiar...

...And he was engulfed in bear-like hug Jaune definitely knew.

"Dad… I... I had a bad nightmare. Can you tell me one of your stories?" Jaune spoke, feeling numb. What was the white light? Was he glowing? Oh no… Had he become a princess?

"Jaune… I don't think it's going to be possible." Nicholas Arc said, still holding onto his son. "Up you go. Don't look behind you" Jaune felt himself being lifted from the ground as he looked at the face above him.

"What happened" his father continued, in his regular matter-of-fact tone despite his tear-streaked face looking directly at Jaune. ' _Was something wrong?'_ Jaune thought groggily.

"Uh, I'm not sure. What do you mean? I think I was uhh…. studying in the library earlier, and I think I might have overdone it and…." Jaune tried to speak.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" his father shouted, startling Jaune. "Ah! I… I'm sorry my little knight… I'm sorry… I didn't meant to do that" he continued in softer tone, rubbing Jaune's back as he hiccuped, his father engulfing him again in a hug.

"Did you see what happened to your sisters?" The man asked. "What happened to them?"

"I… I think I heard screams… Do you think they are in trouble?"Jaune stammered. His father sighed and reached to put his hands on Jaune's shoulders.

"We don't have time for this, Jaune. I'm sorry, but you have to remember"

Jaune was turned around. He saw a bloody, mangled corpse wearing familiar clothes in front of him.

"M- mom?"

He almost passed out again. Hard slap to his face, however, snapped him from his daze.

Jaune looked up to the hard, tear-stained face of the man he called his father

"Jaune. Where are your sisters" His father said, calmly, as Jaune started to sob.

"T.. They… were taken? I'm not sure… I wasn't... I wasn't strong enough to stop the bad men from… from…" Jaune tried to remember. He really did.

"Where were they taken, my little knight?" Nicholas asked, gentler but with underlying tone of urgency "Can you remember. Please."

"I… I don't know where they are. The men had red and black clothing" Jaune stammered.

...

' _Red and black_ ' Nicholas thought ' _Bandits with_ Her _colours… Taiyang, i should have believed you...'_

For now, however, he needed to get Jaune safe- or at least as safe as this village-turned-hellhole would allow his son to be.

' _His Aura is now unlocked- his fate is in his own hands._ _I wish there had been better way, but his stomach wound was infected already, not to mention that his intestines were cut... Aura was the only thing that could save him...'_ Nicholas looked down at his crying son. There was no guarantee as to where his daughters were- although if he guessed it would be right at the center of the bandit encampment or dead already, if they were lucky. _'I never wanted to force it on him, to walk the same path...'_

He could not save his daughters alone- he could not take on an entire tribe of bandits. Neither would Jaune be able to get out alone, the bandits no doubt having set a perimeter around the village and reaching into the forest and roads.

To get out one would need something to draw the bandit tribe's attention away.

A distraction.

* * *

"Dad, where are we going?" Jaune asked as he was being carried by his father.

Jaune's camping pack and Crocea Mors were strapped on his father's back, and Nicholas's own gun-blade and folding shield hanged off their respective sheaths in the man's hip. Nicholas was running at full speed through the dark, nightly forest and away from the blaze of the Arc holiday home- the house having been set on fire by Nicholas before they left.

" _A funeral pyre for your mother- It's the best I can do. The only thing I can do for her- I won't let her body be defiled"_ was the answer Jaune got when he asked for the reason for the act of pyromancy.

"Oof!" Jaune felt himself fall the the ground as Nicholas came to abrupt stop.

"Jaune- Listen. There is a perimeter around the village, likely set up with Aura trackers and motion trackers- they know i'm here. But they don't know that _you_ are here, your Aura is too weak to be picked up and you can move off-road where there are less likely to be motion trackers." the man recounted with haste in his voice "You must go. Now. Don't look back" Nicholas continued in fast, hurried voice as he pulled his gunblade and unfolded his shield, standing on the road.

"Take Crocea Mors and your backpack. Discard the backpack only if it slows you down too much, then the shield of Crocea Mors. Keep the blade with you. Don't come looking for me, I'll come to find you. Be safe, I love you." He continued in fast, rough voice before giving Jaune a quick, one-armed hug and pushing him away before Jaune managed to speak or react.

"GO!"

Jaune turned, grabbed the camping pack and the sheathed Crocea Mors, strapping them to his frame with internal whine ' _heavy!_ ', and began to run away from the village, and from his dad.

From everything.

* * *

Nicholas didn't look back to the running form of his son as it disappeared into the woods.

He didn't dare to look back at his son, knowing that he would not be able to continue forwards if he did. So he instead he ran further away from the village on the dark road.

Until he _felt_ more than saw a buildup of Aura on the road in front of him.

Blood-red portal bore through the air and Nicholas opened fire with his gunblade without hesitation, aiming at the center of the portal.

A white streak came out of the portal and danced out of the way of the bullets, drawing a red blade from its rotating holster.

Nicholas moved his shield to block the slice at his legs only to see the blade pull back mid-swing. The figure changed the momentum into kick that landed hard against his shield.

He felt himself skidding back on the gravel road, opening few metres of space between the two figures.

"Raven." He said, observing the female with her signature full-face Grimm mask. She was clad in short red and black kimono and short black skirt with loose leather stockings reaching up to her thighs.

"A Nameless hunter. How surprising that you choose to flee rather than die in the defence of this village. Some would call such acts a sign of weakness or cowardice" Raven said, her voice distorted by the mask.

"You'd think that leaving a baby and a husband behind to seek adventure and thrill as a murderous bandit would qualify as act of cowardice" Nicholas spoke, seeing the red eyes behind the mask growing narrow.

"It seems that _Taiyang_ has been blabbering. Nevertheless, you would not understand my motives so i won't bother with you. Now die" Raven spoke, ending her speech with lunge at his eyes. Nicholas blocked the red blade and paid for it as her sweeping leg almost threw him off his feet.

As the battle to death continued, Nicholas only hoped that his children would be safe…

* * *

Jaune looked back, tears staining his face as he was sweating and panting hard after running for so long. His father had said not to look for him, but he couldn't just _leave_ him. Not after everything.

A sting of pain from his recently-healed stomach confirmed his feelings, whatever his father had done had sealed the wound but left a massive scar where there had once been a grievous wound.

Jaune unpacked a pair of binoculars from his backpack and slowly climbed up a particularly tall tree overlooking most of the road back to village. The leaves would cover him from view outside the tree.

He saw his father confront a curvy woman in red and black clothing with a white mask on her face crowned by wild black hair.

His dad was strong. Jaune was almost sure he would win. Almost.

His faith in heroes and fairy tales was waning.

* * *

Red blade shattered against his shield, leaving deep gash in the tortured metal.

Nicholas saw the opportunity and lunged at the woman in front of him, only for her dodge his attack and use the empty hilt of her sword to draw another blade from the revolving blade container at her hip.

"Did you think your little subterfuge would work?" Raven's cold voice spoke over the clang of metal as she struck, new blue blade sending sparks up the night sky as Nicholas blocked the nimble slashes and kicks from his deadly adversary.

"..."

"Did you for a moment, think that i would not _know_ that your son ran away from here mere moments ago?" She continued, causing Nicholas's blood to run cold.

"I won't let you take him." He answered, losing a sizeable chunk of his Aura as he had to reinforce his shield to block Raven's vicious thrust.

The blue blade of her nodachi shattered against his shield and forced her to jump back.

By the time Nicholas had pulled his shield down, Raven had already replaced her lost blue blade with a red one.

"Like you stopped the rest of your family from 'being taken away'?" Raven countered, causing Nicholas to slip and allowing her to kick his feet from under him.

Nicholas rolled away and raised his shield while standing back up. He saw Raven where she had been standing before his fall, not exploiting the opening and instead opting to sheathe her blade.

"I always know. Don't worry. I'll take care of them- after all, if they are the offspring of a Hunter, they have potential. I will make sure that they will grow strong… or not at all. The _weak_ have no place in this world." Raven added with mocking tone.

"While you sent your _son_ to flee headlessly into a forest that will soon be bursting with Grimm. I do wonder, which of us is the _real monster._ In fact, I doubt there is need for me to intervene to _end_ him..." she continued to taunt.

"ENOUGH!" Nicholas roared, charging at her with his shield raised.

She drew her red blade and struck the weakened shield.

Nicholas's world exploded in white pain.

* * *

Jaune saw as the fighters stopped and faint hope blossomed in his young heart- Had his father managed to convince the red and black woman away from her evil ways?

A moment passed before the two figures resumed their fight.

Through the binoculars Jaune saw his father charge at the woman wearing the scary Grimm mask, their forms starting to haze through the darkness that separated Jaune from them

Despite the dark, he saw the streak of white mask and the red trail of the woman's blade as she struck his father's upraised shield-

And Nicholas Arc fell, his shield broken and his body cleaved in half from his shoulder to his waist.

"…"

Jaune was quiet as he slid down the tree he had used as a vantage point.

He faced down at the hard bark, and his shoulders shuddered as he cried quietly.

 **AN:**

 **After a brief session of bashing my head against a rock, I decided to publish a chapter of the story during weekend to set a proper release schedule timer.**

 **The story will begin from before Beacon era in order to avoid excessive flashbacking and to give a backstory to some of the character interactions, capabilities and abilities- and the limits of said abilities.**

 **As always, I appreciate all the reviews people send me.**


	3. Our Daemons

The night was cold as Jaune continued his journey away from the blaze in the horizon. Truth to be told, the 15-year old Jaune didn't quite believe that this was reality- any moment now his mother would reach up to his shoulder and would shake him awake from this nightmare. Any moment now…

Jaune was stretching his senses while walking forwards, his eyes closed, trying to feel the familiar touch… huh?

Something touched his shoulder! His eyes snapped open to look at his left shoulder, discovering a stray branch from nearby tree swiping at him-

"Oof!" Distraction from the cunning piece of flora caused Jaune to trip and fall to the ground, his backpack tearing open and spilling its insides to the dark forest floor.

Jaune turned around on the hard, rocky ground to start arduously stuffing his gear back to his backpack. As he was getting ready to continue his lonely march, he noticed that the map pouch of his backpack was empty- the map must have slipped off the loosely tied pouch during his mad dash away from the village road.

He looked back at the dark trail towards where he had come from.

He felt his eyes water again.

* * *

Hungry.

Jaune was hungry. Hungry, Hungry, _Hungry!_

He was fairly sure that the growl from his stomach could be heard for miles. He had eaten the last of what he had stored in his backpack, little bags of jerky, dry bread and chips, and drank the rest of the clear water he had stored in his flask.

The food supplies had run out almost week ago, and although he could occasionally refill his water flask from puddles of murky water, the sandy and unclear water did nothing to alleviate his hunger.

He was also fairly certain that he would eventually catch some sickness from the dirty water, but surprisingly enough he could _feel_ himself… tingling after he drank. The tingle was similar to the feeling that he would get whenever he got scratched or a stray piece of flora cut his skin, his Aura tingling as it healed the wounds at rapid pace.

He had studied Aura when he was gearing up to be a Huntsman like his father, despite his father's attempts to hide away the books that he had on the subject. What Jaune discovered about his Aura confused him greatly.

His Aura, which he _knew_ his father had unlocked, was supposed to stop him from getting wounded or scratched in the first place- and should his Aura get hit by attack strong enough to bypass it, the Aura would attempt to slowly heal the wound. It wasn't supposed to just _let_ wounds happen then rapidly heal them!

Not that it would matter if he starved to death. He was fairly certain Aura wouldn't help on that front.

Jaune stopped walking to take look at his surroundings. He had no idea how long it had been since that fateful night. Days? Weeks? He wasn't sure- the time seemed to blur as he walked until he collapsed, only to wake up later and continue walking in daze-like state.

He looked up to see the dawn's light illuminate the late autumn forest in oranges and browns.

It would have looked pretty, had he not been feeling too cold, too wet and too hungry to care.

The growling from nearby bush Interrupted his internal monologue as Jaune could _feel_ something stirring close to him.

' _Oh no. No. No. Nono. Not now…_.' he thought as he stepped to the side to place his back against the bark of nearby tree. The tree separated him from the source of the growl, even as he could hear it coming closer. He drew Crocea Mors from his back and slid the blade off the sheathe as quietly as he could.

Jaune heard a shuffle from the other side of the tree, followed by a sniff.

The sniff was followed by howl that froze the blood in Jaune's veins.

The tree exploded in splinters and Jaune was tossed to the ground like a ragdoll, some of the wooden shards sticking out of his back. His Aura had failed to protect him once again.

"Please… please go away" Jaune begged as he turned to face his assailant while still on the ground- looking directly at the nightmarish werewolf-like creature with bone-white extrusions and a white skull-like mask, its black skin covered in equally black fur. The creature's eyes burned crimson as it looked back at the frightened teenager.

The Grimm beowolf did not answer, instead opting to charge towards the teenager still on the ground.

Jaune dodged to the side frantically, feeling the splinters stuck on his back burrow themselves deeper as he rolled over them. He swiped his sword at the Grimm creature, the blade nicking the back leg of the beowolf but failing to connect properly.

The near-miss seemed to just enrage the creature that turned around to jump on top of Jaune, its jaws biting down hard on the boy's left shoulder and _tearing_ a chunk of flesh and bone off.

He trashed, trying to desperately swing the blade of Crocea Mors at the creature. The silver blade hit the flank of the wolf weakly, only serving to startle the beowolf that bit _deeper_ with sickening _crunch_.

Jaune felt all sensation disappear from his left arm. Not feeling the sharp jagged teeth of the creature on his arm anymore, he crawled backwards from under the creature that seemed busy eating something.

Jaune leaned on his left arm only to feel himself toppling over as his arm seemed to go cleanly through the wet, red ground.

He looked to his left to discover his brown shirt coloured deep crimson, a bloody cracked bone jutting out of mangled flesh where his left arm had once been attached to his shoulder.

A startled cry of fright and pain escaped Jaune, feeling his world blur into jumbled mess of shapes.

Knowing that he could not stay still as the black form in front of him continued to growl, he slowly crawled away from the beowolf, adrenaline and shock fighting for control of his body. His front was still facing towards the creature as he pushed himself back with his legs and one good hand, feeling himself slowing down with each passing push...

Jaune managed to clear almost four metres of space between himself and the beast that was busily consuming his severed arm before the beowolf once again took notice of him.

It's eyes were blazing red as it looked at the teenager, the bone-mask of the creature now turned crimson from Jaune's blood.

He stared back at it, frozen on the spot. His head was clicking empty as he was out of ideas.

The beowolf pounced at him like it had done before.

Jaune saw his end in the gleaming, blood-stained maw that raced towards his face. Reflexively, he closed his eyes and lifted his right arm in front of him.

He felt the Grimm creature's teeth as it swallowed his remaining good arm...

The beast crashed down on him and gave a whimper, its clawed paws scratching his body weakly before going limp.

Jaune opened his eyes slowly, feeling the beowolf's sharp teeth pressing against his shoulder... and saw the silver edge of Crocea Mors sticking out of the beowolf's neck where it had pierced through the thick hide. In its haste to devour him, the beast had skewered itself on his outstretched arm and the blade it had still gripped.

Jaune laughed, giving off sound that was torn between sob and insane giggle as he was unable to look away from the dead eyes of the creature that had been hell-bent on his death mere seconds ago.

The dark-red blood trickled down from the creature's wound to his chest and throat, the unnaturally cold liquid sending shivers through Jaune's frame. Even as he watched, he saw the beast start to slowly sizzle, the carcass beginning to vaporize ever so slowly as all Grimm did when killed. The sound brought out a hazy memory of… indistinguishable _talking._

 _A blonde woman spoke words that he was unable to hear. Giggle of female voices._

 _A blonde man poked at a pile of calmly burning embers, causing small flames to rise from the glowing wood as response._

 _Rows of meat chunks sizzled above the fire._

 _Steam rose from the brown, glistening meat and fat..._

 _Enticing smell of grilled flesh and spices..._

He was so hungry…

The hallucinating teenager drew Crocea Mors out of the Grimm creature, its ever-sharp blade pulling free easily from the oily, dead flesh. Jaune crawled out from under the creature's bulk and slashed his sword deep into the flank of the dead beowolf. The mad, incoherent slashing continued until he had nearly separated pieces of black meat and hide off the creature.

Jaune felt his missing arm sending constant spikes of pain up his frame, but the Aura had managed to halt the flow of blood. He wrote the pain off as insignificant- he had something more important to do.

Jaune stabbed the sword into the beowolf's chest and left it jutting from the black flesh.

The sizzle of the flesh continued as he tore into the dead carcass, in his mind seeing something else than what was real. Jaune grabbed hold of the loose piece of mangled flesh and _tore_ it from the Grimm's flank, stuffing the piece of uncooked meat into his mouth not caring about the rawness or the source of it.

It tasted like oily rags with similar texture, but for the starving and bloodied Jaune it might as well have been freshly grilled beef. He tore more and more pieces from the carcass to stuff himself with, pausing to pull Crocea Mors off the creature's chest and roll the lightening corpse over to start cutting parts of it from other angles, slicing bone-like armor off to reveal black flesh-like substance inside.

After sating his hunger Jaune passed out on top of his meal, gripping the stump of his left arm...

* * *

The darkness of late autumn night was starting to lighten up as morning sun lit the tops of now nearly leafless trees. A breeze of cold air separated the last brown leaves from the few trees that still had them, sending them falling to the forest floor.

Late-autumn sunlight did little to warm the form of teenager that was lying on the ground, thin coat of stray leaves having fallen over him. Yet the teenager felt no cold, no hunger. His mind was devoid of all emotion as the Aura that protected him was heating him up, continuing to fight the effects of black, corrosive substance eroding his human flesh from the inside.

The teenager twitched occasionally, sending small wisps of steam as cold air met overheating, flushed skin.

Jaune was fighting to wake up.

The heat of fever, massive migraine and gnawing, hollow sensation of something unnatural fought for dominance in his mind as he began to gradually stir from his death-like slumber.

"Hurgh!" A ragged, slow breath turned into something more as he felt a sting in his mouth, followed by excessive salivating. The saliva was soon followed by gout of black vomit- thick, corrosive liquid flowing into the forest floor as Jaune was unable to move his body.

The black vomit was followed by red one, until nothing but gastric juices came out of the teenager.

Feeling marginally better after emptying himself, Jaune could concentrate on moving his body, feeling weak from the fever.

' _Small movements… right hand… move…'_ He felt his fingers curling into fist, followed by drawing the hand closer to his chest.

' _Left hand, move…'_ He felt his hypersensitive left hand move slowly towards his chest while sending pinpricks of pain up his shoulder, his fingers somehow unable to flex. A surge of instinctive panic flooded Jaune, making his breath erratic and jittery. Something sharp rasped his left thigh.

He opened his eyes as he slowly pushed himself to his knees, his vision hazy from the fever and migraine. As he was about to stand, he felt himself flopping back down on the ground, as his left hand was unable to support his weight properly. Weakly turning to lie on his back, Jaune brought his hands in front of him.

A weak, hissing scream escaped his lips.

His right hand was covered in black veins, the skin around the veins rashy and irritated.

His left arm… A black, faintly arm-like appendage extruded from his shoulder, too thin and too weak to be called a proper arm. It had small, dull spikes extruding from the flesh near his shoulder and small patches of white bone-like armor strewn erratically around the part resembling his forearm. What had caused the scream, however, was the way his regrown hand had _fused_ together around a singular, serrated bone-white talon, held in dagger-like grip. The scythe-like talon was almost a feet long, its edge uneven and dull.

Jaune tried to desperately open his involuntary grip around the bone, even going as far as using his right arm to try and pry the black mass of what he assumed to be fingers off the talon. No matter how hard he tried to pull, the 'fingers' stayed fused to the bone, even going as far as to start bleeding when he clawed at the spot where the tough leather-like skin merged with bone.

' _No, please, open… I don't want this…'_ Jaune thought as he whimpered from the fever and head-splitting migraine, looking at the disfigured black arm. He tried to move it, feeling the thin and weak muscles within the arm obey his command. With a shudder, he lift the taloned hand in the air…

In swift motion followed by a soft thud, he brought it down to the ground. The talon sunk deep into the wet soil.

Jaune drew the silver blade of Crocea Mors off the ground, the ever-sharp blade not showing any rust despite being left on the wet ground for what felt like weeks. His breath started to hitch and fasten as he prepared himself.

With a grunt, Jaune swung Crocea Mors at the joint where his malformed forearm met the fused hand.

Pain.

Pain _Pain Pain_

 _P̡̀͟A̡͞͞Í̸̕N҉͜P҉̶̢A̵̵I̧̛͟͡͡Ņ̴̀͜͡P̀͟A̵͢͟I̵̡N͏͘͝_

"AAAAAGHHH"

Jaune let out a howling cry as the blade bit deep and he felt a _snap_ travel up his arm as something broke off. Crocea Mors slipped off his hand as the dull pain surged from where his black forearm had been connected to the taloned hand.

He collapsed back on the forest floor, cradling his forearm close to his chest while he attempted to stop the flow of dark crimson blood.

He felt unnaturally hot, both his Aura and fever working to increase his body temperature. Small wisps of steam continued to rise from his body as he fought to control his breathing, feeling the wound begin to close as his Aura formed new skin where there was once flesh and bone.

After moment that felt like hours, Jaune felt himself calm down.

' _This feels like a bad horror story…_ ' he thought, still slightly disoriented after the ordeal, his migraine having died down to slight pounding on the back of his head. He felt cold, his fever having turned into shivers as the cold late-autumn air hit his skin.

He raised his unnatural left arm to inspect it further, feeling his daze lifting. He prodded the black skin carefully with his right arm, doing his best to not touch the stump where he had cut the taloned hand off. The skin felt unnaturally cold and oily, much like elastic rubber. The bone protrusions were unmoving and were likely attached all the way through flesh and into the bone of his new arm.

' _Why did I cut my… that… hand off?'_ Jaune thought blankly as the moment of panic and fright had passed, looking down at the talon still jutting from the wet soil and the hand that was fused to it. ' _Where am I? Why am I here?'_ the confused teenager wondered as he stared at the severed talon-hand.

White flakes chipped from the talon and fell into the ground at slow but increasing pace, the black hand around the talon sizzling slowly as it evaporated. He remembered the fever-induced panic that he had felt when he was unable to open his fingers…

He lifted his hands in front of his face, discovering that the weak black arm had already begun to grow small, boney fingers out of the stump.

"What am I?" Jaune asked the cold, lifeless forest with its leaves fallen to the ground.

The forest had no answer.

* * *

As the morning turned into day, Jaune set off to continue his lonely walk.

The near-death experience had cleared his head of the daze that had engulfed him before, at least to the point where he could form coherent thoughts.

The small backpack he had found near the clearing was soaked and starting to break apart, its few contents beside scraps of cloth useless to him. Only the steel flask was still somewhat useful, although it had grown mold inside the metal, and he had used the scraps of cloth to completely cover his black left arm.

' _So, to recount, I have no food, limited water, somehow in middle of woods, something causes malformations or whatever that… hand… was, winter is coming, and… and I don't have spare clothes…'_ Jaune thought, ignoring a small growl as his stomach protested against lack of food.

' _What would dad do in this situation?'_ Jaune thought idly, trying his best to remember why he was in the forest.

The teenager was soon drawing blanks inside his head- he was not a Hunter, he could not even guess what a real Huntsman would do in this situation.

' _Try to make contact with humans I suppose… but how...'_

Ransacking his shattered memories, he realized that he was still on continent of Anima, as the trees that had dropped their soft, heart-shaped leaves on the forest floor were only found natively in the said region. His problem now was that he didn't know exactly _where_ on the continent he was- the village of Shion that he faintly remembered as the Arc family holiday resort was one of the furthest villages from the civilization so if he wandered in the wrong direction, he would likely be forced to travel until he hit the coast towards continent of Saunus, where Kingdom of Vale was located.

Luckily Anima had quite few small mountains- he could get an overview of the area from one such place.

Instead of wandering aimlessly, Jaune set sights on nearest visible mountain on the distance.

Perhaps he could find traces of civilization…

…" _must go. Now. Don't look back… ….I'll come to find you. Be safe..." the Huntsman said hurriedly, his body framed by the burnin͈̥͍͠g̺̜̳̮̗͟ s̤̫̮͔̳̟̫ḳ̮̯̗̺̣ỳ͕̫̮̘̖̦͔..._

Jaune jerked forwards instinctively as a memory flooded his mind. He blinked, discovering that his eyes had started to water.

He swiped at his eyes, confused.

' _What was that?'_

* * *

The mountain had offered no salvation. The only thing he had seen was the faint, outlying shape of some burnt village, and he had no choice but to keep going.

Jaune had learned to overpower the small beowolves that would occasionally hunt for him in the wilds, striking at them through their swiping claws and using his Aura to regenerate the wounds they inflicted on him. He was forced to use the Grimm as foul, poisonous food as he was unable to catch wild animals and the all plantlife was already either dead or dying from the cold.

The never-ending forest had started slowly started to fill with snow as temperature dropped, impeding his movement and freezing him.

And before he realized it, the winter had come.

Jaune sneezed as he kept walking through the knee-high snow amongst the frozen trees, raging snowstorm biting into his flesh.

He could feel his fever burning on his skin, his Aura attempting to fight back the sickness but he could feel the power within weakening with each passing hour. Jaune knew that he needed to find shelter. Anything that would save him from the falling snow and cold wind.

A rock hidden by the snow caused him to fall over as the obstacle caught his worn shoe, Crocea Mors falling into the white and disappearing from his sight.

Quiet sob escaped him as he lied on the snow, unable to get up as his strength failed him. The snow melting on his skin started to turn back into ice as his body temperature dropped. The thick sheet of white snow gradually felt warmer and softer to the teenager as he lied on the cold ground for what felt like days. He just wanted to fall asleep on it.

To sleep away…

Sniff. Sniff.

A wet snout sniffed his hair. A soft, furry paw tapped his head.

' _Go away.'_

Sniff. Sniff. Bark.

' _Leave me be…'_

Something circled around him. The snout burrowed under him, pushing him and flipping him over, sheet of soft snow falling from on top of him and exposing him to the cold air.

Bark. Bark.

He felt his skin heating up. Small trickle of reddish water came from his eyes as he opened them for the first time in what felt like eternity. The black forest was quiet as the night had fallen, snowstorm having passed.

He looked around with blurry eyes, looking for any sign of his assailant. He noticed a yellow blur moving near his legs...

A fluffy, excited dog was wagging its long, furry tail while attempting to drag him out of the snow by biting on his worn jeans and pulling back.

It noticed that Jaune was awake and let out series of loud barks after letting go of his jeans, hopping from side to side.

A muffled sound responded from the distance.

The dog barked once more, then jumped on top of Jaune to lick his face before he could stop it.

... _The black form pounced on him, its maw of blood-stained teeth wide open. Burning pain as blood flowed from his t̝͕̩o̱r̳͎͓n̳̭̼͙͙ ̢͖̗l̤̖̯̥̹̺e͓͉̠͓ͅf̷̺͙̣̥t̞̮͚͍͍̗̦͡ ̣̹a̻͉r̭̗͈̝̥̻m͎̣͕̻͇̹…_

Ǵ̸̞͉̫̫͔̠͚̝͕̪̰͖̲͈̳͞r̴̘̹͕̘̰̘̗̠̫̘̣̤̮̤̲̕͝͞ơ͍̪̗͕̭̫̝̫̱̫͈͙̞̹͍̰̕͜͡ͅw̧̭̗͕̙̞̘̭̙̱͟l̢̗̝̫͚̗̀  
̧̛̛̬͖̦͓̬͔̜̳͔̦͕̪̝͞.̶̡͏̨̭͖̜̝.̡̪̙͔̳̹̲̞̱͍͇̣̯̬̺͙̫̩̪͘͘͡͠.̻̱̯̦̺̻̦͕̲̕͟͞ͅ.̢͚̞̯͕

.

Warm blood trickled down his throat. Something gave a whimper. _  
_

Soft, furry form thrashed against his chest. It didn't matter. It didn't stop him.

He was so hungry…

Bite deep. Flesh was torn apart as his sharp teeth burrowed into the soft meat.

Warmth flooded through him. He felt the cloth around his left arm unfold as he pierced it deep into the source of the warmth, grasping something hard. A sound of breaking bone rang in the night. The soft, furry form grew still.

He swallowed another chunk of delicious, soft meat.

It felt like bliss. Red filled his vision as he tore into the source of the meal.

A series of muffled shouts from nearby was followed by loud yell.

Something kicked him hard in the chest, sending him flying and away from his food.

Ǵ̸̞͉̫̫͔̠͚̝͕̪̰͖̲͈̳͞r̴̘̹͕̘̰̘̗̠̫̘̣̤̮̤̲̕͝͞ơ͍̪̗͕̭̫̝̫̱̫͈͙̞̹͍̰̕͜͡ͅw̧̭̗͕̙̞̘̭̙̱͟l̢̗̝̫͚̗̀  
̧̛̛̬͖̦͓̬͔̜̳͔̦͕̪̝͞.̶̡͏̨̭͖̜̝.̡̪̙͔̳̹̲̞̱͍͇̣̯̬̺͙̫̩̪͘͘͡͠.̻̱̯̦̺̻̦͕̲̕͟͞ͅ.̢͚̞̯͕

.

 _._

A creature stood on two legs in front of him, the snow around the figure stained red. The form was pointing a long stick at him…

Shout. Loud bang.

Something pierced his chest and burst out from the other side. Something ruptured inside him…

It didn't matter. Hunger.

Leap.

The form shouts as he landed on top of it, its legs giving up under the combined weight.

A flash of steel. Dagger burrows into his stomach….

 _...hand punching him hard in the stomach, sliding the hand off to the side… ...he tried to push the offending object away only to feel his hands slip on s͏̯̼o̢͍̺̩̻m̪̀e͜t͈̻̞̭̼̙̦h̶͓̗͉̼̻̜̗I͕͇͈̕ͅn̸̞͙̲g̵̲̗̥ͅ ͚͠w̼̫͞e̹̗̝͞t͏̘̲͈._

Ǵ̸̞͉̫̫͔̠͚̝͕̪̰͖̲͈̳͞r̴̘̹͕̘̰̘̗̠̫̘̣̤̮̤̲̕͝͞ơ͍̪̗͕̭̫̝̫̱̫͈͙̞̹͍̰̕͜͡ͅw̧̭̗͕̙̞̘̭̙̱͟l̢̗̝̫͚̗̀  
̧̛̛̬͖̦͓̬͔̜̳͔̦͕̪̝͞.̶̡͏̨̭͖̜̝.̡̪̙͔̳̹̲̞̱͍͇̣̯̬̺͙̫̩̪͘͘͡͠.̻̱̯̦̺̻̦͕̲̕͟͞ͅ.̢͚̞̯͕

.

His teeth burrowed into the soft flesh. His clawed fingers dug deep into the creature's arms, holding it still as it tried to push him away. The creature's panicked cries turn to wet gurgle as he swallows another chunk of meat. The form stops trashing, its movement slowing to weak twitch until going completely still.

He felt his legs grow longer, his arms grow stronger and his jaw extend to better devour his meal. Worn clothing broke as he outgrew it at rapid pace.

The rows of flat teeth broke off to allow new, jagged and razor-sharp teeth grow in their place.

He continued his meal...

* * *

Feeling his hunger pass, he leaned backwards and shook his head, a foreign daze lifting from his mind...

Jaune let out a satisfied sigh, feeling warm and sated, no longer feeling the cold air or the snow.

He tried to get up from kneeling position only to stumble and fall as his legs felt longer than what he was used to. With a startled cry Jaune crashed on the snow, something burrowing itself deeper into his stomach.

"Oo҉o͠rw͠w̨l…" an inhuman sound came from between his lips as he tried to push himself back up. Jaune felt something sharp on his stomach, and pulled it out. A piece of steel covered in dark blood fell to the snow.

Jaune took a look around the clearing, confused...

A bloody, torn carcass of a man and his dog on blood-red sheet of snow answered his gaze.

The man's hand was holding a broken hilt of a dagger in death-grip.

Terrified howl broke the serenity of the quiet winter night as Jaune Arc broke.

Ǵ̸̞͉̫̫͔̠͚̝͕̪̰͖̲͈̳͞r̴̘̹͕̘̰̘̗̠̫̘̣̤̮̤̲̕͝͞ơ͍̪̗͕̭̫̝̫̱̫͈͙̞̹͍̰̕͜͡ͅw̧̭̗͕̙̞̘̭̙̱͟l̢̗̝̫͚̗̀

̧̛̛̬͖̦͓̬͔̜̳͔̦͕̪̝͞.̶̡͏̨̭͖̜̝.̡̪̙͔̳̹̲̞̱͍͇̣̯̬̺͙̫̩̪͘͘͡͠.̻̱̯̦̺̻̦͕̲̕͟͞ͅ.̢͚̞̯͕.

.

 _Seek the source of fear._

 _Hunt. Leap. Bite down._

 _Soft feeling of flesh. Bite down..._

W͜h̕a͢҉t ̨͝I͏̡̧s̡͡ ̶̷ha͜͡p͟҉͘p̀̕én̢͞ing̷͡?̢҉̡

 _Burrow into the creature. Bite down._

 _Rend._

 _Bone cracks between his jaws._

W̵͜h̴̶̡o͞ ̧̛ą͟͏m̶͜ ҉́I̸?

 _Claw rakes at him. Bone mask on black flesh. Red eyes._

 _Pack does not accept him. Rend them down._

 _Outcast._

 _Bite down. Crack._

Ẃak̡͘e ̸̴u̡͏͜ṕ̸. ͡ m͟͟ưs҉͞t̵ ͝w͏à͜k̀e͢ ҉̡͞up̶̷̡!́͜͟

 _Struggle. Shift._

 _More red eyes. Stare._

 _Emotions. Search._

 _Hollow emotions. Hunger._

 _Something moves under sheet of ice._

w̢͢҉͞ḩ̸̛̀͏o̢͘͢ ̨̀͠a̛͜r̛͡è̛͘ ̴̢̛͞͡y͠ơ̸̵͢u̸͘͢͞?̷͡

 _Eat. Consume. Stronger._

 _Dig. Burrow._

 _Dig. Ice cracks._

 _Break. Splash of icy water as he is submerged. Panic._

 _A bone spike pierces him, a form drags him deeper into the water._

 _Bite down. The form lets out a stream of bubbles._

 _Claw. Claw. Claw_

 _Bone shell breaks his claws. Grow new. Break again._

 _Dark blood stains the liquid._

 _Lungs full of water. Panic. Breath._

 _Breathe liquid. Pump. Flow through water._

W̶a͝ke̷ u̷͢͟ṕ̶

 _Rend the sheet of ice. Burst from the water._

 _Pain. Talons biting deep. Bite down. Swallow._

 _Grow._

 _White snow turns to green leaves. Hunt._

 _Green leaves turn red and brown. Hunt._

 _A foreign presence. Pressure. Something calls for him with no voice._

 _Obey._

 _Red eyes on pale face._

 _The primitive mind starts to break..._

W̶a͝ke̷u̷͢͟ṕ̶w͜á̶k͏eu̵҉҉p̴̷w͢҉a̷k̢ęup͝!̵!

 _A claw elongates to talon. The talon elongates to blade._

 _Plates of bone extend over his body._

 _Burning flesh. Something grows within him._

 _Scream, devour._

̡̯͎̳̭̤͇̬̯͜ͅ ̢̧̛̬̤̳̱͕̟͓̖̹͍̻̪͉͘ ̷̢̳̳̩̰͎̻̳͜͞͡ ̷̣͓̳̗̖̩͈̻͓͓̙̳̫͙͉͠ͅ ̴͏̷̺̣̹̜̳͕̭̠͚͖̝͞ ҉̴̡̡̬͖͚͔̭̖̩̤̗̲̬ͅ ̧̡͍̞͉̭̰̪͕̤̗͕̼͇͎͈̮̤̗̯̻͠ ̪̗̪̝̪̦̱͔̝̝͞ ̵̨̗̻̝̱̫̺̰̠̗͕͓̙̖̼̰͙̼͚ ̶̶̧̗̤̳͔͙͙̞͉̀͢ ̟̻͍̗̬̫̪͎̳͢͝͡

 ** _҉̗̟͉͙͉̫͙̳̕͢H̴̪͕̤͖̩͉̠̖̳̝̪̻͖͠ͅư̧̡̪̹̜̫͇̩̤͕̳̭̠̣̪͎̼̬̹̗͘͞ͅn̴̵̴̠̞̥̮̹̺̯̦̰͡t̢̡͇̗͚̭̱̺̦͔͈̤͈͚̞̰̰̻͟1_**

̧̧̢͟͏̻̮̠̫̘̞̜͙̦͓̝͖̻͔̥͍̹..

.

.

* * *

The summer wind was warm as it breezed through the wide canyons of Forever Fall, rustling the red leaves of the forest. The leaves were lit in hues of crimson and scarlet by the early morning sun.

The forest was aptly named as all the trees and flora growing within it would grow bright red leaves regardless of season, making it appear as if the forest was in eternal fall.

The scenery was quite beautiful to the black-and-white clad female faunus who was sitting on a high boulder, idly gazing down at the camp below. The black stockings and vest she wore melded to the surroundings while her white undershirt and white shorts made her stand out from the red colours of the forest. Her pair of cat-ears poked out of her long black hair, twitching as she heard bits and pieces of the conversations between the faunus below. She focused her amber eyes towards the camp in front of her.

The camp was bustling with the activists of White Fang, freedom fighters as they called themselves, terrorists as some others called them, as they moved their gear off the camp and packaged the sleeping tents readying themselves for their upcoming operation.

"Enjoying the view?" a male voice asked from behind her.

"Adam". The female faunus said, ignoring the question. "The Schnee dust train robbery is scheduled today. Are you sure that this… is the only way forwards?" she continued, looking up from the camp as the black-clad man sat down next to her.

"Blake. We both have seen what the response to peaceful protests is. We have seen how nothing changes despite all the rallies, the crowd-gatherings, or the written letters." Adam Taurus, the new leader of White Fang and her old friend said from beside Blake. "The world will not listen to our plight if we continue to act docile. We must show the world our fangs if we want them to listen to us." he continued, the wind ruffling his red hair, white grimm-like mask obscuring his eyes and his face from view.

"There must be other way" Blake murmured quietly, drawing her legs closer to her and hugging them to her chest. The black cloth of leggings felt comfortable as she rested her head on her knees. "We can't rally for equality by acting like thieves"

"There is no other way. You know that more than anyone else." The man said from beside Blake, before standing up and offering her his hand.

"Come, we have work to do." He said, as Blake looked at the outstretched hand before taking it, allowing Adam to help her up to her feet.

Blake gave one last look down at the almost-packed up camp.

She turned followed the man in black, deep in thought.

* * *

' _This cannot continue'_ Blake thought as the White Fang convoy was marching towards the interception point up in the black-cliffed canyon that would allow them to board the Schnee train carrying both passengers and considerable amount of Dust.

' _I have been with White Fang for all my life… it's become my life. But… the White Fang is no longer what it once was. Not after Adam took over...'_ she continued her internal monologue as the trek continued.

' _I should have listened to mother and father…"_ she thought, the face of tanned, kind woman clad in black hakama floating in her mind. Guilt flooded her as she remembered her mother's tear-stained eyes when Blake had announced her intentions to leave with Adam and join the White Fang all those years ago...

"You seem conflicted." the calm voice of Adam rang out from in front of her, causing her to jump slightly and look at his partner's mask, whatever expression he may have had hidden by the white metal.

"I'm just… thinking. About the future of White Fang. About us." Blake answered after moment's delay. "Where do we go from here?"

"For the Fang, I have plans. I have already contacted some powerful people. Some people, who can help our dream to rule over the humans become reality. As for us, I see no reason to change anything" Adam replied.

"Rule humanity?" Blake blurted out. "All of this, all of White Fang, has always been for equality between Humans and Faunus! Not to become another similar but mirrored regime!"

"And to achieve true equality, we must punish the humans, just as they have made our people suffer, and continue to do so. The humans only learn by blood, not by words- And we will be the messengers." the black-clad man in front of her declared.

' _No. That's not what I… no. I… that's… I can't...'_ Blake thought, swallowing the panic that had risen in her throat.

She walked past Adam who stayed behind her, and she felt his eyes moving over her back.

Around them the workers and soldiers of White Fang continuing to walk along the trail towards the large canyon where the Schnee Dust train would pass.

* * *

She couldn't just leave.

She would not survive alone in the Forever Fall. Blake was no huntress, although she had trained considerably, had her aura unlocked and had started to master her Semblance, the creation of static clones of herself. The forest was full of Grimm and although the convoy had only seen light tussles with the beasts, there was no doubt that a lone human or faunus would get swarmed in hours.

Not to mention that the Fang would track her down.

She needed a distraction.

She idly listened to Adam going over the plan to capture and destroy the Dust train with his lieutenants.

"The forward scouts should have set a perimeter at the cliffside by the time we have finished this debrief." he began.

"Blake and I will board the train via the cliffside trail. The trail allows us to jump down on the train and begin our assault. After boarding the carriages, we will detach the ones with dust shipment and advance to the passenger carriages." Adam walked next to the map, unfolded over the rock they were using as table.

"The main body of our convoy will be waiting down the path that leads to the train bridge, and will climb up to the bridge to loot the separated carriages after they have slowed down to halt..."

"During this time Blake and I will massacre the humans inside the passenger carriages, and proceed to set the train to advance at half speed. The adjustment should allow the train to not de-track itself, allowing it to glide into the Vale train station." Adam stood up and swept his gaze over the gathered White Fang soldiers and staff.

"Discovering the dust gone and passengers massacred should deliver the message we want to broadcast into Vale- that White Fang will no longer bow down to Schee abusing the faunus in their Dust mines!" he finished.

A roar of support came from the crowd of activists as the masked faunus present voiced their support.

Blake stayed silent as she looked at the back of a man she had called partner, friend and perhaps at one time in the past, a loved one.

"It's time" the voice of Adam Taurus broke Blake's thoughts as he walked towards her, strapping his signature black and red katana and gun-sheathe, Wilt and Blush, to his hip. It looked outwardly like regular katana and sheathe, but Blake knew that the sheath could be transformed into rifle and when folded as sheath, could be used to 'shoot' the katana out of it- with devastating results as it would make his signature iaido attack become nearly unparryable.

Blake had seen him use his iaido to cut a gigantic Grimm Deathstalker in two after it had attacked the convoy, his Semblance allowing him to pool Aura and energy from any attacks that he parried into devastating, Aura-fuelled strike.

For the longest time Blake believed him to be invincible, and to an extent she still did.

Now the thought just made her scared.

"...Blake? Blake" Adam touched Blake's shoulder gently, seeing her start to shiver a little "Look at me." He turned Blake's head so she would look directly at his face. "I know you are scared- this is the start of something greater than us. The first step to truly shape history. But we must be brave enough to take it, or we will be left behind for all eternity" he gently murmured to her.

She closed her eyes to hear his soft speech.

Blake took a deep breath, her decision made.

"Yes. We must be brave enough to take our first step." she affirmed.

Adam smiled at her, seemingly glad that he had helped her get over her fear.

Yet she knew that the mental step she had made was not to the direction he would have wanted.

"Come on, we must get to the interception point before the train passes" Blake said, turning and starting to walk towards the natural trail in the canyon's side, Adam following her closely.

* * *

What greeted them at the interception point was not the sight of scouts setting perimeter.

The trail was completely deserted of life, save for few bloodstains on the black rocks.

"What happened here…" Blake breathed quietly as she pulled her pistol and blade-whip Gambol Shroud from its holster. Next to her, Adam was already tracing the blood trails with hurried steps, his hands gripping his katana Wilt tightly.

The blood trails led up the trail and to a small form resting against the rocks.

"Monster…" a soft, wet voice murmured as the pair walked up to discover a masked scout laying against the cliffside, his body cleaved in two at waist-height but still alive.

"What happened here? Who did this?" Blake kneeled down next to the dying man, trying not to look at the blood stained gravel where the man's insides had spilled.

"Red.. Monster… flee…" The man muttered deliriously, slowly lolling his head from side to side, too lost in his own world to answer Blake's questions.

"Put him out of his misery. He is no longer of any use." Adam spoke with quiet voice from behind her. "Show him mercy."

"..." Blake was quiet as she reached over to close the dying man's eyes. She slowly placed the barrel of her Gambol Shroud to the quiet scout's temple. However, before Blake could bring herself to pull the trigger, she heard a low gurgle and hiss come from further up the path.

She felt the ground give slight shake as something massive moved.

"Adam" She whispered hurriedly, pulling back from the man who gave a small whimper before freezing still.

"I heard it. Something is coming. Get ready." Adam voiced quietly, pulling Wilt from its sheathe and taking a stance with the blade towards the path. The empty path curved to the side and hid the source of the sound.

Rumble of falling rocks momentarily hid the sound of something approaching… until a nightmarish form stalked around the corner, causing both faunus to freeze still.

The dying man beside her took a ragged breath and whimpered "It is here…. we couldn't stop it… flee you fools…" before expiring.

 **Author's Note:**

 **What a cliffhanger. See you next week!**

 **Next chapter: 2. Aug**


	4. The Awakening

The ground shook as a massive, nearly 10-feet tall Grimm made its way around the corner in the cliffside path.

As soon as it noticed the two faunus standing in its way, it halted its advance and leaned forwards, ready to strike- its long maw of jagged teeth opening and releasing a gout of steam that smelled of fresh blood.

Red eyes blazed with unholy intelligence as the creature looked at Blake and Adam. Its elongated, inhuman head was protected by segmented sheets of chitin-like bone leading up to its back and a singular, long blade jutting out of the creature's head like twisted parody of king's crown. Its chest was covered by external ribcage of interlinked bone with sheets of segmented white bone protecting its thighs and two hooved legs. Massive plates covered it's heavy hunchback, wisps and gouts of black smoke escaping from the cracks between the plates and rising into the air. A long, thick tail with pair of scythe-like pincers at the tip swung idly behind the creature as it used the tail to balance itself on the uneven path in the cliffside.

Its four long hands were covered by white bone-like armor, exposing small flashes of black flesh in the gaps.

What drew most of the faunus pair's attention was the four red serrated sabre-like swords it was grasping, one in each of its hands, and each of them nearly the size of a grown man.

Each of the blades was stained with blood, both crimson and dark red.

The beast's roar snapped the faunus out of their stupor as the Grimm took a step forwards.

.̡͉̖̩͇̺̼̤͓̪̠͎̬͉̞͚͕̙̟̺

̶̢̛̥̘̦̰͓́G̷͟͏͍̦̩̖͎̰̬̼̦ͅR̨͈̼̲̤̲̱̼̱̝̦̩͓A̧͔͎̟̫̩͈͈̼͡͠͞͞Ą̶̻̹̜̭̣͉͍̬̣̬͚̳̠̳̙̹̺̣́A͝͏̧̨̛̳͔̻̞̥̝ͅĄ̨̡̛̜̬̖̥̲͍̹͍̠͚̙̝̹͠ͅĄ̨̛͕̳̱̠̗̬̼̗͉͖̮̯̳̀͜Ḩ̸͝҉̪̘̩͍̱̭̘͎̠H̸͍̼͍̺̩͍̫̱̭̘̼́ͅḨ̸̨̟̦̭͈̻͕̤̹̟͓̪̗͞H̷̹̣͓̭̜́̕͡

.

Blake took a step backwards while Adam stood still.

"Aim for its legs" Adam commanded and Blake nodded, throwing the blade of her Gambol Shroud to the rocky cliffside above the creature. She used the ribbon tied to the blade to pull herself into air, attempting to swing herself behind the odd Grimm monster so she could hamstring it.

Before Blake could finish her leap, she was driven back as the monster's tail swung over its shoulder, trying to snap at her with the pair of pincers at its tail. She was forced to dodge it awkwardly and ended up leaping on top of the creature's hunchback-armor instead.

Adam charged forwards to meet the creature's blades, his red katana striking to slice at the Grimm only to be forced back when the red bone-sabres began to dance towards him, weaving intricate patterns in the air and causing sharp ringing when serrated bone met steel.

The wild and erratic movement of the creature did little to help Blake remain in its back, the cat faunus having pulled Gambol Shroud off the rock and buried it's blade deep into the bone-like carapace. She was holding onto the hilt of her weapon tightly as it was the only thing that kep her from falling off the Grimm abomination's back and into the sea of swords below her.

Meanwhile Adam Taurus was getting pushed back as he was unable to break through the Grimm creature's defense, and was starting to suffer from various nicks and cuts. The red sabres weaved a deadly pattern around the leader of White Fang, his Aura starting to weaken as it worked to keep the bone sabres from tearing him apart whenever the red blades would strike past his defences. The Grimm creature was suffering wounds at far faster pace than Adam was losing Aura, but whenever Adam would get hit by red blades, the creature's wounds would start to close rapidly.

Adam knew that he could not win a battle of attrition against this creature.

"Blake! Buy me time!" Adam shouted.

"On it!" Blake yelled affirmation while attempting to regain her footing on top of the armored creature, having to dodge the creature's sword-like crown when it swung its head back, the spike within the crown coming close to impaling her.

She saw rocks above the combatants on the cliffside move slightly as the creature stomped on the path, sending vibrations to the trail and small rivers of pebbles sliding down the cliffside, falling to the tree-covered ground far below.

Blake took her opportunity to distract the monster and launched her Gambol shroud into particularly large boulder above, holding onto the ribbon of the whip-blade. The Grimm somehow noticed her attempt to unlodge the large stone and have it slam the creature off the trail, and began slamming its back violently against the cliffside.

She immediately felt herself slip off the Grimm, but managed to kick the bone-armor on the way off to stabilize her fall.

"Adam! Hold on!" She shouted as she landed behind the Grimm and used her weight to dislodge the boulder on the end of her weapon, sending a landslide crashing down towards the Grimm abomination. She swiftly sheathed her weapon and prepared to dodge the rocks as the boulder turned into landslide.

As the landslide closed in on the creature, it swung all four of its blades towards Adam and forced the man to jump back while sheathing his katana. With unnatural speed and agility the creature jumped back as well and used its long tail to balance itself, avoiding the huge boulder that Blake had dislodged by mere inches while getting pelted by smaller rocks, the smaller pebbles bouncing off its hard bone-armor.

Blake was too distracted from avoiding her self-made landslide to notice the black tail striking towards her. The tail connected with her stomach, accompanied with a hard crack and flare of pain, and tore her off her feet.

More importantly, the hit knocked her clean off the trail.

With a yelp of both surprise and fright, Blake was forced into free fall towards the red-leaved canopy of trees far below. She attempted to pull Gambol Shroud out of her holster to use its whip-like blade and ribbon to pull herself back, only to discover that the tail had cracked the sheathe and jammed the blade inside.

She heard Adam shout something as the figures in the cliffside became smaller and smaller, wind rushing past her ears and ruffling her hair as she fell...

' _Is… this it?...'_ Blake thought, feeling numb as she felt herself closing on the ground, seconds passing like hours as her mind attempted to weakly process the situation.

Yet no solution reached to her as the time ran out, and she felt herself hit something.

Impact shot through her, followed by feeling of something breaking apart. A brittle, glass-like sound rang in her ears.

Her world went white as pain lanced through her back, and with an explosion of static, she felt her consciousness flicker out...

* * *

"BLAKE! No!" Adam Taurus shouted, panic creeping into his voice as he saw his oldest friend and comrade get flung into the forest below, hurt.

Damn the monster.

Damn the operation.

He would get her back, no matter what.

"Out of my way" Adam growled to the Grimm creature as it was watching him, its blazing red eyes seeming to laugh at his inability to save Blake. The abomination stood tall on its hooves and took a step backwards, before turning the momentum around and into a devastating charge.

Adam was ready. He placed his hand on the hilt of his sheathed katana Wilt, gripping it tightly in the signature iaido stance as he turned his mask towards the creature..

He felt the colours of the world around him fade to bright red and deep black, his Semblance ringing with power from the brief clash mere seconds ago.

The Monster swung all four of its bone-sabres at him.

He pressed the trigger in his sheath, Blush, causing rifle cartridge inside it to detonate.

With a flash, Wilt was unsheathed.

His Semblance-powered slash careened directly at the monster's exposed neck, past all four of it's blades.

He saw the blade connect with the creature in gout of crimson blood and sparks…

 **Crack**

Sound of something breaking rang in the red and black world.

Adam was snapped from his daze as colour flooded back into his surroundings.

He focused his gaze on the Grimm only to see three broken blades held by the creature in three of its arms, drawn in to form cocoon of blades around its head.

The Grimm had managed to intercept his blade partially, causing the hit to sever three of its bone sabres and redirect his slash aimed at its head, the katana instead biting deep into the creature's chest and piercing through its external ribcage.

Great gout of red blood to burst from between the Grimm's jaws as it took a ragged breath.

It had taken damage but had avoided the killing blow.

Before Adam managed to retract his blade the creature counter-attacked, and it's remaining blade swung down.

Adam felt tearing pain as the serrated blade struck his extended forearm, breaking his weakened Aura and severing his right arm by the elbow. He saw Wilt fall into the rocky ground, discarded, as the severed hand fell down.

Adam launched himself back with pained cry, hitting his back on the rocky cliffside while holding onto the stump of his arm. As the cold stone hit his back, he felt his legs give out from under him as he slumped down.

The monster gave a wet, blood stained gurgle eerily reminiscent of laughter and took step towards Adam… only for it's weakened legs to fail under it and sending the creature crashing on the rocky path.

Adam watched as the monster slid down the side of the path and into lazily spinning fall towards the red-leafed forest below, his vision blurring with each passing moment.

He felt his consciousness fade.

* * *

"... _Hurry! He's losing blood!"_

" _...The wound is infected. There is something in it…"_

" _...Administer 200 milligrams of…."_

Clatter of boots on hard ground. Mixed voices fading into silence.

Adam Taurus felt himself waking up slowly as his right arm sent spikes of dull pain to his brain.

He tried to lift himself up from the field hospital bed, only to feel his body not cooperating.

"Leader! You are alive! Thank Oum, we almost lost you!" nearby White Fang medic exclaimed as she noticed Adam being awake. The fox-tailed female faunus rushed over to the recently conscious man, red fabric of the camouflaged medical tent rustling slightly as she moved.

"Where… Is… Blake…" Adam voiced slowly as he tried to clear the haze from his eyes.

"We found you in the cliff trail after we heard sounds of battle from its direction, and sent a team to investigate. I managed to stop the bleeding before you would have died of bloodloss." the medic spoke in calmer tone. "We… didn't find anyone else alive beside you. What happened?"

Adam tried to lift himself up from the bed, only to almost fall off the field bed as the right arm he had instinctively leaned on was no longer there. The medic rushed to grab him and prevented him from falling over.

He grasped the stump of his arm with his left hand.

"Find Blake. She fell to the forest…" Adam said.

"With all due respect, sir, if Blake fell from that height, chances are that…."

"I don't want to hear it. Send teams." Adam spoke over the medic, his gaze stopping her dead on her tracks.

She would not abandon him and neither would he abandon her.

He would find Blake.

No matter what.

* * *

 _Scream, devour._

 _Black form leaps on top of him. Sting of something biting into his back._

 _Crash from above, rock falling. Avoid, leap._

 _Black form swims through the river of stones._

 _Swing the tail, the form is launched into the air._

 _Wak҉e̷ ͏up_

 _Black form. Red hair. White mask._

 _Flash of red. World of Red. Blade tears through bone._

 _Pain. Pain._

 _Painpa̵I̅̋̇̔͊͒͘nP̨̢͡͝a̵̛͘į͢͠n̵̕͞P̨̢͡͝a̵̛͘į͢͠n̵̕͞._

 _._

 _Fade. Tumble._

 _Pain. Pain._ _ **Pain**_ _._

 _Crash._

 _._

 _._

 _P̨̢͡͝a̵̛͘į͢͠n̵̕͞ P̨̢͡͝a̵̛͘į͢͠n̵̕͞P̨̢͡͝a̵̛͘į͢͠n̵̕͞_

 _._

Wak҉e̷ ͏ŲP͠

A gasp escaped from between his jaws as he felt himself wake up...

* * *

Jaune woke up.

' _What is going on… did I eat..._ _a_ _red sword?'_ he thought groggily.

He remembered being in a snowy, nightly forest, covered in… ' _Blood… Hunger… the… No. Wait. Where is Crocea Mors?'_ Jaune thought through his haze, sweeping his arms through the forest floor and ruffling red grass.

He tried to look into the ground to find the silver-steel blade, only to find his eyes not co-operating. After a moment of inability to focus on anything, he started to look into his surroundings more.

The world was covered haze of red, forms of… Trees? Rocks? Leaves? cluttered around him. It was difficult to tell…

He tried to rub his eyes, only to feel his hard bone-like arms brush against his face. He felt two pairs of hands grasp at his head.

A howl of terror escaped from between his bone-white jagged teeth.

' _Must not pass out, must not pass out….'_ Jaune fought for consciousness as he rose to a sitting position, his legs giving out from under his weight as he staggered and fell over to his side again.

He _felt_ a living being moving in front of him through the trees and foliage. The creature was mere hundred feet or so away… it was moving slowly, almost as if scared of something. He could taste it's fear.

He felt pang of hunger everlasting. Need to eat. Regain stre _n̨̢͠ģ̶́̕͜t̵̨h͘͠͏._

Jaune stood back on his hooves, feeling the rush of fresh adrenaline flood his system. Bone creaked as barely-closed cleave through his interlaced bone-skin reopened. Warm liquid rushed from between his jagged teeth as his bleeding lung exhaled blood alongside air.

He begun his charge, cleaving through the bushes and towards his chosen prey. Red tree that stood in his way was torn from its roots and flung aside like a toy.

The black form heard him and turned to face him. White eyes stared at his red pair and he heard his target give a quiet whimper.

He _leaped_ from through the undergrowth, shaking the ground and sending himself flying on top of the prey in avalanche of black flesh and white bone.

He opened his maw, letting out a gout of blood and hot, steaming air, jagged claw-like teeth reaching for the form…

 _...A bloody form of a man and his dog, the form holding a broken dagger..._

" _NO"_

" **N̸͟͝O̶** " A distorted roar came from between his jaws as the maw came to a stop, his arms burying themselves on the ground around the black form to stop himself from crushing the fragile creature that seemed to shiver underneath him.

' _No... No… no. no. I'm not…I'm not!'_ Jaune's mind thought through the haze that threatened to overtake him again. He pushed against it, trying to remember anything familiar.

 _Smoke. Blood._

 _Blonde man, standing._

 _Red blade._

Jaune screamed, the sound coming out in hollowed wail from between the teeth as he felt his body bubble, skin melting as the black flesh and white bone started to boil and strip away.

.̵҉̡̲̠̼̮̯̳̪͔̪͇̳͜ͅͅ,̸͖̙̯̮̟̟̫͇̲̦͓̞̪͢͡G̷̡͚͓͖̻͜͝ͅR͏̵̫͉̼̫̯̫̠͙͖̗̦̣̮̖͓̯,̧̖̼̭̪͉̣̯͉́͞͞.̪̲̩̜́͘Ą͞҉̧̦͍͈̹̟͈̪̺͍̥̦͕.̵̸̳͚̤̪̱̰̪̖̺̗̪͙̙̼̹̭͓́͟A̴҉҉̵̳͓̣̫̰̬͚͓̲̟̣̤̰̱̹͍͘ͅa̶̦̗̭̘̫̤͇̲̬̝͔͚͕͍͈͓͜ͅ.̴̢̼͎̺̝͢͟͝,̷̛̥̩̯̰̖̱͉͙̬͙̮͚͘͡.̷̶̧̛̱̹̣̲̗̬̱͓̯̻̫̯͎̙͖̖͝a҉̷̭̯̹̞̰̳͕̰͔͍̩͘͡͠a̧̺̙̜͙͎̹̤̤̖̭͟͠á̧̧͎̥̘͉͎͖͎̣̘̲̩͢͟á̦͚̻̙̤̺̞͜͠ą͝͏̪̗̰̮̫̻̤̞̟͔͞a̴̴̯̰̜̹͎̦̬͓͙̦̫͎͇,̧̖̼̭̪͉̣̯͉́͞͞.̪̲̩̜́͘aaaah! Ghaaaaah!"

.

.

His ragged voice began to gradually resemble what a human voice might sound like as he felt himself detaching from the huge black-and-white mass.

Jaune felt exhausted as he fell off his discarded carcass, having shed the flesh and bone-skin he felt he had worn for ages. ' _I'm Jaune. Of Arc Family. We live in... in Vale. We have a lodge in Shion'_ Jaune kept repeating to himself ' _I'm human. I'm human. I'm human_ '

He braced himself up with his two hands as he pulled his legs out of the mass of flesh and bone, feeling his stomach tightening as liquid pooled in his mouth. Dry heaves wracked his body before he began to vomit blood.

Red blood.

Jaune reached to the ground in order to brace himself, only to feel something unusual under his hand as it brushed against something soft.

He looked down.

A trembling faunus, clad in white and grey uniform, looked up to him. Her eyes were wide as a thick white foam came out of her mouth. and her long, brown and fluffy bunny-ears were pressed tightly against her scalp as her body shook violently, faint streaks of tears trickling down her cheeks.

Jaune watched her as she attempted to calm herself to no avail, until Jaune _felt_ the carcass above him move slightly. He reached to grab her hand, pulling her away from the black and white carcass as it began to sizzle and crash down where the pair had been, almost crushing them underneath its bulk.

Moments passed in silence that was only interrupted by the sound of the two forms breathing as the faunus had passed out as he had reached for her.

' _Red forest… so it was not just my… my… it's eyes that was seeing things'_ he thought as he crawled further away from the mess of flesh and the discarded… whatever he had been, discovering that he was completely naked in the process. He grasped the unconscious faunus by the hand and dragged her further away from the rapidly decaying carcass.

He stood up after a while and carefully walked to grab the long cleaver that was lying discarded on the ground alongside a white pistol. The pair of weapons had likely belonged to the unconscious faunus woman.

He gave the long cleaver few test swings, and left the pistol lying where he had found it as Jaune did not know how to use it.

A shout from somewhere near broke his concentration.

".. _.Scarlatina?_ Dahlia Scarlatina! Answer to me! Or at least answer your scroll!" a slightly panicked male voice rang through the forest, the sounds of rustling of leaves and undergrowth accompanying the voice.

Jaune lunged to the side in order to hide himself, tumbling to a red bush nearby and trying to draw its branches so that it would hide his naked body.

Mere seconds after he had disappeared from sight the rustle of leaves turned into fast footsteps, and a white-and-grey clad male form broke through the undergrowth and into the clearing.

Jaune saw that the man wore a slightly tarnished white mask akin to the one the woman had been wearing, before the man tore it off his face and ran to the woman's unconscious form, completely ignoring the decaying monstrous carcass that took most of the clearing.

The man fell to his knees in front of the woman, whispering something that Jaune could not hear before picking her unconscious form up and holding her tightly against his chest.

Rustles and voices came from around the clearing as more men and women with similar clothing and mask burst from the bushes, each of them carrying cleavers with one of them wielding a heavy-looking machinegun.

Jaune was watching the scene in front of him with expressionless face, feeling himself freeze still as the men and women were either dry-heaving at the sight of his old discarded carcass or moving to check the slowly stirring faunus woman.

' _Just moments ago... I was that creature… now this…is this really reality?'_ Jaune thought, feeling pressure building at the back of his head. Scenes that he had never seen played in his mind, red blades cleaving flesh and the tearing sound a̡͠͏̦̩s̸͇͔̟̟̥͙̭ ̩͖̠̹́͟t́҉̟̪̘h̷̷̨͕̝̘̼̟̠̻e̵̴̟̥ ҉̱̠b̵̘͚̝̫̭̬͔̞l̻͈͇̫̝̖͞a̳̟̟̣͔̘̗̲̭͠c̷͏̜͚͇͇̫̹̜̠k̩̙͙͉͇͓̳͈ ̴̩̫̖f̣̝̜l̢̼̬͔̮̗e̘̹̣͢s̯͕̳̺̻̀h̬̗͎̥̼̤ ̵̧̺̠͓̣̳͈̩I̳̱s̠͉͜͜͜ ͚̬̦͓͍̣͢͝s̯̩̙͉̺̥̮ͅḙ̮͓̟͕͚̘p̬͇̞̝̯̼̠ȩ̸̘̪͚r̛̩͍̦̟͓̝̗ͅa͓̦͕͇̻̺̫ͅt͙̪̣̝͍̫̹̬̜̕͠e͟͏̙d͔̣̖̭͈̣̩̦.̜̣̣̟̤͍̀

D̵̛͞͡e̛v̸̴̶ó̶ù̸̸͞r̡͝.͞͏̶̕ ̸́͘͝͞G̴r̶ò͘͜w̶̴̧̛.͘

҉̵̀̀͡C̢̧̛r̵̨͡ą̵̨̀ć̛̛̛̕k҉̨̀l̷̷͡I̴̡ņ̷́͜g̴͘ ͏͟͠ẹ͏͠҉͞ń̸͘e̡r̸̸͡͞g̸̸̛y̨̨͘ ̵̨͘͠f̡́͘l̸҉̛҉҉ǫ̡̛͘w̵̛ị͢n̴͜͜ǵ̡̨ ̶͢ţ̶̡͞h̸̡͜͞͞r̢͢ơ̶̕͜͝u̸ǵ̸͞h̷̵̨̨̧t̛͡ ̀͠͝h͘͏ę̴͜͠͡ ̢̀͜͟b̢͢͢͝͝l̷̛͘a͠͠͏̕d̶̕͢͠ę̴͜͝ḏ̨̧ ̧c҉̶̛r̡ó͏ẁ́n̢̢̡

̶̷́E͏͠a͏̶t̶̛͜.̡́͝ ͢͞

̡͠҉Ḑ̵̶̧ę̷̨͢͞v̸̀͟ờ̴͘͟ṷ҉̵̶̸̨ŗ̵̷̴͡.̀͜҉ ҉͏͘S̸͟҉͘c̨҉͟r͜͟e̶҉͝a̵̕m͠͞

.

Jaune began to laugh.

The chilling, hollow sound of his laughter echoed in the clearing.

"What's that?" a male voice asked as the group of faunus in the clearing became aware of Jaune's existence.

"I'll go check it out" a female voice answered. "You there, in the bushes! Come out where we can see you!" she commanded.

Jaune just continued to laugh, the laughter slowly fading to turn into series of sobs.

"Wait… it's a teenager. Hold your fire" the same female voice sounded.

Footsteps. Something came closer.

He heard rustle as the bush in front of him was opened and a small but strong hand pulled him out of it and into the open. Jaune fell face-down to the black ground while still hugging the cleaver tightly to his chest and hiding it from view under his bulk. His eyes were closed as he tried his best to fight back the rising urge to kill, to step forwards and tear apart flesh and bone...

The voices from the people in the clearing made it easier, pulling him back towards reality.

"It's… a human? What's a human doing here!" a male voice exclaimed.

"Maybe he's lost? Who are you, what's your name?" a second voice asked.

"Lost? In the Forever Fall, naked? Are you on drugs again?" new female voice interjected. "He's just a human, kick whatever he knows out of him and just kill him" the voice continued.

"Good idea" a male voice agreed.

Jaune felt a swift kick to his side, causing him to open his eyes.

"Hey, boy. You have ten seconds to tell me who you are and…." the man who had kicked him was cut off as a woman with dog ears slapped the man in his arm, interrupting him.

"No-one is killing anyone! He's the only one who perhaps knows what happened here!" she said, before turning to Jaune. "Now, sweetheart, who are you and did you see what happened here? It's really important so please try to remember" she asked, her voice quiet.

"Everything is _wrong_. Everything. I'm not… it. I'm not…" Jaune whimpered, looking up from the ground to catch the masked woman's eyes.

She looked deep into his wild, unfocused eyes before sighing.

"I think he's broken" the woman spoke quietly, although loud enough to carry over the clearing before pulling a small pistol from her belt. "Haah, I hate being wrong… Don't worry, I'll show you mercy." she said, cycling a round into the chamber.

She took aim at Jaune and fired.

The second slowed into a minute as Jaune saw the flash of fire and felt the hot bullet burrow into his skin. The flesh parted in front of the metal projectile before the thick bone of his cranium stopped the small caliber shot.

The kinetic force was enough to rattle his head and slam it to the ground, making it look as if he had slumped down, dead. Yet Aura regenerated the skin and mended the cracked bone, once again not stopping the damage but instead massively increasing the healing speed.

The impact, however, was enough to distract his attention away from his internal battle for too long.

Pressure washed over his mind and caused all of his hairs to stand on their ends as he felt the foreign instincts take over.

R̵̺̤e҉̷͍̻͈͎͙n͉̺͓̱͈͇͉͘͠d̪̣͉̀

̻̕͜K̷̵̝͔̜̩̥͖̟̪͕I҉̨̩͜l҉̟͍̪̞͖̻͟ͅl̨̹̣̠͜

̛͔̰̗̗͙͓ͅT͎͖͡é̱̟̫̖̙a̢̧̠̬̤͚̪͜r̸͚ ̣̲͘͡a̵͍̬͚͜p҉̢͚͎a̶̩̪r̵̡̫t҉͍͇͉͖̜̣̭̀

Jaune's world faded in colour as he felt _something_ pushing its shadowy tendrils on his mind, memories not his own flooding his consciousness.

"Right. Bro, can you take pictures of the corpse over here…" voice of the female faunus with dog ears who had shot Jaune rang in his ears.

The continuation to the woman's speech to the was lost to him as he stood up and pulled out the long cleaver hidden beneath him.

Jaune took a step forward in trance-like state.

He heard the soft voices of the grey and white clad forms around him.

 _Take a step. Two. Three._

The woman with dog ears turns to look at him. Her scream echoes in the clearing.

Lazy flick of his cleaver separates her head from her shoulders. The blade carves red trace in the air.

Another flick downwards tears into her dead body, freeing the identical cleaver she had on her hips. He reaches to grab it, holding the dual blades in stance that is familiar to him yet one he had never used. He had learned it through countless battles that…

 _...He could not remem̢̕͠͠b͏͏è̕͞͞r̶͢͠._

A flash of a foreign memory passed through his mind, too fast to be comprehended.

He heard shouts around him. He sees a man pointing finger at him as the men and women in the clearing stand up with two exceptions. One man stays on his knees, his back towards Jaune. One woman in the kneeling man's embrace looks at Jaune with wide eyes.

 _Gunfire._

Pinpricks hit Jaune's skin. Organs were punctured and ruptured as bullets penetrated his skin.

 _Irrelevant._

The wounds closed faster than they were made. Bullets dissolved into his bloodstream, the liquid flowing in his veins turning highly corrosive as a response to the trauma.

 _Step. Two. Three._ _Slash, parry._ Flesh and bone separates from a body. Man screams as he falls grasping a stump that used to be his leg. Woman charges at him and swings her cleaver with two hands, he parries it down with one hand. His other hand flicks down, severing the woman's hands from her wrists.

 _Step. Two. Three._ Man with a machine gun turns it towards him. He raises his cleavers to block the salvo.

Hail of bullets breaks his cleavers, the shards of superheated dust shattering the steel blades like glass.

He commanded the bone of his thumb to extend in both of his hands, pushing it through his skin and flesh until it forms a long claw. The claw elongates and widens in rapid pace, turning itself into a thin, single-edged bone-sword.

With a crack the swords separate from both of his thumbs and he grasps them by their narrow hilts, holding them in reverse grip.

 _Step. Two. Three._ _Cleave._ Blood flows in the air. A man's upper body falls to the left, his lower body falling to the right with soft, wet sound.

A Man and a woman standing side by side. The man speaks to the woman. Woman takes step backwards as the man raises his blade to high guard.

 _Step. Two. Three. Feint, parry._ Leg swipes at other, the man falls.

 _Stab down, cut._ Head rolls away from twitching body.

Woman screams and swings her blade. Cleaver bites into his thigh, severing veins and tendons.

G̸̶̀͜r̕͟o͏̵͜͢wl

Woman covers her mouth and backs up slowly, her cleaver having gotten stuck on his leg.

Mask falls from her face. Words directed at him. Brown cat-like ears tremble on top of her head, pressed tightly against her scalp as she takes a step backwards.

 _Step._

Cry of fear fills the air. She begs as she backs up slowly, tears flowing from her eyes.

 _Step._

She opens the buttons of her sleeveless jacket. Brown, smooth skin is exposed to the cold air.

 _Step._

 _Slash. Slash._

Woman falls. Her head is cleaved in half horizontally, arm is cut off from the shoulder.

Jaune looks idly across the clearing. Wails and pained cries from the wounded filled the air. Man is clutching to his leg-stump.

 _Walk to him, slash._ Cry of pain turns to gurgle before going quiet.

Woman is on her knees, staring at her severed hands.

 _Walk to her. Flick cleaver._ Long hair is cut short, her head rolls to her lap.

 _Look around._

On the other side of the clearing a man keeps holding onto the female faunus with rabbit ears. Both stare at him with wide eyes but stay deathly still, and he could feel waves of fear radiating from the pair.

 _Step, Two, Three..._

The faunus pair was mere foot away.

He raised his hand to… to…

 _...'No... I'm not…I'm not!'_ _he looks at the trembling female form through his red eyes…_

His hand lowers, the blade falling from his numb fingers as a familiar memory presses into his mind.

He stands in front of the white and grey forms. The female looks at him, her face white and rabbit-ears pressed against her scalp. The man holds the woman closer to his chest.

Minutes pass in silence as he looks at the pair, Eventually the silence breaks as the man shuffles backwards quietly, dragging the nearly catatonic female faunus with him.

 _Step back._

The man starts to run, holding onto the woman.

He does not pursue, his remaining blade slipping from his fingers. The swords begins to smoke slightly as they are discarded, jutting out of the red-stained ground.

He takes a look at his surroundings. The clearing is quiet.

Jaune blinks.

' _I… Did… How...'_ quiet, sob-like breath escaped from his lips as he felt the tendrils of jumbled memories ease their grip on his mind as the danger had passed. The haze of instinctive behaviour receded from Jaune's mind.

He sat down, pulling his legs to his chest calmly and stared at the field of corpses.

* * *

" _Miss? Miss._ _Please_ wake up" A firm, elder voice rang through her brain.

 _Crash. Flying through the air. Heavy hit._

 _Boulder falling. Red blade…_

 _A….._

"Monster!" Blake shouted, sitting up quickly. A pang of pain shot through her frame from the sudden action.

"Now now, no need to get hasty. I may be old but I am not that old." the moustached man commented, sitting on a cushy chair next to her. "How are you feeling?"

"I… where am I?" Blake asked. She looked around to find herself in luxurious one-person passenger suite, lying on the couch with small blanket on top of her. She saw red trees flashing past the windows on the other side of the cabin, out of which one window was blocked with cardboard and tape.

"You happened to fly through the window and into my breakfast. Not quite what I had in mind when I ordered fast food, but I suppose the people at dining car get creative every now and then." the elderly man chuckled. "Have I told you how I once ordered a large salad only to find myself fighting an avalanche of Geist grimm who had taken individual fruits as host bodies?..."

"But… I…" the confused cat faunus tried to interject as the man seemed to go into extremely far-stretched tale about bravery in face of insurmountable odds and lettuce.

"...And that's how I invented my signature pick-up line and saved the restaurant." the man ended, twirling his white moustache. "Are you quite alright, miss?" he asked from the girl who had gone quiet, resting herself back to the couch.

"Why did you help me?" she asked quietly. "You don't know me"

"And you don't know me, but my profession and calling is to help humans and faunus alike who are in dire need of assistance, be it in form of slaying Grimm, guiding with life choices or listening to teenage relationship drama." the old man answered.

"In fact, it's surprisingly refreshing when the people in need of help come directly to me rather than needing me to come find them. Although I would prefer if they didn't topple over the breakfast table while doing so." he added.

"Who are you…" Blake asked, her cat ears twitching slightly on top of her head as she struggled against her rising amusement over the old man's antics.

"I am Professor Port of Beacon Academy. And based off your gear, the fact that there is no registered local militia in Forever Fall, and how you have unlocked Aura, you are either a dangerous criminal, a trained and registered Huntress or someone who is looking to become either of the two." the man gave her a piercing look before offering a steaming cup of tea to the faunus who had frozen still like a deer in headlights.

Blake was quiet while taking the cup as she stared at the man. As the professor chose to not press the issue, she relaxed slightly on the soft couch as she balanced her options. Moments passed as she took small sips of tea and looked at the red scenery passing outside the window, until she finally came to a decision.

"I am Blake Belladonna and I aim to become a Huntress."

* * *

The night had fallen.

Jaune was still sitting in the clearing, rocking himself back and forth while going through the foreign and familiar jumble of memories that now filled his mind.

He no longer felt cold. He had chosen not to, burning his aura to keep him warm. A small glow of red illuminated his face, his now scarlet irises having started to glow. He felt memories of what felt like lifetimes ago begin to trickle back into him.

' _Dad… Mom… Sapphire… Jade… Coral…. I'm sorry. I wasn't able to save you_ ' Jaune looked at his arm, closing and opening it while rocking himself back and forth. The field of corpses had started to slowly chill and a faint buzz could be heard as flies and other insects had started to gather on the corpses.

Jaune took deep breath, smelling the pungent odour of blood and exposed entrails. A smell that somehow… felt familiar. Frighteningly so.

He looked at the corpses, noticing that one of them had clothes that might fit him…

Jaune began a bloody and arduous task of undressing the corpse and putting its clothes on himself. He left the mask off, feeling that it would only work to hinder his sight.

As he was clothing himself he noticed changes in his body- No longer was he a wiry and short teenager, instead he felt sinewy muscle where there had been soft flesh. He felt taller, although it was difficult tell as there was nothing he could use to properly measure himself.

' _How long has it been since… that day…'_ he thought to himself as he put on the blood-stained shirt. Answer to his question came from a piece of communication equipment that he found in one of the pouches in the dead man's jacket. He took the Scroll out and unfolded it. ' _This…. It's been two years'._

He closed his eyes.

' _What am I going to do now… seek revenge? Kill that bandit tribe? Try to continue to live as before?'_

He willed himself to think back to the lazy days of youth. To time when he could sleep for as long as he wished on soft, clean sheets. When he could read about heroes and monsters with no care in the world. Familiar voices rang in his head…

And in response, he felt the… _burn_ in his eyes, feeling the signature bubbling and heat as his body changed, his eyes shifting under their lids.

When he opened his eyes, the glowing scarlet irises had turned back to deep blue.

' _Yes… There is no reason to change what I wished to become.'_ Jaune took a deep breath and exhaled, seeing his breath come out in gout of steam as his organs let out the excess heat into brisk summer night.

' _Dad and mom might not be here to look over me anymore… but I will not disappoint their memory. I will become a Huntsman like dad, to protect people like mom, and my sisters...'_

With his goal set, he set his sights on the corpses in the clearing, beginning to loot the dead and ignoring the immorality of the act.

' _Well, they are not going to use the clothes and lien anymore, right?'_ he thought.

The ransacking of the corpses left Jaune with few hundred Lien in currency and some used clothes. He attempted to grow another pair of bone-swords, but found out that no matter how much he willed them to grow, they would not. Instead he looted another pair of metal cleavers from the corpses.

He didn't take any of the scrolls or personal electronics, as he felt they might do more harm than good as he was fairly certain that the devices would be traceable. More importantly, he was able to scavenge a physical map of the area, and gather some info on where he might be.

' _Vale…'_

* * *

' _And as always, nothing is as easy as it sounds…'_

With the morning sun, came the red eyes of the Grimm.

' _From one fight to another…'_ Jaune readied his cleavers, standing in the wide stance that he had grown somewhat used to. The Beowolves that had surrounded him were circling around the patch of woods slowly, looking for opening moment to strike. He had discarded the small carry-sack that contained his few looted goods and clothes in order to better face the Grimm.

One of them charged forwards to snap its bone-clad jaws at him, only to leap back when he swung his cleaver at it. As Jaune was concentrating on the one Beowolf, another tried to lunge at his ankles in an attempt to hamstring him. Quick flick of blade bit into the lunging beowolves snout and drew blood.

Brief confrontation was replaced by more circling and staring.

' _They are trying to tire me out by keeping me on my toes...'_ Jaune thought idly, his mind calm despite the situation. He knew that he _should_ have been afraid of the Grimm creatures but somehow he was unable to bring himself to fear them.

The combat seemed famili͢a̵r, ̷l͞ike ͡so͠m͜e͠thing͜ h͢e̛ ͡w̨as͠ ̛b̢o͞ŗn ͢to ͞d̕o.̛

T͟͡ơ͝ ͘r͏͡e̶̛͞n̕͟͡d̀,̨ ̛͢d̸e̕v͘͟ơ̶u͜ŗ̢.̕͝

S̴͞͠c̸҉r̷̸e̵̡͜͠a̸̸͠m̛̀͡,̵̧̡̛͢ ̶̴́͞ḑ̶̛̀͡e͡͏̕v̕҉̴͘ǫ̧̡́͠ừ̧́͝r̴͢͝.̶̢́́͞

A growl escaped Jaune's lips as he felt the familiar pressure wash over from the back of his head. Red daze started to set over his eyes… before he shook his head.

' _No… I won't let it control me. Focus.'_ Jaune centered his eyes on the beowolf that was starting to creep gradually closer.

He stepped forwards to charge, only to stop as the Beowolf jumped back. Instead he turned and jumped to the side, avoiding another Grimm that had lunged at his back when his attention was elsewhere.

This time, he counterattacked harder as the beowolf had overextended itself and wasn't able to leap back in time.

The bone-cleaver bit deep into the Beowolf's flank, causing the beast to let out whimper and crash to it's good flank, trashing as it begun to die.

Unfortunately, the trashing made it difficult to pull the cleaver off the corpse, which caused the weakened blade to break with audible snap.

' _Not good'_ Jaune thought as he brandished his remaining blade at the rest of the beowolf pack.

The Grimm seemed to realize his plight and picked up the pace of their snaps and feint-attacks. It wasn't long until Jaune was distracted with two other beowolves attacking from his front to miss third swiping at his leg, the claws connecting with his leg as he wasn't able to dodge fast enough.

The razor-sharp claws bit deep, severing tendons on his leg and biting deep into the muscles.

With muffled curse, Jaune fell to the forest floor and all four remaining beowolves jumped on his form.

' _No, no! Not like this!'_ he cursed as he felt multiple maws biting into his flesh, tearing chunks off his legs and tearing open his stomach. He swung hard at one of the beowolves, feeling the cleaver lodge itself between the faceplate and neck of a Beowolf, drawing pained howl from the creature as it pulled back, ripping the cleaver off Jaune's hand as it was stuck on the beast's flesh.

' _Pain, pain pain pai̷͘͘ǹ ̵̴̵͏͝p̀͠á́̀͡I̢͘͝n̵̶͟ ̷̡̡͘͜p̛a̧͜͏I̵n̡̕͟͠ ́p͏̡a̷̢I̶̡ǹ̴̛͢͡_

Haze of red clouded his vision as he felt himself fall inside his mind. Impossible memories forcing their tendrils into his head as he felt his Aura work to regenerate his flesh as it was torn away. Flesh returned to places where it had been torn, except instead where was once white skin and red muscle, now there was white bone-like armor and black flesh.

Jaune saw pair of jaws closing towards his head.

He extended his hands, grasping the snout of the attacking Beowolf. As the hands closed on the beast, he saw that his fingers had molded together with a long claw-like blade extending from his hand in dagger-grip.

The claws bit deep into the Beowolf's head, puncturing through it's bone-like mask and sinewy black flesh. Tearing sound vibrated through the clearing as he felt his claws _pull_ the Beowolf's head apart.

The sudden death of the pack member caused the remaining three Beowolves to jump back, one of them narrowly dodging his swiping claw that nearly hamstrung it.

Jaune stood back up, feeling the pain and sizzling from where his wounds regenerated, black flesh and mass of bone growing over the maimed skin and knitting cut flesh back together.

He felt… something grow in his arms. Tingle spread over his form as he _leaped_ at the nearest Beowolf, skewering it to the ground with his long claws and rending it to pieces with frenzied strikes.

Last two Beowolves attempted to charge his back, forcing Jaune to take a fast step forwards to evade the beasts. He leaped against a nearby tree, using it as launchpad to pounce on the larger of the two of the Beowolves.

His claws tore once again into the black flesh, whimpers of the dying Beowolf filling his ears.

The last Beowolf turned to flee.

He felt the tingle in his arms stop as _something_ wanted out. Hollow sting came through his arms as he felt small airways open from his lungs, leading up to his forearms and to the bases of long bone-darts that had grown themselves into his forearms. Sharp heads of the black darts jutted from the holes in his arm, and he could feel _anticipation_ as he readied himself to unleash them on his prey.

He took deep breath, instinctively knowing how to use his new… addition, aiming his hand at the retreating back of the Beowolf and _exhaled_.

Yet no air passed from through his lips.

Few black dart flew from his arm, accompanied with satisfying feeling of something bursting from his skin as his lungs pumped air through the internal airways to launch the darts from his arms in similiar fashion to a high-powered blowpipe.

The darts flew true and lodged themselves into the Beowolf's back, jutting out of the thick skin.

As Jaune watched the spine-like darts began to _burrow_ into the Beowolf, seeking organs and spreading inside the beast to cut into them with their jagged, serrated edges.

The fleeing Beowolf crashed into a nearby tree, thrashing and trying to claw at the source of the agony, unable to comprehend the source of its suffering.

The creature's tore at its own flesh until its movements started to weaken before going still.

Jaune felt the tendril of a foreign memory pushing into his mind as the last Beowolf died.

He felt…. hungry.

D̡è̸́v҉̵̧̨̛o̢̧͢͝u̕͢͏̢r̶̨.̧̕ ̀͢͏͝S̷̛͘͝͞ç̷r̨̕͞e̢̕a̡̧͢m̴̸̷̡̨

̀H̶̀͢͡ừ̸͜ņ͘͟g̶̢̧͘͟e̸̷̕͜͢ŕ̶̷͘

Jaune gasped for air, feeling the presence at the back of his head _slam_ itself into his consciousness, threatening to push him deeper into the unnatural memory.

He looked at the dissolving corpses of Beowolves in the red forest floor.

Saliva coated his mouth as he felt his lips drawing back and revealing razor-sharp jagged teeth.

Jaune felt hungry, and bit down on the raw, black Grimm-meat.

Black blood flowed into his mouth as oily and sinewy meat was torn apart between his jaws.

His skin boiled as he felt the now-familiar heat and bubbling of himself growing. White exoskeleton spread to cover his chest as he felt his head elongating, and bone-plates started to grow from his back and tear apart his constricting clothes.

His claws bit deep into the slowly evaporating black flesh to tear more chunks off it, and Jaune lost track of time as he continued to feed.

* * *

Hours later, a roar echoed from the woods as the monstrous, almost 10-feet tall form stood up from it's meal. However instead of four red blades, it held onto a small canvas bag full of clothes and looted essentials as it continued on its journey through the forest of Forever Fall.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **So, Jaune Awakens… or something that was once Jaune.**

 **He may or may not remember meeting our lovely faunus pair, but I'm certain that they will remember meeting him.**

 **Next chapter: Breaking and Entering- 9th Sept.**

 **Omake:**

Meanwhile in parallel universe, two Beowolves were watching a movie from the TV where a massive, bone-armor plated Grimm with four arms was kneeling over a nearly catatonic bunny faunus.

The Beowolves cheered on the cushy couch as the maw of razor-sharp teeth closed in on the helpless bunny girl, until the armored Grimm creature let out a chilling scream. The pair on the couch watched in horror as the Grimm started to claw its breastplate as something _bulged_ in the Grimm's chest.

With twin screams of abject horror, the Beowolves saw a _human_ burst out of the massive Grimm's chest, covered in dark red Grimm blood. The human let out a chilling howl and exhaled red blood, before grasping the faunus by the wrist and dragging her away. As she disappeared out of sight the four-armed Grimm creature slumped into the ground, dead…

"Matt, we're never watching your movies again" the first beowolf said, having jumped on the second beowolves lap and shaking uncontrollably.

"But metacritic gave Human: The Eight Passenger a score of 4.8 out of 5…" the second beowolf complained, holding onto the first beowolf tightly...


	5. Breaking and Entering

Jaune felt oddly serene. The sensation of crushing red-leaved flora and ramming through thin, red-leaved trees was curiously satisfying as his mind remembered instinctively how to move in his new, massive frame.

The 10-or-so feet tall form of bone-armored black flesh easily cleaved its way through the trees and bushes while turning the occasional Grimm Beowolf he came across into his food as he tore into the unfortunate Grimm forms with his sharp claws before they could so much as react.

His long jaws snapped down to tear another chunk of sizzling meat from a vaporizing Beowolf that he held in one of his clawed hands as he continued to charge through the Forever Fall.

' _Curious. It seems that the longer I go without eating, the more… incessant… the foreign memories become…'_ Jaune thought, feeling the dizzying presence of… something pressing the back of his head decrease as he continued his march, the black carcass dwindling to scraps as he kept taking bites out of it.

The beginning of his journey towards Vale through the forest of Forever Fall was spent on a haze where he was barely able to move by his own will or see anything beside faint shapes properly but now, after inhibiting the body for few days, he had regained control of the massive armored form- wrestling himself back from the incessant buzz of maddening memories and instincts.

He had also discovered that if he went too long without eating anything he would start to lose control of his body, suffering small blackouts until he woke up in his new frame, eating a stray Grimm or animal he had caught while unconscious.

A slow chipping and sizzling of his bone-armor was also ever-present whenever he was about to pass out- his foreign body beginning to consume itself to maintain its coherency.

' _So basically, don't go hungry or get too hurt, or I dissolve and black out or go on a rampage, respectively. Seems easy enough'_ a stumble through rocks protruding from the forest floor was steadied as he swung his pincer-tipped tail to the side, the weight of it counterbalancing his frame.

He saw the edge of the forest rapidly approaching, and begun to slow down until he burst out of the red-leaved canopy, bleeding his speed off by ramming himself into a large tree that exploded into splinters on contact with nearly a ton of black muscle and white bone. As he steadied himself he saw a cliff in front of him, overlooking towards thinning red forest. Tall, steel-grey walls of a city stretched over most of the horizon in the distance, mere twenty miles away or so.

The soft light of morning sun seemed to light the scene in colours of fire, gentle breeze rustling the leaves of the red-covered trees behind him as he observed the grey structure in the horizon.

' _Vale… I made it…'_ Jaune thought while crouching down.

He spent a moment thinking on how he could get inside the walls. ' _The walls are too tall and too smooth to climb without proper equipment… and I've always sucked at climbing..'_ he thought, inching closer to the edge of the cliff to take better look at the walls in the distance. He heard few pebbles run down the cliff as his weight moved closer to the edge, but he chose to ignore it.

' _Perhaps I could try to burrow under the walls…'_ he looked at the bottom of the wall and saw faint shapes of concrete construction stretching on the ground for hundred feet off the wall and towards the forest, likely cast to prevent burrowing.

As he leaned forwards he sent another small river of pebbles falling down the cliff as his point of balance shifted and buried his white hooves to the ground.

' _Well… perhaps I could get in via air?'_ Jaune was starting to get desperate and he looked at the wall-top to see faint outlines of anti-air emplacements.

No Grimm was going to get through the Walls of Vale City without a fight.

He growled in frustration and slammed his tail to the ground which intensified the stream of small rocks falling under his feet.

' _Well, I need get down there… I'll get a better look from up close rather than trying to squint from here.'_ he thought ' _I wonder if there is a road down or something…'_ his brooding was interrupted as something cracked under him...

...And the edge of the cliff gave a soft rumble as it collapsed out under his weight.

' _I guess that works too'_ he thought calmly as the edge of the cliff passed by him.

Moments later his panicked howl was muffled by the roar of landslide as he fell down the cliff, accompanied by a rumble of grey rocks.

* * *

The four-handed, horrifying armored form had taken a close resemblance to a crushed cockroach as the landslide had done its work on the white carapace.

After the rain of rocks had trickled down to streams of pebbles, Jaune had pulled himself out of the mangled form and don the white and gray uniform he had scavenged from the torn bag still grasped by the carcass.

However it seemed that soreness carried over, much to his dismay.

"Oww…." Jaune twitched as a stray branch caught him in the shoulder, sending sting up his sensitive arm. He had been walking towards the Vale for what seemed like hours, and the soreness had carried over for the entire duration of his walk.

The slow travel did give him an ample time to figure out a way to get into the city, yet he was unable to come with any decent ideas.

' _Couldn't I just walk in through a door and say hello?'_ a stray rational thought passed by his head, and was swiftly crushed. ' _No… there is no way they would let… something... like me enter…'_ he brooded. No doubt whatever scanners Vale security had would figure out something _wrong_ with him. A scene from a book where an Grimm-human abomination had been caught and dissected flashed through his head. ' _What if they take me in as a live specimen and start to experiment on me?'_

But he had to get in. It was his home, wasn't it?

Beacon was there, and if he wanted to become a Hunter, he would need to enroll in it… somehow.

Would they even allow him to enter Beacon if they knew what he was?

As his march continued he had attempted to manifest the swords time after time to arm himself somehow, but every time he attempted to… _extend_ the bone of his arm, he seemed to run into a mental block. It stopped him every time he attempted to form the blade, and the bubbling sensation died down as soon as he tried to forge the sword from his Aura.

Curiously enough, he could manage small and moderate changes in his body- turning his nails into talons, growing patches of carapace-like bone on his skin, elongating and thickening of his arms and legs or even growing his hair, although the force-grown hair had turned black. He stopped as soon as he started to feel a nagging sense of hunger from the rapid transformations.

"So, here I walk through to the Vale of death…" Jaune hummed to himself, lost in his thoughts as the daylight started to dim and make way for the evening glow...

...And a branch struck his face as he watched the sunset while walking forwards.

' _Oh, so even the flora here dislikes me…'_ he complained inwardly as he rubbed his face. The small cut to his forehead was healed rapidly, but not before drawing blood. In a moment of brilliance, Jaune reached to his 'bag of liberated assets' and pulled a metal face-mask from it, and placed the White Fang mask on his face.

' _That should stop at least some of those branches…'_ Jaune thought as the half-face mask hid his features from view.

The walk through the forest continued in silence that was only interrupted by occasional shuffle as he pushed branches- until he came to the end of the forest and walked to the clearing separating the City of Vale from the forest of Forever Fall.

Grey concrete and steel walls of Vale rose in front of him, the bulwark of the city designed to appear unapproachable and unbreakable. ' _Perhaps I could… no. It is too tall to climb, plus there's no handles… '_ he pondered as he sat down at the edge of the red-leaved forest, facing towards the wall.

A bright searchlight lit the front of the wall as the sunlight of the evening dwindled to dusk as the night closed in.

Jaune could hear his stomach starting to growl, turning his thoughts towards gathering food- and making him completely oblivious to the white arm that closed ominously to his neck from behind...

Until he felt something _grab_ onto the back of his collar and pull him to the bush nearby.

* * *

"Were you _trying_ to get arrested?" a woman wearing a similar grey and white clothes and metal mask as Jaune said as she hissed at him, her twin-tailed tongue slithering angrily between her lips.

She had pulled Jaune to a bush, away from the bright cone of a searchlight just before one passed over where he would have been sitting mere moment prior. She was currently tugging him from his sleeve through the forest, hissing angrily at him all the way.

"Erm, no. I was trying to get in Vale, actually" Jaune stammered, holding onto his bag of stolen clothes tightly.

He had been taken completely off-guard by the sudden appearance of the faunus, and she had been his first non-hostile contact with mankind in two years.

"Hssssss…. What were you doing outside here anyway?" she hissed as she led him through the darkened woods at the edge of Forever Fall as the night had fallen properly over the red-leaved forest.

"What were _you_ doing outside the walls?" Jaune countered, feeling himself starting to sweat. ' _Please dont ask me that again, please don't ask me that again...'_ "Also, where are you leading me?"

"Are you retarded as well as stupid?" the snake faunus snarled as she grew tired of the cycle of questions. "I came out to pull your sorry ass out before you got arrested, and I'm leading you to the smuggling route we use to get into Vale. Did you get hit in the head or something?"

Jaune was quiet as he weighed his options briefly before taking the chance that he had been offered-"Yes, actually."

"You what now?" The snake faunus seemed confused and she stopped to take look at him.

"I got hit in the head and forgot what I was doing?" Jaune half-asked, attempting his best to look inconspicuous. ' _She's not buying it. Shit.'_ he thought as sweat dripped down his neck

"Uh-huh. What's your name?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I can't remember, what's yours?" Jaune countered.

"Calla, but that's not here nor there." The snake faunus looked even more cautious. "I think it's best if you walk in the front now. We are going to continue this conversation _in the base_ " she focused on the last words, making it clear that the conversation was not over.

"... If I don't remember where the base is, how am I supposed to walk in front?" Jaune asked after walking past Calla to take the lead.

He felt something hard hit the back of his head before stars exploded in his view and he slumped down, unconscious.

* * *

 _..._

 _Sniff. Sniff._

 _He smelled the minds of the creatures around him._

 _He could taste the emotions around him. Stress, fear, envy…_

 _He felt hungry. He wanted to rip free, to grasp at the soft flesh…_

 _To kill…D̡è̸́v҉̵̧̨̛o̢̧͢͝u̕͢͏̢r̶̨_

A hard slap snapped Jaune out of his sleep, and he snapped his teeth at the hand that had struck him. Any further attempts of retaliating were swiftly stopped by set of thick steel restraints around his wrists and legs, binding them behind his back as he had been tied to a heavy steel chair.

Not that it mattered as the lack of food and proper rest weighed on his strength and sanity heavily.

"Awake, I see."

Hearing the soft baritone voice from in front of him made Jaune pull his head up and look at the person who had spoken to him.

A large, heavily muscled bull faunus in white and grey outfit was sitting across from him, leaning on the wooden table separating them. Jaune looked around to take in his surroundings, seeing Calla guarding the only door out of the thinly lit wood-walled room they were in. She had a long dagger and a pistol on her hips whereas the bull faunus was idly holding onto a large chainsaw on his right hand, before placing it leaning against the table.

"So. My darling Calla here told me about an interesting person that was wandering around in White Fang clothes and mask… would you happen to know anything about that person?" the bull faunus asked in soft baritone. The Faunus had a distinctive bull-like nose which disappeared behind an intricately detailed full-face mask as the man finished polishing the metal piece and placed it over his face, the mask giving him the sort of look one would find on a serial killer.

The chainsaw didn't help the image.

"N-no. No idea, haven't got a clue. What's White Fang?" Jaune responded, feeling his arms tied behind him sweat as he attempted to lie. Badly.

"...You do know that we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, right?" Calla asked from behind him, her nails pushing onto the skin of his neck.

"So, you are saying that you just randomly wandered in the woods, clothed in uniform that makes you instantly wanted in all of Vale as part of 'terrorist' faunus activist group, while being human, carrying a bag of spare uniforms, and according to Calla here, attempting to break through the walls of Vale city and then claimed to having lost memories because of a hit to the head?" The bull intoned, making a show of opening a finger from his fist as he recounted the statements.

"Yes" Jaune said.

He felt Calla slap the back of his head with her hand.

"You know, if you ever make it back to your superiors in Vale police department, you really need to tell them to raise their recruitment standards. Your infiltration attempt was probably the worst one I've ever seen." the bull said as he pulled himself up.

"Don't worry, I'm against the usual repertoire of torture threats that gets force-fed on you new infiltrator recruits so that you would 'bite the pill' as it were if you got caught. I think few days without food or water will do the trick of opening you up, no?" he said, picking his chainsword up and grasping Jaune by the shirt and pulling him off the chair.

"No, please don't. My… semblance, I guess it's got to be that, goes wild if I go too long without eating anything!" Jaune spoke in hurried tone, feeling one of the two rules he had discovered in the wilds surface.

"Your semblance? I didn't think you were a Hunter or even had your Aura unlocked. Calla, would you do the honors?" the bull faunus thrust Jaune towards the snake faunus who pulled out her pistol and swiftly shot Jaune in the arm.

Sharp bang echoed in the small room, and red mist splat on the wooden planks as the bullet entered his arm and went through it.

"You _really_ suck at lying, you know? In case you don't know, your Aura was supposed to prevent that." The bull faunus remarked as he lifted whimpering Jaune up, put a bag over the teenager's head and draged him off...

* * *

' _Well, shit.'_ Jaune thought, looking at the claustrophobically small, dark room he had been stuffed into- which was more like a closet with a row small finger-sized holes for airflow located in the top corner. The wound on his arm had closed, leaving a gnawing hunger in its place which was further amplified by the passing of time. Nevertheless there was a small first-aid bag next to him in the small closet- since apparently his captors didn't want him to pass out from the assumed bloodloss or die of infection, although it was likely that it wouldn't have helped with the latter if he was a regular human being since his clothes had been shredded to rags by the rough handling and stained by the unsanitary cell.

' _Wait, is this a… pen? Like the one they have for pigs?'_ a stray though passed by him, before he felt a growl coming from his stomach as it remembered the soft, fleshy creatures walking on all fours, full of delicious meat…

' _No, dangerous thoughts, think of something else… like socks.'_

.

..

…

' _When was the last time I ate? I think it was still when I was in… that armored form. It's been days already…'_ the thinking of socks didn't help so he switched over to thinking about more immediate concerns.

Like the gnawing and pushing sensation at the back of his head, buzzing with unfamiliar memories- which he had named collectively "the Shadow" during his more bored hours. The incessant pressing of the Shadow seemed to grow stronger in proportion to the growling in his stomach, much like when he had observed his ability in action back in the Forever Fall. Which meant that...

He needed to eat something if he didn't want to pass out and do something uncontrolled, and to make matters worse he had no idea how long it had been since he had been dumped to the cell. Perhaps hours? Days? it was hard to tell.

"...So, how's that silence working out for you" a female voice came from outside the small confine, accompanied by a faint trace of grilled pork and vegetables. And sounds of someone eating said foodstuffs. "You know, the chef's got really good grill, you might be able to get some if you started talking now" the now-familiar hissing voice of Calla continued as Jaune could imagine the snake faunus eating outside the concrete and steel cell.

He rammed his shoulder against the steel door of his cell, rattling it but failing to open it.

"Please… don't do this… I can't hold myself back for much longer" he whispered, causing the female faunus outside to laugh.

"What are you going to do? Attack me with more idiotic claims? Start composing bad poetry and sing?" she leered.

"I'm going to break out and kill everyone." Jaune stated, his voice turning quiet and serious.

"No, I don't think you will." Calla responded lightly, a clatter of plate against concrete coming from outside the cell. "I think I'll leave this here, enjoy..." she said as she left, the soft footsteps echoing in the cold concrete.

 _Sniff. Sniff._

Jaune could smell the food on the other side of the door as the rammed his shoulder against the metal again, the small room not giving him enough space to build up descent speed.

"Not again… Not again…" he whispered as he _felt_ the the Shadow creeping over him.

He rammed his shoulder on the metal again and clawed at it, feeling something bubbling in his arm as his raw skin bubbled and blackened, small dark red spikes starting to extrude from it.

He felt himself _exhale_ before he leaped at the door, the bone-spikes launched from his arm seemingly burrowing into the metal… and breaking off.

He howled in frustration, backing down from the scratched but still intact door.

He needed something to break himself out- a tool. Something that would _cut_ into the metal and concrete…

A blade.

Jaune pulled his hands into fists, _willing_ through his hunger and frustration for something to grow, to extend to pierce and cleave through the door.

In response he felt the Shadow in the back of his head push its tendrils to his mind, the bones of his thumbs extending slowly, excruciatingly slowly until breaking skin and coming out as thin, light-red talons.

He willed the talons to grow longer and thicker, until the bone talons had formed crude, light-red cleaver-like swords that cracked off from his thumbs.

As he gripped them he felt the sharp, hollow extrusions on the handles of the blades bite into his hands, drawing blood hungrily as the blades seemed to _drink_ from him, the color of the blades growing richer and deeper as they drank.

The breath he hadn't realized he held left him in great exhale as he took a look at the familiar blades which seemed to glow ever so slightly in the dark cell. The cell was further illuminated by the soft glow his eyes which had turned eerily red…

* * *

"...You found another human infiltrator? Just dispose of it and be done with it." Adam Taurus said, distracted, as he sat on a metal chair inside the small White Fang base in Vale. His arm-stump was bound with a leather cord to the chair and auto-surgeon was tending to the stump that was left of his arm.

The constant pin pricks of needles biting into his arm-stump caused a constant irritation, even though he knew the needles would work to place surgical implants necessary to facilitate a mechanical arm.

How he hated the fact he needed one.

How he hated the mission that made him need one.

No matter how long the teams had searched they had found no sign of Blake, and he had continued to search even further- going as far to the point where an entire squad got wiped out by the Grimm during the search before he had to call it off. Blake had likely went the same way, unable to defend herself after the fall, consumed by the Grimm to the point where nothing remained...

He had resigned himself to the fact that the attempted robbery had cost him his dearest advisor and oldest friend.

However the pain never stopped.

"Yes, sir. However, should we not at least try to get the infiltrator to reveal what he was sent to do?" the heavily muscled bull faunus asked in deep baritone from behind him, shaking him off his brooding and letting him know that he was still needed to run the White Fang.

"Whatever intel he would have had is unnecessary. The fact he was caught so easily suggests to me that he was some poor idiot recruited by the police and taught just enough to get caught by us so he could fill us with poor intel or at worst, a bait." Adam gritted between his teeth.

With a mechanical click the surgical tool retracted and the leather cord around his arm loosened, signaling that the field surgery was complete.

"But fine, I'll see him. Where is he?"

"We have placed him into one of the still vacant Grimm holding cells. Speaking of which, sir, I must admit my… reluctance… to smuggling Grimm of all things into the city" the heavily muscled Lieutenant of White Fang added.

"The thought of transporting Grimm, even though few in number and weak in strength doesn't fit well with me either" the Leader of White fang responded, lifting his arm-stump which now had a metallic ring at the end. "But our new allies proposed a plan. One that requires the Grimm to be present, even if it takes us most of the year to gather enough. Even if we must put aside our hatred and desire to kill those wretched creatures... until they complete their purpose."

"Sir, may I inquire as to what…" the Lieutenant begun, but Adam interrupted him.

"You may not. It is important that their purpose remains secret until the end- for now, I ask you to trust me, as you have always done, and uphold the White Fang in Vale even after I depart to Atlas in order to get a new arm and rally the Faunus that have been slaved away to the Dust mines." Adam spoke over the heavily muscled bull faunus.

"You have me by your side, sir."

"Now, show me to the pens"

.

..

...

What awaited the leader of white fang and his bull Lieutenant was a shredded steel door and a food platter in front of one of the Beowolf cages.

Both the cage and the platter were empty.

Dark red Grimm-blood coated the few other cages with equally torn doors that once had contained a Grimm creature, but now only contained sizzling, partially torn and corpses of Beowolves that somehow looked like as if someone had _eaten_ parts of the creatures.

' _What the hell?'_ was only response that both the Lieutenant and Adam Taurus managed to think as they saw the devastation, and the surprises didn't end to the pens, as when the Lieutenant had ran to raise the alarm, he had discovered that the pen watchmen had stabbed through the neck and stripped of clothing.

Their infiltrator had escaped.

* * *

"Please don't make me do this" Jaune pleaded, holding onto the dual blades tightly despite the hollow extrusions in the barbed swords's handles biting into his hands and leeching his blood.

A small, lithe form of a snake faunus was blocking his chance to freedom, standing in front of the narrow hallway exit from the concrete-built facility.

"Make you do what?" Calla mocked, flicking her dagger idly from side to side. "I don't know where you got those swords from, but do you really think you can take me? I used to be in the Hunter training program you know…" she put the dagger on her mouth, seemingly biting into the metal before swinging it behind her, hiding the blade behind her body. "If you surrender now, then both of us can walk away from this... alive."

"Just… step aside. You won't win. Please" Jaune had a sinking feeling that she wouldn't move.

He had already taken one life tonight in his hunger-daze- he had woken up from the daze to see his blade sliding off an unfortunate watchman's neck, and he had almost thrown up as he had realized how much black blood he had on his lips and chest, likely as a result of eating a Grimm he had found somewhere in the facility.

A high-pitched alarm coming from the scroll of the woman in front of him let him know that his window of opportunity was closing.

"And that's the alarm. Every faunus in this base will be on you in a moment. Make it easier for yourself and surrender"

"I can't. I'm sorry" Jaune said, leaping at the snake faunus who crouched down, dagger behind her back.

' _Here we go again'_

His charge was interrupted as the faunus rolled under him, causing his swings to fly aside awkwardly as their target was nowhere to be seen.

The glowing green exit-light of the door illuminated him briefly before he felt dagger bite into the back of his knee, sending him tumbling to the ground with a muffled cry. A hand grasped his before he managed to regain his balance and pulled him to the side, flipping Jaune over and crashing him to the floor, his face connecting with the concrete.

The pain from his knee and forehead turned to numbness which spread across his body in a wave as second dagger-strike stuck his shoulders.

A weight settled onto his back.

' _Poison'_ Jaune thought through the haze as he struggled to turn around in the ground, feeling something moving on top of him.

"'you won't win' hm? Well, it seems to me that you were all bark and no bite, mister infiltrator" Calla said from on top of him where she was straddling Jaune's back.

He felt a pair of hands grab onto his shoulder and roll him around so he was facing the snake faunus.

"Already out of words? You know, my fangs are not only for show but I honestly expected you to fight back against the venom longer." she wondered, slapping Jaune lightly to stop him from passing out.

Unknownst to her, Jaune was far from passing out. The haze he felt was of completely different nature, as he fought internally for control of his mind.

The poison coursed through his veins.

 _His veins._

 _It's veins._

 _I̛͝͏ ͡A̕͘M̷̷҉̸ ͢͠t͢͜h̷̢̛́ę҉ ̢͝p̸͘ơ͘įs҉̕̕҉o͘͠͠͠n̡͞ ̡͘͡I͞n͟͏ ̴҉̧͟t̸̨̨̧ḩ̸̶̴͝ę̢͢͜ ̨̛͏̷v̢͜e͢͏͜I̶̧̨͜͟n͟s҉҉ ̷̛́͜o͘͠f̡̕͠҉̸ ͠҉̧͘t̡̨͝h̕͟I̢͞s̷͠҉͝ ̴̛̀͘w̴͜o̶̕҉͏̨r͟҉͘͠l̷̀͝d͠…_

The liquid in his veins bubbled and blackened, the congealed mass of blood untangled and began to flow once more as his heart pumped faster, his blood turning into poison of his own. He absorbed the foreign poison into his form as the liquid became _his_.

"Well, it's time to finish this. It's been fun tough guy" Calla said from on top of him, now straddling his chest.

He saw her close in, before she leaned over him and pressed her lips on the side of his neck. Pinpricks shot up his neck as he felt pair of sharp fangs pierce the skin and a sleek tongue lick the blood…

The snake faunus reared back, coughing and hacking as black blood trickled from between her lips.

"You… what are you?" She spluttered, grasping at her throat where her skin had turned red and raw.

Jaune didn't answer, instead he pulled both of his swords in front of him and _lunged_ at the lithe faunus still straddling him.

The blades bit deep into her chest, pushing against her wildly fluctuating Aura until it gave way for the serrated bone-blade- which punctured through skin, flesh and bone with ease and broke through from her back as Jaune followed the attack, pushing her off him and driving her to the floor.

"I… I'm sorry" Jaune said as the snake faunus took her last, ragged breath.

Footsteps from nearby alerted him to the fact that the base was very much still in alert, and he dashed out of the exit door…

Only to discover a railing and a set of emergency stairs overlooking the Docks of Vale and a water canal leading towards the center of the city. The sky was dark as the chilling nightly air blew from the ocean towards the docks, ruffling his grey clothes and blonde hair.

Deep baritone voices of the faunus closed in, leaving Jaune with one option.

He jumped into the water...

* * *

Adam Taurus and his bull Lieutenant rounded the corner towards the emergency exit hallway just in time to see a flash of grey disappear over the guard rail, through the open emergency exit.

Adam ran to the railing outside to chase down the infiltrator as the Lieutenant stopped to check the form of a fallen faunus on the floor, surrounded by small pool of blood.

The leader of the White Fang managed to get to the emergency exit just in time to hear a splash from below, and readied himself to jump after the escaped infiltrator, pulling Wilt out of its sheathe with his left hand...

A cry of despair behind him pulled Adam out of his chase, and he turned to see the Lieutenant cradle the dead snake faunus close to his chest.

The moment of distraction was enough for Adam to lose sight of the gray form that had submerged deep into the water.

"Tch… got away…" he scoffed as he walked to the kneeling bull faunus, a thin line of silent tears starting to fall from under the Lieutenant's mask as the man cradled the dead body, his broad shoulders shaking slightly.

Adam placed his hand on the man's shoulder.

"She will be avenged."

The Lieutenant managed to nod quietly.

* * *

Hours later Jaune climbed out of the canal using the pair of red blades, the blades sinking into the concrete and allowing him to climb up the nearly vertical slope.

He hacked and coughed water all the way up, his lungs having filled with the liquid when he had sunk to the bottom of the canal.

After a moment of panic near the bottom of the canal, he had discovered that he didn't need to breathe air- the water would pump through his lungs like air would. It made sense in a way, as neither would most Grimm need to breathe…

With a sluggish hop, he jumped over the steel railing of the canal and into the cobblestone street, dripping water all over- before he turned back to the canal and emptied the rest of the water off his lungs and stomach. Dizzying feeling of sluggishness creeped through his frame even as his eyes wanted to close by themselves...

He needed to rest. But he couldn't just pass out on street where he would be found…

Quick look around his surroundings revealed that he had emerged from the canal into the backstreet of some busy trade district, the sounds of people chattering and cars passing by being loud enough to be heard through the few tall, dark office buildings separating him from the mass people.

Firstly he needed to find something to cover his weapons with. Spotting a pair of canvas trash bags lying next to a bin nearby, Jaune walked to the bags and emptied them into the street and stuffed his twin red blades into the bags to make pair of improvised canvas sheathes. As the bags were far too large to hold the swords naturally, he tied the bags closed around the hilts and the blade with a piece of rope.

Satisfied with the covering of his weapons he set off to climb on top of the darkened office building.

Brief walk around the roof revealed a soft spot near the edge towards the busy street and he fell to sleep immediately after sitting down, his briefly restful dreams soon wracked by nightmares of blood and smoke.

.

..

...

Jaune woke up few hours later when the acrid scent of smoke, burning Dust and wood hit his nostrils, breaking him off of his nightmare filled with much similar smells and the incessant growling of the Shadow in the back of his head.

' _What… not again… '_ he thought weakly as he rose up slowly, discovering a thick smoke column rising from a building not far from where he had passed out, the black smoke almost disappearing into the deep bluish black of night sky.

' _Can I just go back to sleep… '_ A sound of gunfire from the same direction told him no.

' _I always did want to be a hero… Just not like this.'_ Jaune sighed internally as he rubbed his eyes, checking that he still had the swords from before.

The blades seemed to be still intact, although beginning to bleach towards light red. A quick squeeze of the barbed handle fed the hungry blade and the blades returned to deep crimson colour. Jaune looked hazily at his bleeding hand as the small puncture wounds left by the handle closed, small wisps of steam rising into the cold night from the hot blood.

He stood up and leaned over the ledge of the office building, looking over the neon signs and towards the sound of gunfire, the crowd below him fleeing from the sounds of combat.

The burning building was few blocks away. He could not just descent into the crowd as he would be too distinctive. Opting to take more direct path, he elongated his legs into hindlegs not unlike those of a beowolf and readied himself for a jump.

Jaune felt no hunger from the use of his semblance- the Grimm he had found in the White Fang base had sated him well, the black flesh and dark red blood filling him up nicely.

Taking few steps for speed, he _leaped_ across the street and landed on the building on opposite side of the street, feeling himself skidding slightly as his feet sought for purchase on the steel before stabilizing.

' _Alright, I can do this'_

Jaune continued the leaping sprint across the rooftops towards the burning building and the gunfire, the twin blades in tow.

Few long leaps and one stumble (where he nearly fell off the slippery rooftop) later he was near the blazing building, and he returned his hindlegs back to normal- he was not really used to his new legs and trying to fight with them would spell disaster if he needed to intervene.

He creeped closer to the edge of the rooftop, the sounds of gunfire growing ever stronger.

A red figure was dodging and dashing towards a group of men in red and black whom were shooting at the nimble figure.

' _Who are those… the men don't look like they are police, or some law enforcement unit… but neither does the red one either…'_ Unsure of which side to support, Jaune continued to observe rather than jumping in. He had learned from before not to jump in blind...

Jaune blinked as the bitter memory of his last moments in the family lodge came back with a rush.

He pushed the memory back, determined to not break down on the spot. Not when there was still people he could save in front of him. Like a Huntsman he wanted to become would.

If he still wanted to be one?

 _Blonde hair. Screams and shouts._

 _Gleaming blade of silver, knocked away._

 _Burning pain. Familiar voice._

 _Blood._

Jaune shook his head. ' _Now is not the time to be having second thoughts or flashbacks from the past'_ he admonished himself for the second time as he continued to watch the fight unfolding below.

Jaune saw as the red figure's movements became slower and increasingly reckless until she was hit, the cane of a man with soot-stained white clothes and orange hair connecting with the red female figure as she was lunging and launching her into light pole.

F̢̧͟͞è̛̀͘͡a̴͟͟r̴̴̨͟͝

A trickle of blood ran from his nose as something caught his eye. A mere flash of something but it was enough to cause the Shadow in the back of his head to start trashing wildly, pressing memories of death and pain onto his mind. Curious over what could cause such a reaction and ignoring the clawing at his skull, the focused his eyes on the red figure now laying on the ground.

She had silver eyes.

B̮̲̪̳̬́͢u̙̯r҉͔̭̟n̡̢̝̭͖͚̤̹͕ì͕̘͈̣͕͕͚ͅͅn̪̩̹̤̖̥ģ̮͙͇̘͔̣́͟ ̧̦̀͡f͜҉̳̗l̥͖̖e̡̗̥͚͖͓s̢̱̬̜ẖ̣̜͓̕

̢̭̹̬̩͍͝I̸̵̥̼̦̩̬̺̰̤c̹̜͖̻̻̞͚͝e̗̜̠͉̝͠ͅ ͏̯̜̯̖̗͍͇̘͜s̶̩̖͙ṕ̶̨̱̥r̡̖͚̕ͅe̵͖̥̺̥͞a̧҉̭͚̠̦͇d͔̱̘̤̲̮̼́I̫̲̙̪̞ǹ̲̯̜̲̘̦̪͙̬g͏̱̮͔̙ ̶̢̛͚̙ì̸̯̱̤͚̗̗̫͢n̖̖̫̣͓̫̤ ̨҉̤͖͍̙͚͖w̷̢͚̦̕a̬v̧̠͈̝̠e̵͏̮͚̖̼ͅ ̴̩͓͔̮̩͙̤ó̙͓͓̰͇̱͡͞ͅf̵̧̣̘̠̭̫͖̻̺ ̨҉͔͙̱f̜̝̲̮̤͎̗͇̜I̡̹̤̠̜̳̲͘͜r̬̭ͅè̖̤͕̼̜͜

̜̗̭͘B̷͕̳͚͎l̢̙̗̦͕̣͓o̵͔̼̗͈̤̥̠͍͘o̠͚d̡͚̺̣̬̼̭̯̟͖ ͏̠̻̪́͜s̲̝͈͇̖̭͜͟e̦̹̰͖e̶̳̙͎p̬̪͉̗ͅI̵̮̣̹͉͖̤̬n͞͏̝̤̤̙̘g̞̟̗͔̘̜ ҉̖̣͚̘͜t̫̩̰ͅh̵̬͉ͅr̛̛̪̯̪̳͕o̫͚̞̲͔̳͜ṳ̴̦̹̗̦͉͘g̸̹͖͇̞̙͖̣͢h̪̰̲̣͝ ҉̯͙̜̣̳̼͈͝t̶̢̟̫͚̣́h̰̞͕͢͡e̝̠̫ ̭̙͘c҉͈̜͕̜̳͘r̯͉͍a͎̲̮͠c̭̞͜͢k̜̬͞s̵̝͚̥͎͘͜

͎̖̟̱͔̺̭̕͟͝

̴̡̫͔͈͈̲̣͇͠F̞̮͙̺̦̙͉̺͟͡l͈̬͓͉̱͢á̡̧̬͖̞̖ͅs̺͘͟h҉̛̣͖̥̭̳͕̯͟e̳̳͈s̤͓̤̻͙͘͝ ̛͓̤̣̀́o̱̬̬̱̗̺͓̣͜f̨̢͓̱ ̧̹͇̟̰̝ś̷̺̬̬͓͈͖̭I̛̹͈ļ͏̻͍͔̻̻͢v͈̞͈̙e҉͈̞̭͉̼͙̳r̡͓̪͝

.

The Shadow somehow knew of her, or of something she had. It feared her.

His decision was made.

He felt spikes of bone chip from the bone of his forearm, growing and extruding as they segmented into miniature spine-spikes with an incessant rash, much akin how they had grown on his forearms back at the Forest of Forever Fall.

The tips of the grown darts pushed through his skin with a pinprick of pain, ready to be unleashed.

With exhale, he let the darts fly towards the man in soot-covered clothes and the men in red and black suits.

As the barrage of darts fell on the combatants below, the battle was joined.

* * *

"..."

Loud clang of bar doors closing resounded in a well-illuminated prison cell as Jaune was unceremoniously dumped into a vacant holding cell at Vale Police headquarters.

The fight against the thugs had gone well in his opinion, the opposition had been decimated although their leader had escaped, and the girl in red was safe. The Headmistress of Beacon whom had shown up mid-fight had not agreed to his thoughts however, and had seemed distressed and angry over his actions.

' _I still can't believe I managed to land into Beacon through all of this...'_ he thought as he flexed his arms, the cuffs and restraints on them removed after he had been escorted out of the Interrogation Room where he had been interrogated by the Headmaster and Headmistress of Beacon.

He changed into the plain prison clothes he had been given when his ragged and worn grey clothes had been taken away, the worn clothes having been shredded to the point that it couldn't be identified as White Fang uniform anymore. A small MRE meal that had been placed onto the prison table was swiftly unpackaged and devoured after he had finished changing his clothes.

Jaune briefly considered telling the police about the terrorist base and the Grimm but he refrained from doing so, no doubt telling the police would cause them to lock him up as associate or something. He had learned that from the books when he was younger.

' _Yet… here I am. In Vale… Accepted to Beacon… I should be happy. So why am I not?'_ the thoughts of the days gone circled in Jaune's head as he laid down to the plain prison bed.

The thoughts of the past brought more painful memories into his mind, making him remember the fire of the lodge once more.

Even though the thin sheets were clean and warm in the plain prison bed, restful sleep eluded Jaune as he dreamed of a man with a shield facing against the wild-haired woman wielding a long, red blade as the sky burned behind them…

 **AN:**

 **This chapter concludes the "Wandering" era, and up next, we'll enter the "Beacon" era.**

 **Next chapter: 16. sept "Beacon"**

 **I posted this chapter a day early as I would have been unable to update tomorrow due to a weekend off home. Better early than late?**

 **Also I've been trying to up the wordcount on each chapter slightly, as previous chapters have been around 5k words, and I aim to have them be around 7-9k in the future.**

 **Side note, OC's have really thin plot armor.**

 **Thank you all for the support!**

 **(Do let me know in the reviews how you have liked the story so far and your predictions of the future, I do enjoy reading them)**

Omake:

Two doctors were staring at the x-ray pictures taken of Jaune during his after-action medical examination.

The coffee pot at the side table of the office had been drained empty a long time ago and the bottle of whiskey next to it was equally dry.

"So, are you going to tell the investigators about this?" asked the first doctor, holding up an x-ray image showing a superficially human form with approximately every internal organ in the wrong place. It was something straight out of a horror novel- one where a demented scientist had extracted all internal organs from a host and then stuffed them right back, not knowing exactly where each part went.

"Are you going to tell them about the bone spikes moving around in his forearm? Or the plated spine structure? The segmented ribcage? You know, things that should either cause immense pain or instant death yet the subject is just merrily humming in his cell?" the second doctor asked from where he was, on the verge of heaving on his respective papers.

The doctors turned in unison to looked at the security camera feed from the cell where their patient was being held, only to see him suddenly extend his fingers into long, serrated red talons.

Both of the doctors blinked in unison and turned to look at each other.

Looking back at the camera they saw their patient turn his head left and right while rubbing his hand, which had turned back to normal in the brief time the doctors had looked away.

"Yeah, let's just call it 'a-okay everything is fine' and forget about it"

The X-ray pictures were thrown into a bin and burned.

No-one would be wiser.


	6. Beacon

Jaune woke up early on the hard prison bunk. It had been his first actual bed in over two years, which seemed to help him get somewhat restful sleep despite the constant gnawing of nightmares being present whenever he felt himself fall too deep into his dreams.

Waking up in unfamiliar place gave him the usual series of goosebumps though, and he was already almost morphing his hands into claws before he managed to stop himself, the shapeshifting dying to mere blackening of his veins.

' _Calm down… Calm dow… I'm safe…'_ Jaune kept repeating the mantra to himself, calming himself down. Moments passed in silence until he had calmed himself enough to realize that he was still in the small holding cell block of the Vale Police department, the events of the past few nights returning to him slowly.

A glance to clock outside the bars of his cell revealed that he had few hours to spend before the police department would wake up proper- so he decided to just sit on his bed and go through the recent events in his mind, trying to find answers as to _why_ his more instinctive side was so afraid of the silver eyes.

By the time the morning had come properly, he had found no reason other than being afraid.

Odd, since _he_ didn't feel fear whenever he had seen the eyes. It was strange feeling, being both afraid and not at the same time.

Sound of a morning call echoed in the holding cells, signalling for the occupants to wake up.

A sharp sound of hard-heeled boots on the concrete snapped Jaune back to the present as casually-dressed police officer walked in front of his cell, opening the electronic lock of the cell door with his Scroll.

"You have a visitor"

' _Who could it be?'_ Jaune wondered, surely it wasn't the red-clad girl, he was fairly certain he hadn't even introduced himself to the girl properly in the heat of battle.

He had a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something important though...

.

...

…

As soon as Jaune entered a small meeting room, guided and accompanied by pair of armed officers, the mystery was solved in form of multiple blonde- haired missiles impacting his chest, a wailing cry following the trace of long blonde hair.

"JAUNEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeee..." his sisters, Amber and her twin, Ember, cried as they latched themselves hard onto his chest, the 19-year old pair being as emotional as they had been the last time Jaune had seen them. His remaining sisters, 23- year old Amethyst and 15-old Beryl watched from behind, not wanting to crowd Jaune too much but sharing conflicted expressions between concerned, afraid and happy.

"We all thought you were dead for sure" the twins sobbed through happy tears as the pair hugged the breath out of Jaune.

"You have grown. You have grown a lot, Jaune" Amethyst said quietly from behind the twins. "We got messages that a family member previously reported as 'Missing' had been found." she reached to squeeze his shoulder. Beryl just nodded, her quiet behaviour normal to the shy girl.

After a moment of hugging and convincing of the twins to let Jaune go, the group went to sit on a visitor's table, the entire exchange observed closely by the pair of police officers stationed near the exit doors.

The twins refused to completely let go of Jaune however, sitting beside him and holding tightly to the hem of his shirt.

Amethyst was the first one to break the moment with a matter-of-fact tone.

"What happened to you. Where is mom, where is dad, what happened to Sapphire, Jade and Coral?" she asked in rapid succession, ignoring the glares the twins set on her way.

"This will take a while" Jaune intoned before he told his sisters of the events that befell Shion village and their family, choosing to write off his life after escaping the village as 'wandering towards Vale'.

Whether or not the sisters caught onto his misdirection was left uncertain as the small group was overtaken with tears after hearing what had happened to their parents and sisters.

"But… Sapphire, Jade and Coral might be still alive? You're sure you didn't see them… die?" Amethyst asked quietly, her face white and traced with tears.

"I'm not sure…" Jaune admitted with whisper that all of his sisters present could hear "But if they are still alive, I'll find them and I will bring them back home- I will become a hunter like dad"

Amethyst looked at Jaune with curious expression. "You've been saying that for years. But you have no training, and I have seen the Beacon Academy's requirements- they are demanding..." she said slowly.

"I've been accepted into the Beacon Academy already"

Jaune dropped the news with his usual subtlety akin to that of a carpet bomber

"WHAT" was the collective reply from all of his sisters.

The looks on his sisters let Jaune knew that it was going to be a long day ahead.

* * *

The meeting had come to an end when the small family had been interrupted by the police officers, letting the sisters and Jaune know that all charges had been dropped against Jaune Arc for manslaughter, assault and battery- and the charges drew another round of shocked expressions and shouts from the crowd of sisters.

After his sisters had calmed down the officers released Jaune to go home with the sisters. He had been given a set of plain clothes by the police department after he had declined the return of his old, stolen clothes mainly due to their poor condition.

"I've kept the family running since… well. Dad and mom were not around anymore" Amethyst said to Jaune as the group had walked through Vale to the residential district.

"...But without dad's income, we've been having to work harder than ever before. We're managing and we're not hungry, but it's been tough two years" Beryl added quietly from beside him, the twins lagging slightly behind.

"I see… I'm sorry" Jaune said, feeling his chest tighten.

"What for? None of this is your fault." Amethyst stated, a dangerous glint appearing in her eyes "And if you dare to insist that you could have fought off someone that even a trained hunter or an entire village couldn't, I'm going to snap"

"R-right" Jaune answered.

Gradually the family home came to view- a large two-story house which had belonged to the Arc family for generations past, and some history researchers believed it to be one of the original buildings that had been built when Vale City built the residential district hundreds of years ago.

"We're home!" The twins announced as one as they held onto each other's hands as the group entered the living room.

"We're going to cook something…" "...how about you make yourself home Jaune?" the twins echoed "The library is still intact..." Ember added "...and i think dad's old clothes fit you..." Amber echoed "...so you have change of clothes too!" the twins ended in synch.

"I honestly don't know how they do that" Amethyst added from the side, "Regardless, we need to get you clothes, i'm certain your old ones won't fit and dad's might be too big"

"You saved all of our clothes…" Jaune mumbled quietly. A rasp of knuckles on his shoulders shook him back to the real world as Amethyst chuckled.

"Of course we did… We couldn't lose hope, could we now?" She took a shaky breath "But I guess we have to pack mom's and dad's clothes somewhere now…"

Jaune hugged his big sister.

.

..

...

Rest of the day went by with the sisters telling tales of their life in the Vale to Jaune and just reconnecting the family in the living room after a modest but filling meal. Before any of them realized, the day had turned to an evening withthe sky outside the windows turning dark.

"...and that's when I told him, 'We are two in one deal, take it or leave it!'" Ember finished telling a tale of how she and Amber had found their boyfriend.

"I still don't approve how they both share the same guy" Amethyst pouted from the side where she was going through Nicholas Arc's old clothes, trying to help Jaune find some that would fit him. "But in the end, it's not my choice to make" she added as the twins sent a glare at the older sister. Meanwhile Beryl was reading a book in the corner of the room, humming happily.

"He sounds like a great guy, I hope you two, err, three are happy." Jaune said quietly, smiling at the twins before his vision was obstructed as Amethyst threw a large dress shirt at him, the piece of fabric landing on his head.

Jaune laughed as he reached to untangle the piece of cloth from around his head, the fabric having tied itself around his face and…

 _...Suffǫ̸́͞͞c̴̕͡͡à͟t͘͏i̷̷͟ơǹ̵̨͘͞.̡̀͢͢_

 _҉C̴̶̨҉a̶͜p̵̧͝t̸̡̕͢ư̶̧̛͟r̕͟é̴d̢̡́.̨̨ ҉̴͟͢F́͜͏l̷̴̨̀͜ȩ̵̸̸͞e͡.̶̨_

 _̢̀͟͠͝B̶̸̡̛͠r͏e̢͘҉̧͏a͏͠ḱ̕͜͞ ͢͏̧҉̛a̷͏w̧a̴͟͝͞y̷̵̛͠.̸̶̢̀ ̵͡͡͏_

.

G̷̀͡r͠o̧̨͘͢w̡͟͞͞l͏̶

Jaune gasped for air as he felt the foreign pressure wash over him, the Shadow, which had been unusually quiet for the last few hours, pushing itself back to his mind at full force.

He rammed himself back in control of mind, _feeling_ veins of black blood open in his body and across his face before he managed to calm himself, his shaky hands working to untangle the cloth from around his head...

When he pulled the cloth off, the blackened veins had returned to normal.

"...Jaune? Are you feeling well?" Amethyst asked, having felt something shift in Jaune's behaviour. "Did you just… growl?"

"It's all right… don't worry." Jaune responded in quiet, shaky voice. "I-I think this shirt won't fit…" he handed the shirt back to Amethyst who looked over Jaune with concerned gaze before letting the matter drop.

At the corner of the room, Beryl tilted her head to the side as she looked at her brother over the book in front of her.

The twins continued to chat happily about day-to-day happenings, oblivious to the near-incident.

"About tomorrow…" Amethyst interrupted the twins finally while closing the cardboard box that contained clothes that hadn't fit Jaune. "We need to go shopping. I have enough savings to get Jaune proper clothes and day-to-day items but I… don't think I have enough to commission a weapon for a Hunter" She looked at the twins who nodded in unison.

"We have enough to help with that…" "... if we pool our savings together…." "...we should be able to commission something!" the twins spoke, both of them holding each other's hands.

"..." Beryl was quiet, before nodding and holding up her hand as well, signalling that she wanted to help with the expenses.

Jaune looked at his sisters who were committed enough to pool their savings to help him get to Beacon...

He needed to tell them.

"No." He said after a brief pause. "You don't need to get me a weapon" he continued as the twins gave him a playful glare.

Amethyst lifted her eyebrow. "You _will_ need a weapon in Beacon. I won't have you going there unarmed."

"Before dad… well, when we left Shion, dad unlocked my Aura… and I unlocked my Semblance in the wilds" Jaune told them, before he brought his right hand in front of him "I don't need a weapon, I am my own weapon".

Before the sisters managed to interject or say anything else, Jaune _concentrated_ his focus on his hand, allowing the Shadow creep forwards from the back of his head…

 _Shift._

The bone of his thumb extended once more into a red talon, elongating and thickening to form a serrated, light-red single-edged guardless sword. The blade separated from his thumb as he gripped it by its barbed hilt, the small blood-veins and bone-webs that connected the blade to him tearing and cracking off with series of quiet snaps.

Jaune exhaled and looked at the newly formed blade as it drank from him, turning from light red to deep scarlet as his blood coursed through the blade's veins.

He looked up to explain to his sisters that he had a weapon already- to see the twins passed out.

Beryl had backed herself against the wall and was holding tightly to the book in front of her with wide, panicked eyes.

Amethyst was looking at Jaune with deathly pale face, her sapphire eyes staring at his with fear.

Jaune blinked. Amethyst twitched violently.

 _Fear..._

T͏͜r̢͡͠aće͏҉ ̴͜t̢h̶̕e͞҉ f҉̸̶ea̸͘ŕ̢.̢͏.̵̢̕

͏̴T́h̵̢ę̴ ̶̨̛ṕ́͝r̵͡e̡y͘ ͡i̢s͠ ̶̢b̴͠͞e͏f͏̸̛or͏̵e̢ ҉y͘͡ou.̨͡.͠.̛

̕͜H̛͟͠u̶̧ǹ͠͞t̷͡͏͠.͠.̢̛

With a visible effort, Jaune drew his eyes away from his sisters.

He looked to the side to see his reflection in the window, discovering a pair of baleful red eyes staring back at him from a pale face framed by black veins…

Jaune tore his eyes off the view, letting the bone-sword fall to the floor. He felt a small _snap_ as something broke between himself and the blade, the single-edged sword beginning to slowly bleach and vaporize into black mist as he closed his eyes. Gradually, he forced the tendrils of the Shadow back to where it nested, deep in the back of his head.

When he looked back at his reflection in the window, his eyes had turned back to deep blue and the veins were gone.

He exhaled. "I… I don't need a weapon. But thank you…"

Amethyst moved slowly towards Jaune and wrapped her arms around him, her hands shaking uncontrollably. After it became clear that he wouldn't attack her, she let a quiet sob and held him tighter against her chest. Behind her, Beryl was trying to wake up Amber and Ember, the twins still laying on their beanbag chairs, unconscious.

"It's alright, I'm alright, everything's going to be alright…" Jaune murmured to his big sister's ear, the murmur calming her down slowly

"What happened to you..." she finally muttered as the twins started to stir, Beryl moving towards from the pair of sisters to grab the hem of Jaune's shirt, holding tightly with a shaky hand.

Rest of the evening in Arc household, or what remained of it, was spent in quiet.

The night gave the small family no salvation as the occupants each had nightmares of their own….

* * *

Jaune stirred slowly from his death-like slumber. His old bed had served him well to bring restful sleep despite the memories stirred by it, enough so that he had slept in nearly unconscious state for the first time in what had felt like millenia.

Which meant that discovering his left hand unable to move and constrained by something came with a surge of instinctive panic.

... _Maw of razor teeth descending on him, biting deep into his shoulder…_

 _The beast trashed and all sensation disappeared from his left arm as it was severed…_

B̛͠҉̢r̡̧̢̛͟e̵̷a̡͘͢͏ḱ̡͢͡ ̢̀f̧̧̧̛r̸͝é̵̡͢͝ȩ

́͢R҉҉̡̕e̢͠ņ͜d̷̡̡̛

His right arm freed itself from the sheets in whip-like motion, the finger-bones of his free hand breaking his skin to form red, serrated talons and he reached to tear apart the thing constricting his left arm…

' _NO!'_ Jaune screamed internally as he woke up properly, stopping his hand above the shape that was tied around his left arm. He felt the talons retract back into his hand with a sizzle and black vapour, the constant bubbling of his semblance ever-present during the back and forth transformation.

' _Deep breaths… calm down…'_ he took a ragged breath, calming himself until his hand returned to it's normal human form.

Carefully, Jaune reached to untangle the thick bedsheet that covered a lump of something holding his hand tied to the bed... to see Beryl holding onto his left arm tightly, hiding under the bedsheet. The younger sister most likely had creeped into his bed after having a nightmare, just like she had done in the past whenever father and mother were not home and she was having one of her nightmares…

Jaune reached down with his right hand to stroke her hair, causing the usually shy girl to snuggle closer to his arm, tightening her grip even further. ' _I need to get to Beacon… This can't continue for much longer or i end up hurting someone…'_ he thought idly as he continued to stroke his sister's head until he felt her stir, and then freeze still.

"..." she looked up with hazy brown eyes to meet his blue pair, before her eyes widened and she backed up slightly, releasing his hand.

"Good morning?" Jaune half-asked, rubbing his left hand as it started to tingle after being stuck on one position for so long.

"...Good morning." she affirmed, before standing up from the bed and walking out of the room, her bare feet padding on the wooden boards. Jaune kept looking after her until her deep blue pajamas disappeared from the doorway before rising up himself, his red-and-brown set of pajamas rustling lightly.

Amethyst had found his old set of light blue onesies he had used as pajamas two years ago- but it turned out that he no longer fit them, so he had gone with his dad's larger set of pajamas.

Quick change of clothes later he walked downstairs to see the rest of the sisters already awake, gathering breakfast onto the dining table.

It seemed that only Jaune and Beryl had gotten proper sleep last night as the twins had bags under their eyes and Amethyst's face was still pale, her long blonde hair hanging unbrushed in a wild mane on her shoulders.

"Are you going to be all right?" Jaune asked the gathered sisters, eliciting few nods. He reached for a brush on nearby shelf and walked behind Amethyst, the older sister freezing still as he disappeared from her vision… until he started to brush her wild hair.

"Jaune… that _thing…_ was it really you?" Amethyst asked quietly as rest of the sisters started to eat their modest breakfast. Amethyst gradually leaned backwards to allow Jaune better untangle her hair.

"Yes… and that's partially why I'm going to Beacon- to find out more about myself." he replied, making sure to be loud enough for the rest of the sisters to hear as well.

"Partially?"

"I need to find Sapphire, Coral and Jade. To know what has happened to them, I need to find out about _what_ exactly I am and… I _want_ to help stop the Grimm and the low-lives who would attack the innocent. I know I have the power to help… I can't just _not_ use it." Jaune murmured in low tone, before extracting the brush from Amethyst's hair and placing the brush back to the side table.

"So, you still want to become a hero, eh?" She sighed.

"I never asked for this." Jaune replied in low, serious voice.

Amethyst lifted her eyebrow.

"Well, I did kind of ask for it, but not in _this_ way." Jaune confirmed.

She sighed. "Very rarely do we get what we want, in the way we want it…"

The breakfast continued in silence, the twins being unusually depressed and Amethyst choosing not to speak further. Beside Amethyst, Beryl was eating her cereal with vacant expression.

* * *

"Are you sure you are well enough to shop by yourself? Do you think the money will be enough?" Amethyst fussed as Jaune set to go shopping for clothes after the breakfast, opting to go alone instead of having the crowd of sisters accompany him.

The sisters had disagreed at first but finally chose not to press the matter, as they too realized that it would have been cumbersome to look for clothes with a crowd.

"I'll be fine, I'm not 15 anymore, am I?" Jaune asked playfully, taking extra care to not trip in his father's slightly oversized boots.

"No, I suppose not… you're 17 now." Amethyst said, even as her eyes seemed to water a little.

Behind her, Beryl, Amber and Ember were standing in the hallway.

Jaune gave Amethyst a quick hug before moving onto Beryl, the smaller girl taking the hug with stoic pose. He hugged the twins carefully, feeling the pair freeze still as his hand touched with their shoulders.

' _They are afraid… I can feel it…'_ Jaune thought sadly as he let go of the twins who seemed to sink on themselves, looking at Jaune with tired eyes.

"I'll be back before afternoon"

"You better be, or we'll come looking" The sisters promised.

.

..

...

' _Right, I need to get a Scroll'_ Jaune thought to himself, wandering through the commercial district after buying few sets of jeans, cargo pants, underwear, shirts and hoodies. The combat-wear store didn't really have anything that he would have wanted as he was fairly sure he would just end up ripping the expensive combat clothes during his transformations anyway, so he didn't waste any money on them.

Even if it meant that he would go to battle wearing a set of inexpensive jeans.

He did pick up few smoke bombs and smoke grenades from the combat-wear shop though, interested on how they functioned (and they were on sale on the shop's "accessories" section, his treacherous mind told him)- the cashier allowing the purchase after he had submitted to a brief blood test as the normal way of recognition via Scroll was not an option.

' _Thinking of combat clothes, I really need to find a way of transforming something on my skin that appears like clothes if I rip my actual clothes…'_ his line of thinking was soon interrupted as he heard faint traces of female cries originating from mere few hundred feet away.

"Not again" Jaune sighed, before setting off towards nearby alleyway and using emergency exit stairs to climb to the roof.

He stashed his purchases bar pair of smoke bombs into a dark corner of the rooftop and set off in a leaping run towards the source of the screams while flaring his Semblance- his legs elongating to Beowolf-like hindlegs akin to day prior as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop while avoiding jumping over the crowd below.

' _Good thing I wore cargo pants'_ he thought as he heard the fabric give a tortured groan, trying to house a pair of thick black legs with more joints than the piece of fabric was designed for. His foot were unaffected, as they were not part of the brief transformation.

Luckily the fabric was stretchy enough to not break over the stress and even managed to cover the pair of extra joints.

Coming closer to the source of the cries and screams, he set himself down on the rooftop of a nearby building much like he had done day-and-half prior.

' _What's with the redheads needing to be saved?'_ he thought as he saw a mob of screaming teenagers and young adults surround and push towards a red-haired girl who had backed herself to a storefront, her emerald eyes moving from side to side as she tried to smile at the bloodthirsty crowd. Almost all of the people in the crowd were either having their Scroll out or were holding to some sort of object, varying from clipboards to sheathes, shields and bats- most of the crowd also carrying a pen or some sort of marking tool.

Questions filled Jaune's mind as he kept staring at the event rapidly unfolding below him.

' _Is that a riot? Where is the police? What are the rioters trying to do with those marking tools, write a message after they do the poor girl in?'_ Jaune wondered as he felt the bones of his forearms instinctively begin to chip to form a clusters of spine-darts… before he breathed deeply, pushing the ever-present desire to kill back and forcing the half-formed spikes merge back onto his flesh.

' _Not this time… There must be another way…'_ he exhaled, feeling sweat form on his brow as the Shadow receded once more. He couldn't always resort to violence as first answer… Not if he wanted to change the direction of his life.

To become someone who saves, not someone who only kills.

To become a Hunter.

His internal monologue was cut short as he couldn't wait around for much longer- the girl was unarmed, wearing just plain clothes with a red sash around her waist and the mob was now almost within arm's reach of her. The red-hooded girl day and a half back had been a huntress or something based off her giant scythe and lightning-fast dashes, but it looked like that the one in front of him was just a regular civilian.

He needed to intervene, fast.

In a moment of brilliance, Jaune yanked a pair of smoke grenades and a smoke bomb off his belt and threw them at the crowd before pulling the hood of his hoodie up to cover his face.

Jaune jumped down, aiming to grab the girl and get her out of the mob's way.

.

..

...

It did not go as planned.

Well, the 'grab and run' part had gone well, the smoke bomb detonating and causing the rioters to rear back- allowing him to grab the girl and jump back to the rooftop with her in tow, the smoke concealing their exit.

What he had not expected was how she had turned around and sunk her elbow deep into his face as soon as they had landed, tearing herself off his grip.

"Who are you? What were you trying to do? Who sent you?" the redhead asked sharply, holding her hands up in some sort of martial arts stance- one that appeared so natural on her like it was her second nature. The girl's emerald eyes glinted dangerously as she looked at Jaune who just shook his head, backing up slowly.

' _Damn, that elbow hurt'_ he thought as he felt his nose regenerate back to how it used to be before it had been smeared all across his cheek.

"I'm Jaune, I just wanted to save you from the mob below!" he exclaimed, getting a sinking feeling that he might have chosen the wrong side in his haste. He pulled his hood down to show that he had no ill intentions.

"Mob?" she asked, unconvinced.

"Yeah, the rioters below that looked like they wanted to turn you into an example or something, or did you miss how they tried to lynch you?" Jaune said, a bit hurt over the cold treatment. He had saved her life, hadn't he?

The girl blinked, relaxing her stance slightly. "Oh."

"Yeah, so… can you find your way back to doing whatever you were doing by yourself?" Jaune asked "Because you're out of the harm's way now, just… try not to get targeted by the mobs like that in the future?"

"Um, okay?" she said, uncertain.

"Right, so, take care!" Jaune said before backing towards the edge of the rooftop.

"Do you even know who I am?" the redhead asked, tilting her head questioningly.

"Erm, no, should I?" Jaune was getting _really_ sinking feeling now as he kept backing up, making sure to keep his hands visible.

' _Isn't that, like, how every villain introduces themselves in the books?'_

"Well, glad you're alright, miss totally-not-villain or, er, lady villaneeeeeeeeee..." he attempted to say before tripping over the edge of the rooftop and falling from the roof.

The green-eyed girl was left alone on the rooftop, blinking owlishly while still in the slightly relaxed martial arts stance.

* * *

' _The day went well, i guess'_ Jaune thought while fiddling with his new Scroll. It was his first time owning one, which meant that he was less than expert at handling and using something as delicate as it- even though he had asked for extra sturdy model fitting of a Hunter, and then picked the cheapest one of the models that were presented.

The sun was barely setting as he opened the sturdy front door of the Arc family home. He walked quietly upstairs and dumped his purchases on his bed- He'd need to pack the clothes later anyway as the Beacon's Initiation ceremony would start tomorrow.

He heard the telltale voice of a television from downstairs and walked down to investigate, discovering his sisters in the living room and sitting around the couch by the holographic television- which displayed a news program.

"... _Today, we received news of a famous four-time winner of Mistral Regional tournament, Pyrrha Nikos, being abducted in front of her gathered fans in the middle of the busy trade district of Vale by an unknown assailant. However, she was able to escape with ease and released a statement that she wished to not pursue any charges…_

' _Oh, that explains it...'_ was the only thing Jaune could think as he looked at the broadcast being played on full screen.

The screen showed a picture taken by a Scroll where a man with grey hood and black cargo pants had wrapped his hand around red-headed girl's waist, a hood hiding his features from view but revealing a strand of blonde hair underneath. The man was poised to jump whereas the girl had surprised expression on her face, her emerald-green eyes wide. Black smoke obstructed the ground around them and was making the image slightly hazy.

Amethyst looked at Jaune to welcome him back after realizing that he had entered the room, only to stop in the middle of the sentence to check over his clothing and then turn back to the news broadcast where the image was still plastered over the screen.

When she turned back to Jaune, her eyes were narrowed dangerously.

He felt a drop of sweat work its way down his neck.

"I-I can explain?" Jaune stated weakly.

* * *

Before Jaune realized it, the evening had turned to a night, and after a brief rest, to a morning.

"Sheesh, I still can't believe you _accidentally_ abducted one of the leading champions of the regional tournament scene…" Ember complained as the sisters accompanied Jaune to the airship that would depart to Beacon, his clothes and day-to-day items packaged and sorted.

The students of the Beacon Academy were required to sleep in the dorms provided by the School- which would likely mean that he would not see his sisters for a while, the students getting their next chance to visit Vale City after their first week of school.

"...and that you didn't get your butt handed to you in the process" Amber finished her twin's speech as usual.

The day apart from him had seemed to do wonders to help the twins get over their fear of him, or at least hide it, as the twins had returned to their usual happy chatter.

"Remember to keep in contact with us. You might not get out of the Beacon grounds for while but that doesn't mean that you couldn't send us mails and pictures with your Scroll" Amethyst said, helping Jaune load the large leather case containing his clothes to a cargo trailer that would take it to the airship. Beryl was standing slightly to the side while holding onto the hem of Jaune's shirt.

He had chosen to go with a black dress shirt and blue jeans, foregoing the cargo pants as being too informal even though he had taken a liking to the stretchy fabric after discovering it's strength- and how it could disguise minor uses of his Semblance.

"I'll stay in touch" Jaune said before stepping forwards to hug each of his sisters, glad that the twins didn't freeze when he reached to hug them although they did flinch slightly.

"I'm going to miss you girls" he said, pretending to not notice the twin's reactions before departing to search for a spot in the airship…

.

..

...

Somehow the airship felt _floaty_ as he walked on the metal floor of the passenger liner floating in air. The ship stayed in air with four massive hover-engines, hovering idly whist held still by the docking clamps of the air-docks.

It was hard to describe _how_ the ship's movements felt unnatural to him- which sort of made sense, as the floating machine wasn't natural per say.

He listened idly as the announcer voice reported that the departure to Beacon would be in ten minutes.

' _I mean, I have ten minutes to get used to the floaty feeling, i'm sure it's not going to be that bad…'_

After the ten minutes had passed, Jaune discovered that yes, it could be that bad and to make matters even worse, it would escalate when the ship actually _moved_.

' _Ohno, nono, no, please. Where is the bucket?'_ he thought frantically as he continued his desperate search for a toilet in the packed airship, feeling a telltale signs of airsickness well inside his stomach as the floaty feel of the airship was multiplied by about hundred after the departure, followed by feeling of moving forwards and up at the same time.

His search was finally rewarded as he saw a illuminated sign pointing towards his goal...

"..." The line to the toilet was around ten metres long.

' _Damn it'_ he thought as he did the only thing he could.

He ran to the nearest railing and retched over it. Soon after, his breakfast flew over the side of the airship to slowly descend towards a lake far underneath, some of it hitting a small flock of crows flying in the wake of the airship.

Excited voice of a young girl rang in the background, partially muffled by the angry cawing of crows beneath, as Jaune started to feel a bit more stable as the act of unintentionally carpet bombing marine and avian life underneath numbed the floaty feeling of the airship considerably.

He wiped his mouth on a napkin that he had grabbed from the ship's cafeteria before turning around, intent on finding something stable and chain himself to it-

...And promptly bumped to a girl with a red cloak who had come to look at him when he had been leaning over the railing, tiling her head to the side.

"Ohmygosh it's you!" she exclaimed excitedly as she got a good look at his face, starting to wave her hand at him despite being less than a foot away from him. Her silver eyes seemed to pierce right through him as he felt the Shadow once again start to claw at his mind- before freezing as her eyes focused on his.

Jaune shook his head briefly to clear the incessant buzzing that still lingered, feeling a lump of ice-like coldness at the back of his head. Light-headed, he felt something wet trickling on his face as he looked at the girl whose silver eyes had widened.

Unable to quite formulate a proper response yet, Jaune just waved back numbly, causing the red-clad girl to giggle.

"Your nose is bleeding and... uh, I never actually asked for your name, did I?" she asked slightly sheepishly "I'm Ruby Rose!" she claimed, looking at Jaune expectantly.

"I'm Jaune Arc" he said after wiping his nose, the bleeding having stopped nearly instantly after it had begun. He offered her his non-blooded hand to the girl- which she took eagerly, shaking it approximately hundred times in less than five seconds before letting go.

"We've met before, in the fight with the thugs three days ago" Jaune continued, trying to make small talk despite his half-stunned condition "I hope you recovered from it? You got kind of roughed up."

"I've never been better" Ruby exclaimed "In fact, that's what convinced Headmaster to accept me into Beacon as well!"

She seemed to pause before she added "I mean the fight made the Headmaster accept me into Beacon, not the 'being roughed up' part. Although I didn't know that you were going to attend too!" She seemed to consider something for a brief moment before leaning closer to whisper "And between you, me, tree, and that suspicious pillar with yellow hair, I think we're being eavesdropped."

She motioned for Jaune to stand still as the red-clad reaper creeped closer to a pillar that didn't seem to _quite_ manage to completely hide a mane of voluptuous golden-yellow hair that peeked from behind it.

With a squealing war-cry, Ruby launched herself at the pillar and dragged a curvaceous figure from behind it, the golden hair settling on the figure's back.

Jaune blushed slightly as he saw what the figure was wearing, or rather what the figure was displaying with her short tan jacket revealing generous amounts of midriff, black skin-tight mini shorts and a partial waistcloth that was attached to her hips with a thin belt.

"This is my sister, Yang!" Ruby announced happily, holding onto the girl's arm.

"Yo" the girl in question said to introduce herself before turning to Ruby "Soo~ Is this the boyfriend you've been talking about for the last couple of days?"

The red-clad girl blushed and pulled her hood up "I- It's not like that! He just helped me out when I was in trouble!"

As Ruby continued to stammer, the taller girl sized Jaune up and down with her eyes. "Huh. Not _that_ bad looking, but you could do better." She said as she walked up to the confused man.

"Thank you for saving Ruby... " Yang said, before leaning threateningly towards him "...But If you so much as touch her, i'm going to snap you in half."

Jaune felt a bit faint as the busty girl was far closer to him than he was comfortable with- although not because of her presence, but because she somehow felt familiar. He felt a tinnitus pop in his ears as he tried to connect the familiar feeling to something to no avail.

"YANG" Ruby exclaimed from behind her sister, grabbing onto Yang's waist-cloth and dragging her off Jaune. "Be nice!" she hissed at the golden-haired girl before turning back to Jaune.

"I'm sorry, Yang gets like that whenever she finds out I have a boyfriend." Ruby apologized, before freezing still. "I mean boy who is a friend, not boyfriend. Uhh… a friend who is also a boy… I mean, a stranger who is a boy who also helped me..." she stammered before going quiet, seemingly trying to calm herself down and turning her gaze towards the metal floor of the slowly rocking airship.

Just as Jaune thought that Ruby had calmed down, she reached down to grasp something at the back of her waist. She drew out a red and black mechanical case- which unfolded in a second to form a giant scythe.

Jaune felt a trickle of sweat run down his neck as Ruby lifted her head slowly to look into his eyes. She placed the tip of the weapon into contact with the metal floor of the Airship, the sharp blade causing small sparks to fly as it dragged against the metal.

' _Did she just snap?'_ Jaune thought frantically as the smaller girl _looked_ up to him, her silver eyes wild with an unsettlingly affectionate smile on her lips.

Behind her, Yang's smile had made way for an unreadable expression and the taller girl facepalmed mere seconds later- the quick look at her triggering another muffled tinnitus on Jaune's ears before he focused his attention to the red-clad girl closing towards him slowly.

Jaune _heard_ something whimper in the back of his head as she turned her gaze to the scythe, away from him.

" _This_ is my dear Crescent Rose." The girl in red began "You've seen her I think, but I haven't introduced you to her properly…hey!" the rest of her speech was blurred to an indignant squeak as Jaune bolted off in the opposite direction, aiming to place as much distance between him and the scythe before he would be a head shorter.

On his way out he could faintly hear how Yang told her sister that 'introducing someone to her weapon' didn't quite mean what she had meant...

* * *

' _Gaaah'_ Ruby whined internally as she attempted to remain stoic under pressure.

Yang had teased her mercilessly over the whole incident with Jaune until she had finally calmed down, before hugging the air out of Ruby.

"I still can't believe my baby sis is going to Beacon with me! This is going to be the best day ever" The taller girl gushed, holding onto Ruby tightly. "We're going to be the bee's knees, best pair of Huntresses ever graduated!" She continued as the red-hooded girl was struggling to breathe with her legs kicking in the air weakly, until the smaller girl landed a uppercut on Yang's chin- the hit loosening Yang's death-grip enough to allow her to escape.

Ruby landed on her feet nimbly before turning to her big sister

"I don't want to be 'the bee's knees', I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees" she said, continuing as Yang looked like she wanted to interrupt "Yes, I know, I was moved two years ahead… but I don't want to be treated as some sort of mystical prodigy because of it" She added quietly.

Yang placed her hand on top of Ruby's head and patted her.

"And don't you worry, you'll be a normal girl if you really want to be one. Plus, I'll be there to help you no matter what!" she stated in her usual boisterous tone, before her eyes started to glint mischievously "But I don't think I need to help you that much, you little minx. Found a boyfriend in the first day of Beacon, did you?"

"Yaaaaa _annng…_ " Ruby cried out as the airship slowly glided towards the Beacon Academy docks.

.

..

...

A hour later the airship had touched down and the crowd of students unloaded themselves off the ship.

After a brief battle against the flow of the crowd, Ruby and Yang had managed to push themselves off the docks and into the small plaza separating Beacon proper from the airship docks by the cliff.

"Ooooh is that a greatsword that unfolds to form a machine gun? Ohmygosh, that girl has a missile launcher with a bayonet, that-is-so-cooooool…" Ruby was being held up by the nape of her neck, Yang sighing as she kept her little sister from rushing at the other students… or more rather, from rushing at their weapons.

"Couldn't you swoon over your own weapon? I'm fairly sure it's going to get jealous at this rate" Yang said as she dangled the red-clad teen half feet off the ground.

Ruby responded by pulling the folded-up Crescent Rose off its holder to rub her cheek on the crimson steel.

"Yeah- I love Crescent Rose but it's still really fun to meet other weapons too!" she said, giving the weapon one last cuddle before stashing it back to the carrying case at the back of her waist, the case letting a mechanical click as it locked in place.

"You really should find actual friends. I mean friends who are, you know, _alive_ and preferably either human or faunus" Yang said, adding the last part as Ruby started to interject.

"I don't really need friends because I have you." the red reaper said as Yang let go of her sister, the agile girl landing with a soft thump.

"Oh look, I think i spotted some of _my_ friends! See you, got to go, I'll find you during the entrance ceremony!" Yang exclaimed and was gone in a yellow blur before Ruby managed to stop her as she was still pouting, the busty girl taking her chance and disappearing into the crowd in seconds.

"..." Ruby briefly tried to look for the distinctive golden yellow hair from the crowd, before sighing in defeat.

"I guess it's time to see what's up in Beacon….Gah!" Her monologue was interrupted as she took a step backwards, instantly toppling over a luggage trailer that had been parked behind her when she wasn't looking.

As soon as the suitcases contained within the trailer had finished flopping over the stone courtyard, Ruby heard an angry, refined voice begin to yell at her.

"What are you doing?! Do you have _any_ idea of the damage you could have caused?" a white-haired girl in thigh-length white dress and white bolero exclaimed from near where Ruby had fallen, popping onto the red-clad girl's view.

The white-haired girl reached to pick up a small suitcase from the ground and opened it up to inspect its contents, pulling out a glass container filled with red Dust from the open suitcase before slamming it shut again.

"This is high-grade Dust directly from Schnee Quarry in Atlas." she claimed, pushing the container to startled Ruby's face, a small trickle of red Dust leaking through the small crack in the bottom of the container.

"Ummm, the bottle is cracked" Ruby said in weak voice as the agitated white-clad girl was shaking the container in front of Ruby's face.

"...And, that could have caused chain reaction that would have…" the warning was completely ignored as the agitated girl continued her tirade.

Some of the Dust went to Ruby's nose as the red substance floated in the air.

Before she managed to stop herself, she sneezed.

The red Dust and it's container exploded with a resounding boom.

* * *

Jaune took his time before descending from the Airship, not really wanting to rush out when the biggest crowd was pushing through the ramps.

He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight outside.

The day was quite pretty as the light of the summer sun caused the white stone arcs of the Beacon Academy to gleam and the leaves of the trees and grass outlining towards the horizon to light in vibrant green tones.

The stone paved plaza leading up to the Beacon itself was fairly quiet as the few remaining students were idly moving towards the academy on the paved stone road. His eyes momentarily focused on a spot in the plaza where there was a large soot-stain, likely left by some sort of explosive device, before he continued to look at the impressively high towers and stone-arcs of the Beacon Academy building and the tall CCT tower of Vale in the distance.

' _Now… where is the ceremony hall…'_ he thought, shuffling through the introduction leaflet that had been sent to his Scroll upon descending from the airship. ' _There should be a map or signpost somewhere'_ he continued, completely lost while equally oblivious to the 'Map of Beacon' file attached in the welcome mail.

He put his Scroll away, determined to find someone who could offer directions to him.

.

..

…

' _Okay, maybe leaving with the last passengers wasn't a good idea'_ Jaune thought later, as the few remaining students had vacated the grounds, leaving no-one for him to interrogate for directions.

' _Well, if I keep going, i'm going to eventually run to someone'_

He picked a direction and set off to walk.

As he moved across yet another walkway he noticed a solitary red figure strewn across on the grass by a green-leaved tree, and decided to investigate.

It turned out to be Ruby, her eyes closed as she laid on her back with a sad frown on her face.

' _Well, I couldn't find other students to ask for directions so here we go I guess'_ Jaune thought as he approached the red-clad girl.

"Hi?" Jaune voiced uncertainty, causing the red-clad reaper's eyes to shoot open.

For a moment Jaune was afraid that the girl would pull her weapon and continue where she left off on the airship as she looked at him with wide eyes- until she closed her eyes again.

"Go away…" she said dejectedly.

She looked so miserable that Jaune felt his brother-instincts kick in, and he sat next to her on the grass.

"What's wrong?" he asked, causing the red-clad girl to sigh before saying "Nothing…"

' _Here we go then'_ Jaune thought.

"Can we start over then? I'm Jaune Arc, nice to meet you. Want to be friends?" Jaune said, offering his hand to the depressed girl who creaked her eye open, looking at the hand before lifting hers to weakly shake it.

"I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose and I'd like that" She said quietly, lifting herself up to a sitting position.

"So, what's up?" Jaune asked, offering the girl a single-packaged cookie from his pouch.

He had bought a full pack of energy bars and other snacks from a store before departing to Beacon- thinking that if his Semblance was related to hunger, he should have a snack ready at all times even if he wasn't sure if cereal bar or a cookie would work.

He'd need to do some testing later.

However what the cookie did do was to cause the girl's eyes to light up, and she snatched the cookie from his outstretched hand with lightning speed.

He tilted his head to the side as the girl unpacked and devoured the nearly fist-sized cookie at frightening pace before calming down. It seemed that the snack had helped the girl cheer up as she sat up straighter and there was a glint in her eyes as she looked at him.

Jaune wasn't exactly sure if he liked the intensity of the look she gave him though, it reminded him too much of a predator stalking its prey...

̢̧ _E͢͏s̨͠c̡͘͠a͢͏̡̛͡ṕ̸̨̧e̶͏̴..._

A scuttling sensation in the back of his head confirmed his feelings.

' _Not now!'_ Jaune thought frantically as he felt his legs starting to bubble slightly, his Semblance heating up his flesh in preparation to form Beowolf-like hindlegs.

He still remembered his sister's reactions when he had used his Semblance in front of them.

Stalling for time, he waved his hand in front of Ruby's face to distract her as he pushed back against the foreign urge to flee.

"S- so, how's your day going?" He asked weakly, trying to pull the girl's attention to somewhere that wasn't him. It seemed to work as her look turned from intense to innocent in a flash.

"It's the worst." she huffed.

' _Great start'_ Jaune thought as sweat trickled in his neck, feeling the bubbling in his legs starting to die down.

"What happened?" Jaune asked idly as she seemed like she wasn't willing to elaborate by herself. It seemed to break some sort of personal restraint as the small girl burst with speech.

"Well, first I get teased by Yang for having met a boy who I instantly scared away and _then_ she runs away too, telling me that I need to find people to befriend. And right after, I met some crabby girl who started to lecture me about Dust and then I exploded, and then some black-haired girl walks in and lectures the crabby girl back, and then they both just walk away, _leaving_ me lying in the stone pavement, and then I can't find the entrance ceremony…" she complained, her hands flailing around as if to show how unfair everything was.

"Uh, exploded?" Jaune asked, picking another snack from his belt-pouch to offer at the agitated girl.

The snack disappeared from his hand before his eyes properly registered it and the girl nodded, still sitting on the grass.

"Right. But, if we make it to the entrance ceremony then you can find Yang there, and about the two other girls… well, I don't know if you can make friends with them right now..."

Ruby seemed to droop lower as Jaune paused his speech, but before she managed to get a word in, Jaune continued "…but we still have four years to make friends so we have plenty of time, we've barely even started our first day here. You'll make friends here still, even if you can't be friends with everyone. And even if you don't, you'll always at least have your sister, right?" Jaune finished.

"But… dad and uncle Qrow have always told that first impressions are important…and i'm bad at social stuff..." she muttered adorably, fiddling with the hem of her skirt as she continued to take small bites of her new cookie.

Jaune had to resist the urge to pat her head.

"Yeah, they are, but it's not everything that matters. We had kind of a rough start at the airship and before that but still, I'm here right now, no? There's always hope." he said instead.

After thinking for a moment the girl in red nodded vigorously, sending crumbs flying.

"So, what say we get up and find your sister?" He added, standing up and offering his hand to the red-clad girl who hopped up by herself and sprinted back to the stone pavement, red rose petals flying in her wake.

"Yeah! Let's go!" she yelled from where she was, sprinting off towards a large tower in the distance before Jaune managed to get a word in.

"Hey! Wait!…" was all he could get out before the red blur disappeared completely from sight "I didn't get a chance ask for directions…"

* * *

"So, did you make friends?" the golden-haired girl asked as she had her arm wrapped around red-clad girl's shoulders.

"Uh, I think I made one friend, and two negative friends" Ruby said, not looking at Yang's eyes. She was still slightly mad at Yang for abandoning her, although Yang had finally answered her Scroll so Ruby could find out where the Entrance Ceremony was being held.

"So you did make a friend, I'm so proud of you" the busty girl said, petting Ruby with her free hand.

"...and two negative friends, so I'm in the negative zone" Ruby mumbled.

"So you made a friend and two enemies! There's no such thing as negative friend" Yang countered "What else happened?"

"Well, I sort of exploded when some crabby white-wearing girl sprinkled some Red Dust on me and I sneezed and then Jaune came and feeded me cookies!"

Yang's expression became brittle for a second before she tilted her head to the side, looking at the back of Ruby's head.

"Hey! I wasn't hit in the head!" Ruby squeaked, the fuss causing her to completely ignore a white-clad figure creeping behind her, until a angry voice informed the red-clad reaper of the white-haired girl's presence.

"You!" The white-haired girl growled.

Ruby promptly jumped on Yang's arms, a desperate whine escaping her lips "It's happening _agaiiiinnnn"_

The golden-haired girl just looked at her sister incredulously "Oh my god, you _actually_ exploded"

The white-clad girl interrupted Yang before she could continue by shoving a brown pamphlet reading " _Dust for Dummies: The Extra Simple Edition"_ on Ruby's face

"The Schnee Dust Company/SDC is not responsible for any accidents, injuries and/or damage to equipment and/or facilities caused by but not limited to mishandling, improperly storing or improperly using Dust and Dust products produced and sold by Schnee Dust Company and it's resellers, all rights reserved" the angry girl recounted, giving the pamphlet to Ruby who took it reluctantly, looking like she expected the piece of brown paper to explode at any second.

"Sooo~" Yang drawled "Who're you?"

"I am Weiss Schnee, Heiress of the Schnee Dust Compary- remember that as you speak to me" the girl growled.

"Uh-huh, can you dial down the bitchiness by about half and we're talking? I'm Yang Xiao-Long, press that to your memory" the busty bombshell growled back, allowing Ruby to hop down from her arms.

"Ummm, can we not fight?" Ruby said with weak voice as there was a clash of ice and fire in the air between the two girls in front of her.

Both of the girls turned to look at Ruby who took her chance "C- Can we start again! I'm Ruby Rose!" she offered her hand to the Schnee who looked at the hand as if it was diseased, causing Ruby to wilt slightly before withdrawing her hand.

"Um, can we be friends?" she asked weakly as the girl in white looked to her with a similar look she had given to her hand- until she suddenly sprouted a bright smile, bringing her hand up to point over her shoulder to a black-haired boy with a pink stripe on his hair.

"Oh, so we can get together, gossip, paint our nails, and talk about boys like tall, pale and dorky over there?" Weiss said with enough false enthusiasm for even Ruby to catch onto it.

"Is that a no?" Ruby said weakly, causing Weiss to turn around, her long white hair hitting Ruby in the face.

"I guess that's a no" she said defeatedly as the Heiress strutted off without so much as a word.

"What a bitch" Yang growled from beside Ruby who looked at the crowd, thinking that she had seen a familiar face… until she saw blonde hair peeking over the crowd and Ruby began waving her hand at it.

"Jaune! Over here!" she shouted, drawing few looks from the surrounding crowd as the blonde boy spotted the pair of sisters and walked up to them.

Before the small group had managed to so much as exchange greetings, the ceremony hall went dark with a set of spotlights lighting up the center stage, revealing a stern-looking woman and man holding a white mug standing on the elevated stage.

The murmur of the crowd died as a stern-looking woman in black pencil skirt and white cropped top began her speech

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch, and I am the headmistress of this school." She paused to sweep her gaze across the assembled students.

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy- Beacon Academy." Glynda continued

"Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it…" a chilling, hollow laugh from the crowd interrupted the speech, the voice unnatural enough to draw the headmistress's attention and she frowned at the source

"Mr. Arc, please control yourself" she said, her eyes glued to the blonde-haired man who suppressed the hollow chuckle with visible effort. Glynda gave the teenager one more stern glare before continuing her speech.

"You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." she finished and turned towards the man next to her.

The man began his own speech after taking a small sip from his mug.

"I am Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy… I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." he looked over the gathered students, seeing the smiles and frowns within the crowd.

"...But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." Ozpin continued.

"And so you shall. Today you will be moving through the Beacon, learning of it's facilities and more importantly, forging your contacts with your fellow students. Tonight, you will all rest together in the same Hall. Tomorrow, you will undertake your first Test- a Test that will shape your next four years in Beacon. After that, it's up to you to succeed as both individuals and as members of a Team…" the Headmaster ended ominously.

"Dismissed" the Headmistress finished the entrance ceremony and the pair walked off the stage. The lights returned to the entrance hall alongside a murmur of voices as the students talked amongst themselves about the brief ceremony.

* * *

"That was odd. What made you laugh like _that_ in the middle of the ceremony?" Ruby asked, walking beside Jaune and Yang in the academy grounds.

"It brought… bad memories, and not a small amount of bitter thoughts." Jaune answered honestly, causing the small girl to tilt her head as she thought back on the speech.

"But… she was just talking about the peaceful state of the world" she half-asked.

Jaune was about to answer, but a sharp look from Yang caused him to rethink his answer.

"We might be at peace with other kingdoms, but the constant state of war against the Grimm never ends" Jaune finally answered, causing the red-clad girl to bounce on her heels.

"Yeah, but that's why we are here, now. To train and become Hunters so we can push back and save everyone from the monsters!" Ruby responded happily.

"Remember that not all monsters in this world have the benefit of being a Grimm" Jaune said with a grin that turned slightly bitter as the smaller girl appeared to be confused by his answer.

"Just... don't lose your hope, or the things that make you,,, well, you." he concluded, lifting his hand to gently nudge Ruby on the shoulder which caused Yang to growl threateningly from beside the red-clad girl.

Ruby nodded, although her expression told Jaune that she didn't quite get what Jaune was trying to convoy.

"Well, the teams are composed of four people. Any idea who do you want on your team's?" Yang asked after a moment of silence.

"Ehh, I'll probably team up with you and Jaune!" Ruby said, excited as the conversation turned towards something she was able to understand better. "Um, I mean if you want to team up with us..." she continued, cheeks red as she looked at Jaune who just chuckled.

"Yeah, sure, I'm in"

"Yang too!" Ruby turned to the blonde girl who tilted her head to the side, thinking of her answer

"Yaaaaang, it doesn't take that long to say yes…" the red-clad girl whined.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that this is, like, the best chance for you to actually break out of your shell" Yang said, causing Ruby's eyes to get a dangerous glint.

Jaune was internally glad that it wasn't directed towards him as Ruby looked at her sister.

"Are you saying that you don't want to team up with me, dear sister?" Ruby drawled.

"Yeah, sure I'll team up with you but you _must_ promise me that you'll go out to meet more people too?" Yang answered.

"Uh, is this a private conversation, because I can, you know, go somewhere?" Jaune asked as the sisters seemed to have a moment.

"And just like that, the magic is gone" Yang sighed. "Come on, we have to find a fourth member, hm?" she continued.

"Ruby, you told me that there was a black-haired girl who came to talk with you after the whole dust incident, right? Maybe we could ask her" Jaune said, thinking about the few people they had met already

"Mhm. Well, let's hope Ruby doesn't pull her Crescent Rose on her like she did on you" Yang joked from the side "She might even get _yangry_ "

Jaune blinked

"Don't do it… don't do it..." Ruby whined quietly.

"Did you just... make a pun?" Jaune asked the taller girl, ignoring Ruby's resigned whimper.

Yang grinned.

.

..

…

It turned out that finding the black-haired girl Ruby had met was far harder than any of them had realized.

Few hours later and they still hadn't found a trace of the mysterious girl, and had instead bounced onto a pair of students. Literally.

"Hi!" a bubbly ginger-haired girl in pink skirt and steel-reinforced white combat shirt exclaimed as she helped Yang off the floor, having chest-bumped into the busty girl at full force as both of the small groups had turned around a corner at the same time.

Jaune nodded to a black-haired boy with green clothes who nodded back politely and extended his hand.

"I'm Lie Ren, and this is Nora Valkyrie" Ren said, nodding towards the girl in pink skirt who was waving happily at the group.

"Boop" she confirmed.

"Jaune Arc" "Ruby Rose, hi!" "Yang Xiao-Long, sup" the small group introduced themselves.

"Umm, we're sorry for bumping into you, we were looking for a fourth member for our team and... uh..." Ruby said, slightly nervous.

"I see. We were looking for a possible team as well. However since teams are composed of four people, I believe our teams might be incompatible" Ren answered, having misinterpeted the red-haired girl's speech as recruiting attempt, before nodding towards the pink-clad girl beside him.

"Huh… You sure? I'd let you on our team in a heartbeat" Yang winked at the raven haired boy before freezing as the pink-clad bubbly girl behind Ren _looked_ at Yang, the girl's bubbly behaviour making way for something far more terrifying and sinister in an instant.

"Right, two teams, two teams, congratulations for happy marriage" Yang said, lifting her hands up in a sign of surrender.

Ren's face took a confused expression and he turned to look behind him, seeing Nora look back him with her usual goofy smile, her turquoise eyes shining happily.

He turned back to Yang "Ah, Nora and I have been together since childhood, although we are not in a romantic relationship" Ren clarified.

The pink-clad girl behind the polite boy had regained her sinister expression "Yes, together but not together-together. Ha. Ha."

"R-Right, well, it's been fun but we really have to get back to looking for our last team member" Ruby said, taking hold of both Jaune and Yang by their sleeves and steering the small group away from the pair with polite goodbyes and hand-waves.

' _Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Lie Ren'_ was a collective thought that passed through the small group as they made their escape.

* * *

"Well, it's been fun but we haven't really found a fourth member" Ruby sighed as the group settled down on the dining hall that had been converted to a temporary dorm for all of the first year students, the girls having changed to their pajamas while Jaune had gone elsewhere to change.

"Eh, it'll be alright" Yang said where she was laying on her side, propping her head up with one arm and looking at a small crowd of boys who seemed to be either changing clothes or flexing, Yang giving catcalls and winking at them every now and then whenever the action got too stale for her liking.

"Yannngggg, stop doing that" Ruby said while blushing at the sight.

The smaller girl was wearing a black tank-top with heart-shaped beowolf at the chest and long white pants with pink roses as decoration, whereas the older girl had orange tank top with black shorts.

Ruby was writing mail on her scroll while laying on her mattress.

"So, what's with you texting for so long?" Yang asked, turning around to face Ruby.

"I'm sending messages back to gang at Signal… I promised to let them know how Beacon is." Ruby said, humming happily before the hum turned slightly sad "It feels weird, not really knowing anyone at Beacon"

Ruby interrupted Yang before the busty girl could say anything by putting her hand over Yang's mouth "But, we still have four years of Beacon ahead of us so we have time… Ew! Stop that!" she finished her speech with squeak as she felt Yang lick her hand.

"Awww, you're so cute, making grand speeches and all" Yang swooned, before her face disappeared behind a pillow thrown by Ruby.

"Oh, I got an idea!" Ruby exclaimed while sitting up, causing Yang to lift her eyebrow as she took the pillow out of her face and looked up to the sitting girl.

"We can look for the black-haired girl now, since she's going to be sleeping with us!"

"Aww, look at my sis, already grown-up and taking the lead" Yang teased before lifting herself up. "So, do you want to wait for Jaune or…?"

"Nah, I'm not sure how long he's going to take- if it's anything like _your_ usual evening affair with your hair, he's not going to be here until midnight" Ruby said innocently with a smile as she got up to look for the girl, her comment causing the busty girl to growl before she got up as well.

* * *

Blake turned another page on her book as she sat on the hard mattress that had been strewn next to the stone wall of the slowly darkening Dining Hall.

She was wearing a set of black pajamas consisting of long-sleeved yukata-style shirt with white edging and matching short skirt.

Blake skimmed over the words of her book half-heartedly, her mind wandering.

The entrance exam to Beacon had been a fairly straightforward affair and afterwards she had lived quietly in the Vale while waiting for the Beacon to start properly, trying her best to not attract any attention to herself.

Blake had worked to distance herself from the White Fang and her faunus heritage to the point where she had tied a bow around her cat-like ears, hiding them from the view.

The bow got irritating quickly and caused her ears to become itchy and sweaty- but she wanted to be free of the stigma of being a faunus, even if for a fleeting moment.

To stop being Blake Belladonna, the White Fang activist and become Blake Belladonna, the Huntress-in-training.

The thinking of White Fang bought memory of Adam Taurus to her mind and the way she had been separated from the man.

' _I didn't get to tell him that I… left. He must have assumed that I died… If he's still alive"_ Blake thought with mixed feelings. On the other hand, she was sure that Adam wouldn't have let her just _leave_ , and on the other hand she felt guilty for abandoning the man, even if the method of her departure wasn't entirely by her choice.

But the thought of her being dead to the White Fang gave her a sort of elation.

She was finally free to be herself, even if for a fleeting moment.

She turned another page on her book, drawing power from the symbolism of it.

' _Nevertheless, I need to learn to control myself… I shouldn't have gone to talk to the Schnee girl when she was yelling at someone for toppling over one of her trolleys… I can't afford to become a known figure."_ Blake thought idly as she made to continue her reading.

She closed her eyes mere minutes later, feeling a headache building as she looked over her book to see the small girl who had been lectured by the Schnee approaching her, with a taller golden-yellow-haired girl in tow.

"Eh, Hi!" the small girl's enthusiastic voice greeted Blake as she stopped in front of her.

"I'm Ruby Rose, let's be friends!" the smaller, red-headed girl said, extending her hand to Blake who looked at the small girl carefully for a moment.

"Blake Belladonna" Blake answered quietly, not taking the offered hand and instead turning her gaze back to her book, ignoring the taller golden-yellow haired girl's attempts at small talk that followed after Ruby introduced herself.

The small girl seemed to wilt slightly and the busty golden-haired girl beside her scowled.

"Yeah, I think this one's a lost cause" the busty girl said.

"The grumpy one is Yang" Ruby said, waving towards the golden-haired girl who gave an indignant squeak "I wanted to thank you for helping me earlier in the plaza" Ruby continued, nodding her head.

"Do you mean when you exploded?" Blake asked, putting a bookmark on her book and closing it "I was merely giving the Schnee heiress a piece of my mind… the Schnee company's unjustified treatment of faunus and trampling of their equal rights has always irked me to no end"

"That sounds… bad" Ruby said, unsure about the subject of the black-haired girl's speech.

Blake sighed. "Yes, it is. However, we have a busy day ahead of us so if you don't mind…" she made a motion to reach for her blanket.

"Yeah! And that's partly why we came to talk!" the smaller girl exclaimed, clapping her hands together rapidly while completely missing Blake's wordless attempt at dismissal. "Do you want to join our team? We have three people already, including me, Yang here and Jaune who is… er, not here"

"Thank you, but I'll have to decline. I don't plan to be in a team" Blake said, her eyes narrowing.

"The first years are required to be in teams composed of four people" Yang said while lifting her eyebrow.

"There are often odd numbers of students, which means some don't get teams" Blake countered.

Before the golden-haired girl managed to argue further, the small group was interrupted by an arctic voice behind them.

"You again! Don't you realize that some of us are trying to sleep?!"

The group turned to see the familiar angry girl in faded blue nightgown, her long white hair reaching down to the back of her thighs as it had been let free from its usual bun-tail.

"Uh, hi, Weiss..." Ruby begun, but was silenced as the nightgown-clad heiress glared daggers at the younger girl, which finally caused Yang to boil over.

"What's your problem with Ruby" Yang barked at Weiss, ignoring Ruby's attempts to dampen the argument which was rapidly rising in volume.

"She's a hazard to my health!"

"My fist is a hazard to your face!"

"How dare you!"

"Want me to answer that?!"

Blake sighed before blowing out the candles that she had used as a light source to read in, slipping herself under her thin blanket and pulling her pillow over her ears as Ruby struggled to drag her sister off the white-haired heiress by her waist.

The sudden darkness caused by the candle-light dying broke the impending fight, and the would-be combatants returned to their beds, wandering around slightly as the candles had been the last source of light in the hall.

.

..

...

Eventually the hall had quieted down, the students going to sleep and even Blake started to droop slowly, having read her book in the moonlight that still faintly illuminated the spot she had chosen to sleep in. It would not be enough light for a human to read a book in, but all faunus shared the trait of having a good night-vision.

Blake lifted her gaze from the book to look around as she felt something come through a side-door and walk with steady, eerily quiet steps in the dark hall.

Her curiosity peaked, Blake lifted her head more to look at the tall figure which had its back towards her.

' _Another faunus?'_ she thought briefly, as only faunus had the natural night-vision accurate enough to see forms of students so clearly in the dark- one that the figure would need if it wanted to move across the students without stepping on anyone.

The figure kept walking towards something in the hall before stopping to take a look around, its head moving from side to side until turning towards the part of the hall where Blake was...

Blake felt her breath hitch and she froze completely still, her amber eyes widening.

The figures eyes _glowed_ with baleful blood-red colour akin to that of a Grimm, illuminating the area around it's eyes as it looked around the hall and stripping the night vision from Blake's eyes as she looked directly at the source of the glow.

The gaze briefly landed on Blake who had to resist the urge to pull herself backwards as she stared back at the figure- making Blake realize just how unarmed she was as she lied on the thin mattress, wearing only her pajamas with her weapons stashed to a weapons locker on the other side of Beacon. Nevertheless she felt her legs pull closer to her as she prepared to jump away if the form moved towards her.

The black form looked away and...

Blake felt a speck of dust from the air land on her eye and she blinked against her will.

By the time she opened her eyes, the form was gone.

Confused, Blake blinked again and rubbed her eyes, the night vision returning as she no longer looked directly at the faint light.

' _Did I imagine it?'_ she thought, shaking her head tiredly to try calm herself as her hands shook slightly. Her breathing was irregular from the sudden adrenaline rush ' _I must be more tired than I thought… There's no way that a Grimm could get inside a academy full of Hunters..'_

She propped herself up with her elbows, looking over the sleeping mass of students to see a small red light on the far wall, likely to indicate a position of a fire alarm switch of something.

' _Yeah, that must have been it…'_ Blake sighed, blaming herself for freaking out over nothing. ' _I'm still over-thinking things and being paranoid after the… incident... in Forever Fall...'_

After a moment that felt like an eternity, Blake finally managed to calm herself down and settle herself properly on the hard mattress.

When the sleep finally came, it came with nightmares.

 _...She felt cold as she crawled on the black gravel. The sharp pieces of stone cutting into her hands as she moved forwards, and she saw the ground start to turn red from blood. She crawled, crawled and crawled until she saw pieces of flesh mixed in the fragments of black rocks._

 _She felt something give way beneath the gravel and she looked down to discover her hand holding onto a cold arm of a shaking man._

 _She traced her look across the faceless man's body to discover that the man had no legs, his body severed in half. She heard the man try to speak to her and she turned her eyes back to the man's face to see his body begin to sink into the gravel, the small, sharp stones climbing on top of the dying man as she watched with wide eyes, trying her best to hold onto the man's hand until it slipped from between her bloody fingers and disappeared into the black ground alongside the rest of his body…_

 _With a ragged breath, she looked up from the bloody ground to see a man with a intricately detailed mask, red hair and bull horns reach for her, his lips drawn to an angry frown… and as soon as she whimpered and tried to crawl away, the man stumbled. Four crimson blades burst through the man's chest as something far more monstrous rose from behind him... As she looked at the sight in horror, she saw the intricately detailed mask disappear from the red-haired man's face to reveal a pair of dull, dead eyes looking at her from an accusing face…_

Blake woke with a startled gasp.

The gasp was soon followed by a muffled, breathless scream and she reared back as she saw a dark form kneeling in front of her, her hands instinctively reaching for Gambol Shroud-

Only to come out empty, the weapon not being in it's usual place under her pillow for the first time in years.

She lifted her hand to strike…

* * *

 _*Chomp*_

 _*Munch*_

 _*Crack*_

' _I think I sort of forgot just how tasty ham is'_ Jaune thought as he stuffed his face with more food. He had left the dining hall after Ruby and Yang had claimed a spot in the hall and had set themselves down on their mattresses, Jaune stating that he needed to go change his clothes.

He had changed into his father's pajamas swiftly and had made to return to the hall… but before he could do that, he felt his stomach growl, informing him that his light meal after the entrance ceremony wasn't quite enough to sate him for a full day.

Not wanting to risk doing anything instinctive while asleep and surrounded by so many other students, Jaune had set off to find himself a late-evening meal.

He had not expected to stumble upon the place's main fridge and food storage that was located next to the Dining Hall. It made sense in retrospect that the food storage would be near the location designed for food consumption. Nevertheless, Jaune descended upon the refrigerated pre-cooked meat and foodstuffs with righteous furor and great enthusiasm.

Before he realized it, minutes had turned to an hour, and he glanced at his Scroll to notice that it was nearly midnight.

' _Whoa, I should have set an alarm or something… Ruby and Yang must be asleep already'_ Jaune thought, gulping down last scraps of a ham that he had pulled down from a hook.

He closed the door of the huge walk-in refrigerator which snapped shut with a click and he set to walk back to the dining hall where the rest of the assembled students were sleeping.

Not wanting to wake up anyone by stepping on them in the pitch-black room, Jaune flared his Semblance, which once more bubbled on his eyes and shaped them to better see in the dark. It turned out to be a mistake as he _felt_ the Shadow growl with ethereal hunger despite him being full of food.

' _Right, room full of students full of fear, anxiety, relationship drama, strong emotions, not good, not good'_ Jaune thought as he stopped to purge the unwelcome thoughts from his mind to not much success.

He looked around the hall full of deli̸̛ç̡͝͡͠i̢͏o͘͝ù̴́͜s̸̛...

'… _no, no, bad thoughts, go away...'_ Jaune whimpered internally.

He turning to hastily walk onto his mattress and lunge down to slip himself under the blanket, intending on pulling the fabric over his head and staying awake until the morning.

.

..

…

Jaune let out a quiet whine.

He wasn't sure how long it had been after he had settled down, but the feeling of being surrounded by waves of emotions had not eased up. Turning himself around on the thin mattress hadn't helped either and he was soon completely tangled in the thin blanket, which added another layer of discomfort as he shuffled to try and untangle himself.

 _Sniff. Sniff._

He could _smell_ the fear radiating from some of the sleeping students. One of the sources of the fear was stronger by wide margin, however, and he unconsciously turned towards it. As he turned, he placed his hands to the floor to _leap at t͢h̸e̴̛͘͟_

' _No, no, no, bad…'_ Jaune slapped himself to snap himself out of the daze, discovering his hand having grown black veins and short, sharp claws.

The sharp pain of the small claws raking his face helped to snap him from the dream-like haze and he took a deep breath, feeling cold despite the heat raditated by the mass of warm bodies.

Jaune lifted himself on his feet, standing up to look at the direction of the biggest source of fear to see only faint, black shapes as his night-vision was gone.

He considered briefly to use his Semblance to form night-vision once again, but decided against it- he had barely regained control of himself, and he wasn't sure he could do it again in so short period of time.

Instead he pulled out his Scroll, setting the light of the device on permanent and started to stumbled through the mass of bodies guided by the faint light emitted by his Scroll, trying his hardest to not step on any of the students.

' _Ok, so what should I do… or should I do anything?'_ Jaune thought briefly, wondering just what he was supposed to do here.

Should he just walk up to the person having a nightmare and try to wake them up? Walk away and try to get as far away as possible from the source of fear? Try to ignore it like before?

He sighed, writing off the last two options as likely ineffective.

' _Well, I suppose I could try to do something that worked when one of my sisters was having a nightmare few years ago… '_ He walked to the small side-door leading to the kitchens, sneaking in to prepare a mug of hot cocoa. He was fairly sure that something sweet and hot would help a person having a nightmare.

With the hot beverage done, he walked back to the hall and closed his eyes briefly, the feeling of fear coming ever stronger from a solitary black form near one of the walls.

Jaune creeped slowly towards the sleeping student and kneeled to place the mug on the ground, reaching up to the weakly trashing form to place his hand on its shoulder…

He saw its eyes shoot wide open, followed by rearing back with quiet, muffled scream. Before Jaune managed to get a word out, the form reached for something under its pillow.

Jaune tilted his head to the side as the form's hand came out empty… before it formed a fist that buried itself on his face.

"Ow!"

"Oww!"

Both figures gave out a quiet whimper- the figure whimpering as it had struck Jaune's forehead at weird angle which had likely hurt its wrist and Jaune whimpering as he felt the small but hard fist rattle his head.

His whimper, however, seemed to calm the figure down as it didn't press it's attack further. Jaune relaxed himself slightly after staying still for a moment to make sure that the figure wouldn't continue its attack.

He reached to his Scroll to increase it's light slightly, which illuminated the figure to reveal a kimono-like shirt on a girl with deep amber eyes and pale face framed by long black hair and a black bow tied on top of her head.

She glared at him while cradling her hand.

"Hm, hi!" Jaune whispered quietly, which didn't seem to endear him to the girl.

"I saw you having a nightmare..." he continued after placing the scroll between them so that it would light both of the students equally, before drawing the steaming mug from his side to offer it at the girl- who didn't take it and instead continued to glare at him.

"Go away" she said, the words coming out in a hiss. Jaune ignored her.

"...so I came to bring you this. I'm not sure if it works here but hot cocoa has always helped to calm my sisters down when they are having nightmares. Well, everyone but Beryl but I'm pretty sure her way of calming down wouldn't work here…" he continued to idly chatter as he kept his hand outstretched with the steaming mug offered at the glaring girl.

She eventually took it, albeit grudgingly and based off her look at the mug, she was likely expecting it to be either poisoned or somehow about to come alive and attack her.

"...It's not poisoned, you know…" Jaune said weakly as she reached to look under the mug suspiciously.

"I'm Jaune Arc, hi" he offered his hand to the girl, having completely forgotten about introducing himself. "Blake" she responded quietly, not taking the outstretched hand.

The pair was quiet for a moment, before Blake broke the silence "Jaune, huh… A pair of girls came by earlier, and they mentioned a team member named Jaune." she half-asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Oh? Was one of them about this tall, and had a dark red hair that turned brighter at the tips, and the other a taller girl with a long golden hair?" he asked, lifting his hand to show approximately how tall Ruby was. Blake nodded, and Jaune smiled "So you've met Ruby and Yang" Jaune chattered on.

Eventually Blake took a tentative sip of the mug, the girl seeming to eventually relax as Jaune continued to idly talk about various things, mostly one-sidedly as the girl was quiet.

Not long afterwards, the mug was empty and Jaune was starting to run out of things to chatter about and instead offered to take the mug back.

Blake's eyes had started to get a slightly hazy by the time Jaune had finished, and she seemed to droop ever so slightly as the quiet murmur stopped. By the time Jaune had returned from sneaking back into the kitchens, the girl had fallen asleep.

' _Operation talk to a girl until she's unconscious, complete… wait that sounds bad…'_ Jaune thought idly as the hall had begun to light up, the night having started to slowly light up to make way for morning. Quick glance at the Scroll revealed that it was 4:30 in the morning…

' _Well, it seems that the waves of emotions from other people stopped… or I became unable to feel them.'_ Jaune sighed internally after a moment of quiet as he sat on his mattress, thinking back on how the Shadow had hungered over the sleeping students after using his Semblance briefly.

' _Right, so don't use it when surrounded by a horde of unconscious people with negative emotions…'_ he ticked to his mental checklist, before laying down on the mattress himself, intending on getting few hours of rest...

 **AN:**

 **Next Chapter: 23. sept. "The First Test"**

 **Here we go. Published the chapter a day early again as I have business off-country in the weekend.**

 **Slightly happier tone with birds singing and things being chippery, to offset the things that may or may not happen in the next few chapters, yay.**

 **To those who skipped straight from first chapter to here, hi.**

 **I contemplated starting the story from this chapter, right after the intro chapter, but after thinking on it for a while it came clear to me that I'd need to do some serious amounts of mid-story flashbacking to make his past make sense- although I'm certain that a more skilled writer could have pulled it off. Nevertheless, I'm not that skilled, so 'ere we go.**

 **Side note, The Lady from DMC totally attended Beacon.**

 **Omake:**

"Summer, what are you doing?" Taiyang Xiao Long asked his wife as she was attaching a red cloak on their daughter, Ruby, in front of their home at island of Patch off the coast of Vale.

"I'm experimenting" Summer Rose answered, smiling fondly at the 5-year old Ruby who nibbled the red fabric adorably.

"So, are you ready, little Rosebud?" Summer cooed at Ruby who took a tentative step forwards… before shooting off the house-front in a red blur that disappeared into the distant horizon in a split second, accompanied by a faint squeal of "Wheeeeee…".

Rose petals and green leaves flew in Ruby's wake as the shockwave of breaking the sound barrier rippled through the trees.

Taiyang stared at his wife with his jaw almost hitting the ground.

Summer turned to Taiyang with a victorious expression and pointed her finger at him, her other hand posed at her waist "I told you the red ones go faster!"

Taiyang shook his head briefly, the whole situation going far over his head. "B-but how are we going to get Ruby back?!" he exclaimed after a moment of gathering his wits "She's gone!"

"Ah, don't worry about that, everything is under control" Summer waved her husband's rising panic off before pulling something from her pocket and waving it in the air above her.

After few seconds of waving, a faint 'thud' rang in the air and something attached itself to the object in Summer's hand.

Taiyang blinked to see Ruby, with her cloak still attached to her shoulders, biting into a fist-sized chocolate chip cookie held high by Summer Rose who looked at Taiyang with a smug expression.

"Told youuu~"


	7. The First Test

Jaune woke up to his Scroll vibrating quietly in the chest pocket of his pajama shirt.

Forced, deep exhale emptied his lungs before he took a deep breath while gripping the thin bedsheet tightly in his _claws…_

' _Hands, no claws, hands, five fingers, normal spike clusters… no, normal forearms…'_ he recounted internally as he was trying his best to avoid doing something he'd regret. Waking up with people around him was slowly getting easier, but he still wasn't quite able to do so without panicking slightly.

' _No restraints, I'm free, Nothing is trying to kill me…'_ Eventually the slowly rising haze dispersed, and he felt comfortable enough to open his eyes.

He sighed in relief as the dining hall's roof entered his view, with the early morning sun colouring the facility in its golden yellow light.

Jaune reached for his chest-pocket and turned the soundless alarm of the Scroll off. The digital clock on it showed that he had slept for two hours.

' _Not optimal, but it'll have to do…'_

He _really_ didn't want anyone to wake him up- he had no idea what would happen if he woke up to someone shaking him or tripping over him, or worst of all, waking up to people surrounding him…

…" _I think this one is broken. Haah, I hate being wrong..." a woman in grey and white outfit said, cocking her pistol as she aimed at him..._

 _Gunshot rang in the opening, flash of pain flared through him as something buried itself on his forehead…_

 _...A woman stares at her severed hands as he walks to her…_

 _A̷͜ ̢͟f̴l̵i̡͘c͞͡k̀̕͡ ̸̛͜ơ̧̢f̷ h҉̧is̵͠ ́b̵l͠ò́od͝i͘͝͠ȩ̢d͡ b̢̀l̸͟a̸d͢é̡ se͘͠ṕ͘͜a̡͏̨rat̢e̶̵s ̨̕h͏͝͞eŗ he͘͟á͞d̡͠͝ fr͘͞o̶͝m̶͟ ̴̨͏h̶̀͘ę̛͝r͟ ҉s͢͟ḩ̶̕o̢͞ų̸lde̶̶̢r̢̡ş…_

...Jaune closed his eyes back again, continuing to take deep breaths as he struggled against the instinct to either flee or rise up and fight against… something.

It helped that nothing moved in the quiet hall, allowing him to imagine that he was alone and not surrounded by a group of people trying to kill him.

' _I'm not really awake yet, am I?'_ he thought as he felt himself once again calming down.

He lifted himself up slowly and grabbed a bag of his 'combat clothes', making sure to stay as quiet as he could. He had set his Scroll alarm to vibrate-only so he wouldn't wake other students up and he didn't want to undo his carefulness by stumbling and falling on someone in his morning daze.

Unknownst to him, a pair of emerald eyes traced his departure as Jaune exited the dining-hall-turned-bedroom quietly with his hoodie and jeans in tow…

* * *

"Ohh, I can't wait for the Test to start!" Ruby gushed as she cradled her folded-up scythe like it was her firstborn "Today, there will be no socializing or awkward small talk- today I get to let my sweetheart do the talking!"

Yang rolled her eyes from beside the excited girl, shrugging her shoulders as Jaune looked at the taller of the sisters.

The morning had passed in a excited and nervous haze that was almost universally shared across all of the assembled students as they woke up one at a time. Not long afterwards the academy's P.A system announced the beginning of the First Test in an hour and asked for the students to assemble near the launch-pads that had been arranged towards the Emerald Forest, just outside Beacon grounds- and for the students to be fully armed and ready for combat.

"She's always like that when she gets a chance to use her scythe... " "Crescent Rose!" " ...against the Grimm" Yang said, ignoring Ruby's interruption as the taller girl closed her own weapons locker. The small group prepared themselves to the upcoming event alongside the other students, arming themselves from the Armory where all students were expected to store their weapons when not using them.

"Speaking of which, where are your weapons?" Ruby asked Jaune as she closed her locker, having placed her weapon on her waist-holster and stuffed her skirt full of extra cartridges and spare magazines

"Also, you really should change to your combat-wear or you'll run out of time before the Test starts" she added after a moment, looking at Jaune's clothes.

He was wearing a set of cheap jeans and a brown hoodie. His belt had few pouches and a small smoke grenade, but other than that, he was unarmed and unarmored.

"Uh, this _is_ my combat-wear. I even have a spare pair of pants and a shirt" Jaune said, looking down at his clothes before patting one of his pouches.

Ruby squinted her eyes "You and I are going to have a talk about what constitutes as combat-wear after this Test" she said as Jaune sweated under the gaze, feeling himself starting to gradually freeze under the pair of baleful silver eyes.

"Er, isn't your combat-wear literally a corset and blouse with red cloak, black stockings and a skirt?" Jaune asked weakly.

"It's different! The corset is synthfiber-reinforced and the cloak is… a… a cloak! The stockings are made from material that allows Aura to better circulate in them, making it cut-resistant and shock-absorbing! And the skirt is combat-skirt which means it has pouches for ammo and magazines, _and_ it's peeping-proof!" Ruby answered heatedly with a serious voice.

"Yeah! You go sis!" Yang cheered, holding her fist up. Ruby promptly turned and jumped to fistbump her sister.

"But that doesn't answer the question, where is your weapon? I know you have weapons, I saw you using a red sword when we, err, first met" Ruby asked after landing from the fistbump and dodging her sisters attempt to hug her.

' _Oh right'_ Jaune thought ' _Er, wait… does that mean I need to bring those… swords… with me to the Test? I thought I could just try to make them if I need them...'_ his thoughts turned to his sister's frightened faces after they had seen his weapons...

' _No… I can't think of these girls the same way I think of my sisters… These are Hunters-in-Training, not civilians. They can take it'_

Still, he didn't feel comfortable forming weapons in front of a crowd of students, not to mention that shaping his blood-red blades was always taxing to his mind.

"Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot I put it to a locker on the other side of the armory. How about I go get it and you girls head to the Test already? We don't want to be late…" he continued aloud, trying his best to ignore how Ruby's face scrunched up as if she had eaten something bitter.

"Buuuuut! I want to see it! I didn't really get a good look the first time because you were holding onto it, my eyes were kind of hazy and I was lying down, so the only thing that I saw was that it was fairly long, red-ish, pretty thick and had some big veins on it… or… or... do you not want to show it to me? I want to see it!" Ruby whined loudly before crossing her hands and pouting.

She looked away from Jaune to further emphasize her point. Unfortunately, it meant that she looked directly at Yang and discovered her sister having a extremely wide grin which the taller girl quickly covered with her hand.

A choking sound from nearby made Ruby turn away from her sister to look at the nearby students, quite few of which had red faces as they stared at Ruby.

"What?" She asked, confused.

Yang began to snicker, leaning closer to the confused red-clad girl in order to whisper something into her ear. The smaller girl froze still with her face slowly turning as red as her cloak when she realized how her loud outburst might have sounded to an outsider.

Jaune tried to ask Ruby if she was alright as she begun to vibrate on the spot- before she completely disappeared from view, few rose petals floating gently in the spot where she had been.

"Well, I better go catch her, see you on the cliffside" Yang grinned as she walked past the confused Jaune.

' _Well, I guess that means I have to find somewhere to hide and make those swords…'_ Jaune thought as the golden-haired girl had disappeared into the crowd ' _Still, what was that all about?'_

He turned back to the armory lockers, intending on finding one that was still empty so he could create his swords inside the locker, hidden from sight. He picked up a pair of plastic trash bags on his way to the empty lockers, intending on using them to hide the blades until the Test would start.

Finding an unused locker, he opened its door and placed his hands inside. He closed his eyes in concentration as he let the Shadow creep forwards once more, the jumble of foreign instincts and memories waking from the stupor it had been left on after seeing the silver eyes…

 _Shift_

He felt the bones of his thumbs elongating and thickening once more as they broke his skin, the red blade extruding from his flesh while the sight of the blades growing was covered by the locker doors. After a moment, he felt the blades ready to be used and snapped them off from his bone, feeling a shiver shoot through his spine as the bone-web and veins connecting the blades to him broke off.

' _Deep breath, calm down… No enemies, just friends...'_ He thought as the chatter of students turned to an unrecognizable mumble around him and he felt the Shadow urging him to…

' _No… No enemies... friends… Allies…'_

He coughed, feeling a hot trickle of blood run from his nose as he heard the voices around him begin to slowly untangle, the unrecognizable mumble returning to an idle chatter.

Jaune tuned his ears to listen to the chatter briefly, using the excited voices of the students to draw himself away from the voices inside his head...

"...I heard the new series of RBA is coming out…" "...Do you think we need survival gear in the Test?..." "So, I was thinking, maybe we could partner up?..." "I'm not quite sure, I was planning on letting chips fall…"

...Jaune gradually opened his eyes, seeing his familiar pair of blue eyes stare back at him from the mirror in the back of the locker. He had veins all over the whites of his eyes as if he had not slept for a decade, but at least his face still looked like it had looked before with the sole exception of his skin being paler than usual- and more importantly, his eyes _didn't_ glow red like they had glowed when he had revealed his weapons to his sisters...

He wiped his nose on his sleeve, the nosebleeding having stopped as the regeneration from his unnatural Aura kicked in.

' _I still need to figure out why my Aura doesn't work like it should…'_ Jaune thought as he looked at the mirror once more, making sure there was no more blood on his face. ' _I mean healing to the point of regeneration is nice and all, but being constantly hurt because of it is not…'_

He stuffed the pair of newly-created two foot long single-edged blades into the trash bags he had been carrying, making sure that he squeezed each of the barbed hilts tightly to feed them with his blood as the blades had already begun to smoke and bleach as the weak connection between him and the blades had been broken.

After making sure that the now-fed crimson blades had been secured inside the bags, Jaune closed the door of his temporary locker and turned around…

...To see a pair of emerald eyes staring at him from a familiar face.

"Hello" Pyrrha Nikos said while waving idly at him as she stood in front of him.

Jaune felt his heart bounce from his chest to his throat as he stared back at the tall girl.

"Uhh, hi?" He managed to eloquently respond after a moment.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" A white-haired girl asked from beside Pyrrha. The pretty blue-eyed and white-haired girl was staring at Jaune with a frown.

"I'm Jaune, hi" he responded to the girl whose frown deepened until it disappeared completely, making way for a extremely fake smile.

"I must admit to not knowing of you prior, but I am pleased to make your acquaintance nevertheless" she said, gripping the hem of her dress and giving him a polite bow "Anyone recognized personally by Pyrrha Nikos must indeed be fierce warrior by themselves. My name is Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company" she introduced herself to puzzled Jaune. He looked at Pyrrha questioningly, causing the red-haired girl to smile back weakly.

"I merely came here to thank you for your timely rescue two days back" Pyrrha said with mild amusement in her tone.

"Oh. Yeah, err, can we... maybe... forget what happened back then and start again?" Jaune said, scratching the back of his head. "I totally thought you were in trouble… Anyway, I'm Jaune Arc, nice to meet you"

He offered his hand to the red-haired girl who shook it lightly. "I'm Pyrrha Nikos, hello…"

"Oh, So you assisted miss Nikos to escape from the criminals during yesterday's dreadful abduction attempt? I saw the report from the news" Weiss interrupted, causing Jaune to cough as he felt sweat dripping down his neck.

"Uh, yeah, let's call it that" he said weakly as the heiress seemed to weigh him with her eyes. The amused smile on Pyrrha's lips widened as she looked at Jaune who was crumbling fast under the scrutiny.

"I see, so I presume that you must be fairly strong, correct?" Weiss asked "Do you happen to have a Team already? I believe miss Nikos and myself were going to partner up, but we have not found other team members. Would you be interested to join as…"

"Sorry, but I actually already have two other team members" Jaune interrupted the heiress, not wanting for her to get her hopes up.

"Oh? Would you be willing to perhaps leave their team to join ours? We have quite the winning combination with the might of the Schnee Glyphs and the power of the four-times champion of Mistral tournament!" the white-haired heiress boasted, causing the red-haired girl beside her to wilt slightly.

"Uhh, Sorry, again, but I think I have to refuse. And, er, I need to go, my teammates must be worried and waiting for me at the cliffside. See you around?" Jaune said, having largely ignored the heiress's speech as he was checking the time on his Scroll.

He ran off, accompanied by a chuckle from the red-headed girl and an indignant squeak from the white-haired one.

* * *

' _Interesting… he didn't fawn over me like how the usual fans do. He barely recognized me and I'm fairly certain that it was because of yesterday and not because of my fame... Not to mention that any fan would have jumped at the chance to be in the same team as me...'_ Pyrrha thought as she followed the white-haired girl towards the cliffside where the Initiation Test would take place ' _He might actually be someone who could see me as a normal student… and not as the famous Pyrrha Nikos, "Invincible Girl", a champion.'_

Pyrrha would never admit it aloud, but she was tired. So tired of being treated as some sort of object that could be pitted against any enemy on the tournament ring and be expected to win, or be placed on a pedestal and have her bring endless publicity to whoever paid the most for her sponsor contracts.

Her family loved her dearly, but they expected her to commit herself to the champion's career as it brought so much money to the family and _fighting_ as the champion was something she enjoyed doing- despite hating how it made her into an unapproachable figure.

' _The champion stands alone, the king has no ruler, the hero has no saviour…'_ she recounted her father's words. They rang true to her as she never truly had friends- as everyone wanted to know and befriend Pyrrha Nikos, the 'Invincible Girl' and not Pyrrha Nikos, the girl.

' _I thought Vale and Beacon might be different, that my fame would not have spread this far'_ she thought back on how she was cornered by her fans in the trade district when she had tried to shop for for her own clothes instead of having someone do it for her like she had been forced to do in Mistral…

' _And even now, my would-be partner is a girl who looks at me and only sees my reputation'_ Pyrrha sighed as she thought about the white-haired Heiress walking beside her...

' _Although… Jaune did mention that his team only had three members- him and two others. That means there is still a spot open…'_ she wondered ' _But… can… should… I just leave Weiss? To betray her? Am I betraying her if I never wanted to be her partner in the first place?'_ Pyrrha's internal monologue continued as she walked beside the Schnee Heiress towards the cliffside where the assembled students would be waiting for their first Test.

' _Also, how come that Jaune seemed somehow… different today than yesterday? Somehow… shorter?'_

* * *

"...AAAAGH" Pained cry of a young girl echoed in the cliffside as a red-clad girl attempted to escape desperately, and her dreams were crushed instantly as she got tackled to the ground by a tall, busty girl who pressed her squirming and kicking victim against her chest.

Their struggle was the sight that welcomed Jaune to the cliffside where the Initiation would start in moments, and Ruby had tried to run off the moment she had noticed Jaune approaching.

"A little help here?" Yang asked as she was struggling to keep hold of the flailing red-clad girl "Jaune?"

Hearing his name caused Ruby to freeze still in Yang's arms and then turn her head slowly to see Jaune looking at her from about two feet away.

"Hi, Ruby, Yang." Jaune greeted, offering his hand to the girls who got up by themselves. Ruby fidgeted and avoided looking at his eyes as she seemed to be extremely embarrassed about something.

' _Its a curious feeling, to be both instinctively afraid and consciously not-afraid of something at same time'_ Jaune thought back to the odd reactions of his body whenever the silver eyes looked directly at him. He was glad that _something_ existed that could curb the Shadow inside him, even if only to force the maddening whispers to turn from bloodlust to fear.

The silver eyes soon turned from fidgety to intense as the cloaked girl saw the two trash-bags-turned-sheaths tied to his belt. He had further secured the swords contained within the bags by tying a length of thin rope around the plastic trash bags, tightening them until they fit the blades snugly instead of flapping around. The bags had been tied over the hilts as well, as Jaune wanted to make sure that no-one would see the grotesque blades.

"What. Is. That." Ruby asked, making sure to put pressure on each word.

"Uh, I have my swords there?" Jaune said, not sure what was the problem.

"You and I. Are going to have a word. A word. Or two. Perhaps three. About what constitutes as a proper sheath…" Ruby growled, making sure to pronounce each word clearly as Yang made 'run away' gestures in the background.

The familiar voice of the Headmaster of Beacon broke Mount Ruby's impending eruption and silenced the chattering crowd of students.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest as your Initiation Test begins. It will be your first Test within the Beacon, and for some of you, it might be your last Test within the Beacon. It will not only test the combat abilities that you have gained so far, but also your ability to work together, as well as your ability to take care of eachother." Ozpin's voice carried through the crowd with ease despite the lack of loudspeakers.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Today, you will assemble yourselves into pairs of students, and then join your pair with another pair to form a team of four students." Glynda Goodwitch continued from beside the Headmaster.

"It is in your best interest to be paired up and teamed with people who you can work well with as you will be spending your next four years in the same team." Ozpin followed up after Glynda finished her speech.

"Please move yourselves to stand on the launch pads in the ground. The Test you face today will be to find your partners and to form your teams by completing a simple search-and-extract mission." Glynda instructed.

After the students had taken their positions, Ozpin continued from where Glynda had left off.

"You will be launched from the pads into the Emerald Forest. Upon landing, you will find a partner, and then make your way to a ruined temple at the edge of the forest where the staff has placed a set of Relics. You will pick one, and hold onto it as you make your way back to Beacon grounds. You may not take more than one Relic with you." paused to let the students digest the information.

"The pairs with matching Relics will be assembled into teams of four students. You have until nightfall to complete this mission. Students who fail to find partners, or fail to keep their partners alive, will be disqualified and asked to leave Beacon. This is a Test, after all." Ozpin said ominously.

Unknownst to the Headmaster, a certain black-haired girl paled as the words sunk in.

"Make no mistake, teamwork is imperative to your success as Hunters, specifically on the early years of your careers. Inability to work with other Hunters is also equally damning, as Hunters incapable of cooperation not only endanger themselves, but also the people around them" Ozpin continued, addressing the entirety of the assembled students.

A crow cawing in the distance added a chilling effect to Ozpin's words.

He paused for a moment to sip from his mug. "Speaking of which, the first person you make eye contact with after landing into the Emerald Forest will be your partner for the next four years.

"Now, are there any questions?" Ozpin asked, Ignoring the confused voices from the crowd of students. He lifted his eyebrow as he saw a blond-haired man lifting his hand.

"Do we have time to prepare for the launch?" Jaune asked.

"No." Ozpin answered, sipping from his mug.

With a loud click, all of the launch-pads detonated simultaneously, sending the crowd of students airborne and off the cliff towards the Emerald Forest.

* * *

' _Hmm…'_ Pyrrha thought idly as she flewr towards the green-leaved forest, raising her shield as she crashed through the branches of the forest's canopy before landing herself on a thick branch of a particularly large tree.

' _This… is the perfect opportunity'_ she realized as she looked at the rest of the students falling towards the forest from her high vantage position. Pyrrha had used her Semblance, Polarity, to push herself _away_ from the metal launch pads, and used the extra velocity to force herself to land before the other students.

' _Weiss…I'm sorry I can't be your partner... If I 'accidentally' partner myself with someone else first.'_

Her decision made, she folded her Spear, _Miló,_ into its rifle form in order to use its scope to spot a blonde-haired man currently falling towards the ground in a wild spiral.

Unfolding the rifle back to its spear-form, she took a stance and threw the spear at the man, aiming to pin him by his hood and then Pull herself to him by creating a magnetic link between her spear and her shield.

With _Miló_ flying straight and true towards Jaune, Pyrrha jumped after the spear and began to Pull herself to it using her Semblance...

Mid-flight, she saw the man pull a pair of red blades from the bags tied to his waist and deflect her spear mere inches away from his hood.

Her eyes widened as she saw the spear careen off it's course, pulling her with it as the magnetic link between her shield and the spear sent her flying towards the ground.

Pyrrha let out a startled gasp before bracing herself for a rough landing with her shield, _Akoúo̱,_ outstretched to absorb the impact.

She heard a panicked squeak from nearby as her spear hit something, followed by a rumble of breaking branches as her shield and body broke through the canopy…

' _This might be bad…'_ was her only thought before she hit the ground with a massive thud.

* * *

Jaune was internally calm as he reviewed his situation.

One of the major problems of his Semblance was that it required a long preparation phase before it could be actually used offensively or defensively, not to mention the extra time that was taken by the struggle against the Shadow that would instantly come to assault his mind with an overwhelming desire to kill everything whenever he was trying to form weapons, was too hungry, or was badly hurt and therefore was forced to regenerate faster than he could normally.

Adding to that Jaune was fairly sure that if he hit the ground at near-terminal velocity like he was about to, he'd be forcibly shapeshifted from a "human" form into a 'wet splatter on the ground'-form, which would then force his regeneration into overdrive and most likely cause him to completely lose control of himself. Knowing how the Shadow would react, he'd likely go into a killing and feeding frenzy- in a forest which was currently crawling with young hunters-in-training.

The predicament meant that Jaune felt justified to scream his frustration and fright out like a banshee as the initial upwards-velocity from the launch changed into a quickly-accelerating descent towards the forest's canopy.

' _Not good indeed.'_ Jaune thought as he attempted to slow his falling by yelling at it.

The falling sensation was _not_ helped by how it caused him to think back to him falling off the cliff back at the edge of the Forest of Forever Fall and the feeling of being crushed under an avalanche of stone…

' _I wonder if the elongated legs would help to dampen the impact, they worked well when jumping from roof to roof in the last two days… but those were made for leaping, not for landing… although I'm dry on other ideas at this point'_ Out of options, Jaune commanded his legs to _grow_ _..._

A flash of red redirected his attention from his landing strategy to an object approaching him rapidly from his side- and turning his head around he saw the object to be a sharp, red spear flying right at his face.

He pulled his pair of red bone-swords from their makeshift sheathes at his belt in a flash, feeling the barbed hilts burrowing themselves onto his hands as he deflected the incoming red-and-yellow spear awkwardly, mere inches before it could pierce his neck.

Doing so caused him to spin uncontrollably in the air and he was sent on a death-spiral through the canopy of leaves, the branches of the trees cutting and tearing into his clothes and skin as he broke through the green canopy. His back turned towards the ground as he attempted to swing himself upright so he could at least land with his legs and not with his neck.

A panicked shout escaped him just before he hit the ground, feeling himself land on top of his left leg with a sickening crunch and his lower back following it to crash into the hard ground. He felt a series of pops and snaps shoot through his spine before all sensation disappeared from his legs waist-down.

His view was hazy with a black mist settling over his vision and making everything blurry.

Jaune looked through his haze to see a bone peeking out through his thigh, his shin having shattered completely and it's fibula had pierced itself out of the shin and through his thigh. A weak attempt to move his hips revealed that it had likely broken as well, as well as most of his lower spine. His face was littered with small but deep cuts where the sharp branches had sliced into his skin when he broke through the canopy.

He coughed, feeling blood flooding inside his chest as most of his ribs had broken and punctured his lungs.

"Argh… why does this have to keep happening" Jaune whined with wet, rough voice as he felt his Aura kick in and start regenerating his internal and external injuries.

Alongside the bubbling, warm sensation of the regeneration, came the internal howl of the Shadow _snapping_ off it's weakened cage...

"Birdy noooooooo!" a shrill scream echoed through the forest as something red broke the canopy above once more, followed by series of rapid-fired high-caliber shots.

Jaune's eyes felt hazy as he looked at the red form that had landed onto the small clearing with a short stumble.

' _It's… familiar? I've seen this one before...'_ He thought with a weak struggle as he heard a growl escape from between his lips. ' _Please go away… Before I hurt you…'_

He attempted to lift himself up…

 _...feeling his claws é̴̀͟ĺ̢̨̨͞ǫ͞n̸̴̷ǵ҉̶ą̷̨͢t̷̴̵͘i҉̢҉n̴͞҉̷͝g̵̀͜͡͝_ ….

"...Jaune?" he heard the form ask. A flash of something pierced through the haze of _it's_ bloodlust and pushed the Shadow back, the feeling of crazed desire to kill and eat replaced instantly by a shiver and irrational _fear._

Jaune blinked, feeling his Aura work to clear the black haze from his eyes... and he saw Ruby Rose standing near the edge of the clearing, her silver eyes wide as she stared at him in horror... and with a extremely confused and likely concussed crow sitting on top of her head.

"..Hi.." Jaune responded weakly, trying his best to sound nonchalant despite him likely being a horrible sight to see. "...Are… you trying out new fashion accessories…" he breathed out wetly, trying to lift the mood by pointing weakly at the crow. Secretly, he used the bird as an excuse to look at his hands, finding the _claws_ having returned back to regular, human nails…

'... _Or perhaps they didn't have time to turn into them in the first place'_ Jaune thought calmly as the hot, raging bloodlust had passed in a flash of silver and had left him cold and weak, and his skin crawled from the nauseating feeling of the regeneration He shivered slightly before trying to say something to Ruby, only for the words to come out as a cough of red liquid from between his lips.

Speaking was difficult as the amount of blood in his lungs was increasing rapidly.

' _Right… No forced regeneration… this will take a while longer than it should…'_ He thought though his rising pain-haze as the initial shock of the landing was starting to pass. He tried to wave at the red-clad girl who had frozen still- which caused her to snap out of her stupor and she ran next to Jaune.

"No, no, no… Hold on, I'll try to call for evac… Don't die, please…" Ruby was pale as she kneeled next to him and took her Scroll out. Few seconds later her face paled even further and she whispered "...no connection, area comms network offline…"

"...It's alright, I'll be okay… in a moment…" Jaune coughed wetly from the ground, feeling his hips already regenerating as he twitched from the sudden spike of pain.

"No, you're not going to be okay! No no, I didn't mean that, you're going to be okay, don't go! Please don't go away!" Ruby panicked, small tears beginning to trail down her cheeks as she began to shake next to him and she put her hands on top of his chest.

The crow on top of her head let out an angry caww and flew off, likely getting enough of being tossed around as the panicked girl shook her head.

"I, ah, I can carry you! Yeah, that might work!" she whispered as she held onto his hoodie tightly, completely ignoring Jaune's weak assurances that he was going to be fine.

"Don't... don't fall asleep, no matter what you do" she said as she tried to lift him up, before collapsing under his weight as Jaune's body was far heavier than it looked.

Jaune rolled himself weakly off the frightened and now bloodied girl, albeit luckily none of the blood on her was actually hers. That didn't stop Ruby from lifting her shaky arms in front of her as she looked at her blood-stained hands.

"I'm sorry" she whispered once more "I'm sorry for being so weak…"

"I told you… it's going to be okay…" Jaune coughed out from beside her, feeling his legs regenerating. He pushed the extruding bits of broken-off shin deeper into his impaled thigh as he was lying down next to Ruby, feeling the regeneration caused by his unusual Aura to consume the dead and dying flesh and bits of broken bone in order to make room for them to grow anew.

He slowed his breathing to a near standstill as he felt blood fill his lungs, instead concentrating on healing as the ribs still puncturing his lungs slowly dissolved and regrew back to their original positions.

He felt calm despite still being in such a sorry state, the effect of Ruby's eyes suppressing the enraging effects of the Shadow so that he only felt instinctive _fear_ of something instead of hearing the blood-rage and maddening whispers ordering him to kill and eat…

"I'm sorry… mom… I couldn't save everyone… not even my friend…" Ruby cried beside him as he was quiet, the small girl likely taking it as a sign that he had died.

Jaune wanted to lift himself up and talk to her in order to help her calm down, but all that came out of his mouth was a series of wet coughs, his lungs exhaling the blood still within them despite the internal wounds having healed. His leg was still not ready to carry his weight nor was his spine from waist-down regenerated which meant that he couldn't lift himself to exhale the blood from his lungs- which meant that the only option left for him to remove the blood was to try to cough it out.

Ruby gave a small gasp beside him as she heard him cough, before she before jumped on her knees with her tear-stained face appearing in his vision.

He felt a pair of small hands push his chest as Ruby kneeled beside him, her face framed by her red-tipped dark hair as she tried to feebly push at his chest.

' _That actually helps, thanks Ruby'_ Jaune thought as her pushing of his chest in pumping motion slightly helped him to pump the blood out of his lungs.

He felt an electric jolt run up his spine as the nerves of his regenerated spine reconnected, and feeling rushed back to his legs and lower body.

With one final spurt of blood from his lungs, Jaune felt his airways clear and he looked up to see…

Ruby's face mere inches away from his.

Jaune lifted his hand to place a finger on her lips as she reached closer, causing the girl's eyes to shoot wide open.

"I.. think you need… to buy me dinner… first" he joked, feeling his voice returning as he could breath more freely. He could live without breathing, but communicating by splurting fountains of blood wasn't that easy.

"I'll… be… alright… in a moment…" he continued, pulling his legs underneath him and turning himself to the side. He lifted himself up as Ruby sat down on the bloodstained ground with her mouth open and face pale.

Jaune heaved slightly as he turned away from Ruby to exhale the few remaining drops of blood from his lungs and check over his body, seeing if there was anything wrong. He didn't find anything askew beside his clothes being covered in dirt and blood and the jeans being partially torn.

' _Good thing I packed spare clothes…'_ Jaune thought briefly before he turned around to face Ruby, wanting to assure the girl that he was all right.

The moment Jaune opened his mouth to say something Ruby snapped from her daze and launched herself at him.

"YOU'RE ALIVE" she yelled, latching herself onto Jaune so tightly that he could hear his newly-mended ribs cracking slightly.

"I-I… But… you were dying…" she sobbed into his chest, not caring that she smeared even more blood on her clothes while doing so.

"Told you, I'd be alright" Jaune breathed out as he was getting crushed by the smaller girl "My Aura is kind of weird… it doesn't protect me but it heals way faster and way more effectively than conventional Aura…" he continued, patting the shaking girl lightly on the head.

"I'm so glad, I'm so glad" Ruby kept repeating herself, ignoring whatever Jaune had said.

The moment came to an end as a crow cawing loudly alerted the pair to a faint shuffling sound near them.

Ruby broke off from her hug, her cheeks red and face pale as she turned to look towards the undergrowth.

A growl came from the bush nearby and a faint glow of red eyes shone through the leaves.

The pair of glowing eyes was soon joined by another pair of similar eyes, and yet another, until the two hunters-in-training were surrounded by the glow of countless red eyes…

* * *

"Interesting" Ozpin said as he sipped from his mug, looking at the wide-screen scroll in his other hand as he stood near the edge of the cliff overlooking towards Emerald Forest.

"Interesting? Interesting?! One of the students is dying and one is going to be severely traumatized! This is not _just_ interesting!" the blonde-haired woman standing beside the man fumed as she observed the scene unfolding before them through the network of cameras hidden all over the Emerald Forest, her scroll showing a severely wounded young man and a red-clad girl kneeling beside him.

"I'm calling medevac to get him out…" Glynda stated.

"Wait. I believe that things may not be as desperate as they look." Ozpin spoke over the agitated blonde-haired woman who stopped sending the request for medevac and instead gave the Headmaster of Beacon a severe glare.

Moments later the pair saw Jaune standing up in the clearing and turn around to face Ruby who launched herself to hug the boy.

"Fascinating. I have heard stories about people who have weak defensive Aura yet strong Aura reaction towards injuries, much akin to how normal Aura operates except in reverse, although not quite to the extent that mr. Arc displayed." Ozpin said "I wonder if he has _any_ effective Aura protection as the landing seemed to go right through his defences… Also, it's nice to see you warming up to mr. Arc"

"I'm not 'warming up' to mr. Arc, I'm merely showing my interest in keeping my students alive and mentally stable. Whether or not I approve of mr. Arc attending the Beacon, which for the record I am against, is my own opinion." Glynda sighed as she adjusted her glasses, her face slightly paler than usual.

Ozpin continued to watch through his scroll as the newly formed partners were surrounded by the Grimm which were likely attracted to the pair because of the feelings of despair that had been emitted from the red-clad girl.

"Speaking of keeping people alive, I wonder if Miss Rose is aware that doing CPR on someone who is both conscious and likely has a punctured lung is detrimental to patient's health? Not to mention how weak her other attempts at first aid were..." Glynda added after a moment of thought.

"Miss Rose _did_ skip two years of Signal Academy in order to attend Beacon, and I believe Signal trains field medic duties during their last year…" Ozpin answered, nodding to himself. "We may need to encourage her to catch up with her peers. Furthermore, this may have been her first time to see a serious injury as according to your report, as all casualties during the Torchwick incident were caused by mr. Arc's… curious… darts which, while extremely disturbing after discovering the extent of the internal injuries that they cause, leave very clean external wounds."

"Hmh. Nevertheless, it seems that the rest of the students are forming up partnerships nicely. Although I can't imagine this pair getting along…" the stern woman turned her wide-screen Scroll towards the Headmaster to show another newly formed pair…

* * *

"Whohooo!" A yellow blur exclaimed as she flew over the green-leaved canopy of the forest.

Yang used the kinetic force of her shotgun-gauntlets recoil to propel herself further, accumulating speed from the vertical launch from the Beacon cliffside and turning that energy to near-horizontal movement with a series of strategically aimed shots.

So effectively, she was flying.

' _This kicks ass! I should get myself launched more often'_ she thought while cackling like a madwoman, flying narrowly above the forest canopy.

Just as she was getting ready to fire another set of shots, she saw a red blur with a shield cross her flight path which caused her to stumble mid-air and make her next pair of shots to be misaligned- and instead of shooting down and backwards to propel herself further, she shot her gauntlets upwards.

The mistake caused her flight vector to change from 'controlled flight' to 'very quickly descending'.

' _Well, time to test out the good ol' shock absorbers'_ Yang thought as a particularly large tree was quickly filling her view. She fired both of her shotgun-gauntlets forwards at the same time, decreasing her effective velocity to the point where she could safely ram herself into the large tree with her Aura-reinforced boots.

She briefly saw a pair of odd, downwards-spiraling blade-marks on the tree before she slammed into it, landing near the top of it. The tree gave out a tortured groan and _shattered_ in half as she impacted against its bark, the upper part of the tree falling while the lower part stayed upright.

Yang quickly hopped on a thick branch extruding from the lower half of the tree that was still upright.

' _Ookay, shock absorbers work well-ish. Shock deliverers on the other hand, work fantastically'_ She leaned forwards to look over the thick branch just in time to see the falling upper half of the tree crash down on the ground, and entangle its branches all over the undergrowth below.

' _Hm?'_

Yang leaned further out, thinking that she had seen something moving in the branch-covered ground.

"..." She could hear a faint voice originating from below her. It sounded familiar but she couldn't exactly place who it was from so far away, not to mention that the voice was muffled by the fallen branches.

' _Oh wait, branches… Right'_ She hit her palm, realizing what must have happened ' _Whoever is down there must have descended down the tree, hence the blade marks… and I kinda collapsed the tree on top of them'_

Sighing, she hopped down from the thick branch and braced herself for her second landing of the day, aiming for the the fallen tree-top.

' _Well, let's face the music… Although I'm feeling kinda bad that I won't be partnered with Jaune or Ruby but it's not like I can just accidentally throw a tree on someone and then leave them under it.'_

Her landing on the fallen tree-half was accompanied with a loud slam, followed by a pained groan… coming from right under her.

"Helloo~" Yang popped her head over the edge of the tree trunk, waving at the green-wearing boy trapped underneath it.

"For the record, I totally wasn't aiming to steal Nora's man when I found you" she grinned cheerfully, a dreadful feeling building inside her as she remembered the intimidating look on the pink-clad girl she had met yesterday.

Below her, Lie Ren managed to groan as he closed his eyes, resigning himself to his fate.

* * *

Pyrrha waved at the girl who she had accidentally caught with _Miló_ , the spear-rifle having caught the hem of the girl's skirt and pinned her to a tree. Unfortunately, it also caused the girl to slip off the tree branch she had climbed onto and flip upside-down against the tree trunk.

"I'm sorry?" Pyrrha offered as the girl turned to give her an evil glare, after which the girl's eyes widened.

"Oh no, no, no, NOOOOOO…" the girl cried as she tried to reach for the spear while attempting to flee with almost desperate fevor.

' _Uh, I'm sorry? I'm not that terrifying, am I?'_ Pyrrha thought internally as she felt sweat trickle down her neck. The pink-clad girls trashing weakened slowly and the pink-skirted girl started to sob miserably instead.

"I'm sorry Renny… so sorry… I can't be your bride anymore, I've been claimed by some red-headed girl…" she sniffed, causing Pyrrha's sweat to start streaming down her face. She looked at the weakly trashing girl whose face was starting to turn red from all the blood rushing down to her head.

Deciding to see if the pink-clad girl would calm down once upright, Pyrrha used her Semblance to pull her spear off the tree and fly it to her hand… which caused the girl to fall to the ground with a limp smack.

"Uh… are you alright?" Pyrrha asked weakly as she kneeled beside the fallen girl "And, er, who is Renny?"

Her new partner just sent a glare at her from the ground, the girl's turquoise eyes twinkling angrily.

' _Well, this didn't go quite as planned'_ Pyrrha thought as she helped the pink-clad girl up. ' _But, I can still team up with Jaune if we get the same relics…'_ a traitorous voice at the back of her head added as she exchanged names and greetings with the pink-clad girl that seemed to gradually calm down as she was no longer upside-down...

* * *

"They just keep coming" Ruby yelled as she decapitated another Beowolf, her crimson Crescent Rose reaping terrible havoc on the Grimm's ranks.

Jaune had pulled the pair of his slowly bleaching blades off the ground where they had fallen and joined the battle as the Grimm horde broke through the underbrush, and charged the pair of Hunters-in-training.

"We need to go!" She added as the tide of Grimm didn't show signs of waning despite the small clearing starting to gradually fill with the slowly smoking and vaporizing black-furred corpses "Can you run? Like, really fast?"

"Not really" Jaune shouted back as he slashed at a Beowolf that had grabbed his right leg, severing the hand before it could pull him off the small pile of Beowolf corpses he was standing on "I can jump well but I don't think I can outrun the Grimm… gaah!"

His answer was interrupted as a Beowolf sank it's teeth onto his shoulder from behind as he was busy stabbing his blades deep into another Grimm's mask.

Ruby launched herself past him in a red flash- the elongated jaws stuck on Jaune's shoulders slackened as the Beowolf's head had lost its body, her scythe slicing through the beast's neck as she passed.

"I'm not going to leave you here!" Ruby shouted as she flew over Jaune again, burying her Scythe into yet another Beowolf's spine as Jaune slashed his blades at the same Grimm's legs, causing the unfortunate beast to topple and fall on top of its brethren before it was swiftly decapitated by Jaune.

A deep roar caused both of the hunters-in-training to turn towards the source of the sound.

"It's a Alpha!" Ruby yelled, before she launched herself at the large Grimm, small rose petals flying in her wake.

The large Alpha Beowolf was hunched at the edge of the clearing, growling and snarling as it ushered an endless wave of smaller Beowolves forwards to assault the pair of humans.

As soon as the Alpha Beowolf noticed the small girl flying at it with her Scythe pulled back to strike, the large Grimm grasped a smaller Beowolf growling beside it and threw the smaller Grimm at the rapidly approaching girl.

"Aaagh!" Ruby cried as she collided mid-air with the confused Beowolf, knocking her off her course and causing the pair to slam into the ground. The pack of Beowolves instantly took the opportunity to jump on top of the downed girl…

 _Whoosh…_

A soft sound of _something_ flying in the air was accompanied by a series of soft thuds, the Beowolves on top of Ruby rearing back and starting to trash on the ground as forearm-length spined darts poked out of the Grimm's thick hide.

As Ruby looked at the darts they seemed to come _alive_ and start to burrow themselves into the Grimm with small centipede-like legs, soon disappearing from sight as the Beowolves trashing weakened.

She looked at Jaune as she jumped up from the ground, seeing the man look back at her with slightly... _hungry_ expression before it turned back to his usual goofy, slightly nervous smile.

Ruby shook her head, admonishing herself for losing track of her surroundings. There was a time for questions, and it wasn't in the middle of battle. "Distract the Alpha! I'm going to get behind it!" she shouted at Jaune and turned to run up a nearby tree, intending on using it to launch herself into air and land behind the creature ẃhen it was distracted.

"On it!" Jaune shouted from where he was still trying to cut down the pack of smaller Beowolves.

Ruby kneeled after landing on the tree branch near the top of the tree, seeing Jaune extend his arm towards the large Alpha and she heard the _whoosh_ \- sound again…

From behind her.

Ruby's eyes widened as she felt a pair of large, black talons grasping her cloak and yanking her off the tree branch. The talons pulled her into the air and caused her sight of the clearing where Jaune still fought to shrink rapidly as she ascended towards the sky.

An angry caww of a massive Grimm Nevermore filled her ears as she struggled against the grip, the massive Grimm bird having swooped down and grasped her by her distinctive red cloak with it's massive, curved talons.

"I'll come back! Don't dieeeeee….." Ruby shouted at the rapidly shrinking figure of Jaune before her attention was directed to the giant Nevermore.

' _Calm down, what would sis do in this situation…'_ Ruby thought as her attempts to squirm out of the bird's grip were ineffective ' _Ah, now I know…'_

She pulled her Crescent Rose back, and swung it upwards.

The blade pierced itself deep into the flesh between the flying Grimm's thin legs, causing someting to be cut off and Ruby saw a odd-shaped piece of black flesh drop off the bird.

The caw of soul-crushing pain that the creature let out was something that she never wanted to hear again.

It almost made her feel sorry for the Grimm bird.

Almost.

* * *

"Not good" Jaune commented mainly to himself as he saw Ruby get snatched by the giant Nevermore.

A clawed paw swinging at his head forced his attention away from the red-clad girl and he swung his blade at the paw, severing it from the Beowolf that had attempted to attack him when he was distracted.

' _I need to deal with this pack fast… and go save Ruby'_ he thought to himself as the Grimm pressed their assault with even greater ferocity, realizing that he now stood alone...

 _Ţ̶h̴͝͡ę̢͜ ̷́͜͜f̢̡͘͜͟ò̶̸̶͢ò̀̕҉͝ĺ̨ş̛͟.͞.̵̵͏͏.́͘͟_

...Jaune stumbled forwards as the Shadow pushed him at full force, the second will within his mind commanding him to kill…

' _Ruby is no longer here… she can't hold it… m̡̢̀͢e̵͞͡… back anymore.'_ Jaune realized as he felt his vision becoming hazy, making him remember that he had barely recovered from being splattered on the forest's ground, and he was starting to get _hungr̶̡̛͢y҉͞…._

 _Shift._

He felt his teeth sharpening and his canines elongating slightly as his flesh and bone changed without his consent…

A pair of Beowolves charged at him.

 _Step forwards._

 _Slash._

Both of his blades bit deep into the attacking beast's shoulders, tearing the body apart into a grotesque 'X'-shape. The second beast was hit by the first one's severed hand and got distracted by it- which was enough for Jaune to lunge himself at it's throat, trashing his head and tearing a chunk of black flesh and skin from the creature...

 _Ś̴̛̀w͢͠҉̀a҉͞͡l̷l̡̕͏͟ò̧͡w҉́͘.̕͘͡͠.̀̕͟.̴͡_

 _͞͞D̸̶͟ęv̶̧͝ơ̷͠ư̴̶͢͝r̀.̵͘͝.̛͟͜͏.͢_

...The black meat was as bitter and oily as he remembered. Yet somehow it tasted _good…_

The thought was accompanied with a feeling of bubbling flesh, his jaws beginning to elongate as he lunged at another attacking Grimm, feeling his vision becoming clouded by a red haze...

...And something slammed him to the ground. A pair of large claws raked at his flank and shoulder and he could feel his newly regenerated ribs being cut as the claws bit deep before he could retaliate. The pain pulled him from the daze and he swung his blade at the invisible attacker that pulled it's paw back before his blades could land.

He looked up to see the Alpha resume its attack, swinging its claws at his face.

He rolled to the side, seeing the claws rake deep wedges onto the ground where he had been a second ago.

The Alpha Beowolf from the edge of the clearing had joined the fight as he was distracted, likely assuming him to be an easy prey.

 _Ṕ̴͟͝ŗ̶ó̷́v̵̕e̕͜ ̵̡͜͏ì̴̛͜͞t̷̶ ̵̕͏͡w͏̡͞͏r̴̶͡o̢͏͏n̷̡͠g̢͡.̛͝͠.̧̨͜͝͡.҉̷̧̢͡_

 _͟͏K͡͏i͘͡l̷͘ĺ́͠҉.̀̀͘.̨̧̕͡.̸̨̧̛̀.._

 _Shift._

Jaune felt his cut ribs mending, a mesh of white bone pushing through his skin and tearing apart his hoodie to form a layer of interlinked, external ribcage on his chest...

He howled at the Alpha Beowolf before lunging at it, swinging his blades at the leg of the creature to topple it down.

The Alpha dodged his wild lunge and swung its paw at him, landing a hit on his back as he stumbled past the large Beast and sending him flying back to the ground. Before he could recover, the Alpha lunged at his leg, it's jaws snapping around his flesh with a crushing force and _tearing_ large chunk of the leg off at thigh height.

Jaune screamed, not from pain but from frustration as the red mist in his eyes blocked all pain his… its.. body felt.

He rolled to the side again, before springing himself upright with a slash of his blades to force the Alpha back- feeling his Aura to repair the severed tendons and muscles in his thigh, forming thin strands of black muscle and sinew barely capable of holding him upright as his regeneration wasn't able to build complete leg muscelature in such a short time...

The Alpha Beowolf gulped down its appetizer, the bloody thigh-part disappearing between the creature's long jaws. It posed to leap at him again, and Jaune lifted his blades to counter it's charge... until the Alpha's stance relaxed and the beast coughed.

The large Grimm creature seemed to give him a curious glance, before it started to cough and hack, it's upper body lurching forwards as it vomited the recently-severed flesh out with a gush of dark red blood and bits of rapidly decaying black flesh.

Jaune took his opportunity and lunged himself at the Beast's head, burying both of his blades deep into its throat and slashing down, cutting the beast's throat vertically all the way to it's chest and stomach.

The Alpha Beowolf gave a horrifying, gurgling howl and spasmed, before toppling over and nearly crushing Jaune under it's weight.

He heard quiet snarls and whimpers from all around him as the smaller Beowolves started to back away from him, the pack seemingly starting to disperse after easier targets rather than the one who felled their leader and most of their brethren.

҉҉K̴͜͟͡͡í̴͢͟l͡͏̸̢̧l̀͟.̕͝͠͝.̷̢͢͝.̢͠͠͞

͏̧̡L̵̢̧̀͟e̷̸̢̕t҉̨ ҉̕͏̶n̶̴̶͠͝o̸͟͝ń̴̨̕ę͟͟͡͞ ̵͘͢͢͞é̡ś͠҉̡c͘͞ą̕p̛͡͡͞e̸̶̴̷̡.̴͠.̶̨͠.̷̡͡͏͢

 _So hungry…_

He lunged at the beasts still within the clearing, his blades sinking into a retreating Beowolf before it could dodge.

The spikes still growing within his arms _ached,_ the darts breaking through his skin once more to be pressure-launched at the few remaining Beowolves which jumped back, the darts jutting out of their backs and chests as they dispersed- until the darts disappeared inside the Grimm creatures to gouge and tear apart their insides...

 _Kill…_

Jaune took a breath as the clearing fell quiet, the last surviving Beowolf within it having stopping it's trashing and going still.

He felt the red haze starting to slowly lift as nothing moved in the small clearing which was now knee-high in slowly vaporizing Grimm corpses…

The haze was replaced by an entirely different one as he felt _hunger_ gnaw at his insides, and he felt… light. Too light.

His hands started to shake as he looked at them, seeing the fingers starting to form sharp claws…

 _È̴̴̢̕a͢͟t̨̧.̸͢.̵̴̢͝.̛͟͡͠_

 _̷͜_

 _̷̧́H̕͜͟͜͠ù̡͞ń̸̢̛ǵ͠é҉͟͟ŕ̷.̶͘͡.̷̀͟.̷̴̨̕_

 _͞͞Ç̡͢o̷̧n̴̕s̶͟͡͞͝ư͘m͟e͏͜͞.̴̡.̧.̨̛͏͟_

 _̷͏̛͠Ǵ̶̵̀͢r͟o̷͠w̸̶͟͠.̶̡.̨̢͟͡͠.͏̛_

He bit deep into the Alpha Beowolf's carcass, feeling his jaws elongating even further as his back hunched backwards, bone-plates growing from his spine and breaking through his skin…

 _G̛͘͝r̛͜͝͞ǫ͏̶ẃ̷́͠͞l̴̢͞.̴̢͘͟.͢҉̡̀.̶̡͟͢_

The longer jaws made it easier to consume the black flesh at even faster pace, the corpses becoming smaller and smaller…

' _Or I… I̢̕͠.̴̵͝͠.͘͜͜͠.̷̷҉.. am̨̡̛͡ growing…'_ Jaune thought through a haze, feeling his eyes changing as red glow illuminated the black flesh in front of him…

The clothes he had were torn apart as his flesh turned black and outgrew them at rapid pace, thick bone-plates growing from the mass of bone pushing through his skin and extending over his back and things.

He stumbled as his point of balance shifted, but he steadied himself with his heavy tail which had extended as his spine grew more vertebrals than human was ever meant to have…

He felt his hunger growing as he ate, and he pulled yet another sizzling corpse from the ground for his gaping maw to bite into…

* * *

"...Well, this is new." A calm voice said as it's owner looked at his Scroll.

The man made to sip from a mug on his hand, only to find the liquid within it having turned cold.

Ozpin frowned as he looked at the mug as if it had betrayed him somehow.

"..." The blonde-haired woman next to Ozpin was speechless as she looked at her own Scroll, showing a four-handed abomination of white bone and black flesh consuming the Grimm carcasses within the clearing.

"You… invited _this thing_ to _our school_ " Glynda whispered as she had seen the teenager grow into something far more monstrous "He's not _human"_ her voice took more serious edge.

"Well, I wouldn't call him Faunus either" Ozpin answered after putting his mug away and leaning on his cane idly "Still, this gives some answers, although I'm not sure what the questions were".

Glynda sent a glare at Ozpin.

"So, we know that mr. Arc, _if_ this creature _is_ the original Jaune Arc, has either Grimm-related Semblance or, he was made to have one." he recounted his observations "And there exists only one creature in Remnant that could possibly do such a thing- even though I have no ideas as to _how_ it could have been done" Ozpin finished.

"And you invited him to a _school full of teenagers_ " Glynda stated with arctic tone.

"Indeed" the Headmaster of Beacon agreed, lifting his glasses to better look at the live-video of the Grimm-human devouring yet another Beowolf corpse, the creature's elongated maw making short work of the carcass and the abomination's hunchback grew even further.

"So rationally, our next step would be…" Ozpin started before Glynda spoke over him-

"...To exterminate it and to do it _now_ , before it can attack the other students." she interrupted.

"I was actually going to suggest that we continue observing him" Ozpin corrected the fuming Headmistress "We know next to nothing of _her_ goals, beside the obvious one. If she sent… whatever mister Arc is… here, I want to know what he was sent _for._ " he paused to look back at the high towers of Beacon behind the pair "Although I can guess one possible objective…"

"In that case, we should capture and interrogate him" Glynda stated before Ozpin could continue his speech.

"...However, there exists one more possibility. If he _isn't_ one of her agents, then his ability to, from what we can tell for now, manipulate Grimm material could prove invaluable to our efforts to understand what makes Grimm 'tick'… and even to push back againt them." Ozpin continued, pretending to not notice how Glynda's scowl deepened.

"I still don't like it. Ozpin, you are trying to control something that _can't_ be _controlled_. If you are incorrect. the first ones to suffer from it are the innocent students" She scowled.

Ozpin sent the agitated woman a stern glare "When we first met with mr. Arc, I suspected something like this would happen. Rest easy, I have taken proper precautions, both as a Headmaster and as someone who stands against the darkness."

When the agitated Headmistress didn't seem convinced, Ozpin sighed and turned his Scroll to show a video feed of a particular red-eyed crow sitting on a tree branch just outside the clearing where the Grimm-human hybrid was still devouring the few last scraps of the black flesh…

"If mr. Arc is indeed a threat to the students, he will not survive to see the end of this day" Ozpin said quietly.

"So you recalled _him_ back to Vale... just to observe mr. Arc."

"And to serve as his executioner, if need be."

* * *

"..." A white-haired girl gave the underbrush a fierce scowl, the offending roots and branches having caught her mid-thigh length white dress more than once and hindering her movement.

' _This is incredibly frustrating'_ she thought as her scowling didn't seem to intimidate the flora to make way for her. ' _When I was training and conditioning myself to become a Huntress, I never imagined that moving in the wilds could be so… infuriating…'_

Her mood wasn't helped how brutishly the Headmaster of Beacon had set to assemble the pairs and the teams, nor how the Test had been started.

' _One would believe that we could form partnerships in more controlled environment to form pairs that would work together well, and then we could form teams that would have members balancing each other's weaknesses with their own individual strengths, and with a strong leader to tie them all together... rather than essentially throwing a dice and hoping for the best'_ she scowled internally, beginning to regret choosing to study in Beacon Academy instead of Atlas institute.

' _Calm down Weiss, do not let your emotions control you. You are a Schnee, act like one'_ she recounted her sister's words, the latter sentence also having been trained deep into her mind when she had been trained to become the heiress to the SDC.

She exhaled, calming herself down and closing her eyes briefly.

When she opened her eyes, she felt serene, the haze of annoyance having passed by and she took another step in the Emerald Forest, lifting a branch out of her way with her hand…

...and the branch struck the back of her neck and entangled itself into her hair as she let go of it.

Weiss was glad that her sister, her parents or her butlers were not present as she let out a stream of curses at the tree, before stabbing the offending branch with her rapier, Myrtenaster, to relieve her frustration.

' _I still need to find Pyrrha... '_ she thought after the moment had passed ' _I may be able to partner up with her still. I believe I saw her fly past the other students and land first- so she must have seen where I landed and is most likely already on her way to me...'_

Weiss walked forwards to find a comfortable place to wait for Pyrrha.

.

..

…

"..." The minutes passed in silence, and Weiss was starting to slowly get a sinking feeling that Pyrrha wasn't coming to find her.

Sighing, she stood up from a small ice-throne that she had made with Ice Dust and her hereditary Semblance, Glyphs.

' _I need to go find her… She can't be far away...'_ Weiss thought, setting off to walk towards the center of the forest ' _She must have passed by me and thought that I had already left to move towards the Relics…'_

A faint sound of metal hitting something hard caught her attention and she stopped to listen to the curious sound.

' _Hmm… Metal on something hard… So someone has gotten themselves into a fight against the Grimm.'_ Weiss thought, her eyes closed as she focused on the source of the sound.

' _Ah, of course, Pyrrha must have been delayed by the Grimm and is clearing them up before she can move to find me'_ her eyes opened and she turned to walk towards the faint sound of fighting and faint howls, both of which soon died down as the fight ended.

Minutes passed in silent shuffle and quiet muttering as she stumbled through the thick underbrush towards her goal- until she heard a fairly loud shuffle come from in front of her as something approached.

Weiss looked up to see something red moving in the bushes, before a Grimm Beowolf burst through the bush and collided with the white-haired Heiress, causing the lithe girl to fall on her back.

"No! Hold!" Weiss cried out as she was taken completely off-guard by the sudden appearance of the Grimm.

She turned and jumped off the ground, creating a Glyph under herself to launch her away from the Beowolf that was now thrashing and turning on the ground.

Having cleared enough distance between herself and the Grimm, Weiss lifted her Rapier to an attack stance and created a Glyph behind her, aiming to use it to launch herself to pierce the Grimm…

...But by the time she had finished preparing the Glyph to help her slay the Beowolf that had collided with her, the thrashing Grimm had grown still on the ground and had started to slowly vaporize.

"..." Weiss tightened her grip on Myrtanaiser.

' _I'm onto your trick, Grimm. Playing dead won't work on me!'_ she thought, before launching herself to pierce her rapier deep into the motionless Beowolf.

The blade bit deep and she pulled herself back, having stabbed the Grimm through it's mask.

' _That'll teach you to underestimate the Schnee!'_

She observed her kill, feeling slightly proud as it had been her the first actual Grimm that she had slain... beside the Grimm Geist that had been provided for her to defeat back in Atlas, to prove her readiness and to signal the start of her training in Beacon.

Weiss poked the unmoving carcass of the Beowolf with her rapier slightly, wanting to make sure that it was dead.

She gasped slightly and jumped back when one of the odd, segmented protrusions jutting out of the dead Grimm's back twitched and seemed to burrow into the corpse, disappearing out of her sight.

' _Right, let's move on'_ she thought internally, not admitting to having gotten startled when the dead Grimm had moved.

' _Pyrrha must not be far away if the Grimm are fleeing from her…'_

She kept walking towards a faint sound of two hard surfaces hitting eachother until she came to face a thick wall of underbrush with the sound coming from the other side.

After a brief struggle she burst through the brush to a small clearing while constantly looking down, paying close attention to the undergrowth and walking carefully so she wouldn't stumble and make herself look undignified in front of the champion fighter. She stopped briefly at the edge of the clearing so she could pull off the branches that had tangled themselves onto her long, white hair.

After untangling the branches from her hair, Weiss turned around to greet Pyrrha…

...And she froze.

What was in front of her was not the red-haired champion, but a nearly 10-feet tall form of a monstrous Grimm.

The creature's heavy hunchback made of sheets of segmented bone was turned towards her as she stared at it without moving a muscle. The creature's thick, long pincer-tipped tail dragged on the ground as the creature reached for something in front of it with one of its four long, clawed arms with each of them clad in bone-armour. Its two legs were hooved, and were jointed like ones on the Beowolf that she had slain, except this creature had segmented sheets of bone covering it's thighs.

She kept staring as the creature pulled a carcass of a Grimm Beowolf from the bloodstained ground in front of it. The carcass disappared from the Heiress's sight as the creature still had its back towards the white-haired girl, but Weiss could guess what was happening in the abomination's front as something let a wet, ripping sound and she heard the clang and clatter of two hard surfaces hitting eachother that had guided her to the creature.

Weiss fought back a whimper as she slowly backed away from the creature that had yet to notice her.

She would have likely made it back to the bushes and away from the blood-stained clearing, had it not been for her traitorous eyes seeing a bloody and torn brown hoodie and scraps of completely destroyed bloody blue jeans hanging loosely on the small spikes extruding from the creature's armored forearms ….

…" _Hi, I'm Jaune" a slightly shocked, blonde-haired boy said, still in his brown hoodie and blue jeans despite the Initiation starting in less than half an hour…_

 _..."Sorry, but I actually_ _already have_ _two other team-members" Jaune interrupted..._

Weiss heard a faint scream escaping from her lips, before she slapped her hand on the source of the sound to muffle it.

The creature stopped doing whatever it was doing with the corpses and turned slowly, it's tail swinging to the side lazily to counterbalance the creature's lean.

She let out a faint whimper despite having her hand on her mouth as she saw how the Grimm creature's front was completely stained in blood, its external ribcage of white bone stained dark red as it's long jaws were dripping blood from between the sharp, lipless set of white teeth. A sheet of bone covered it's elongated head with blade-like bone-spike extruding upwards from it's head in a twisted parody of king's crown.

The creature _looked_ at her with it's pair of red eyes, sinister intelligence glinting in their baleful glow.

Weiss was completely still as she looked at the Grimm creature, and the creature looked back at her.

The frozen stalemate continued until she could no longer hold her breath and she gasped for air…

And the Grimm abomination let out a hollow roar

.̸̢̧͇̲̠̫̥̘̗̩̻̲̮͟͡ͅ ̶̶͞҉̛̲̩͖̭͍̙͈̬̻ ̶̺̮̥̟̹̗̦͎̮͔̜͓̳̣̜̮͘͟͝ ̧̛͎̳̩̰͚̻̠̞̫͇̬̘̪͙͈͜͠͠ͅ ̷̡͚͚̻̘͈̬͙̱̟͠ ͠͏̢̼͎̖̦͙͙̻͔͍͈̭̠͓̼̝́ ̷̲͉̱̥̖͕͜͠ ̶̨̲̣͕̹͙͜ ̶̡̙̩̩͚͈̠̳̟̹̺͍̟̯̰͙͎͉͞͝͝ͅ.̛̮̞̟̪͙̣͝.̷̤̬͉̫͖͇̩̫̣͍͈̣̗̳ ͏͎̬̣̬͎̰̠͔͕͎͕̜̲ ̵̧̧͏̛̗͚̲̩̖͚͙̜͔̱ ̡͇̙̫̪̲͈͚̫̩̣̰͇͎͞ ̴̸̡̢͙̩͖̭̻̲̠͚̮̥ ̰͉̜̩̖̱̘̟͇̹͓̝̱̹͍̩̳̀͞ͅ ̦̝̩͍́͡ ̵̣̖̝͓͠.̴̴̤̪̭̻̱͢͜͡҉̴̤͓͎̦͙͠

Ẃ͔̦̺̫̕ͅŖ͘͏̤̦͚̹̱͉̬̻̦͔͍͙͍̩̭̀R̴̨̧̪̺̰̙͈̙̲͖̘̟͍͞ͅE̩͉̫̘͘͢͞Ę͇̮̭̣̮̣͙̰̖̞̪͈͎͓͔͔͖̼̱͢͡I̦̰̣̭̱̬̻̘͔̟͙͘͟͡I̶̡͔͖̲̲̜̞̹̝̦̦̗͖̟̗͙ͅS҉̛̫̩̥̗̥͔̀ͅŚ̷͢͞҉̼͎͓̯ͅŚ̲̲̝͓̳̤̪͍̪̗̀

 _̀͏͚_

 _._

Weiss felt the creature's hot, blood-stained breath hit her face, the dark red mist of exhaled blood leaving small stains on her white dress.

She did the only thing she could think of in the situation that was completely new, alien and frightening to her.

Her eyes rolled up to the back of her head and she fell to the blood-stained ground, unconscious.

 **AN:**

 **Next Chapter: 29-30. Sept- Of Teams and Partners.**

 **I decided to change the release schedule so that it's either on friday or saturday as it seems I'll be primarily away from my home office during the weekends, so I'll post the new chapter during friday if there is a chance that I'd be incapable to do so during the weekend- I try to avoid using mobile devices for the chapter releasing as using the tools on a phone is... difficult.**

 **Less Blake in this chapter, but she will have her time. Meanwhile...**

 **Omake:**

"..."

10-year old Blake looked down at a cardboard box left just outside the door to her home in Menagerie with contempt.

The box was upside-down with a small stick of wood holding it upraised so it revealed a fresh tuna on a plate inside it.

The trap was so easy to see that even an infant could spot it.

"Do they think that I'm an idiot?" Blake sighed as she her closed her amber eyes. "I mean, it's _right there"_ she motioned at the stick despite being alone at the door.

' _Then again, it's so easy to avoid that I'm sure I could just pull the tuna out from under it…"_ a treacherous part of Blake's mind whispered to her before she could move back inside the main house.

"..."

She paused while holding onto the door tightly, before turning back to look at the cardboard box and the tuna underneath it.

After a brief mental battle with herself, she creeped towards the box and carefully crawled past the stick holding it up, making sure to avoid touching the trigger of the makeshift trap.

Blake grabbed the tuna by its tail…

...Which caused the fresh fish to start to twitch around inside the box and Blake let a startled gasp. She reared back as she attempted to keep her hold on the fish that was almost half her size- and in her struggle she knocked off the stick that was supporting the box upright. Darkness descended upon her as the trap was sprung, trapping her inside the soft and fragrant cardboard.

She pulled the tuna into her hug as she felt someone grab the box and lift it up with her in it.

Blake saw a faint flash of red hair and black bull-horns through a crack in the box before her kidnapper shouted "Got the kitty!" and ran away from the Belladonna household, the cardboard-box containing Blake held high...

.

..

...

"...And that's how I was forcefully recruited into White Fang." Blake sobbed crocodile tears as she recounted her life to deeply emotional Glynda Goodwitch sitting on the other side of her office table, small tears falling down the blonde woman's face.

Glynda tapped the corner of her eye with a napkin before nodding at Blake "That's… Horrible. To be kidnapped so cruelly, and so young…" She sneezed on her napkin. "You are welcome to seek refuge and study in Beacon… we need more people with the strength that you have..."

Blake turned away, hiding her sinister grin behind a napkin as she pretended to clean her face of tears as well.

' _That was easier than I thought...'_ she cackled internally

' _And all i had to do was to tell the truth…'_


	8. Of Teams and Partners

Blake moved over and through the Emerald Forest's underbrush with grace and efficiency of a natural predator. She had landed by throwing her Gambol Shroud to a tree and then using it's ribbon to swing herself around the tree so she would bleed her speed off before landing.

Afterwards, she had tried her best to avoid other students as she searched for a particular student that she disliked the least.

' _I might as well partner up with Jaune... he seemed like good enough of a person...'_ She thought as she pushed through a thick bush while making no sound whatsoever. Her thoughts about the tall, blonde teenager came to an end as her pair of black, sensitive and severely itchy cat-ears perked as they heard a familiar voice in the distance.

It was not a voice that she wanted to be familiar with, but it was familiar nonetheless.

' _Now, why would that rich, spoiled princess scream like that? Did she trip and mess up her dress?'_ Blake thought with no small amount of bitterness as she heard the voice likely belonging to one particular white-haired huntress-in-training echo through the woods.

A hollow roar that followed the feminine scream put an end to Blake's brief wondering.

' _That roar… I've heard it before… but it can't be here...'_ she continued in her head as the bitterness turned to cold dread.

The unnerving quiet that followed the distant roar did not help the increasingly paranoid girl's mood.

' _No sounds of combat… did she get away? No, that would mean there'd be sounds of rustling from the branches and underbrush…'_ Blake concentrated her hearing towards the direction of the brief scream and roar. ' _That means… did she die?'_

The thought was followed by the haunting visage of the impaled man in her dreams...

' _Just like with Adam… am I going to run away again?'_

"…"

' _No.'_

Blake turned around, gritting her teeth together and she set off to run towards the source of the brief scream.

 _._

 _.._

…

' _It is here…'_ Blake thought numbly as she peeked through the underbrush to see the massive armored Grimm from the Forest of Forever Fall leaning over the white form of the unconscious Schnee Heiress.

' _Why, why did you pass out you stupid girl?'_ she despaired internally as she saw the white-clad girl to be unhurt yet still laying on the ground with her chest moving steadily.

A large clawed hand reaching for the unconscious girl pulled Blake's attention to the scraps of bloody and dirty clothes stuck on a row of small spikes extruding through the Grimm creature's bone-vambrace.

' _Those clothes… Jaune?'_ she thought back to the clothes the young man had been wearing back at the launch pads, a cold feeling sinking into her stomach ' _This… This creature… It already killed him? Was he partnered with the Schnee and she fell unconscious upon seeing her partner die?'_

The cat faunus thought back to the young man who had come to her last night. He had seemed like good person, not someone who would deserve a fate like this.

' _That means… she was partnered already… so she can't be my partner even if she wakes up and looks at you...'_ A small treacherous part of her mind reminded her, deducing a partial reason to her hesitancy to help the cold Schnee heiress.

She wasn't sure what she'd do if she was forced to endure four years of her company.

Yet, she didn't want to just _leave_ her to die… like she had left Adam, albeit unwillingly.

Her decision was made.

As the Grimm's claw grasped the unconscious heiress by her bolero jacket, Blake pulled Gambol Shroud out of it's holster and prepared herself for her charge...

* * *

 _.́͟͠.̴̕͜.̴̡̛͟_

 _̶͘҉͝G̨͢͟͝r͞҉̴ơ̢w̴͟͝͡҉.͏̨͟.̀͘͟.̧̕_

 _͏̵͝_

He kept eating and growing, the armor plates covering his body thickening with each carcass consumed and he could feel the ground starting to give under his weight as his pair of wide, white hooves sunk deeper into the soft, grassy ground.

He could barely see through his red eyes as his arms reached for more and more black flesh without his consent. Deep within the creature's feral mind the consciousness of a young man looked through the eyes that were both his and foreign at the same time.

' _So warm… '_ Jaune thought hazily through the warmth that seemed to surround him, clouding his mind as forms around him merged into green and black mass as he had yet to adapt to his new eyes.

A shuffle behind him was ignored as he was too preoccupied by gathering more delicious black flesh into his maw.

However, a faint feminine scream coming from behind him pierced through his warm haze and snapped him back to present-

Making him realize just _where_ he was.

' _The Initiation Test! Beacon!'_ Jaune thought with a rising panic ' _I'm turning into a Grimm in a forest full of Hunters!'_

Before he could think of anything else, his new body turned slowly to face the source of the feminine scream. His eyes focused on a white-clad form as he turned towards it- although the form's shape was blurry and dull as his new eyes were still growing and shifting.

' _What… It seems familiar…'_ Jaune thought while squinting his eyes at the completely still figure ' _Is… that a student?'_

The form gave a feminine gasp and Jaune connected the familiar voice in the earlier scream to the white-clad form of-

' _Weiss!'_ Jaune tried to greet the young heiress, hoping that he could persuade the girl to not kill him as a Grimm. However, what came out of his mouth was not a name, but a hollow roar and he could see a thin mist of dark red blood and steaming breath hit the small girl in front of him.

And the girl fell over and didn't get up.

' _Uh… well, she isn't trying to kill me at least?'_ Jaune thought as he was still while observing the unmoving form. ' _Now, what should I do with her? Take her with me? I can't just leave her here, or the Grimm will return and she'll just die…'_

His wondering came to an abrupt end as he felt his new, monstrous body starting to move against his will. With rising horror he saw his new, bone-plated arm reach for the unconscious girl and he felt a small trail of bloody saliva drip from between his lipless, jagged teeth.

' _NO! No! That's not what i meant when I thought to take her with me! Stop!'_ Jaune howled internally, causing a growl to escape his maw as his body resisted his attempts to regain control.

F̶̴̧̀e̶̡͡a̵̢̨͘͠r҉̀.̢͠.̨͟.̵̸͢͟

̴͟͢͠͡Ȩ̴̛a͡ţ͠

̵G̢̢͢͠r̢͏̀o̡w̶̧̢ ̴̵̸̕͢s͏͞t̷̵̛͠ŗ̛̀͟o҉̵n̶̴̵̡͟g̶͟͞͞͡ȩ̀r̀̕͞

The ethereal hunger didn't let up, and the unconscious body was dragged ever closer to his maw…

Until an intervention came in the form of a thrown blade lodging into the exposed black flesh between his armored hand and forearm.

The blade barely registered into Jaune's mind until he felt something tug his arm. He looked down to see a blurry shape of a black blade lodged into his arm. The blade was connected to a ribbon, which was tugged back by a black and white shape near the edge of the blood-stained clearing.

' _A Grimm? Here already?'_ Jaune thought. He felt his arm instinctively pull back against the tug as the ribboned blade was preventing him from devouring the white-haired girl against his will...

His red eyes widened in surprise as the black and white form stopped trying to tug his arm back and instead used his pull to launch itself at him and land on his arm.

The black-and-white form nimbly climbed up his arm and onto his back before he could swat it away as his reactions were slowed by his internal struggle for the control of his body.

Jaune felt pinpricks of pain shoot up his back as a blade stabbed itself repeatedly into the wedges of his armor despite his attempt to swat the agile black-and-white Grimm away from his back.

He roared in frustration… and felt something _hard_ hit the back of his mouth as a bang of a rifle echoed in the clearing, originating from somewhere outside his view.

' _Did… someone shoot me in the mouth?'_ Jaune thought as he gagged, spurting black blood from his mouth as he dropped the unconscious white-haired girl from his grasp and reached to cover his mouth with two of his arms while the other pair of his arms were trying to reach for the small Grimm still stabbing away at his back.

He felt his hand brush against the agile creature and he grabbed it, and pulled it close to his face.

' _Annoying creature… please go quietly, I don't really want to drag this longer than it has to be…'_ Jaune thought as the blurry form of the smaller Grimm stabbed his hand with it's black blade.

The small Grimm squirmed in his grasp as he pulled it closer to his face…

 _Sniff… Sniff…_

' _Wait…'_ Jaune froze still as he recognized the scent of the Grimm in his grasp.

The Shadow pushed against his mind, telling him to eat the creature now before it could stab him further- but he fought against it, and the pain from the now-regenerating wounds helped him pull himself back into control of his new, monstrous body.

 _Sniff… Sniff…_

Jaune reached closer to the blurry form of the Grimm in his grasp, and the agile creature tried to rear back from his face as it was now almost touching it.

' _This… This isn't Grimm!'_ Jaune realized with rising horror as he matched the scent of the back-and-white creature to the black-haired girl from last night ' _Blake!'_

' _I'm fighting a student!'_ his panic continued to mount as he froze completely still while trying to think of a way to get himself out of the mess he had gotten himself into. He kept trying to maintain eye contact with the blurry, squirming form of Blake Belladonna in his grasp, although his new eyes were still somewhat out of focus despite starting to regain their clarity.

However before he managed to find a solution to the dilemma, the control of the situation was taken away from him as Blake reached to stab her blade into his eye.

.͔̦̬̹̟̲̠̫̱̝͍̙͜.̵̟̳̜̖͇̠͖̹͇͎̟̖̗̮͔͜͢.̶̸̩̤̱̺̦͇̞̹̻̠̺̩͓̹̲̳̥̼̤̀͘͡.̨̧̧̞̼͇̙̙͇̭͘͜.͠҉̨̧͔̥̖̜̬̝͉͇̻-͚͎̠͎̕͟.̷́͏̡͓̲̹͕͈̙̪.҉̭̭̥̖͉̻̬̬̬̟̖͇͕̪̹̼͞r͏҉͙͍̬̞̘̮͇̟͉͎̭f̻̯͍̳̤̟̼̗͚̮͇̤͈̣͎̱̲̘͙̀͝

̶̧̣̙̹͓̪̙̩̣̮̙̙̀ͅA̸͚̯̖̖̺̬̞̭̬̝͇͍̫̻̣̪͜͞À̵̧̛̯̦̥͖̥͇̮̟̺̻̫̦ͅR̷͏̶̭̪͔͕̯R̷̡̧͎͈̳̩̰̺͇̼͠G̦̻̭̬̖͟͟͜Ḥ̶̫̟̥̩͉̺͢͞H҉̠̟͍̼̙͝ͅH̨̖͇͈͙̰̪̩͡H̷̡̤̘̦͖͕

.

.

The howl of pain that escaped from his maw was accompanied by Jaune trashing his head from side to side and causing the girl in his grasp to lose grip of her weapon as it was lodged deep into Jaune's eye.

He tossed the girl away as he reached to grasp his face, trying to pull the blade away from his eye-

...And a second gunshot rang in the clearing. Jaune felt as a bullet entered his remaining good eye and robbed him of his sight completely. His earlier roar of pain was accompanied by a new one and he turned away from Blake to face his invisible attacker, trying to rub his bleeding and blind eyes...

R̸̖̻̼̣̲̰̳̙̀ư̗̝̮̭̪̻̕͜ṇ̢̨͍̟̭̯͙ ͏̼̘͚̭̺͖a̻̠͓͘w̮͍̰͢a̗̞͚̩̞̞̦y̸̱̳͚̰

͎͓͉̝̬͢E͉̤̞̩̪̙̭͞s̢̹̥͔̮͔̕͟c̨͔̠̗̤̝̩̣̲a͏̣͎̫͉̘̜͓͝p̸͖̞͎̗ȩ̭̺ ̷̳̫͉̩̟̮̟͉͝

͇̙͔̪̫̬͇̪͘͟R̸̭̼͓͓̯ȩ̪̲̣͖̭ģ̷̯̙͓̖͕e̶̗̦̟̠̥n̻̳͡ẹ̛̱̬̻͚͇̞͙͡r̘̻͎̪̝̀́͘a̵͏̣̖͉̝̘͕̲t̳̲̟̱͉̪̬̼̤͞e̪͘

͈͝

He felt the Shadow urging him to flee, and for once he felt comfortable obeying its instructions.

Jaune fled blindly from the clearing, his 10-foot tall armored form ramming through trees and crushing underbrush with ease on his way out…

* * *

Blake landed nimbly as the Grimm abomination threw her away.

She felt cold dread mounting up on her stomach as she saw her Gambol Shroud get lodged into the Grimm's eye, leaving her unarmed and facing against the massive predator…

A second gunshot rang in the opening and Blake saw the Grimm's remaining eye burst in a small shower of dark red blood, causing the beast to turn around. Blake used the opportunity provided by the invisible sniper to run to the unconscious Heiress near the Grimm creature's hoof and drag the girl away before she would be crushed under the creature.

She turned to flee with the girl in tow- but before she could do so much as lift her over her shoulder, the Grimm abomination turned it's tail and ran from the clearing, crushing trees and underbrush in it's blind rampage.

Blake dodged the swiping tail and froze still with the white-haired girl in her grasp as the creature disappeared from her sight.

' _The Grimm… it fled?'_ She thought numbly, the adrenaline from the fight still pumping in her system ' _Since when do Grimm flee? I was unarmed too!'_

It's not like she _wanted_ to be killed and eaten, but she had never heard of a Grimm fleeing from an easy prey.

' _Wait… the two shots that came from the treeline... '_ Blake turned to face the direction of the gunshots, trying to find her invisible helper.

"Thank you!" she shouted after seeing nothing in the direction but underbrush and trees.

She lifted the unconscious heiress to her shoulder and stood up, eyeing the blood-stained clearing.

The trees were largely scarred or broken, almost as if a mass of Grimm had come through it, and the ground was littered with hoof-marks and paw-marks.

There were few scraps of bloody and torn clothes in the ground and Blake quickly turned her attention away from them, not wanting to bring back the memory of meeting the kind-hearted but now dead teenager.

Other than that, the ground was stained in dark-red blood and there were few chunks of Grimm Beowolves still sizzling on the ground, almost as if something had eaten the black creatures.

Blake shook her head.

"What should I do now…" she wondered quietly while looking at the very clear trail that the Grimm abomination had left.

' _Should I pursue it? But I have no weapon, and I'd have to lug this useless girl with me…'_ Blake thought, her amber eyes glaring at the crushed trees and the unconscious Weiss Schnee...

Her eyes widened mere moment later as she realized something.

' _The Grimm is fleeting towards the center of the forest! Which means that the abomination will run right into other students!'_

She could warn the other students and use their help to slay the creature, and put an end to it's rampage.

' _And avenge Adam…'_ a small voice at the back of her head added.

Her decision was made, and she lugged the unconscious Schnee heiress over her shoulder and set off on the path that the massive Grimm had made...

* * *

" _So, are you sure you don't want me to kill this thing?"_ a gruffy, slightly drunk voice asked from Ozpin's Scroll.

"It is in our best interests to keep him alive for now." Ozpin answered "Do try to keep him from killing other students though. Fantastic work so far, by the way."

" _If he so much as lifts a finger, claw, talon, tentacle, whatever, towards either Ruby or Yang, I'm killing him, we good?"_

"Please try to not let your feelings as their uncle cloud your judgement"

" _My judgement tells me to shoot the Grimm-things brains out nevertheless"_ the drunk voice answered from the Scroll " _Oh yeah, the cat-girl is leaving after the thing, bye"_

The Scroll disconnected, leaving Ozpin staring at the piece of communication tech before he brought up a screen showing the disguised cat faunus walking on the path that the Grimm-Jaune made.

"Huh, that could be bad" Ozpin said idly before he turned towards the Assisting Headmistress beside him. "Don't worry, It's all according to my plan."

The glare that Glynda sent him caused his attention to be quickly turned back at his Scroll.

* * *

' _Ow, ow ow ow'_ Jaune thought as he kept crashing through the trees and bushes while trying to pull the blade from his eye.

His Aura had already healed his other eye, with a thin steam rising off his elongated, monstrous face as the flesh overheated from the regeneration. Although he had managed to regain the control of his body, Jaune was unable to see properly and the world around him was still blurred to shapes and forms.

' _Huh, this sort of reminds me of when I was in the red-leaved forest, Forever Fall or whatever… Which means I should get the sight back soon-ish'_ He thought as he remembered how he had regained control of his body in the red-and-black forest

The fact that he wasn't quite accustomed to his armored form didn't help his attempt to do delicate tasks though, like trying to use his sharp claws to pull away the blade-pistol that was lodged deep into his eye.

' _No, no, ow, it pushed deeper…'_ Jaune growled with frustration as the bloody hilt of the blade kept slipping from between his claws ' _This isn't working!'_

He shook his head, causing the blade to cut to the side and he roared in frustration, frightening nearby birds to flight.

Jaune kept fleeing away from the blood-stained clearing nevertheless, until he got an idea.

' _I could try to go back to human form, pull the knife-gun-thing out, and then go back'_ he realized ' _Actually, why am I in a Grimm form anyway?'_ he continued after a while

' _Oh yeah, I kind of lost control and ate everything… Goddamit'_ Jaune growled before settling himself down and closing his only eye.

He felt himself pulling back into the flesh and bone, and he started to form his human form anew, making his Grimm form's chest his cocoon.

Mere moments later he felt himself wake up inside the monstrous chest, and he looked down at his external ribcage with his only good eye. He took hold of the external ribcage with his four, bone-armored arms and pulled the bone apart so he could exit through it.

He burst through the cocoon of flesh and bone-armor that he pulled away for him to exit, and he felt himself plop down through his chest and land unceremoniously on the ground, leaving massive gaping hole in his Grimm form's chest.

Jaune blinked.

His Grimm form blinked with it's eye.

' _This… This is weird'_ Jaune thought as he looked at himself through the monstrous form's remaining eye, and he looked back at his Grimm body with his pair of human eyes.

' _I still share consciousness with… my old body?'_

Jaune tried to lift his Grimm form hand and flex it's claws. He saw the large body do as he commanded as if it was himself who did it. He then tried to lift his human form's hand and flex its fingers, and he saw through the single blurry red eye that his human body did the same.

' _Wait, do I always look this clueless?'_ a stray thought passed by his head as he looked at himself through the creature's eyes.

He turned around with his human body to look at it from behind- and doing so, he discovered a thick, black cord come out of his neck and lead to _something_ inside the Grimm form's chest, through the massive exit-wound that he had made when he emerged through the creature's chest-turned-cocoon.

' _Hold on, is that a umbilical cord or something?'_ Jaune thought after moment of staring at the cord through his Grimm form's eye and tugging at it with his human form's hands ' _Hold on, hold on, did I just give birth to myself? How does that even work?'_

Panic increased within him and as he tugged at the cord connecting him to himself.

' _This didn't happen back at Forever Fall! I just kind of woke up and pulled myself through!'_

His Grimm form became equally restless and pulled itself back as Jaune tried to tug the cord, causing the sharp, broken ribs on the Grimm form's chest to cut the cord apart-

 _No, wrong._

 _Wrong._

 _Pain_

 _Pain pain pain_

 _ **Painpainpain**_

Jaune screamed as he felt a wave of electricity shoot through his spine and he felt himself detaching from his Grimm form as both of his forms fell to the ground.

The Grimm form gave out a hollow, pained roar and it rolled to its side and became still, the red light dying from it's solitary good eye.

Jaune could just groan on the ground as he felt his connection to the Grimm form detach as the cord connecting the two was cut, and the feedback-pain kept bouncing up and down his spine.

The pain became bearable after a moment as his body adjusted itself to it, and his pained groaning turned into a quiet breathing until he felt comfortable enough to get up…

And realize that he was completely naked.

In a forest full of Hunters-in-training.

After giving birth to himself.

' _Why does this keep happening to me…'_ Jaune whined internally as he rolled on the ground in his completely naked human form.

He rose up to sitting position slowly and hugged his knees close to his chest while looking at his shed Grimm-form.

The form seemed to mock his despair despite the massive gaping hole in it's chest and the blade lodged in it's eye, and the scraps of clothes and belt stuck to the spikes on one of it's arms…

' _Wait, hold up, belt?'_ Jaune thought back ' _How is there a belt on it's… my… arm? Did it get stuck somehow?'_

He rose up from the ground to stalk closer to the Grimm form, and saw that the spikes, which seemed eerily similar to the ones he could grow and launch from his own forearms, had caught his belt and scraps of his old clothes on their barbed edges.

Jaune pulled the belt off the spikes and discovered that it still had his pouches, which meant…

.

..

...

"Holy crap, I'm so glad that I thought to pack spare clothes" Jaune said aloud as he finished changing into his new clothes from the belt-pouch "Point one for Jaune, zero for Ruby's one-change combat-wear!"

' _Speaking of which, I need to go save Ruby from that giant Grimm bird… I wonder if I can make wings so I could fly after her?'_ Jaune thought as he secured his belt around his waist and walked to the now slowly sizzling and vaporizing Grimm form.

He looked at his Grimm form's dim red eye in wonder and pulled the blade-pistol from the form's other eye-socket.

' _I mean, hm, If I eat my old body, is it considered cannibalism?'_

Before Jaune could go too deep into his disturbing thoughts, he heard a rustling from behind him and he turned, pointing the pistol-blade at the source of the sound.

He didn't know how the pistol worked so he figured that he'd point the pointy bit at the target and hope it would not attack him.

Blake Belladonna looked back at him with wide amber eyes while carrying the unconscious form of Weiss Schnee on her shoulders.

"Uh, hello?" Jaune asked weakly, letting his arm fall down "So, what brings you on this neck of the woods?"

"How are you still alive? Also, why were you pointing Gambol Shroud at me backwards?" Blake asked back after recovering and putting the heiress down on the ground.

"Backwards?" Jaune asked, puzzled, as the black-haired girl walked up to him and took the pistol from his loose grip.

"Thank you. For the record, you hold Gambol Shroud like this" she demonstrated by aiming at the Grimm form's carcass behind Jaune and shooting a round into its remaining eye.

"Wait, you mean you aim the pointy bits at yourself when you fire?" Jaune asked as he got distracted "Doesn't that kind of defeat the point of having a blade?"

"You're not supposed to stab someone when you shoot so it doesn't matter" Blake answered while looking at Jaune like as if he had hit his head on something "...but thank you for finding my weapon anyway."

She looked down at the slowly disintegrating Grimm form near her "...And for killing this thing" she added quietly as she turned to look at the creature, hiding her expression.

"Uh, you're welcome?" Jaune answered.

' _I think this isn't good time to ask her forgiveness for mistaking her as Grimm?'_ Jaune thought as the black-haired girl kicked his dead Grimm form in the face.

' _Yeah, definitely not.'_

"I assume you were the one who helped me in the clearing before by shooting this thing's eye out and then hunting it down? Thank you for saving my life" Blake said cordially while turning around to face him. "I'll assume that you were just unfamiliar with my weapon which led to your hm... mistake in handling, let's put it that way."

"But you should not leave your partner alone like that. I'm sure you know of this, but letting your partner die will mean you are disqualified from attending Beacon." she continued while pointing at the slowly stirring white-haired girl who was lying on the ground, "I believe that me returning the Schnee to you clears any debt that may linger between us."

"Um, I have nothing against Weiss but how does bringing her to me clear a debt between us? How exactly do you have a debt to me?" Jaune answered while raising his hands up to stall the black-haired girl.

' _Did Arc family lend her money or something? I have to ask my sisters later about this…'_ Jaune continued in his head.

"Hold on, do you mean that the Schnee girl isn't your partner?" Blake asked and her eyes opened wide in surprise.

"No, she isn't. My partner…" Jaune began but was interrupted when the Schnee heiress groaned and pushed weakly against the ground. Jaune turned his head towards Weiss to help her up-

Blake charged Jaune and grabbed a hold of his head before he could move to help Weiss and she turned his face back towards the black-haired girl.

She stared hard at his blue eyes with her amber ones, before sighing.

"I see. Then, I shall aspire to be a good partner to you during our four years of Beacon. But I expect you to take your responsibilities seriously, and keep to yourself any secrets that I tell you or that you find out about me…" Blake began before Jaune could stop her.

"What. Is. Going. On. In. Here" an arctic voice interrupted Blake's speech as Weiss woke up properly while kneeling on the ground.

"Hello, miss Schnee" Blake answered "We just saved you from certain death." she added, glaring at the girl whose scowl wavered.

"I… I could have taken care of myself…" Weiss said after a brief pause, staring at the dead Grimm form near the pair "Hold on! mr. Arc you are alive!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening as she stared at Jaune.

"What's with everyone thinking that I'm dead today?" Jaune asked, slightly annoyed by her reaction to his presence.

' _I mean, everyone's first reaction to seeing me today with exception of one "good morning" has been "you are not dead! Amazing!" and it's getting old fast'_ he added in his head.

"Well, your clothes were shredded and stuck to the Grimm here and the creature was covered in blood, so I was worried…" Blake answered quietly from beside him before sighing "...You have to tell me how that happened later though..."

"Hold on, are you two partners?" Weiss interrupted, causing Blake to send a glare at the white-haired girl.

"Yes"

"No"

Blake froze still beside him as she heard Jaune's answer.

She turned her face slowly towards the teenager with her wide eyes full of dread.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" she asked quietly.

"My partner is Ruby Rose" Jaune answered "But she got snatched by a giant Grimm bird and I have to go and rescue her so I really need to get moving…"

Blake turned her back to Jaune before walking slowly to a nearby tree, sitting down, and hugging her legs to her chest.

Meanwhile Weiss toppled over on her back while repeating "Not like this" with a quiet tone.

"My life is over." Blake said, rocking herself back and forth.

' _What's with these girls? Is everyone trying to become a Hunter insane?'_ Jaune thought as he looked at the two girls.

* * *

"NO NO NO THAT'S NOT THE RIGHT WAYYY..." Ruby shouted up at the Grimm Nevermore as she held onto her scythe tightly, the scythe's blade being stuck to the Grimm bird's crotch.

She could just let go of her scythe and she'd be fine, but there was no way in Remnant that she'd depart from her Crescent Rose like that!

Instead she used the rifle part of her scythe to shoot at the Nevermore to steer it, transforming the bird into an one-use express air-taxi.

It had worked at first, the bird flying zig-zag while giving out soul-rending caws of pain with Crescent Rose and Ruby dangling from it's crotch like some sort of accessory that shot it's owner occasionally.

Problems arose when the Grimm bird had gotten enough of getting shot at and was trying to fly so close to the forest's canopy that Ruby was in serious danger of getting caught by a tree and getting swatted off the Grimm.

"Ow" Ruby whined as another branch hit her.

' _Sister, your advice has betrayed me!'_ she thought miserably as she was covered in Jaune's blood, leaves and now the Grimm's blood as well as the Nevermore was leaking blood on top of her.

The Grimm seemed to eventually run out of energy to fly as it kept bleeding from the massive and continuously expanding wound caused by Crescent Rose, and started to gradually lose speed and altitude- until the bird crashed into a large clearing on the forest after giving out a long pained caw, sending dark grey stones and stone blocks flying around.

The Grimm gave a weak caw from the ground before laying its head on the tiled floor and dying.

"I'm so not taking Yang's advice in the future" Ruby growled from under the bloody bird with her vision of her surroundings obscured by the mud, Grimm-blood and the thick screen of feathers all around her.

"You're not taking what now?" A familiar voice sounded from other side of the feathers that blocked Ruby's view of everything. A soft rustle filled Ruby's ears as something reached through the dome of black feathers around her, and parted the feathers to reveal a brightly smiling Yang.

"You almost nailed the entrance!" she exclaimed happily before pulling the smaller girl from under the Grimm and into her hug.

"How are you here! Let go! I need to go and save Jaune!" Ruby complained as she squirmed against her sister's hug "He's hurt and alone and surrounded by Grimm!"

"He's what now?" Yang asked, and her cheery mood vaporized in an instant to make way for a worried expression "Also, you're covered in blood!"

"Yeah, most of that is Jaune's" Ruby said without thinking, causing the yellow-haired girl to squeeze Ruby tighter to her chest,

"What happened, are you alright? Is he still alive?" Yang asked seriously while letting Ruby down so she could check her for injuries.

"He got really hurt during the landing and I thought he was dead but then he just stood up and I kind of hugged him and then we got surrounded by Grimm and then I climbed onto a tree and Nevermore snatched me and Jaune was left alone fighting against a horde of Grimm _and_ and Alpha Beowolf at the same time…" Ruby recounted in quick succession "Also, how are you here? Where is here? And why is Ren here?" she added, pointing her finger at the green-clad boy behind Yang which caused the boy to nod at her politely.

"We are currently at the temple were the Relics are located" Ren answered as he pointed at a large tiled ring on the ground near where Ruby had landed, the ring's edge being lined with small waist-high pillars with black and white chess pieces on them.

"He's my partner, I sort of messed my landing and caused a tree to fall on top of him so we kinda partnered up. Also, if Nora asks, I totally wasn't stealing her man, alright?" Yang continued, adding the last part with hushed and quiet tone.

"Oh, cool" Ruby said before shaking her head "Regardless, I need to go and save Jaune! Let's just grab matching relics and go!"

"Uh, about that, I kind of got into a team already…" Yang looked pensive as she reached to turn Ruby around so she'd see a red-headed girl poking at the dead Giant Nevermore with her spear and a pink-clad girl standing on top of the dead Grimm, posing herself like some sort of goddess of victory.

Nora had a white tower chess piece balanced on top of her head, and Ruby turned around to see Ren holding onto a matching black chess piece.

"Ren and I kind of got here first, then Pyrrha over there bursts through the underbrush like there was a devil chasing her which turned out to be Nora riding a Grimm Ursa, which makes it like, ten times as frightening" Yang explained "And before I could so much as blink, Nora beelines to the Relics and grabs one, then grabs Ren and throws him at the matching Relic" she shrugged.

"But… but… we were supposed to be on a same team" Ruby whined, looking at Yang with sad puppy eyes.

"You know those eyes don't work on me anymore after you used them to loan my gauntlets and then added a flamethrower on them" Yang growled.

"...The flamethrowers made them, like, hundred times better…" Ruby pouted.

"...the fuel canister exploded and it burned a patch of my hair." Yang added with her eyes turning red.

"...Okay maybe it didn't make Ember Celica better." Ruby concluded "But! But! Even if you are already teamed-up and having lame not-flamethrower shotgun-gauntlets, I need to go, now, and save Jaune!" she added after Yang had settled down.

"I hate to interrupt but we have more pressing matters" Ren said from beside Yang. He pointed at the edge of the forest to draw the pair of sisters attention to the literal horde of Grimm Beowolves and Boartusks coming out of the forest, likely having followed after the extremely loud and painful journey of the Giant Nevermore and its Ruby-attachment

"Well, crap" Ruby said as she tried to pull Crescent Rose off the Nevermore.

It didn't budge.

Ruby whined and Yang rolled her eyes, reaching to grab the hilt of the scythe and pull it off the Grimm.

"You really need to go and hit the gym, sis" Yang said as she gave the scythe back to the smaller girl who hugged the scythe close to her chest with happy expression.

Ruby opened her mouth to respond but a severed hand of a Beowolf flying past Yang interrupted her,

"Oh yeah the Grimm" Ruby yelled as the whole 'Save Jaune, stuff, Initiation Test, Grimm, stuff.' came back to her

"Yes 'yeah the Grimm!'" Nora yelled at the sisters from where she was flattening a Beowolf against the tiled floor with her hammer while Pyrrha was stabbing a Ursa to the throat with he spear and Ren was shooting up at a small flock of Nevermores. "Come on you lazy-butts!" Nora added after she deemed the Beowolf to be flat enough for her tastes.

With a swing of Ruby's scythe and the thundering boom of Yang's gauntlets, the sisters joined the battle

* * *

' _Sheesh, what's with these two?'_ Jaune thought internally as the two girls he had teamed up with kept sending glares at each other.

"I'm telling you, the Schnee company is _not_ mistreating the faunus workers in the mines, instead we provide the largest single source of employment to most faunus living in Atlas" Weiss snipped at Blake.

"Yes, because working in cold, dangerous mines for nearly nonexistent pay _is_ the best employment a faunus could find in Atlas, does that not seem wrong to you?" Blake hissed back at the heiress "The faunus have to work in such conditions just because they are faunus as no-one else will hire them _because_ they are faunus!"

"The mines are cold _because they are largely underneath frost limit_ so they can't be safely warmed up without collapsing the entire mine on the workers! And the Atlas Institute on Applied Robotics is constantly coming up with new technology to…" the rest of Weiss's speech passed over Jaune's head, and likely over Blake's head as well, based on the glare she sent at the heiress.

He shook his head, deciding not to get involved on the argument over something he didn't really understand or know about, and instead he focused on trying to find their way to… somewhere.

Jaune wasn't quite sure _where_ the relics were though, beside being in the Emerald Forest.

"Are you _sure_ you know where you are going?" Weiss asked, further piling on Jaune's stress over the situation.

"Uh, I have no clue" Jaune answered honestly, shrugging his shoulders and causing the heiress to frown.

"Well, I believe _I_ should take the lead in this sort of scenario. I have been trained to be a leader my whole life." Weiss told him, ignoring the angry scowl Blake sent her.

"Hm, I mean we haven't elected a leader or anything, if you think you can find the relics then lead the way?" Jaune told the heiress and she stood to walk past him.

She stopped after moving in front of the small group to stare at the grassy ground in front of her, before pointing towards a seemingly random direction.

"The relics are that way" she said,

Jaune looked at Blake and shrugged.

Blake looked at Jaune as if he had betrayed her.

.

..

…

"Are you really, really sure that the relics are in here?" Blake asked the white-haired heiress for what seemed like hundredth time.

"Yes, and yes." Weiss answered, using her Scroll to light up the cave that the small group had entered.

"It makes sense that an ancient temples would be located inside the large caves. And this particular one had runes and old texts all over the entrance. This must be the place" Weiss answered.

"Are you sure those were runes and old texts and not just miniature people fleeing from giant scorpion?" Jaune asked, causing the heiress to turn back to look at him as if he was some sort of idiot.

"Yes, the fairies of old were getting chased by a scorpion, that makes more sense" Weiss mocked before turning and continuing.

"Look, there's something up ahead" Blake pointed at a glowing object few metres away, the glow strengthening as the group closed in on it.

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about this" Jaune said as he felt something really, really off about the whole cave.

' _And the fact that I just got a massive pang of hunger from the Shadow, saying there is something that it wants me to eat…'_ Jaune felt like adding the last part might have broken the mood so he chose not to say it aloud.

The conversation came to an abrupt end as Weiss reached up to the glowing object, only for it to move away.

"Something's not right" Blake said immediately, seeing a faint form illuminated by the glow of the object and grasping Jaune's shirt and dragging him back.

"Still doubting me?" Weiss hissed at the girl and reached to grab the object again.

The object dodged her attempt to grab it, and a hiss erupted from underneath it.

The cave was lit in a red glow as a massive Grimm Deathstalker opened it's eyes and pulled it's glowing stinger back to strike.

"Right, it wasn't the relic" Weiss acknowledged before she brought her rapier up and doing a spiral.

Jaune was about to ask her what her acrobatics was going to accomplish, followed by him grabbing the girl and legging it, before he saw a glyph get formed into the air and the Deathstalker was frozen solid into it's nest by a rapidly expanding ice sheet.

"We need to leave before the ice melts" Weiss said, turning away from the Grimm and walking away.

"Huh, that… was easier than I thought" Jaune said aloud before following the white-haired girl with Blake stalking behind him.

"It was mere Deathstalker. They are all over the textbooks and their strengths and weaknesses are well recorded" Weiss answered "One such being their limited strength and durability in their legs. Makes me wonder why a creature like that would choose to nest somewhere that it could get trapped inside so easily"

"Yeah, uh sure. I mean I totally knew that." Jaune said, before turning to Blake and whispering "Are there textbooks about the Grimm? I mean real ones, not fantasy novels"

"Yes, although they are well guarded and not released to the general public to avoid paranoia, panic and despair" Blake answered "How did you think that the students were supposed to study about the Grimm? Find one and punch it in the face?"

' _I sort of figured something along those lines'_ Jaune thought but chose not to comment.

"So uh, is the Deathstalker dead-dead or just not really dead?" he chose to change the subject to something more pressing,

A distinct sound of shattering ice answered his question and the heiress in front of him walked just a tad bit faster.

.

..

…

"Of course it is not dead" Jaune grumbled as he kept running alongside the two girls, the Deathstalker hot on their trail as the creature had quickly caught up with them after breaking free of the ice sheet.

"Can we fight it?" Blake shouted from beside him,

"Not really, we'd need something that can either pierce its armor or affect it past the armor! That means either a really big hammer or a flamethrower!" Weiss shouted back at the black-clad girl.

"Huh, that's a really big hammer" Jaune commented idly as the small group burst through the underbrush to a clearing that was filled with Grimm corpses with a small group of students standing on top of the tallest pile of Grimm-corpses near the center of the clearing.

His attention was directed at the pink-clad girl who swung a massive hammer at a Beowolf, transforming the Grimm from three-dimensional creature into a two-dimensional one in a splat of dark red blood.

"Nora! Over here!" Jaune shouted and waved wildly at the pink-clad girl who waved back.

His waving at the hammer-wielding girl distracted him from seeing the red missile moving through the Grimm corpses and tackling him to the ground.

"JAUNE YOU'RE ALIVE!" Ruby exclaimed before having to dodge a massive pincer as the Deathstalker burst through the underbrush after them and immediately tried to clip Ruby in two.

"Why does everyone keep saying that" Jaune grumbled as he got up, realizing that he was unarmed.

' _Well, that doesn't need to be the case for long'_ he thought as he felt the bones on his forearm start to chip splinters that would soon grow to be clusters of forearm-length darts.

He'd just need to survive until then.

It seemed though that the survival would not be a problem as the Deathstalker was quickly getting overwhelmed by the number of students starting to bear on it.

Jaune saw Yang charge past him to hit the Deathstalker's claw with her yellow gauntlet, the hit sending the Grimm's claw flying to the ground as Weiss froze the creature still once more, allowing Ren to hamstring half of it's legs as Ruby did the same on its remaining four legs.

Blake climbed on top of the Grimm in order to stab her blade into a wedge in the Grimm's thick armor plate, and Nora jumped high into the air with Pyrrha's assistance.

As the pink-clad girl crashed down, she struck the back of Blake's blade with her hammer to push it deep into the Deathstalkers brain.

' _Yikes, remind me not to show up in front of them in my Grimm form'_ Jaune thought as he saw the Deathstalker get torn apart by the student's combined attacks.

The Deathstalker had been the last remaining Grimm moving in the clearing, and after it fell the group of students gathered in the small ruined Relic temple to think on their next move.

"So let's see, princess and Blake are a pair, Jaune and Ruby are a pair, I'm paired with Ren and Nora is paired with Pyrrha" Yang recounted "Plus, Ren, Nora, Pyrrha and I are already teamed up together so that leaves Ruby, Jaune, Ice-bitch and Blake to form another team, unless you want to wait for another pair to come by?" she added, ignoring Weiss's growl.

"I believe I would rather form a team composed of people whose strength and character I appreciate, but I'll settle for a team with half of the team having such qualities" Weiss scowled from the side and reached to grab a white knight chess piece.

Jaune shrugged his shoulders and took the matching black knight piece after neither Ruby nor Blake objected too much.

"I guess that settles it. So, we got our 'relics', you guys wanna hang around this Grimm corpse-filled clearing or you wanna get out of here?" Ruby said with a sigh as she leaned heavily on her scythe beside Jaune.

"Let's go back to Beacon" Yang confirmed and Ren nodded his head from beside her as Nora clapped her hands.

Blake reached to wipe the rest of the Deathstalkers brains out of her blade and nodded.

Pyrrha was quiet beside the group as she quietly bit her lip to stop herself from growling in frustration.

* * *

"...And we have Weiss **S** chnee, Jaune **A** rc, Blake **B** elladonna and Ruby **R** ose who managed to recover Knight pieces and shall now form Team SABR (Saber), led by Weiss Schnee" Ozpin announced to the gathered crowd of first year students in the entrance ceremony hall with a large holographic projectors showing the faces of the corresponding students and the names of the teams.

Weiss, Jaune, Blake and Ruby nodded and bowed politely in front of the crowd before returning to the crowd of students

After the polite clapping had died down, a new team stood forwards to receive their name.

"Following them, we have Lie **R** en, **Y** ang Xiao-Long, Pyrrha **N** ikos and **N** ora Valkyrie who managed to recover the Tower pieces and shall now form Team RYNN (Run), led by Lie Ren"

The corresponding group of students bowed politely with Yang and Nora waving their hands at the crowd before descending back to the crowd themselves.

"We did it! We're in Beacon now, properly, officially! This is the best day ever!" Ruby gushed as the ceremony ended after all Teams had been formed, with only three students being left without teams or with would-be students not meeting the objectives.

"Calm yourself! I expect _my_ team to be on their best behaviour, at all times, at all places, and have a matching record of excellence!" Weiss snapped from beside the excited red-clad girl.

"Uuuh, well, best day ever except for one thing" Ruby whispered to Jaune's ear.

Blake nodded beside Ruby with her eyes facing forwards as she had a carefully neutral expression on her face.

Jaune smiled at Ruby, glad to have her near him to suppress and push back the constant pressure of the Shadow that had returned gradually as the group had exited the Emerald Forest.

"I'm sure that we'll survive" Jaune whispered back as the group entered the Beacon's dorms.

.

 **AN: Next chapter- 6-7. Oct.-** **Lessons and Revelations**

 **It took slightly longer to release this chapter despite the short wordcount, mainly because I had to redo part of it.**

 **Omake:**

"Dear sister, are you _completely sure_ that this is training me to fight against the Grimm?" Weiss asked her big sister, Winter, as Weiss made another pirouette on wooden floor while wearing a frilly pink ballet dancer dress.

"Weiss, I am shocked and appalled of these insinuations! Of course I am training you to fight the Grimm!" Winter exclaimed from where she was sitting on a cushy chair with Scroll out, taking pictures of Weiss. "There is no way that I would do this to obtain adorable pictures of my little sister"

"Sister, I have never said anything like what you just said…" Weiss commented weakly as she turned around to assume an end stance of her ballet dance.

"Quiet! And address me as 'Dear Sister!'" Winter said, taking picture of Weiss with her Scroll "Now, sing for me!"...

.

..

…

"What do you mean, you have never undergone such training when you were younger?" Weiss asked Ruby who seemed to be choking on something as her face was bright red and the smaller girl seemed to have troubles breathing.

"W-w- when I asked… how did you train… before Beacon… I didn't quite… expect that kind of… bwahahahahah" Ruby's choked speech turned to full blown laughter and the smaller girl toppled over and off Weiss's line of sight as the girl disappeared under the dining hall's table.

Weiss looked over at Yang who had buried her face into her arms against the dining table and was shaking wildly.

' _What's wrong with these two?'_ Weiss thought, puzzled over the sister's behaviour.

Blake put her book down and reached to pat Weiss's shoulder with sympathy, causing the heiress to become even more confused.

"I mean, it's standardized agility and balance conditioning across all Hunter trainees, right?" Weiss asked the black-clad girl.

"Right?"


	9. Lessons and Revelations

…" _Manni! What'd you find?" he shouted as he heard his faithful dog bark in the distance…_

 _...The dark, nightly forest was cold as the winter had settled in properly… The ground was covered in thick snow, but he kept walking towards the sound of the barking nevertheless... He heard a faint, sickening crunch followed by a loud whine, and he felt cold dread sink into his stomach…_

 _...He ran through the snow to see a faint, dark shape leaning over Manni's motionless form, the dog bleeding heavily onto the snow…_

 _...The dark shape over Manni reared back and he heard a tearing sound as the form tore a bloody chunk from Manni's flank…_

" _No! Get off him!" he shouted, charging the black form and kicking it off. The form flew back and landed on all fours, and he saw it's long, blood-stained teeth glisten in the faint moonlight…_

 _...He lifted his rifle and fired, the shot impacting the creature's chest and he saw explosion of dark red blood as the bullet exited the creature's back- but it wasn't enough,,,_

 _...The creature leaped and landed on his chest and he tried to push it off with his rifle, but the creature was too strong… ...In desperation, he pulled his long carving knife from his belt and stabbed it into the creature's stomach..._

 _...He felt the old blade get stuck and snap at the hilt before his world was filled with pain as the creature's long maw bit onto his exposed throat…._

…

 _._

 _.._

…

"Gaah!" Jaune woke up with a strangled gasp and he reached to push something away from his chest. The offending object didn't let go of him and he heard a faint tearing sound as his claw tore the object apart in retaliation…

A faint growl escaped from his lips before he managed to stop himself, and he opened his eyes properly to see a faint, eerie red glow illuminate his surroundings…

...He looked down to discover the top of his bedsheet torn in two, his clawed hand likely having ripped into the stuffed fabric as he had had felt the fabric constricting his movements.

Jaune closed his eyes again as he took deep, repeated breaths while massaging his throat carefully after he felt his claws turn back to fingers.

Minutes passed in silence as he worked to calm himself down, feeling a surge of heat radiating from his body as he cooled down from his brief transformation.

After feeling back in control, he pulled the torn fabric off him and pushed it to the bottom end of his bed before looking around to see the dorm-room assigned to his team being faintly illuminated by the moonlight shining through the room's single large window. The room had four wooden beds, one for each student. There were two long study desks with two chairs each next to the single entrance door to the dorm-room directly opposite to the room's single window, and the walls had four large wall-closets and there was a side-door leading to the dorm-room's solitary bathroom and shower.

Jaune rose to sit on his bed with his knees close to his chest. He looked at the other beds in the room to see the slowly breathing forms of his sleeping teammates.

If he concentrated hard enough, he could feel the faint waves of emotions rolling off of them…

'... _Fear… uncertainty… shame…'_ Jaune thought as he sniffed the air, feeling his teeth sharpening as he felt the Shadow calling him to tear…

' _No! Not like this!'_ Jaune slammed his head against his knee, feeling the bloodlust starting to rise again.

He breathed in and out again before reaching for his Scroll to check the time ' _4:30…'_ he thought before putting his scroll away again ' _It's nearly morning… Weiss ordered for us to wake up at 0600… so that'd be a hour and half from now'_

Jaune settled himself back on the bed and pulled his blanket back over him, hiding the torn part of it under his legs.

' _Still… What was that dream about?'_

* * *

The morning came slowly to Jaune as he kept rolling on his bed with sleep eluding him until the ringing of the Scrolls finally broke the rest of the team off their sleep.

"Good morning, Team. We begin our day by…" Weiss started to speak to the team as soon as her Scroll's alarm rang.

"Dibs for shower!" Ruby announced before disappearing from her bed and vanishing into shower before anyone could so much as react much less object.

"That girl! We haven't even established a schedule for taking a morning shower or the time allocated for a single shower!" Weiss grumbled from her bedside as she rose from her bed to brush her long hair "I will not have disorderly conduct in my team!"

"Do we really need a schedule for taking a shower?" Jaune asked from his bed.

"Yes! How are we supposed to know when it is our turn without it?" Weiss answered.

"By knocking? You know, on the door?" Blake lifted her eyebrow.

"That's not as efficient!"

"I'm done!" Ruby announced from the shower door, fully clothed in her school uniform with her hair damp from the shower.

"Whoa, that was fast" Jaune said before taking his school uniform and rising up…

...To see Blake disappear into the shower in a black blur. Sighing, he sat down while the white-haired heiress continued to growl beside her bed.

"Yeah, I'm pretty quick when it comes to showering… Back at home, I had to be because Yang always took an eternity to do her hair and to take a shower, so unless I was faster than her to get into showers I'd only get cold water" Ruby explained while draping her red cloak on her shoulders. "Plus my Semblance is Speed so I can just boom in and out!"

Jaune was about to comment on that, but Weiss's arctic voice interrupted him.

"Then, in the future you'll be the last to shower!" Weiss scowled.

"Wha… wha… why?" Ruby whimpered as she looked at the white-haired girl.

"For disrespecting my authority!"

"Umm… what authority?"

"How dare you! I am the leader of this team! I demand you to respect my authority!"

"You do know that respect cannot be commanded, right?" Jaune asked from his bedside as he looked at the two two girls "You can demand it all you want but in the end it is earned, not demanded"

Ruby looked at Jaune with wide eyes "Whoa, that's deep"

"My dad told me that before he… uh... Let's change the topic" Jaune started before pausing, taking a breath and beginning anew "What should we do today?"

"Fine, I'll let the subject of disrespect drop for now… but we're not finished" Weiss growled before continuing "We being our day at 0600 by waking up and performing our morning routines, followed by unpacking our luggages starting at 0640. Afterwards, at 0735 we will have a light breakfast in the dining hall. Our studies begin with Grimm Study class which is scheduled to start at 0815, and we shall arrive to the classroom by 0800. Following the class, we will have a lunch break from 1100 to 1155, and then we shall attend History class from 1200 until 1615. Once the lessons are over, we will have a teamwork and strategy meetup in one of the spare meeting rooms, starting at 1620 and lasting until 1900..."

Weiss continued on while fiddling with her Scroll. Few seconds later Ruby's and Jaune's Scrolls buzzed as they received a schedule file from Weiss.

"Uh, that's pretty detailed…" Jaune said as he looked over the spreadsheet file "Did you really need to specify each minute as a separate entry?"

"Yes, of course. We have no time to waste. I modeled the schedule and listing based off the template that I used during my studies as the heiress and the next leader of the SDC" Weiss said as if it was obvious.

"...That explains so much about you…" Ruby whispered before putting her hand on the heiress's shoulder "You can relax now… we have time- you don't have to strong-arm us, we're friends!" she said softly as Weiss looked at Ruby with wide eyes.

"Are… Are you _pitying_ me?" Weiss asked, completely taken off guard "How… how dare you!" she shrieked before shooting up and walking briskly to the shower, passing Blake as the black-haired girl came out of the shower, fully clothed on her school uniform.

"What's up with her?" Blake asked, lifting her eyebrow at the door as it closed behind the arctic heiress.

"I'm not sure what I did wrong" Ruby muttered with her head down.

Jaune nudged her shoulder "I think Weiss thought she'd be doing us a favour if she made a minute-accurate schedule for us and pushed us." Jaune said.

Ruby looked up as Blake shrugged.

"I'm sure it will all work out in the end" Jaune continued, ignoring the growling that came from the shower.

Precisely ten minutes later, the heiress emerged from the showers in her school uniform with her hair done, allowing Jaune to enter the shower.

"..."

' _Of course the water would be cold by the time I'd get in…'_

 _._

 _.._

…

Jaune walked out of the showers to scene of Weiss arguing with Ruby and Blake.

"...No, you cannot have that ridiculous cape as part of your uniform! And take that bow off, it looks silly!" Weiss said with her hands on her hips as she looked at Ruby who had tied her bright red cape on her shoulders while Blake was holding tightly onto the black bow on top of her head.

Blake was sending a murderous glare at the white-haired girl while Ruby looked like she was on a verge of tears.

"What's going on in here?" Jaune asked from the bathroom doorway.

"Weiss is being annoying and is trying to strip us!" Ruby whined while holding onto her cape tightly.

"That's not how I would have put it, but that is essentially correct" Blake said, not taking her eyes off the heiress whose scowl deepened.

"You are a bunch of children! How can you not see how your obtuseness affects the team's outward appearance! Why do you insist on dressing against the dress code and wearing all sorts of silly attachments and accessories?!" Weiss said.

"Hm, how about we vote on it?" Jaune tried to defuse the situation "Plus, on the subject of accessories, don't you have a tiara on your head?"

"You don't 'vote' against a team leader! I give the orders and…" Weiss began but was interrupted as the dorm room opened, revealing half-asleep Yang Xiao-Long in her pajamas with a serious case of bed-hair.

"Wha-ats going on in h-here?" Yang yawned before leaning against the doorframe "I could heard you guys arguing across the hallw…" rest of her speech was lost in a tired yawn and she closed her eyes briefly.

"We are currently discussing about our team-specific matters! Please leave!" Weiss said strictly.

"Weiss is being mean!" Ruby whined to Yang who opened her eyes slightly.

"If you bully my lil' sis, I'm going to punch your jaw down your throat so deep that you're going to have to eat your meals by sitting on them" Yang said to spluttering Weiss before turning around tiredly and going back to her own dorm.

"Well, that was a thing" Jaune said to the now-silent dorm-room "So, what happens now? I vote that we let Ruby and Blake keep their clothes, and if teachers object then they take them off?"

"Again, that's not exactly how I'd put it... but wearing accessories, which capes and bows are, is not only allowed but encouraged within Beacon" Blake said calmly from the side, although she had faint tint of red on her cheeks. "After the Great War, self-expression has been highly encouraged across all four kingdoms… although I imagine that Kingdom of Atlas, being successor to the originator of that War, would skim on those lessons…" she ended with an icy glare at the heiress whose cheeks reddened ever so slightly.

"F-fine! Have your stupid cape and bow! But if the teachers so much as utter a word, you are both taking them off!" She finally said, crossing her arms and looking away.

"Yay!" "Finally" came from Ruby and Blake as Jaune sighed, happy that the conflict would be resolved for now.

"So, do you guys want to unpack your stuff?" Ruby asked, clapping her hands together before pointing at a wall closet "Dibs on that closet!"

* * *

Weiss announced that it was time to depart for breakfast after a brief but frantic unpackaging frenzy, during which the wall closets were stuffed full. Ruby and Blake had tried to put up few posters on the walls, but the paper posters had been swiftly removed by Weiss.

"The posters wouldn't have hurt anyone" Ruby pouted as she kept shovelling cereal to her mouth at breakneck pace in the dining hall "And I really wanted to have bunk beds too…"

"The posters were inappropriate!" Weiss retorted while cutting her fruit "And the bunk beds you suggested were both ugly and dangerous!"

"I disagree on both" Blake said quietly from the side.

"What's 'The Pillar Men' anyway?" Jaune added his two cents, not recognizing the poster that Blake had put up before Weiss had torn it down hastily.

' _Not that being out of touch with the new trends is difficult since I did kind of return to civilization just few days ago, I think'_ Jaune added in his mind as no-one answered his question.

He shook his head. Being aware of trends wasn't important to him, but it once again brought to his mind the events that had caused him to drop out of civilization's radar.

' _I hope Sapphire, Jade and Coral are okay…'_ Jaune thought back to his three sisters that he had lost contact with during the bandit raid into Shion village ' _I need to hurry up and get stronger... so I can go and rescue them… If they are still alive… and avenge mom and dad'_

He hoped that the Beacon would provide training and knowledge for that purpose- his wanting to become a Hunter was secondary to rescuing his family… and killing the scum that had brought an end to so many lives...

A small hand appearing in his sight broke him off his thoughts and he looked to the side to see Ruby waving her hand in front of his face.

"Are you alright Jaune? You had kind of scary expression just now" She said, pulling her hand back.

Jaune looked down at his hands to discover them gripping his utensils tightly with his knuckles white.

"It's nothing, I just started to think back on some things…" he said, letting his grip loosen slightly. "Uh… by the way, why are you sitting so close to me?" he asked Ruby as the smaller girl was drinking straight from a milk carton while being basically glued to his side.

The girl in question spluttered while drinking, causing the liquid to drip past her chin and onto the table.

"N- No reason! It's just that there isn't much space in here!" she said, waving towards the empty seats all around them.

Weiss raised her eyebrow as she wiped her mouth, having finished her breakfast.

"Well, regardless if miss Rose is unable to drink from a glass and respect personal space like a civilized person, it is time for us to depart into the classroom. Plus, in the future, you need to add vegetables and fruits to your breakfast, mr. Arc! " Weiss announced, giving the pile of food still in Jaune's plate a glare and sending another at the red-clad girl who was busy drying up her face and the table with napkins.

"Don't we still have twenty minutes until the class starts?" Jaune asked while eating from his pile of boiled chicken eggs, fried sausages and bacon.

Ruby checked the Beacon's map on her scroll after putting the wet napkins away "The classroom is like, two minute's walk away!" she announced few seconds later.

"Yes, but we need to prepare ourselves for the lesson and recite the material given to us well before the lesson starts!" Weiss scowled, grabbing Jaune by his hand and bodily dragging him off the table "Also, you need to lose weight!" she added after a moment as her face started to turn red from exertion.

Jaune gave his half-finished breakfast one last longing look before shaking Weiss off him and turning to walk after her.

Ruby and Blake followed the pair quietly while giving eachother an exasperated gaze when Weiss wasn't looking.

.

..

…

"Hello, class! I am Professor Port, the strongest Huntsman in Beacon and the conqueror of both endless hordes of Grimm and young maiden's hearts!" an old, moustached man announced from his desk in front of the class of assembled students, winking at the crowd and causing few of the female students to gag in disgust.

"Welcome to the Grimm Studies class where we unravel the mysteries of Grimm and the logic of the women under my tutelage!" the man said while turning around to point at several drawings of different Grimm forms.

"...Is he for real?" Ruby leaned closer to Jaune to whisper into his ear as Jaune was staring at the man with his mouth slightly open.

Blake had buried her face in her hands and Weiss was scowling at her team while taking notes as the team sat on the half-circle classroom.

A loud crashing sound from behind the team caused Jaune's answer to Ruby's whisper to be lost in the echo as the entire class and the professor turned to look at the source of the sound…

...To see team RYNN having burst through the door and fallen on the floor all the while panting almost as if they had ran a mile in a minute.

"Welcome to Grimm studies, lovely young ladies, and a bloke. Would you mind explaining yourselves?" Port asked while twirling his moustache.

"We're late because we had too much fun decorating our dorm, sorry!" Yang answered from under a furiously blushing Pyrrha, before shaking the red-headed girl off her shoulders and helping her up.

"I think I hurt my neck, Renny, can you blow on it to make the pain go away?" Nora asked as she was strewn all over a groaning Ren who had hit his nose on the hard wooden floor.

"Well, do take your seats and try not to be so late in the future" Port said before winking at Yang.

Yang gave the slightly overweight professor a long, disgusted stare before walking to her seat and pulling her Scroll out.

The professor nodded at the now-seated students before continuing to boast on about his deeds and tell the class about the Grimm that he had encountered…

Few hours later, Jaune wanted to tear his eyes out.

' _Really? Really? Is this THE Beacon? Did I come here just to listen to an overweight old men spout nonsense while my sisters are being held captive by bandits and slavers, if they are still alive at all?'_ he fumed internally as he looked over the assembled students at team RYNN to see Yang playing with her Scroll, Pyrrha looking at the professor with a forced smile on her face while her eyes were glassed over, and Nora poking at Ren who was completely still with his back straight and looked like he was sleeping with his eyes open.

Not that team SABR was in better shape as Weiss was still taking notes of god-knows-what and sending the rest of the team occasional glares, Ruby was drawing a picture of two stickmen holding hands on her notebook and Blake had fallen asleep curled on her seat.

"...And that's how I defeated the dreadful horde of Boartusks that had tried to overwhelm me and doing so, saved the town mayor's daughter from a certain death!" Professor Port ended his speech before leaning on his desk.

"Now, I have produced a live sample of the Grimm we have talked about today. Who amongst you is ready to provide the class a demonstration by defeating it?" Professor Port said before tapping on his scroll. A heavy steel-reinforced concrete box lifted through a trap-hole that opened in the floor, before the hole closed again under the concrete box.

Jaune could _feel_ the Grimm raging within the box and slamming itself against the sides of it's prison. He shuddered as it reminded him too much of his brief time in the White Fang's captivity…

"I am ready!" Weiss's eager voice sounded amongst few other students who voiced their desire to break away from the monotony, with the rest of the students going from bored to attentive in seconds.

"Splendid! Miss Schnee, go and change to your combat-wear and prepare to face your prey!" Professor Port said as the girl walked into the armory that was adjacent to the classroom.

Few minutes later Weiss emerged from the side-door in her combat dress and with her rapier tied to her side.

Professor Port gave the white-haired girl a critical eye before nodding and taking his shotgun-axe from it's holder above his teacher's desk.

With a press of a button, he released the Grimm from its cage.

The Grimm Boartusk charged out instantly and tried to gore the heiress with its long tusks.

Weiss swung her rapier down to create a glyph behind her, and she jumped on it before the boar managed to get to her. The glyph launched the girl high into the air and she made another motion to spawn identical glyph in the air in front of her, which then launched the girl back at the Grimm boar from above.

' _Yeah, that might not work'_ Jaune thought as he saw the rapier get stuck on the creature's thick hide, unable to break through it.

Weiss seemed unaffected though, and she cycled the cylinder at her rapier's hilt with the cylinder stopping at red Dust as the Grimm started to trash around, likely trying to shake off the girl that was standing on it.

Before it could throw her off, however, Weiss pulled the trigger on her rapier and the rapier's blade started to glow red-hot.

The flame-colour seemed to get injected into the Grimm alongside the length of the rapier as Weiss pushed the blade deeper into the creature.

The Grimm gave a squeaking whine before exploding from the inside in a shower of black flesh and dark red blood.

Weiss landed on her feet, having jumped off the creature before it detonated and avoiding most of the gore that now coated the wooden planks on the classroom's small combat arena.

She gave the crowd of students a smug smile and a polite bow before heading back to the armory.

"Splendid! Splendid! While I would have used an attack to the Boartusks weak belly to destroy it, Miss Schnee showed a inventive way to bypass it's thick hide- to ignore the creature's thick hide completely and attack it _from the inside_ by injecting it with exposive red Dust! She also avoided the creature's charge, which is an extremely important step when fighting Boartusks- never take it's charge head on as the creature packs surprising mass for it's size!" Professor Port continued after Weiss had disappeared from sight "Not to mention how Boartusks have, well, tusks that are sharp enough to gore you severely- and to capitalize on that, the Boartusks like to charge between your legs, which causes the tusks to gore both of your major arteries in the thighs at the same time and make you bleed out in minutes should your Aura run out! So don't let them go between your legs!" he finished with serious voice, before reaching to twirl his moustache

"However, on the subject of things between your legs, have I told you about how I met this one barmaid during my mission to destroy a group of Alpha Boartusks who…" the Professor begun anew with jolly tone.

The class groaned as the Professor continued his usual boasting and few minutes later, the class's sharp and attentive mood had returned to it's passive and sleepy state from before.

As the time ticked on Jaune felt his frustration mount up.

' _I could just skip the classes and do some experimenting on the Emerald Forest… it's full of Grimm so it's prime grounds for me…'_ his thoughts were interrupted as Professor Port finished his speech and announced that the class was over.

"Miss Schnee, would you stay behind, please. Mr. Arc, headmaster would like to see you before the lunch in his office if you'd please" the slightly overweight professor announced with jolly tone as the students made to stand up and leave.

Jaune gave a curious glance at Weiss who, alongside the rest of his team, gave equally curious glances at Jaune. He shrugged and turned to leave, but before he could so much as take a step he felt something grab his sleeve.

He looked down to see Ruby standing extremely close to his side "You don't know where the headmaster's office is, do you?" she asked innocently before turning to lead him, still holding tightly onto his sleeve...

* * *

As Ruby and Jaune left towards the headmaster's office, Weiss turned around to tell Blake that she was dismissed only to see the black-haired girl disappear into the crowd on her own.

Weiss scowled as she walked down the classroom's steps towards the Professor who had called for her.

"Ah, Miss Schnee! Excellent!" Professor Port announced as Weiss was the only one in the room beside the professor "You might be wondering why exactly I called you here. Well, let me relieve of your curiosity: I wanted to ask if you are alright after yesterday's Initiation test!"

' _Wait, this is about that?'_ Weiss thought internally, puzzled as to what could have caused the Professor to worry over her performance. ' _Hold on, is this about…'_

"After all, you fell unconscious in the face of a Grimm Abomination" Port finished, his tone turning from jolly to slightly more serious.

Weiss felt his cheeks get a faint tint of red as she looked at the older man, frustrated.

"I'm very much alright and capable of performing my duties as both heiress and as a student! I was merely not prepared to face a creature that I.. I... thought had... " she felt her voice starting to waver slightly as she recalled the feeling of dread when she had thought that the Grimm creature had killed Jaune and the rest of his team.

It didn't help that she had seen a nightmare of the encounter last night, and in that nightmare she'd seen her sister, Winter, scolding her for the mistake, for her weakness- and dragging her out of the Beacon and back into Atlas with the blood of what was now her team on her hands.

"Hmm, I see. To be honest, none of us professors expected something that would classify as a Grimm Abomination to show up in the forest" Port explained "Although we are still in the process of figuring out just _what_ happened in the Emerald Forest, encounters with creatures like that usually require an intervention by entire teams of trained Hunters to have even the slightest chance of victory!"

"Abominations, sir?" Weiss asked, taking her chance to change the subject.

"Grimm Abomination is the general name for Grimm forms that are unique, intelligent and herald the arrival of other Grimm. Those Grimm creatures are seen very rarely and whenever they are spotted, they herald the doom for entire frontier villages and towns. There have been very few documented cases of such creatures as they very rarely leave witnesses after them." Professor Port recounted.

"We usually teach the students about Abominations during their third or fourth year as the creatures are excessively rare, and the creatures borrow heavily from other Grimm forms to the point where there hasn't been a single case of two similar Abominations in recorded history." he continued on "The most recent case of Abomination sightings, bar this one, has been during the destruction of the village of Kuroyuri where a Abomination nicknamed 'Nuckelavee' was spotted nearly ten years ago."

The Professor went silent for a while as he seemed to think about something, before he reached to twirl his moustache ever so slightly.

"Nevertheless, the case of the Abomination in the Emerald Forest was resolved fairly swiftly, although the professors are still patching up data as to _how_ it got there and _wh_ y the creature choose to come here" he continued and gave Weiss a inquisitive look "it seems that you recovered nicely from your initial meeting with the creature though. No, don't explain yourself to me, I don't need to hear it, only to know if it will affect you in the future." he interrupted Weiss before she managed to so much as open her mouth to make an excuse for her fainting..

"I will not react to the Grimm like that in the future, sir" Weiss said.

"Good! Jolly good!" The professor said, his voice returning to it's usual friendly tone "In fact, I pulled you in front of the students just so that I could see you fight the Grimm, and I must say you did spending job at it with very innovative use of the Dust!"

"... Thank you."

The Professor sat down behind his desk and leaned forwards "So, how have you settled into the Beacon if I might ask? How is your team doing? Any troubles in the paradise?"

Weiss felt a frustrated bile rise in her throat and she swallowed before she'd lash out too badly.

"I believe the rest of my team is incapable of performing their role as members of my team properly" Weiss growled out.

"And why is that so?" Professor Port asked, lifting his bushy white eyebrow.

"They don't listen to me, or obey my orders, and…" Weiss went on to explain the incidents during the morning to the professor who listened quietly.

"Interesting. If you accept my counsel, I might want to warn you against pushing your team too hard. I'll go on a limb here and assume that you have been trained to lead a business company, and to lead a group people who might generally seek to exploit you should you make a mistake, am I correct?" Professor Port asked with serious tone.

Weiss nodded slightly, allowing the moustached man to continue "I see. I believe your mistake here was to try to lead your team like it was a squad of soldiers, or a group of unscrupulous businessmen who would exploit you for money if you showed any weakness- And doing so, you are alienating your team from you."

The old man stopped to twirl his moustache. "Keep in mind that you are now leading a group of hunter students, a group of teenagers who have chosen to commit their lives to protection of the humankind."

Weiss opened her mouth to object, but Port cut her off "You might have done what you did to try and make your team better, more harmonious, but you must remember that the Hunters are not a homogeneous mass that can be shaped and formed into ranks and files- you must give them space, you must give them freedom of expression and you must refrain from trying to become a tyrant amongst them…"

"I was not going to become a tyrant!" Weiss exclaimed, feeling frustration bubbling up inside her "I was just trying to make them better students! To make them the best team Beacon has ever had!"

"Indeed, but being a 'best team' is something that is done with a group, not with just a leader." Port pointed out

"And what if they don't want to become the best?" Weiss growled ever so slightly.

"Then convince them otherwise. Lead them as a friend and as a leader that they want to follow, rather than as a leader that they shun." the professor paused for a while as Weiss thought about his words.

"However, could you tell me _why_ exactly you desire for your team to be the best amongst their peers so strongly?" Port asked "Is it because of your desire to be the best, or because it is expected of you?"

The quiet that followed his words was absolute as Weiss froze still.

After seeing that Weiss would not answer, Port continued as he kept stroking his chin.

"I see. I'll ask this out of sheer curiosity, but why do you think you were chosen as the leader of the team, miss Schnee?"

"B- Because I was the best, and I have been trained to become a leader my whole…" Weiss made to explain, but was cut off as Port continued to speak over her.

"As the cadre of professors gathered to observe the video-recordings from the Emerald Forest in order to choose the team leaders, both Ozpin and Glynda, alongside most of the Beacon's teaching staff, voted for Ruby Rose to be the leader of the team SABR" Professor Port explained to Weiss, causing the girl's posture to tighten and she fell quiet.

"However, I voted for you to become the leader instead." Port continued as Weiss kept staring at the man "Can you guess why?"

"W-why?" Weiss managed to get out, starting to get overwhelmed by the situation.

"Because I believe that you have the potential to become a great leader. You have the training and the mentality, but you don't have the experience… yet. Ruby Rose has the mentality and instinctive grasp she could use to lead the team, to pull the team together after her leadership rather than trying to push the team forwards under her heel- but she is still young and innocent, and leaders are expected to shoulder a certain degree of cruelty."

The old man sighed and Weiss could see tiredness in the man's eyes as he continued "Being a leader is not only about getting the best grades or solving problems with team relations. It is also about deciding who to save, when to commit your forces or when to pull away from situations that you could not handle in order to save what can be saved, to name a few."

The old man looked hard at Weiss "Miss Schnee, if one of your team-members had suffered a serious injury during a mission deep in the forests of Vytal, out of the reach of the civilization, and your team was getting pursued by a force of Grimm that was so large that you had no hope of defeating it, would you be able to leave the injured team member behind so the rest of the team could escape- to save the rest of your team by sacrificing one of your own? Would you be strong enough to face not only the Grimm, but also the grieving parents, friends and loved ones of those who fall in battle and tell them how their beloved fell?"

"I…" Weiss began but she fell quiet as she thought about the scenario.

Professor Port sighed as he looked at the girl's frightened expression "As you can tell, the role of a Leader is not for those who are incapable of cruelty and hard decisions. Can you expect someone like miss Rose to shoulder those, and still remain who she is?"

Weiss shook her head silently as she thought about the younger girl.

"I explained my reasoning to both Ozpin and Glynda, and they agreed, and thus you became the leader of team SABR, instead of miss Rose who would have no doubt excelled at it first, but would have broken later" Port fell quiet as he looked at the slightly pale heiress.

He shook his head "But look at me, going on about my stories again. If there's anything you might want to take with you from our impromptu counseling session, it is to try to be _yourself_ rather than someone who people expect you to be- and remember that you are leading a team who no doubt wants to be your friend, and a group of people who you can trust"

The professor rose up from his seat in the nearly empty classroom.

"Treat your team as your allies and as your family, and they will never leave you. Treat them as your enemy and as your stepping stone, and you'll eventually lead a charge against the Grimm- but when you turn around, you'll see yourself standing alone." he finished, turning around with his back towards Weiss as the older man looked up at a large drawing of a Beowolf that had been stretched across the blackboard..

"Sir… about the injured team member in the woods… was it a made-up scenario or…" Weiss made to begin but the Professor's voice cut her off.

"Please don't ask questions to which you don't want answers, miss Schnee" the Professor said, his back towards the girl still.

Weiss knew when she was dismissed and she bowed slightly.

"I'll… I'll keep your advice in mind" she said before fleeing from the classroom.

The Professor kept looking up at the drawing of the Grimm in the wall as the wooden door of the classroom creaked to sign the girl exiting.

The old man sighed for the second time as he looked at the lifelike picture of a Beowolf as the creature's red eyes seemingly looked down on the old man...

* * *

"...And then Yang was really mad for some reason and she told me to take the scything blades off her bike, Bumblebee…" Ruby chatted on as she led Jaune towards the headmaster's office after having checked its location from her Scroll.

Jaune was starting to get somewhat uncomfortable about how the girl was walking so close to him that he had to actively concentrate to not step on her foot by accident.

"And here we are!" she announced in front of a large elevator door "Uhh, I suppose you have to go there without me… but I'll wait for you here!" Ruby said, letting go of his sleeve.

"You don't need to do that if you don't want to, I'm sure I can find my way to dining hall afterwards so we can meet in there before the next class…" Jaune begun.

"Nah, I can wait" Ruby interrupted him, pointing at a small row of seats and a plate of mints that had been placed on a small coffee table, likely meant for the people who would have to wait for an audience with the headmaster.

"If you say so" Jaune agreed before stepping into the elevator.

' _Odd, she wasn't that clingy before the Test. I wonder what happened that made her so attached to me?'_ Jaune thought as the elevator rose upwards.

Before he could get too absorbed into his thoughts the elevator mechanism let a soft ping, indicating that he had arrived in his destination.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a large office with a clockwork mechanism clicking and whirring quietly below a thick glass floor with wide metal pillars on the sides. At the directly opposite side of the elevator there was a solitary ornamental office desk with a holographic computer and a clockwork-style chair.

The headmaster was nowhere to be seen, but the computer seemed to be unlocked and the screen showed a set of files, but Jaune couldn't quite make out the names of them.

' _Uh, I don't think I should look at that anyway'_ Jaune thought after walking to the middle of the wide office room to stand and wait. ' _This_ _ **is**_ _the headmaster's office, right?'_

Jaune was starting to get slightly worried as seconds turned to minutes and the doubt continued to rise ' _What if this is some super secret room that controls the Beacon's main power supply and and stuff, and I'm standing on top of a massive…'_ his increasingly paranoid thoughts were interrupted as a sound of footsteps on metal floor rang in the office.

Jaune turned around to see the Headmaster of Beacon walk out of a second elevator adjacent to the one he had used.

"Welcome to my office, mr Arc." Ozpin said while walking past Jaune to sit on his office chair.

"Professor Port told me that you wished to see me." Jaune stated after a moment of silence during which the headmaster stared at Jaune warily "So uh, what's this about?"

"I'm fairly certain that you are the one who knows the answer to that question" Ozpin said, lifting his cane to point behind Jaune,

Jaune turned to see a massive hologram rise from the clockwork floor, showing a 3-D hologram of him growing and shaping from his human form into his Grimm form in the Emerald Forest.

Jaune kept staring at the image as the holographic video continued until the point where Weiss entered through the underbrush, and he saw the video stop to show his Grimm form facing the white-haired heiress.

Jaune turned slowly back around to face Ozpin, half expecting for the man to stab, shoot or somehow attack him at any moment at the slightest provocation as his Grimm side rose once again to order him to flee.

"I find this quite the curious scenario, mr. Arc" The headmaster asked, having stood back up and started to lean on his walking stick "I wonder if you can elaborate on what happened?"

"..." Jaune was speechless as he stared at Ozpin who stared back at him.

Ozpin seemed to take it the wrong way, and raised his eyebrow "Nothing at all? Perhaps I didn't see and record one of my students turning into a Grimm and nearly killing not only one, but two of his fellow students? And perhaps the first time I met with this student wasn't when the student had killed seven people in cold blood? "

"N- no! I mean, I didn't mean to do that!" Jaune managed to get out before Ozpin could get too carried away. "I mean, I did the last one, but I didn't try to kill Weiss…"

"Good, now we are making progress. What exactly happened?" Ozpin asked while leaning forwards.

"I sort of turned into a Grimm" Jaune explained, causing Ozpin to sigh.

"Yes, I saw that. What I meant was _how_ did you turn into one, and _why_ did you then attempt to kill your fellow students- who are also now your teammates I might add." Ozpin tapped the steel floor with his cane "One might even get worried..."

"I didn't mean to do any of that!" Jaune argued over the headmaster "I just got kind of hurt and…" he stopped.

' _What should I do? Tell him everything? If I do, what's stopping him from killing me as some sort of Grimm?'_ Jaune thought as he felt cold sweat starting to form on his skin ' _I should have thought of that before coming to Beacon'_ he realized in retrospect.

"Yes?" Ozpin motioned for Jaune to to continue.

"Please don't kill me" Jaune answered.

Ozpin sighed again.

"If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't be standing here and you wouldn't be standing there. Please focus on the matter at hand" he said, adjusting his glasses "Rest easy though, I will hear your explanation in full before I choose what to do with you."

Jaune felt the skin of his hands bubbling as he heard the underlying threat on the man's calm tone.

He took a deep breath, and exhaled.

' _Here goes nothing'_ Jaune thought before he extended his hand to the side as the older man continued to stare at him.

The bubbling in his skin intensified as he let the Shadow come out of it's corner…

 _Shift_

The skin of his hand thickened and blackened as his nails pushed forwards into long, sharp claws. He felt spikes of bone starting to extend through the flesh of his arm and break his thickened skin, and form a thin patch of bone-like armor on his hand…

 _Ķ̶̕i̶̸̡̛̕ļ̷l̴̷̨ ̵̴h͡҉̸͘҉i̧͘͜͝m̡̀͞.̧̛͝͏.͢͞͝.̧̨̨͏̧_

 _̶̷̧̀͜T̵̷͢͠h̴e̢͢͡͝ ̶̨̨En̴̷̡e̸̴̢͘ḿ͞y̨҉̸͞.͞҉̕.҉̨.̵̧̢́͘_

He closed his hand into a fist as he closed his eyes, feeling the sharp claws bite into the palm of his hand as the Shadow returned in force…

"...mr Arc?" He heard someone say his name through a dull haze that threatened to settle over his head. The voice and the pain from the cuts to his palm helped to pull him back towards reality…

And the reality rushed back to him as his face connected with the steel floor- his body having tried to leap forwards and stand still at the same time.

Jaune let out a muffled groan on the floor as Ozpin continued to watch the teenager warily.

He stood up slowly and looked to the side to discover his hand having turned into an armored claw.

"I... I think it's my Semblance. To be able to change my body, although I'm not really that good at it…" Jaune managed to get out as Ozpin looked like he wanted to say something to him. "It's sort of difficult to control… and I kind of sort of thought that Blake was a Grimm, and Weiss had sort of toppled over so I wanted to check if she was alright and…" the rest of his speech turned into nervous explanation as to what had happened in the Initiation Test from his perspective.

Ozpin listened through his disconnected ramble, although he didn't let go of his cane for a single moment during the explanation.

After Jaune had recounted the events of the Test from his perspective in full, Ozpin's grip had loosened ever so slightly but Jaune noted that the man still held onto it while standing.

"...And then I just kind of, got teamed up with both Blake and Weiss." Jaune finished, allowing his hand to return back to it's human form with sizzle of vaporizing Grimm-flesh.

Ozpin looked at Jaune for a while longer before sitting back down.

"When was the first instance of you… hmm, using your 'Semblance?" Ozpin asked, picking up a mug of steaming liquid from behind the desk and taking a sip.

"It was after… I was… after I had fled from Shion Village during the raid…" Jaune managed to get out through the bitter memories that flooded back as he recalled the first time he had used his Semblance, even if unconsciously.

"Ah, yes. That dreadful event" Ozpin said as Jaune rubbed his wrist and left arm, feeling a tingle of phantom pain from his first encounter with Grimm coming back to haunt him.

"What happened during the fall of Shion? I have read a report from the investigative Hunter team which was sent to find out what happened to the village, but they were unable to find anything beside traces of Grimm activity and broken buildings."

"It was bandit raid. The bandits… killed everyone. My dad… mom… they both died, and three of my sisters… I don't know what happened to them. I've told you of this before, but I mainly came to Beacon so I could grow stronger and get them back… or avenge them" Jaune explained.

"I see. Were you able to discover which bandit group did it?" Ozpin asked "There are quite few bandit tribes in the wildlands between the frontier villages and the five major cities in Remnant"

"The bandits… they had red and black clothes… and they had one woman who had white Grimm mask, wild and long black hair and she wielded a really long sword with switchable blades… I'm not sure who they are, but I will find out, and I will bring them to justice." Jaune grit out between his teeth as he remembered the hated woman who had cut his father down.

Ozpin was quiet as he kept sipping from his seemingly bottomless mug.

After a fairly long pause, he spoke again "Hm. I see. So you fled the village during the raid and discovered your 'Semblance'?"

"Sort of… I ate a Grimm and I started to… become able to turn into one. I spent the next two years wandering towards Vale and trying to learn to use my new ability" Jaune said, hiding the true events during those two years.

Ozpin raised his eyebrow but didn't press the issue.

"I see. So, happened just now? You seemed to pass out and fall just now" he inquired.

"Transforming takes time and effort so I sort of passed out" Jaune lied, hiding the existence of the Shadow under the lie.

' _I'm fairly sure that telling him that "Oh yeah I have this thing that's ordering me to kill everything and it causes me to lose control over myself occasionally" would not go down well'_ Jaune thought.

"So you are not a threat to the other students then?" the older man finally said "Hmm. I believe you, for now."

"However, It might be appropriate for you to not reveal your abilities to your fellow students, with the exception of your team" Ozpin continued after contemplating for a while "I am fairly certain that learning that they are studying beside someone whose Semblance essentially allows them to shapeshift into Grimm would not endear you to the rest of the student body"

"How am I supposed to participate in the combat classes then?" Jaune asked, lifting his hand and flexing his fingers "My transformation is my only weapon"

"I believe miss Rose has made herself small legend amongst the weapon engineers in Signal combat school. You might be able to commision a replacement weapon from her- After all, I believe you used a pair of red blades during the Initiation Test, correct?" Ozpin suggested, pointing at the hologram behind Jaune which rewinded to show him wielding two red bone-swords.

"...I guess that could work" Jaune said.

"Hm." The older man agreed.

Silence fell in the office as the headmaster continued to drink from his cup as Jaune stood still.

' _Um, Am I supposed to do something here?'_ Jaune thought after few minutes passed in silence with just Ozpin staring at him and mumbling something under his breath.

"So, how have you found your classes so far?" Ozpin finally asked.

"Useless, sir." Jaune answered honestly.

"Elaborate" Ozpin prodded.

"The only class I have attended so far has been Grimm studies, which has been literally just sitting on the classroom for hours to listen an old man boast about his deeds and his battles"

"I see, so you have met professor Port then." Ozpin sighed

"His teaching style is quite unique, to be honest. He prefers to teach by telling about his experiences about the Grimm during the first-year studies, and progressively get more and more factual as the years go on" Ozpin told Jaune.

"So you are telling me to just sit and wait while listening to nonsense? While my sisters could be held by bandits and slavers?" Jaune snapped, forgetting who he was speaking to for a moment.

"And what would you suggest you'd do otherwise?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow.

"I'd get back into the wilds, and grow stronger fighting the Grimm until I would eventually find the bandits and…" Jaune begun.

"...And die in the hands of your father's killer." Ozpin ended Jaune's speech.

Jaune was quiet as he stared at the older man.

"I believe I recognize the woman from your story" The headmaster continued "She used to be one of our students- to the point where she even graduated from Beacon. She was a trained Huntress- and do you believe you could defeat her after having trained to fight like a Grimm, and as someone who she has been trained to kill with ease?"

"I…" Jaune made to begin but was silenced as Ozpin spoke over him.

"You would die, and your sisters would be left where they are. What I suggest for you is to take your chance to train in Beacon, to train yourself as Hunter- and should you find her, to fight her as a Hunter. And who knows, perhaps you will also have a team to guard your back."

"But…" The teen made to object.

"Your haste will only bring your defeat, and you likely wouldn't even know where to look for your father's murderer" Ozpin continued. "So I offer you this- Stay in Beacon. Train yourself as a Hunter, and I will work to find out _where_ your sisters are, and what has happened to them."

"How exactly would you find them?" Jaune asked.

Ozpin tied his fingers together and leaned on his hands "I know more about Remnant and her people than most realize. I am not only the Headmaster of Beacon, but also a Hunter on my own right… and I have friends who know certain sort of people."

Silence followed his statement as Jaune thought over the proposal.

' _I mean, I don't really want to leave the rest of my team behind… And his reasoning sort of makes sense… '_ Jaune thought on the offer.

In the end, he realized that he didn't really have options.

"I'll stay in Beacon… But please, let me know if you find my sisters." Jaune said finally.

"And… thank you for believing me"

Ozpin nodded and turned back to his computer.

Jaune recognized the wordless dismissal and turned to walk back into the elevator which took him back down…

* * *

"You didn't _really_ believe the brat, did you?" A slightly drunk man asked as he walked from behind one of the steel pillars in Ozpin's office. "He is hiding something"

"Indeed. However, his speech showed off some of his character." Ozpin answered, sitting back down on his chair "And the fact that he didn't take his chance to take a look into my 'conveniently' unlocked computer suggests to me that he may not be here under the 'Queen's' orders, or _her_ goals do not involve spying on our systems, or perhaps she is simply not interested on them."

"What would you have done if he had tried to take a look?" the drunk man asked, leaning on Ozpin's desk.

"I'd have told you to remove his presence from Remnant." Ozpin said, lifting his eyebrow at the man while pressing a button on his Scroll that caused a clockwork chair to rise opposite to his desk, and the drunk man slumped down on it instantly. "Speaking of presences, what exactly happened to you, Qrow?"

"Didn't get a single minute of sleep last night" Qrow growled as he rubbed his eyes that had massive bags under them, and the whites of his eyes were laced with veins like he hadn't seen sleep in weeks.

"What happened?"

"You know damn well what happened. That Grimm-brat is partnered to my niece, and he's sleeping in the same damn room as her" Qrow growled on, reaching for his flask and growling even harder as he found it empty. "I spent the night perched on a tree outside the student dorms in my crow-form, staring at the brat through the dorm-room's window to make sure he wouldn't try to pull a Taiyang and do his entire team"

Ozpin raised his eyebrow.

Qrow growled even louder "Don't ask"

"Very well, Moving on, what did you find out about our resident Grimm?" Ozpin pressed on.

"He looks like a normal human on the outside, but he turned to Grimm briefly before waking up this morning and tore his sheets apart. He turned back to human few seconds later although his eyes seemed to glow red for a while afterwards." Qrow explained, rubbing his head and scratching his short, scraggly beard. "He also seems to be far heavier than he looks, since his bed was sinking hard under him- I'd assume he's four or five times heavier than a normal human of his size"

"Hmm." Ozpin was contemplating on the information his agent had gathered.

"Continue observing him. He is a wildcard for now, and we need to find out more about him before I choose what to do about him" Ozpin said finally.

"What about Raven and her merry band of cutthroats? And the brat's sisters?" Qrow asked. "I could find where that group is in around a week, and also what happened to the sisters"

"No. I'll tell him bits and pieces of what we know about her right now- But we can't afford to let him know everything. I have a hunch to what might have happened to mr. Arc's sisters, and I believe he would not be able to stop himself from charging into Raven's group should he know." Ozpin answered "It is cruel, I know, but we need to keep him in Beacon… for his sake, and for ours. If he isn't _her_ agent, he could very well be a massive source of information about Grimm- maybe enough so to change the tide of our war against them."

"I don't like it, Ozpin." Qrow said "But we don't really have a choice, do we?"

Ozpin hummed in response while looking at the massive hologram showing Jaune staring at Weiss Schnee in his Grimm form...

* * *

"How'd the meeting go? Are you going to be okay? You look pale, do you need to drink something?" Ruby fussed over Jaune the moment he stood out of the elevator.

"I'm okay, Ruby" Jaune tried to calm the small girl who was checking him over for injuries. "Ozpin just wanted to talk… about things"

' _He did say that I should tell my team about my Semblance… well, more like he didn't forbid me from doing so'_ Jaune thought as he looked at the small silver-eyed girl, who was forced to tilt her head back as she looked up to check his eyes.

 _F̵̶̴l͏e͏ȩ.̴̛͡.͡.̀͘_

He felt vindictive glee as the instinctive dread washed over him when her eyes locked into his, forcing the Shadow back to it's hiding-spot.

"I was worried" Ruby muttered, looking away from his eyes with her cheeks red as Jaune realized that he had been staring at her.

"Don't be. It's not like the headmaster would have eaten me, no?" Jaune chuckled at Ruby's horrified expression. "It was a joke" he added as Ruby's face had lost it's colour.

As Ruby sighed in relief, Jaune was thinking about the girl's odd behaviour.

' _This is really weird… What happened to make you this paranoid and clingy, Ruby?'_

Shaking his head and wanting to get on top of the problem before it could grow, Jaune took hold of Ruby's sleeve and led the blushing girl to a small study room that he had spotted on his way to the headmaster's office.

"What's wrong, Ruby?" Jaune finally asked as he closed the door behind her.

""W-what do you mean, what's wrong? Nothing's wrong, everything's fine!" Ruby stammered as she was caught off guard "Uhh, why are we here? What's going on?"

"You've been really clingy and paranoid recently. You weren't this clingy before the Test" Jaune pointed out "I'm getting worried here" he added as Ruby went quiet.

"It's nothing" Ruby answered with weak voice.

"Ruby… I want to help you" Jaune said, placing his hand gently on the girl's arm. "Can you please tell me what's been bothering you?"

' _So there is something wrong after all'_ Jaune thought as he looked at the girl who was looking at everywhere that wasn't him. ' _Now, how do I get her to spill it out?'_

It seemed that the problem resolved itself as Jaune heard the girl whisper something quietly as her eyes were directed towards the floor.

"...die" Ruby whispered.

"What was that?" Jaune asked, confused.

"I saw you die" she said quietly "And I didn't want you to go away…"

Jaune blinked and stared at the girl who started to fidget under his gaze.

"But… I'm alive?"

"You were just lying there on a pool of your own blood… and you had bones sticking out of your skin…" Ruby continued, completely ignoring Jaune.

Her shoulders started to shake slightly as she continued "And then you started to gurgle horribly and went silent… and… and..."

Jaune could see small tears starting to form in the girl's eyes as she went quiet, vibrating on the spot.

"I don't want you to go away. You were my first friend in Beacon and my partner…" she said as she reached to once again grasp him by his sleeve.

' _Is she still thinking that I actually died? That I'm just some phantom haunting her?'_ Jaune thought, confused over the girl's reaction.

"I'm not dead, Ruby," Jaune said, taking hold of the girl's hand as she was holding onto his sleeve "See, still living and breathing. I don't die that easily"

It didn't seem to do much to the girl who was shaking as he was holding onto her hand.

"I won't just disappear" he stated to the girl who lifted her face up slowly.

"Will you promise?" Ruby asked "Promise that you won't go away?"

' _Hold on… was she acting so clingy because she thought I'd disappear if she wasn't with me at all times?'_ Jaune thought ' _Then again, I did threaten that I'd leave Beacon so she might have a point'_

"I'm not going to just go and die or go away, Ruby, I promise" Jaune said, starting to feel more and more worried over how Ruby was reacting to him.

"You don't have to follow me around- I'll be here even if you don't cling onto me so tightly" Jaune assured the girl while holding her hand.

"I'm not going to forgive you if are lying" Ruby said while wiping her eyes with her other hand. "How did you… not die? You went quiet and you were so broken…"

"It's the effect of my Semblance and of my Aura. They don't quite work like they should…" Jaune "My Semblance allows me to change myself, which prevents me from dying so easily- and my Aura doesn't protect me, but it heals me."

"But… why?" Ruby asked, looking up at him.

"I don't know" Jaune answered frankly. "I'm trying to find out why it does that, but so far I haven't got a clue"

"That's weird…" Ruby said mutedly as she held onto Jaune's hand tightly.

The moment seemed to drag on as Jaune didn't quite know what to say and Ruby seemed to be content just holding onto his hand while wiping her face.

"Oh yeah! Ozpin told me that I needed to get a proper sword and he told me that you could help me with that" Jaune finally said, pulling his hand back.

"Proper sword? What happened to your current ones?" Ruby asked.

"Ozpin told me that I couldn't use them during the combat classes so I'd need to make new ones… but I don't know how to make proper swords and he told me that you could perhaps help me with that" Jaune clarified.

"Hold on, are you telling me that you want me to make you a weapon? A pair of swords?" Ruby said as her voice started to regain to her normal, excited tone despite her slightly pale face and the small tear-stains on her face "Can they be red?"

"In fact I'd prefer them to be red…" Jaune said, thinking about his bone-swords.

Ruby squealed slightly and let go of his hand, jumping slightly as she burst into excited bumbling about swords, blades and mechanisms that went straight over Jaune's head.

Jaune looked around and saw a holographic clock on the wall showing that the lunch break was nearing it's end.

"Come on, we need to get lunch before the next class" Jaune said and took hold of Ruby's hand to pull her out of the small room.

"Uhh…" Ruby began with her cheeks red "can we perhaps not tell Yang about how clingy I was…"

"Sure" Jaune answered as the pair exited the small, dark meeting room.

* * *

After shovelling considerable amounts of food onto their bellies, the pair of teenagers ran to their next class and barely managed to get in before the professor arrived.

"I am Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, but you can refer to me as Dr. Oobleck…" the professor spoke in front of the class and went on to introduce the History class and it's goals to the collected students, most of which seemed to center around human and faunus interactions during the first year.

Curiously enough, Weiss didn't comment on the pair's late arrival and the white-haired girl seemed to be far more muted than she was before the lunch break.

The rest of the class passed in quiet as Ruby was vibrating on her seat, although for different reason this time as she was passionately drawing multiple different sword designs on her notebook, Blake was reading a book behind the cover of her schoolbook and Weiss was taking notes quietly, although she was not scowling at her team anymore.

Jaune tried to concentrate on the professor's speech but found it difficult as the professor spoke far too fast for him to catch on.

It didn't help that the professor seemed to drink straight from a coffee pot every now and then before continuing on his speech.

The hours passed in a daze until the professor finally slammed his coffee pot down and announced that the class was dismissed.

.

..

…

"I hereby announce the beginning of first Team strategy and tactics meeting" Weiss announced after having gathered the team together and leading them to a empty classroom.

She was largely ignored as extremely excited Ruby was busy showing her sword designs to Jaune- and Jaune noticed that Ruby wasn't quite as clingy as she had been during the morning although she was still sitting quite close to him.

Meanwhile Blake was reading her book in the corner of the room, and had likely chosen to just completely ignore Weiss.

Weiss growled slightly which caused Jaune to lift his gaze from the intricate sword designs that he didn't really understand and look at the annoyed white-haired girl.

"Um, what was that?" he asked which caused the girl to growl even more.

"I said, this will be the start of our weekly team strategy and tactics meeting" Weiss repeated "We have little to no experience on our team members abilities, capabilities and strategies- things that we need to know if we want to work together as effective combat unit! Also, stop ignoring me!" she growled at Blake who sent a glare at the white-haired girl over her book before continuing to read it.

"Okay" Jaune said, taking the designs from Ruby and putting them on his bag. "I'll look through these later" he promised to the smaller girl before turning towards Weiss properly.

Ruby nodded enthusiastically beside him before turning towards Weiss as well.

"I'd like to start by saying that I'm sorry for the confrontation back at our dorms… and I'll do my best to become better leader for our team in the future" Weiss said, looking over each of the team members.

Ruby blinked and Blake raised her eyebrow behind her book "What do you mean by becoming a better leader?" Ruby asked, confused over the sudden shift in the girl's mood.

"I mean that I will attempt to take your opinions more into consideration, and aim to become someone who leads by example rather than someone who leads by force" Weiss explained, crossing her hands over her chest.

"...Does that mean we can have bunk beds?" Ruby asked with hope clear in her tone and Blake seemed to suddenly pay the conversation a little more attention and lift her head above her book.

"Fine, since miss Belladonna seems to be passive-aggressively wanting to get those as well" Weiss said, causing the black-haired girl to retreat behind her book. "But I'm not going to accept those dangerous contraptions of stacked books and ropes that you suggested! I will order proper steel beams to hold the beds up to maintain at least an illusion of safety"

"...What about the posters?" Blake asked quietly from behind her book

"No!" Weiss snapped, only to pause and take a deep breath before continuing in calmer tone "Fine, you can put them up but only if you put them so that they are only to visible to you, since I'll assume you'll be taking a top bunk alongside Ruby as the two of you are the only ones pushing for them"

Blake seemed to agree and she returned to her reading.

"What happened to Weiss?" Ruby whispered to Jaune as both of the partners were equally confused.

"I have no idea either" Jaune whispered back before returning his attention to Weiss as the girl started her speech anew.

"Now, I'd like to start our meeting by having each of us describe our Semblances if you have yours unlocked, and describe your current abilities and weapons" Weiss said. "My Semblance is Glyphs- the ability to create glyphs with Dust that conjure elemental forces or imbue objects and allies with effects such as temporary time dilation. My weapon is Myrtenaster, which is a rapier that doubles as a Dust-caster, and I can use it to fuel my Glyphs as well as to imbue the rapier itself with Dust effects" she finished, looking expectantly at the rest of the team.

"My Semblance is Speed! Which means I can move really fast!" Ruby picked up after the white-haired girl while demonstrating her Semblance by disappearing from her seat to launch herself from one side of the room to another with a steady stream of rose petals flying in her wake.

"Uh, I think the 'really fast' was implied with the 'speed' part" Jaune said as Ruby had settled down on her seat, causing the smaller girl to poke her tongue out at him. "My weapon is Crescent Rose! She's a foldable scythe with in-built anti-material rifle, and I can use it to both cut down and shoot Grimm and change my direction mid-run by using the rifle's selectable recoil dampeners! Also she has a high-powered scope and triple-row magazine for Dust rounds of..." the girl spoke on, and based off the look on Weiss's face, the rest of the technical details went as far over her head as they did over Jaune's

"...So yeah, she's pretty awesome" Ruby finished few minutes later while she pointed her pencil at a drawing that she held on her other hand which illustrated how the moving parts of her scythe worked.

"Uh, thank you, miss Rose..." Weiss said but her follow-up was cut off as Ruby spoke over the girl

"My name is Ruby! We're friends, I think, so we don't need to be super-official!" Ruby told Weiss, causing the girl to pause for a while.

"I see. Thank you Ruby, for that extremely over-detailed explanation as to how your weapon works" Weiss finally said to the smaller girl who had started to pout cutely.

"And Blake?" Weiss asked the reclusive girl in the corner who put her book aside for a moment.

"My Semblance is Shadow clones… or more specifically, the ability to use Aura and Dust to form copies of myself that can't move or attack… but appear exactly like me which allows me to misdirect and confuse my targets, as well as bait them to attack the clones in order to expose an opening. I can also imbue the copies with Dust elements to make them better suit my purposes" the girl explained before pausing for a while.

"My weapon is Gambol Shroud which is a pistol-bayonet that is connected by a long nano-fiber ribbon to it's holster, which allows me to use the pistol as a whip and dagger, or I can holster it to turn it into a cleaver. I can also use the whip to snare my targets and use it to fire the gun, allowing me to attack from behind walls and cover... " Blake's speech was cut off as Ruby basically climbed on top of the girl's lap.

"Oooh, so does the holster have a retracting blade or does the bayonet form the blade for the holster? Is the pistol Dust-round based or pulse-powered? How do you press the trigger on the gun with your ribbon?" The smaller girl went on with her eyes shining.

Blake froze still before pulling her eyes off the smaller girl and giving Jaune a look that seemed to scream 'help'.

Jaune shrugged before freezing still as well as he realized that it was his turn to try and explain his Semblance to the rest of his team.

"Umm… My Semblance is kind of complicated" he finally said as Weiss motioned for Jaune to start already.

Blake and Weiss both gave Jaune a flat stare as Ruby tilted her head to the side. "Yeah you said it was somehow weird…" Ruby pointed out as she waited for Jaune to continue.

' _Yeah that doesn't even come close to covering it…'_ Jaune thought frantically as he struggled to think of a way to explain his abilities to the girls…

' _Could I just tell them what I told Ozpin?'_ Jaune thought briefly as the stares intensified ' _Although… he warned that I might easily alienate myself from other students…'_

"I can turn into Grimm" he finally blurted out, causing the room to fall silent.

"You can do what now?" came the uniformly confused response from the rest of his team.

' _Yeah I could have worded that better…'_ Jaune thought as he looked at the flat stares that were directed at him…

 **AN**

 **Next chapter- 13-14. Oct.- The Grimm**

 **Slightly late chapter, my apologies.**

 **Omake:**

Qrow left Ozpin's office after delivering his brief report and he turned back to his crow-form just before the elevator's doors opened to let him back to Beacon's grounds.

Few nearby students raised their eyebrows at the big, black-feathered and red-eyed crow that was politely paddling forwards on the side of the Beacon's hallway.

' _Now… Where did that brat go?'_ Qrow thought as he looked around, turning his long beaked head to sneak a look around a corner.

He turned around as he heard a door creak behind him, and he saw his observation target exit out of a small, dimly lit meeting room...

...while holding hands with cutely blushing Ruby, who had small small tear-stains on her face and was smiling fondly at Jaune,

' _Why? Why? And why it had to happen during the only moment when I wasn't tracking the guy... And why it has to always be the tall blondes with blue eyes?'_ Qrow cawed loudly and took flight towards his observation target, hell-bent on pecking the man's eyes out…

...and flew right at a glass door that he hadn't seen because of his lack of sleep.

' _Goddamit.'_ Qrow thought as he cawed weakly from the floor, trying to regain his senses through the raging desire to peck a certain blonde man or two to death.

"...Is that crow alive?" he heard a voice ask in the distance, followed by another, different one responding to it "...yeah it's moving"

A pair of female legs appeared in his vision and Qrow looked up to see a ginger-haired girl standing above him, before the crow was violently pulled off the floor and crushed against the girl's moderate chest.

"Aww, don't be a sad birdy! Nurse Nora is here to save you and take care of you" the girl announced as Qrow could feel his thin ribs cracking and his black feathers starting to get crushed in the girl's grasp.

"Umm, Nora? I think you are killing the poor bird" a second girl said from the side, and Qrow felt himself getting picked from the ginger-haired devil's grasp into an infinitely softer hold.

He looked up to see a girl with blazing red hair and considerable bust holding him against the latter gently, which Qrow could definitely appreciate despite the age difference between the two.

He looked around lazily… and saw Ruby disappearing behind a corner with Jaune, reminding Qrow to just _what_ he was supposed to be doing.

He let out long, tortured caww before taking flight from his temporary yet oh-so-comfortable nest to chase after the blonde teenager, leaving the pair of young students to blink as the apparently crippled bird took flight once more.

.

..

…

"I don't know what I did wrong." Pyrrha complained later to Nora who patted the tall, sad girl on the back.

"There, there. Birdies like that always run away if you don't hold onto them tightly. You got to let them know who's the boss, you know?" Nora told her. "Isn't that right, little birdy?" she added, looking at Ren who blinked and pointed a finger at his chest.

"Naaaah, I was talking about a pigeon behind you" Nora responded to Ren's wordless question, causing the man to sigh and turn around.

"Yes, hold onto them tightly…" Nora whispered sinisterly as she looked at the man's back.

"Ummm… should I be hearing this?" Pyrrha asked, and about second later wishing that she hadn't as Nora turned around to look at her...


	10. The Grimm

"...You can turn into a Grimm?" Weiss asked slowly with extremely sceptical expression on her face.

"Yes" Jaune answered while making sure that he didn't move a muscle or make any threatening movements or gestures. It seemed to be the wrong move to take as the white-haired girl huffed and sent Jaune a severe glare.

"This is not a time to be joking around! I refuse to have the team become splintered if one person doesn't want to reveal their real Sembl… an..." Weiss started her speech but her words seemed to fail her as Jaune slowly lifted his hand above the table the Team was gathered around and placed his forearm against its wooden surface while closing his eyes.

The hand had sprouted black Grimm-flesh from underneath a bone-made vambrace, while Jaune's fingers had turned black and had long, sharp claws instead of nails.

As the familiar bubbling intensified, Jaune felt the bone of his thumb extend once more to form a long bone-blade which he placed on the table after he broke it off his hand.

Jaune opened his eyes slowly after clearing the haze of bloodlust from his mind with the help of pushing his claws into the flesh of his palm and taking deep breaths.

He looked around slowly to see Weiss staring at the blade with dumbstruck expression while Blake had curled up on her seat and seemed to be on edge of jumping out of it to either run away or attack at slightest provocation.

Ruby had frozen still with her silver eyes wide as she looked between Jaune's blade and his face, sending a feeling not unlike liquid ice moving down Jaune's spine each time the eyes looked into his.

"So uh…" Jaune made to begin his explanation "It's kind of weird Semblance"

Silence followed his statement until Ruby disappeared from Jaune's sight. He could feel a weight materializing on his back and pair of small hands that pulled his hand and locked it behind his back.

"Where is Jaune and what did you do to him? Did Ozpin do this?" Ruby demanded from behind him as she tightened her hold on his arm behind his back, which didn't do much to harm Jaune. "Give Jaune back!"

"Um… Ruby, I'm Jaune? I haven't gone anywhere like I promised." Jaune told the smaller girl while turning his head to look at her... which caused Ruby to let out a small 'eep' as her hold was broken, and she disappeared from his back to stand near the door and block the only way out of the room.

"Your eyes…" Blake whispered as she had stood away from her seat and was slowly backing towards the exit from the room as well "They are exactly like Grimm's…"

Weiss seemed to finally regain her senses as well and she slammed her hand on the table, causing Blake to jump up slightly and startle both Ruby and Jaune.

"Stand down!" She snarled, sending everyone on the room a glare before focusing her attention on Jaune "Are you going to attack us?" she asked, sending another glare at the sword that had started to bleach slowly on the table as Jaune had instantly pulled his hand away from it after forming it.

"No!" Jaune answered, lifting both his human and inhuman hand up in a sign of surrender as he continued to sit on his chair.

"He could be lying" Blake commented.

"I'm not!"

"He could be lying about him not lying" Blake responded as she kept backing away slowly.

"Sit down, all of you!" Weiss repeated herself "That means you two" She added, looking at Blake and Ruby.

"Jaune, when we first met, who was with me and what did I tell you?" Weiss asked, sending a glare at the teenager.

"Uh, you were with Pyrrha and you bowed to me and told me that I was a strong fighter if Pyrrha recognized me, I think. I didn't really get what you meant by that, by the way" Jaune answered which caused Weiss to relax ever so slightly, but she didn't take her eyes off him "So you are Jaune…"

"I can't believe I have to seriously ask someone of this, but are you a Grimm?" she continued.

"I don't think I am, but I'm honestly not sure" Jaune answered "This sort of happened without my consent"

"That makes no sense…" Blake said from the side with her eyes glued to the red blade "A Grimm Semblance?"

"Uh, I guess so?" Jaune answered, turning his head between the rest of his team "I mean, I haven't had time to really figure out what all of this is"

"What do you mean by 'not having time'? You attended the combat schools, right?" Ruby asked with weak voice as the situation seemed to overwhelm the girl "Didn't you figure it out during the pre-Beacon preparation?"

"Well, I sort of never attended any combat schools since I only returned to civilization few days ago- although I'm not even sure if that was only few days since I got captured as soon as I made it to Vale by some cult calling themselves 'White Fang' or something and held captive by them until I escaped four or so days ago." Jaune explained, causing Blake to take a sharp breath.

"White Fang?" She whispered "You were captured by the White Fang?"

"Yeah, do you know them?" Jaune confirmed.

"No... "

The answer came not from Blake but from Weiss.

"You were captured by those degenerates?" Weiss continued, her face having lost some of it's colour "Did they capture and experiment on you to make you what you are now? A Grimm? Have White Fang lost what morality and sense they had left and started to dabble with the Grimm?"

"White Fang isn't like that!" Blake argued, causing Weiss to raise her eyebrow at the black-haired girl and open her mouth to retort something...

"We're getting sidetracked!" Ruby yelled from beside the room's exit and startling all of the room's occupants.

"Jaune, can you please return to normal, please?" She asked with much calmer voice after both Weiss and Blake had turned their attention back to the Grimm at hand. "You are kind of scary looking…" she added quietly as she kept staring at Jaune's eyes.

' _Hold on, did my eyes and face turn as well? Like when I transformed in front of my sisters?'_ Jaune wondered in his head and pulled his Scroll to use its camera to show his face.

He saw a pair of baleful red eyes staring back at him from a face framed by thick, black veins and extremely pale skin as his jaw had started to slowly elongate and his lips had started to pull back to reveal rows of long, sharp teeth. Turning his head, he spotted patches of bone-armor starting to form around the top of his head and neck...

' _Oh no, it's happening again'_

"Uhhh…. I didn't mean to do that?" Jaune said, pointing at his face as he heard his voice come out in deep, growling baritone "I kind of wanted to just show the sword and uh…"

"Turn back" Ruby pleaded. "Please"

Jaune closed his eyes again and concentrated on the familiar bubbling heat that started to once again build on his skin, and he felt the bone vambrace and claw of his hand start to sizzle a into black mist and the black veins on his face started to disappear, making way for much healthier complexion.

He heard series of snaps coming out of his jaw and neck as the elongated bones retracted and the bone-plates snapped off his neck.

When he opened his eyes, they were deep blue once more, although he felt his inner voice lurking beneath the surface of his mind, looking for a chance to break out...

"So um…" Jaune made to begin but paused as the gathered team kept staring at him with myriad of expressions.

' _Well, It worked with Ozpin, so let's hope it works here as well…'_ Jaune thought before he opened his mouth again "Please don't kill me?"

Weiss scowled.

Blake kept staring at him with neutral expression.

Ruby's expression was stuck between fright and shock.

"No-one is killing anyone" Weiss finally said, causing Ruby's expression to easen up "You saved my life from that Grimm Abomination, and that alone redeems you in my eyes"

' _Yeah, I might have to censor that part of the story out'_ Jaune thought while wincing ' _I'm fairly sure that telling her I was the Grimm in the clearing would not go down well'_

"That was me, by the way" Blake said from the side "I saved you from that Grimm, not Jaune… after you had fainted in front of it" she added with slightly smug tone.

"But… I woke up with you and Jaune standing beside me and the creature was dead?" Weiss asked, puzzled over the events and with slight tint of red on her cheeks.

"What Abomination? Saving Weiss? What are you talking about" Ruby piped from the side after getting enough of being ignored.

"I heard Weiss screaming during the Initiation Test and went to investigate, and found her fainted in front of a large Grimm…" Blake explained to Ruby as Weiss had crossed her arms and was sending glares at the black-haired girl "I saved her and pursued the Grimm after it fled, but Jaune had already taken care of it by the time I caught up with it"

"T-That's beside the point!" Weiss growled at Blake "What's more important is that Jaune, despite his unusual Semblance hasn't even tried to harm us or attack us in any way!"

' _Aaand, there goes trying to apologize for mistaking Blake as a Grimm'_ Jaune concluded as Weiss continued to scowl at Blake.

"Well, he _did_ say that he was a Grimm, in front of a group of Hunters-in-training, after which he pulled out a Grimm-sword..." Blake sent a glare at Jaune, and he blushed slightly as he realized he had basically copied what Ruby had done to him in the airship before Initiation- pulled out a weapon in wrong context, and caused a scene. "One might get a wrong impression. _"_

"Sorry."

"Just... Don't do it again." Weiss sighed, before lifting her eyebrow at him. "Does anyone else know about your... thing?"

"Yeah. Uh, I mean, Ozpin knows about my Semblance… and he sort of told me to keep it quiet." Jaune said instead, causing Ruby's eyes to regain some of it's shine.

"You mean that the headmaster has approved of you? That you aren't a danger to us and you won't get killed as a Grimm if people find out?" Ruby asked with hope in her voice.

"Headmaster told you to stay quiet about your Semblance… and the first thing you do is tell us about it?" Blake raised her eyebrow at Jaune "So much for not telling anyone…"

"I mean, I couldn't just _not_ tell my team about it, could I? That I'm not exactly a human?" Jaune answered to Blake.

"Y-yeah" Blake answered while turning her head away, almost if she was ashamed of something.

Jaune looked at the girl's odd reaction for while before turning his head to Ruby "And Ozpin didn't specifically forbid me from telling my team but he did tell that I probably shouldn't tell or show my Semblance to rest of the students… so I guess he approved of me."

"That's also the main reason I needed new weapons, since my err, swords and my fight style sort of revolves around using my Semblance" Jaune continued speaking to Ruby after it seemed that the girls had started to settle down slightly and return to their seats "I'm fairly sure that it would raise issues if I turned into a half-Grimm or something in middle of a combat class"

"Is… Is your Semblance why you don't die when you are killed?" Ruby asked quietly as she had sat down to her old seat and drawing a half-nod from Jaune. "Well, at least you're not dead so… It's good thing at least. But can you... well… not do that transformation thingy again? It's… you don't look like _you_ when you do it."

"I can't promise that." Jaune said honestly, which caused Ruby to wilt slightly.

"How extensive is your transformation? Is it limited to just your features or does it go even further?" Weiss asked, curious of the unusual ability.

"Er, really extensive. I can turn entirely into a Grimm, but I'd rather not demonstrate…" Jaune answered, as he was starting to get nervous under the white-haired girl's inquisitive gaze.

"What about your Aura? It was also mentioned to be somehow irregular?"

"Well, my Aura is malfunctioning or somehow not working as it should." Jaune explained "Whenever I get hit, I get hurt like someone with no Aura would, but afterwards I heal up really fast. I think it's linked to my Semblance as well somehow..."

Jaune picked up the decaying bone-blade from the table and stabbed it through his other hand with a wince of pain, before pulling the blade off to show the wound starting to close almost instantly. He noticed that the girls that had flinched slightly as as had picked the blade up but he choose to ignore it.

He put the decaying blade back to the table as the deep scarlet colour of his blood started to spread across the web of tiny hollow veins in the blade, and the blade started to slowly regenerate back to it's usual form.

"That's… disturbing" Blake commented as she stared at the slowly regenerating blade and the closing wound on Jaune's hand while sitting on the edge of her seat.

"A over-active healing Aura, huh…" Weiss seemed thoughtful "Odd, but somehow explainable."

Jaune raised his eyebrow "What do you mean?"

"Normally Aura heals minor wounds with rest, time and proper nutrition, and refills it's defensive portion after proper amount of time and nutrition" Weiss explained "If Jaune's Aura skips refilling the 'protective Aura' completely, it would heal wounds with far greater speed... but means that his 'protective' Aura is always depleted. Entirely reactive rather than proactive... Do you know what happened that could have caused your Aura to become irregular like that?"

Jaune thought for a moment, recalling the moment his Aura had been unlocked.

' _..."And through our actions, archive Immortality…" Dad unlocked my Aura just as I woke up in the Shion Lodge… Could it be because of that…'_

"When my Aura was unlocked, I was nearly dead from a lethal wound… could that have been it?"

Weiss seemed thoughtful as she contemplated the issue.

"So it's possible that your Aura has never made it past the 'healing' part to get into 'building a protection' part, and is stuck in a state where it can't refill itself as it is trying to heal a wound that has already been healed?" she finally said. "I have no idea what could have happened beside that… I'd need to consult a Aura specialist or Aura healer to make sure..."

"Umm, we shouldn't do that though" Jaune said while lifting his hand as if asking for permission to speak in classroom "Wouldn't the specialist also notice that I have a Grimm Semblance or something and try to get me captured or arrested as a Grimm?"

"Don't be ridiculous…" Weiss started but fell quiet a second later.

"Yeah, that might be bad though…" Ruby piped from the side "I don't want some doctor to take you away just because you have an unusual semblance… what if they dissect you or something? What do you think, Blake?"

Blake was quiet and had pulled her legs to her chest as she kept staring at the blood-red bone-sword on the table. Ruby waved her hand in front of the girl's face as it seemed that the black-haired girl had fallen so deep into her thoughts that she had ignored Ruby completely.

"W-what?" Blake managed to say as Ruby poked the girl's cheek after her waving proved ineffective.

"What do you think?" Ruby kept poking the startled girl "What should we do about Jaune's Aura? Or his Semblance?"

"I… I don't know" Blake said after a moment of gathering her wits.

It seemed that the sentiment was shared across the entire team, and the silence dragged on.

After a moment that had felt like an hour, Weiss slammed her hand down on the table "It seems that these team meetings will be necessary in the future as well… but for now, I don't think we should make any hasty decisions based off recent revelations and instead try to continue forwards as we have been so far." she concluded the team meeting.

Ruby agreed as she fiddled with her skirt and Blake nodded as the quiet girl had returned from her thoughts. Jaune nodded as well and reached to grab the red blade to put it away.

"With that in mind, it's starting to get late, and we need to go get dinner before the dining hall closes." Weiss said as she grabbed her schoolbag.

That sentence caused a slightly more energetic reaction and the team rose up to leave the small meeting room.

As the team moved towards the dining hall under the darkening sky, Jaune noticed that Ruby wasn't walking as close to him as she had before the team meeting…

* * *

The uneasy mood hadn't lifted as most of the team made their way back to the dorms after the dinner, with the exception of Blake who had disappeared into the library as soon as she had finished with her dinner.

Before the rest of the team could enter their given dorm however, they were intercepted near the dorm-room's entrance by a yellow missile that launched itself from the dorm directly opposite to team SABR's, and impacted against Ruby.

"Sis! How's your day been?" Yang exclaimed as she attempted to suffocate Ruby against her considerable bosom "Did you like the lessons? What's with the long face? Did someone bully you? Do I need to go and break someone's jaw?"

"It- It's nothing to worry about… we just had a team talk and stuff" Ruby breathed out after she managed to extract her head from her sister's breasts and squirm out of her grasp.

"Hello Jaune" Pyrrha greeted Jaune as she too had exited from the team RYNN's dorm room, fully clothed in her combat-gear.

"Hi Pyrrha… uh, are you expecting a fight?" Jaune greeted back at the red-haired girl who blushed slightly.

"Well, not exactly… but speaking of a fight, would you like to go training with me?" Pyrrha asked with a hopeful smile on her face.

"Sorry, I can't train right now" Jaune answered which caused the girl's shoulders to droop slightly and her smile to become just a bit more fragile before he continued "I don't have a weapon right now and I don't think I'd do well with just my bare hands…"

"I would be delighted to train with you, however" Weiss nodded politely to Pyrrha whose smile turned from brittle to forced.

"Ah- oh, of course, I'd be happy if we were to train together" Pyrrha said, causing Weiss to nod politely and head off towards the armory as Pyrrha gave Jaune a look that he wasn't quite able to decipher before she followed the white-haired girl out of the dorms.

' _Huh, It seems that Pyrrha isn't mad at me for that stunt back at Vale… that's good at least.'_ Jaune thought ' _I'll have to get something for Ruby as thanks for making me weapons so I can train like a regular student.'_

Jaune nodded to himself as Ruby continued to speak to Yang in hushed tones and the older girl's face started to grow redder and redder for some reason, and she started to give Jaune glares that varied between disbelief and outright hostility.

"...he is what exactly?" Jaune heard Yang say and he tuned his ears to listen closer.

"Yeah, he's Grimm. Ish. Sort of. Kind of. I think. And I'm not sure what to think about… " he heard Ruby explain to Yang, which caused Jaune's hair to stand up and a wave of cold move down his spine.

"Uh, Ruby? That was supposed to be a secret…" Jaune said weakly to the girl who gave out a small 'eep' and hid behind Yang.

"We need to talk" Yang said and took hold of Jaune's throat, and pushed him to team SABR's room as Ruby latched onto Yang's arm.

"Yang! Jaune hasn't done anything wrong!" Ruby pleaded as Yang looked like she was about to punch Jaune's face off his shoulders.

' _Ah crap, Yang's probably not approving of me having the Semblance that I have and being a…'_

"What's your deal? Ruby tells me you dragged her to an empty classroom and started to get all touchy-feely with her" Yang growled.

' _Oh'_

"Uh, I was just holding onto her hand when she was distressed?" Jaune tried to explain as Yang loosened her grip so that he could get air through his throat "No ulterior motives, I swear"

The golden-yellow haired girl growled and let go of his throat… to grab him between his legs.

"This stays in the pants, or it gets removed, we clear?" Yang growled as Ruby's face went from white to bright red, and Jaune's face went from asphyxiated blue to white.

Yang gave a hard squeeze as no answer seemed to be forthcoming, prompting Jaune to nod vigorously.

"Good. Now, with that out of the way, what's this nonsense about you being a Grimm?" Yang asked while pulling her hand back, before her tone took a dangerous edge "You didn't try to feed Ruby some spiked cookies or something, did you?"

' _Should I try to show her my shapeshifting or just to tell her about it… '_ Jaune thought before giving Ruby a glance as the girl seemed to be looking everywhere that wasn't Yang or Jaune, and her cheeks were red ' _Ruby doesn't like seeing me use it_ _though..._ '

"Yeah, my Semblance sort of allows me to turn into a Grimm…" Jaune finally went on to explain to Yang what he had told his team as the girl looked at him with sceptical expression.

"I don't believe it." Yang finally said "That sounds so far-fetched that it belongs to the storybooks…"

"I saw it!" Ruby piped from the side "It's true... " she continued as Yang turned her look at her.

"Please don't tell anyone" Jaune begun before Yang could retort "I don't want for it to spread across the student body… Even Ozpin told me to keep it secret from anyone not in my team"

"Even the headmaster is in on this madness?" Yang said with sceptical tone "Fine, I'll believe in you for now, but if I find out that you've been lying to Ruby or if you do something inappropriate to Ruby…" she flexed her fingers in front of her face to remind Jaune of her threat, causing him to wince slightly.

The silence dragged on as the group of three stared at eachother and Ruby seemed to be on a verge of tears.

Yang sighed as she seemed to calm down as the moment stretched.

"Gah... Sheesh, sorry..." Yang groaned, and Jaune lifted an eyebrow at her warily. "It's just that... It's been long day and we just had a big argument in our team as well so my patience is really thin right now. Learning that someone was getting all touchy with Ruby just rubbed me the wrong way, you know?"

The yellow-golden haired girl sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "I'm sorry?" she repeated her words to Jaune, and he nodded although he was still puzzled over the girl's aggressive behaviour.

"Um… Yang's not usually like that…" Ruby made to begin as Yang had exited the room after saying that she wanted to go watch Pyrrha's training with Weiss.

"Yeah, I think she was just worried about you. She's probably just being over-protective because you two are in different teams." Jaune assured Ruby as the two were left alone in the room.

"Right... She's just protecting me." Ruby seemed to cheer up slightly. "I don't think she dislikes you though."

"Well, she has funny way of showing it." Jaune sighed. "Well, I guess this is a good time to go over the drawings for the training swords…"

"...Although, I don't like it…" Ruby muttered as Jaune had sat down on one of the dorm-room's studying desks.

"Hm?"

"I don't like that the swords I'm going to make won't be _really_ used by you" Ruby pouted lightly as she crossed her arms while she sat next to Jaune. "I mean, they'd just be training swords, not the swords you'd actually use in combat"

"Is that a problem?"

"It feels disrespectful to the weapon to deny their purpose!" Ruby said heatedly "Just to be made in order to be tossed aside…"

"But… how else would I train? I can't form my actual weapons or use my Semblance to transform so I could fight other students on equal grounds…" Jaune wondered.

"Y-yeah…" Ruby went quiet again as she seemed to be thinking about it "Still, I don't like it…"

"I'll make sure to do my best to honour them when I use them" Jaune assured Ruby as he pulled a stack of Ruby's sword-drawings from his bag and went on to looking through them as Ruby pointed out what each of them did.

.

..

...

The evening eventually turned towards night and as the clock ticked 9:30pm, Weiss returned to the dorm while being slightly bruised and had soon changed into her pajamas after showering.

"...Ruby, I'm not sure what a pulse-ordnance multi-driver is but it sounds like it'd be better suited on some warship rather than a sword…" Jaune said weakly as Ruby pointed out yet another design to him "Couldn't I just have a steel copy of my actual swords?"

"But they are boring!" Ruby insisted "A greatsword that turns into pair of shortswords that turns into a railgun artillery is far cooler!"

"Have either of you seen Blake?" Weiss asked as she had sat on her bed to brush her hair.

Both Ruby and Jaune shook their head, and Weiss scowled slightly.

"The curfew is in fifteen minutes…" Weiss said, lifting her Scroll to check the time "She needs to hurry up so she won't be late..." the rest of her speech was lost as the girl in question opened the dorm-room's door and slipped in, and headed into the showers without making a single sound.

The Clock ticked on as Weiss started to study her materials while sitting on the remaining free studying desk beside Ruby and Jaune, and Blake returned from the showers to go sit on her bed and read her book, until it was time for team SABR to retire into their beds...

* * *

' _...He looked around and raised his binoculars to look at the elevated train tracks that had been built above the red canopy of black-barked trees…_

…" _How's the perimeter over there?" He asked over a short-range radio, and got a buzzing response through the untraceable communication device "Continue watching, the leader and that toy of his will be here soon…"._

 _...The solid white and grey mask on his face was itchy, but at least it covered his face from the wind and the dust that blew in the wind in the cliffside trail, although the black and white uniform he wore did little to block the wind…_

 _...A faint scream was cut off in the distance, causing his ears to perk up and he lifted his radio on his lips again "Perimeter, report. What was that scream?"_

 _...A silence followed his transmission and he attempted to ask again, before placing the device back to his belt with muttered curse over the malfunctioning old device, and he lifted himself up from the cold, black rocks to investigate…_

 _...The black rocks of the cliffside trail were wet, and he reached to touch the rock, only to have his hand come off covered in red liquid... He looking around and saw scraps of cloth on the ground..._

 _"A Grimm?" he whispered, before he pulled his cleaver and pistol from his belt as he started to run..._

 _...He ran through the trail until he came to a spot in the cliffside trail, that had been dubbed 'the insertion point' as it would allow the leader to board the Schee company train that would soon pass below the naturally formed path…_

…" _What's wrong?" a scout asked of him as he moved around the corner in the path to see the small team that had assembled to accompany the leader and his pet aboard the train…_

 _...The ground shook underneath him almost as if something large was closing towards them…_

 _...He opened his mouth to warn the assembled group of people with white masks and grey and white uniforms, but before he could get a word out he felt a sharp pain lance through his back…_

 _...He grasped at the large, red blade that had pierced through his back and out of his stomach as he was lifted into the air…_

 _...A pair of baleful red eyes stared at him from a elongated, monstrous face as a lipless maw of long, sharp teeth closed in on his head, and he felt only pain…_

 _._

 _.._

 _..._

"Hrgh!" Jaune grit out as he woke up with a cold snap traveling through his spine as his body arced over the phantom pain of sharp jaws biting into his neck and throat at the same time…

He slapped and pushed against the invisible teeth, only to feel his hands connecting with his own body and leaving small bruises as his hand hit against his jaw…

The pain snapped him from his daze and he pulled his hands into fists while forcing himself back to the bed properly, and forcing himself to take deep, calm breaths to expel the remains of the dream.

' _That dream… just like the night before…'_ he thought hazily as the instinctive panic of getting eaten alive passed ' _Just_ w _hat is causing those dreams… I have never… '_ his thoughts were scattered and erratic as he tried to make sense of his dream.

Jaune pulled his hand in front of his face to confirm it being in its human form,

The bedsheets were tossed aside as Jaune felt uncomfortably sweaty after the dream, and he pulled his Scroll up to check the time.

' _5:30… so I could take a shower without causing too much of a fuss…'_ he thought hazily and put the Scroll back down and took a look around the room, seeing the faint shapes of Ruby, Weiss and Blake still on their beds although their forms were shrouded in darkness as the room had no lights, and the moonlight was faint.

He rose up slowly, making sure to walk quietly and open the bathroom door carefully so he wouldn't disturb the sleeping girls as he moved in a disoriented daze. He pulled his clothes off and stepped quietly into the shower after closing the bathroom door behind him carefully. He closed the sliding shower-doors after him, taking care to not step on Blake's toes as he moved past the wide-eyed girl who had been washing a pair of cat-ears on top of her head. After a moment of fumbling with the showerhead, he managed to grab it and turn the stream of hot water towards his face…

' _Hold on, Blake? Cat-ears?'_ Jaune thought as the water streamed down his face and washed the haze from his mind- before his legs were swept from under him and he fell down with his face connecting with the tiled floor. Before he could regain his senses, his head was pulled back and slammed against the floor again.

"You will not tell anyone of this" he heard an angry, feminine voice hiss to his ear as a weight settled on his back and pair of arms grasped his throat from behind "If you tell anyone what I am, I will… I will hurt you…" Blake hissed.

"Glarhg" Jaune attempted to formulate his response, but his speech failed him mainly due to his inability to get air through the vice-like grip the girl had on his throat. As the grip didn't show any signs of letting up, he turned himself around on the floor to face the girl, and he felt Blake's hold on his throat loosening slightly as she was forced to adjust her grip.

"Ghurk… Sorry… I… didn't… mean… to… intrude…" Jaune tried to speak as the girl's eyes had widened in horror when Jaune didn't seem to be fazed the slightest by her efforts to throttle him, or slowed down by her attempts to hold him still.

"Just what is going on in here!" Jaune heard an arctic, although sleepy voice announce from the doorway to the showers as Weiss stepped through the bathroom door to investigate the commotion while still in her pajamas.

She froze still as her eyes locked onto the naked Blake with shampoo on her hair straddling the equally naked Jaune on the shower floor while the black-haired girl was throttling Jaune with both hands.

Weiss's face went through a myriad of expressions before she backed through the doorway and closed the bathroom door, leaving Blake staring at the now-closed door as her hands started to shake while still holding onto Jaune's throat.

"So uh, I'm sorry, this is completely my fault. I just wanted to take a shower but… Hurk!" Jaune's attempt to explain his actions was interrupted as Blake's grip on his throat returned at full force.

"My life is over…" Blake whispered while still looking at the closed bathroom door.

' _... If I didn't need to breathe, I'm fairly sure I'd be the one whose life would be over.'_ Jaune thought as he struggled to get a word out of his throat to apologize for causing the whole mess…

* * *

Weiss backed away from the bathroom dorm as she attempted to get her thoughts under her control.

 _'Blake was a Faunus? And she and Jaune were in that kind of relationship? This doesn't make sense…' S_ he thought as she came to a stop beside her bed.

"Euh... Weiss?" A sleepy voice pulled her from her thoughts as Ruby had woken up was well. "What's going on?" the girl asked as she pulled her sleep-mask off and rubbed her eyes.

"Miss Rose, were you aware of miss Belladonna's… circumstance… behind her bow?" Weiss asked, slipping back to her formal speech as she was trying to come to terms with what she'd seen.

"Behind her bow? What'd you mean?"

"I mean… Nevermind. Just… don't go to the shower" Weiss said with faint tint of red on her cheeks.

"What's in the shower?" Ruby asked from the bathroom door as she had zoomed past the disoriented heiress, and the smaller girl took a look inside the room before Weiss could stop her.

"Oh." Ruby said as she closed the door and put her back against it with her face turned bright red.

"Yeah" Weiss confirmed.

"I got to tell Yang about this!" Ruby exclaimed and tried to make her way to the dorm-room's exit… but before she could open the door, Weiss took a hold of the smaller girl's wrist.

"Stop! Just what are you doing?" Weiss scowled as Ruby squirmed in her grasp "We should be apologizing for intruding and finding out something Blake had tried to keep secret, not trying to spread it!"

"But… I always tell Yang about everything" Ruby complained.

"Why? Do you also tell your sister about other people's stuff as well?"

"Yes!" Ruby confirmed, leaving Weiss flabbergasted with her mouth hanging open.

"W-Why?" she finally got out "Did you also tell her about Jaune's Semblance?"

"Yes" Ruby said innocently as she looked at Weiss almost as if it was obvious.

"What's wrong with you!" Weiss exclaimed after she collected her wits "Why do you tell your sister other people's secrets that are entrusted to you?"

"Yang's always looking out for me, and we always tell eachother everything- we've had to look out for each other ever since, well…" Ruby went quiet for a moment "ever since mom died. and for a long time afterwards, dad wasn't in a shape to take care of us…"

"I... see." Weiss said as she let go of Ruby's hand. "But still, you need to live your own life, and sharing secrets that are entrusted to you, and not to Yang, is a very good way to turn your friends to your enemies" she lectured the girl who seemed to wilt under her gaze.

"Uh… I'm sorry" Ruby finally said, causing Weiss to scowl at the girl once more.

"It's not me who you should apologize to."

"Then who should I…"

"Jaune! Apologize to Jaune! Just how clueless can you be?" Weiss scowled

"Oh… Sorry. Yang always tells me that I'm not the most socially aware person…" Ruby tried to begin, but Weiss cut her off again.

"I'm not talking to Yang, I'm talking to Ruby Rose, I'm not interested in Yang's opinion, I'm interested in Ruby Rose's opinion."

"Ah…" Ruby fell quiet.

"Just why did you feel the need to tell about Jaune's Semblance to Yang?"

"It's just that… It feels odd." Ruby tried to explain quietly "I've trained to fight and fought Grimm for most of my life… And dad and my uncle told me that when mom died, it was because she was ambushed by the Grimm and killed… and then Jaune tells me that he's partly Grimm but he's nice and I like being around him…"

"So you didn't know what to think about Jaune for a moment and ran straight to Yang?" Weiss asked, sending a glare at the girl "You need to grow up, seriously."

Ruby gave an indignant squeak at the white-haired girl's words before Weiss continued.

"Most of my life, I've lived in fear of being killed" Weiss confessed "Not because of Grimm, but because of a group of… not people, but a group of mosnters masquerading as people" she added as Ruby made to comment.

"The White Fang… They are a group of faunus terrorists have attacked my family, my company, and their workers. We've provided the Faunus work in Atlas, and they spite us for it…" Weiss told Ruby "It started with protests, then turned to bloody riots, and from that, terror attacks against my family… to the point where even my mother was killed by their hands. I've had to live my life in fear of being the next one to disappear when I lived back in Atlas"

"That's…" Ruby begun but fell quiet as Weiss spoke over her.

"Despite that, I don't hate the entirety of Faunus- I just hate the White Fang scum and their sympathizers which, granted, is most of the faunus. My father hates all faunus, my little brother hates all faunus, and I'm fairly sure that my sister does as well although she hides it well…" Weiss took a breath "But I didn't want to take their opinions. I wanted to make my own. My own decisions, in my own life. If I took their opinions without forming my own, I'd still be in Atlas, studying to become the next Heiress of SDC and being tucked away from any and all danger- as much as a Schnee can be."

"I don't..." Ruby made an attempt to interrupt her, but Weiss was having none of it.

"Opinions are a prescious resource. Countless parties will try to influence your opinion, and even more will want to stifle yours. I get that you are close to your sister, but you are not your sister. Or do you care about Yang's opinion so much that you'd sacrifice your teammates trust for it?" Weiss finished her speech as Ruby had wilted and sat on her bed.

"I'm… sorry" she said finally.

"Don't tell me that" Weiss said "Tell that to Jaune."

* * *

 _'Hello? Jaune to Blake, do you respond?'_ Jaune thought as he attempted to wave his hand in front of Blake's face as she had frozen completely still when Ruby's face had peeked through the bathroom's door briefly, before disappearing again.

He got enough of being manhandled a moment later and he took hold of Blake's arms still tied around his throat, and pulled them off before pushing the girl off him.

"Blake, I'm sorry for intruding, but trying to throttle me this hard is kind of overreaction" Jaune said as he massaged his throat as he looked at the girl, before realizing that both of them were still naked and turning his eyes at the nearby wall.

Blake had pulled herself into the corner of the shower and pulled her legs close to her chest. She didn't answer as she seemed to be lost on her own world.

"My life is over… the Schnee knows… everyone will know soon... " Blake whispered as she rocked back and forth, completely ignoring Jaune "I can't stay in Beacon… I need to leave"

"What's wrong, Blake? Acting this violent isn't like… well, you"

"Shut up. Get out" Blake hissed.

"Not before you tell me what's wrong. You said something about leaving Beacon- I get this is embarrassing but It's not like it's the end of the world." Jaune growled at the girl as he pulled himself back to similiar sitting position.

Blake just sent a glare at him "You don't get it do you? You saw them. You know what I am, and so does the Schnee girl and the Rose girl…"

"Yes, and they were pretty, and I apologize for seeing them by accident, but I think you are overreacting with the whole trying to throttle me and saying that you'd leave Beacon"

"You don't get it! The Schnee girl will never accept me because of them!"

"I can't see why she wouldn't. She has a pair of them as well" Jaune told the girl.

"...What are you on about" Blake said as she stared at Jaune who was keeping his eyes strictly on the wall.

"Breasts"

Blake sighed, before she started to laugh.

It was not a happy laugh, but a despaired one as she rocked back and forth with her eyes wild.

"Of course that would be the only thing a man would pay attention to…"

"I mean, I also get that you are a faunus as well but why would that be so big of a thing?" Jaune said, causing Blake to shut up instantly.

"You don't get it" She said for the third time "Faunus are hated, not treated as equals and the Schnee are the worst offenders of all. She'd extort me or make me her slave or…"

"You're overreacting." Jaune said "Weiss isn't like that…"

"You don't know that. You don't know our pain, how we are hated. You're not a faunus."

"Yeah I'm just a Grimm. Join the club" Jaune said, lifting his hand and allowing it to grow black veins and long claws, before he forced the transformation to halt and undo the changes it had made. "She accepted that I was a Grimm, well sort of… so why wouldn't she accept a pair of ears?" he asked of the girl as he rubbed his hand that had turned back to normal.

Blake fell silent as she stared at the hand which had undergone brief transformation, seemingly remembering just what Jaune's Semblance was.

"Listen, Let's just wash ourselves, dress ourselves and walk out there and see what happens." Jaune said as Blake didn't seem to be able to formulate a response "Tell you what, if Weiss tries to extort you or something, I'll personally help you escape Beacon or try to make her stop?"

Blake nodded ever so slightly after a moment that seemed to stretch for an eternity, and Jaune reached his hand to help the girl up while looking at anywhere that wasn't her bare skin.

"Don't look" Blake said as she went back to cleaning herself, and Jaune faced the wall until it would be his turn.

After clothing themselves, both of the teammates braced themselves as they stepped back to the dorm-room together

.

..

...

"..."

"..."

Uncomfortable silence filled team SABR's room as Blake and Jaune faced the two remaining team members.

The silence stretched on until Ruby's face gained a determined look and she took deep breath-

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out. "I'm sorry that I told Yang about your Semblance!"

Jaune blinked.

"Uh, No problem?" he said, taken off guard as he was prepared to apologize for causing a scene in the showers.

Blake was quiet as she had frozen still while staring at Weiss, who had red tint on her cheeks and was looking at a nearby wall with her hands bunched up and a faint scowl on her face.

"I didn't mean to uh… betray your trust so uh... can we still be friends?" Ruby asked quietly, ignoring Blake's and Weiss's one-sided staring contest. "Please?"

 _'Ah… So that's what has been bugging her then?_ ' Jaune thought.

"I… I'll forgive you. But please don't tell others about my little secret?" he responded to Ruby whose expression perked up "Promise?"

"Yeah! I'll promise!" She said while jumping slightly.

"And uh… I won't tell anyone about your and Blake's um… relationship" she continued after a brief moment with a slightly quiet tone as she looked away from Jaune.

"Our what?" Jaune asked, but was cut off as Blake rushed in his defence. Well, sort of.

"We are not in a relationship" She told Ruby as her attention was torn away from the Schnee heiress. "The shower incident... just sort of happened."

"Uh-huh" Weiss commented from the side. "In the future, miss Belladonna and mister Arc, I expect you two to take your… private affairs… to somewhere else than our dorm's shower. I wasn't aware that the faunus would be that, hm, eager, but I expect you two to at least take into consideration our…"

"It wasn't like that!" Blake insisted to the Schnee with heated tone "And if you two try to spread information about me being a faunus I will… I will end you!"

"Excuse me!" Weiss said, scandalized over Blake's threat.

"Blake" Jaune interrupted the black-haired girl by placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Blake's just somehow thinking that you'd erm, 'exploit her' if you found out she was faunus... " Jaune explained to fuming Weiss "I mean, it's not like being a faunus is somehow bad, right?"

"I'm starting to think that it is, if that's the sort of behaviour I can expect" Weiss glared at the black-haired girl with her hands bunched up. "I don't get it! We, as the Schnee company, have only worked in betterment of Faunus by providing jobs, infrastructure…"

"...Slavery, dangerous mines, broken families…" Blake interrupted the girl "Have you ever visited the Schnee mines yourself? Or the work camps?"

"We're getting off track here." Jaune interrupted before the argument could escalate "This isn't about some companies or work, it's about if Blake can stay here without getting harassed by her own team… although the reverse needs to also apply" he added, giving Blake a look.

"How about me being able to shower in peace... " the faunus in question muttered quietly while glaring at Jaune who blushed and looked away.

"I have no issues with miss Belladonna being a faunus, as long as she isn't part of the White Fang scum or attempt to harm me… like she just threatened to do" Weiss scowled at Blake who surprisingly looked down and went quiet.

"Um… I don't know what's the big deal with being faunus or not being faunus... but..." Ruby piped up "We should stop fighting... can we stop fighting, please?" she pleaded, looking at Blake and Weiss.

"So Weiss, Ruby and I have no problems with Blake, and Blake has no problems with us, putting aside the 'ending you' thingy?" Jaune tried to make peace "I'm sure Blake is just overreacting, I mean she just tried to choke me in the shower which certainly was a overreaction…" he continued, ignoring how the rest of his team had sprouted bright red faces after his last statement. "...She just wants to be treated as regular student and not a faunus, I think"

"I can accept Blake's presence and keep her secret if she apologizes for threatening me…" Weiss grumbled "...And if you two apologize for satisfying your deviant sex-fantasies while Ruby and I were sleeping in the same dorm as you were doing it!"

"It wasn't like that!" Blake half-screamed "But fine, I'm sorry for threatening you…"

Weiss continued to glare at her while Ruby had covered her face with her hands, and her ears seemed to be attempting to set themselves on fire judging by their bright red colour.

"...Fine. I apologize for 'fulfilling my deviant sex-fantasies in the dorm room while you and Ruby were present'..." Blake finally muttered as Weiss kept staring at her while tapping the floor with her foot.

"So are we good now? No bad feelings? No hidden, unspoken bitter regrets?" Jaune asked as the dorm fell quiet.

A round of nods followed his question, although Blake seemed to gain a measure of uncertainty in her expression, before it disappeared to make way for ashamed expression.

 _'I think she feels bad for overreacting so hard… It must be hard, being a faunus…_ ' Jaune thought as he nodded at the girl.

"I have one"

Jaune looked over to discover Ruby having spoken while looking directly at Blake.

 _'Crap, does she have a problem with Blake after all…'_

Ruby lifted her hand threateningly and pointed a finger at Blake.

"I won't lose to you!" the smaller girl announced while holding her other hand against her waist and pushing her chest upwards.

Weiss's mouth fell open as she stared at the smaller girl while Blake covered her face with her hands and let out a muffled scream.

 _'Uh… What?'_

 **AN**

 **Next chapter 20-21. Oct- Training**

 **Short chapter this time as I'm contemplating moving few events around in the story's timeline. I might release a "mid-week" chapter to patch up the shortness of this chapter or just make the next one longer.**

 **Chapter edited as I noticed some glaring issues, and it had a missing part at the end.**

 **Omake**

"...So then you press this button, and you activate the Siege module in the sword which increases your rate of fire but makes the sword really unwieldy so you won't be able to move very fast…" Ruby explained as she introduced her creation to Jaune. Rest of team SABR and RYNN were standing behind the pair and watching the grand unveiling of the weapon with a mixture of horror and anticipation as the group were gathered near the edge of Beacon's grounds.

"And with that, I hereby give you the control of 'Crescent Arc-Caster', Remnant's first sword-shield-turret that fires swords that turn into guns, with a dual turreted direct-firing artillery railgun attachment that also turns into a flak-cannon, toaster, kite-shield and a bike" she finished, dropping a hardback user's manual that was half the girl's size in front of a speechless Jaune.

"I only wanted a sword…" he said weakly as the girl demonstrated how the flak-cannon worked by shooting up at a extremely panicked Nevermore which tried its best to zig-zag through the shrapnel explosions.

"Yeah, now you realize why I don't allow Ruby to dabble with Ember Celica" Yang said from the side as she shrugged her shoulders, causing both Weiss and Blake to make a mental note to hide their weapons from Ruby's sight.

"Ah! It wasn't a Nevermore! I'm sorryyy!" Ruby called out to a panicked Nevermore that had turned out to be a big crow that had managed to do an emergency landing through the anti-air flak, and was giving the small girl a reprimanding look as it's feathers smoldered slightly from all of the fire and smoke it had to fly through...


	11. Training

**AN: Last chapter was published with a missing part at the end of the chapter. It has been republished with the missing part (~3k words) added. Apologies for the mistake and the bad writing. Who knew that trying to write while slightly intoxicated and sleepy would be bad idea, amrite?**

The rest of the morning had passed in somewhat awkward but otherwise peaceful daze with Jaune excusing himself right after breakfast to visit the library briefly, in order to loan a few books on Aura and Aura manipulation as well as on Grimm anatomy.

The following Grimm Studies class was spent on studying the books while Port was explaining how he had strangled Beowolf Alpha to death using his socks, and the History class had passed in similar fashion as Doctor (not professor) Oobleck had lectured the class about the Faunus Revolution and their 'promised land', Menagerie. Blake had seemed like she had wanted to interrupt the lesson quite few times during the lecture, but had managed to refrain from doing so with a visible effort.

During the later part of the lecture, Jaune had gotten a message to his Scroll, and its contents caused him to nearly crush the fragile device. After a brief moment of self-calming he felt that he could keep reading while he let the teacher's voice pass by him.

' _Raven's Group… A group of bandits known to frequent around western and central Mistral region… Very limited details beside their insignia and few known raids… Known members...'_ Jaune read on as he looked at the pictureless message Ozpin had sent him ' _So he's keeping his end of the promise at least…'_

"Uhmmmn..." a soft whine and steady breathing beside him distracted Jaune from his reading, and he looked to his side to discover Ruby having fallen asleep while sitting beside him. She had propped a book in front of her to shield her from the teacher's gaze… Or so she had thought.

"Miss Rose!" Oobleck shouted while throwing an eraser at the book's cover, causing it to fall and reveal Ruby's sleeping face to the teacher. "What was the date when Menagerie was officially recognized as a separate nation?"

"..." Jaune poked at Ruby's side as the girl seemed to be unable to wake up on her own.

"I'm awake!" Ruby shouted as she jumped slightly from the touch.

"Miss Rose…" Oobleck started to lecture Ruby while Jaune's attention was already redirected back to the headmaster's message.

' _I'll have to just believe in Ozpin… and do my best to help with team SABR for now…'_

.

..

…

"Ruby, you're going to get upset stomach if you drink that much milk…" Yang said at the dinner as team SABR and team RYNN had gathered to eat after the school.

"I need to hurry up and grow" Ruby growled back at Yang while emptying her third carton of milk. "I can't afford to lag behind the competition."

"What competition?" Yang asked, puzzled over the girl's behaviour as Weiss coughed slightly and Blake blushed and buried her face on her hands.

"Out of curiousity, why aren't you eating with your own team, Yang?" Jaune asked as team RYNN bar Yang had seated themselves into the table behind the team SABR, and Yang had been the only one to venture across the gap. "I didn't mean that you aren't welcome here" he added as Yang turned to face him.

"Eh, some problems in paradise I suppose." Yang sighed "We're still working on our, er, 'team dynamics'"

"How so?" Weiss asked, interested on the other team's leadership.

"Well, we are still kind of getting used to each other I suppose. I did some light-hearted chatting and flirting with Ren like I always do with everyone and Nora, well, didn't approve" Yang recounted "Then I tried to chat up about championships and tournaments with Pyrrha since I figured that it'd be something she'd be interested in, being a champion fighter herself, but she just got really passive with, you know, 'yeah I'm hearing your words but not really listening' smile and expression on her face"

"Eh… I'm sure it's just some start-up awkwardness or something" Ruby thought aloud. "I mean, we too had some awkward encounters when Jaune and Blake…" she fell quiet as Blake slapped her hand on Ruby's lips and hissed.

"Uh… sorry" Ruby said while looking away and blushing after Blake had lifted her hand. "I promised I wouldn't talk about that" she explained to Yang who had started to give a suspicious eye to Blake.

"You're not corrupting my little sis, are you?" Yang asked Blake who shook her head and returned to her food.

"Nevertheless, I have planned some exercises for team SABR in the Emerald forest after we finish with our dinner" Weiss started from the side to both divert Yang away from Blake and to move the conversation forwards. She however gave a slightly disgusted glance at the massive pile of sausages, pulled pork and steak on Jaune's tray while the teenager was working to go through the pile of grilled food.

"Oh? Mind if I intrude?" Yang asked, interested.

"Yes, actually. The aim of our today's training is to work on understanding and adjusting to our team-members fighting techniques and Semblances, and people who are not part of the team might be detrimental to our plan since it would distract us from our team-centric combat analysis…" Weiss told the team and Yang while pulling her notebook out and showing her planned training schedule. "Plus, don't you have your own training to do with your team?" Weiss finished.

"Tch, as if. We haven't really gotten into that part yet" Yang scowled at Weiss.

"Is your team's leader not doing his role?" Weiss asked, puzzled over the fellow team's schedule.

"It's not just that, it's that Ren's not doing much beside dragging Nora around, or rather Nora is dragging Ren around, and Pyrrha is kind of just flapping around in the wake. Honestly? I'm just sort of sitting on my hands at the moment." Yang answered honestly "I'm not sure Ren's cut out to lead…"

Weiss was quiet as Ruby patted Yang encouragingly on the back.

"I believe you might want to advice Ren to visit professor Port" Weiss finally said "He helped me… hm… adjust my attitude as a leader slightly"

"That old letcher?" Yang asked, clearly puzzled.

"He's fairly good advisor under that act of his… although I agree to your remark" Weiss said, bunching her hands up and looking to the side. "Well, take my advice or not, that's up to you"

"Eh, I'll mention that to him. Thanks, ice princess" Yang finally said, causing Weiss to scowl at the busty blonde before Yang lifted herself up from her seat and returned to team RYNN's table.

"Right, once Jaune finishes with his dinner, we'll head to the Emerald Forest." Weiss told her team "I've asked permission to enter the forest from Glynda Goodwitch, who is also our combat instructor, and she said that we're allowed to enter the forest for training purposes as long as we stay within five miles of Beacon grounds, and exit the forest before dark- or more specifically, before 1900 o'clock"

"What are we going to do in the forest? Fight eachother? Wouldn't the combat arenas work better for that?" Ruby asked as she ate strawberries from a small dessert pack she had bought.

"I was planning on experimenting with mr Arc's Semblance" Weiss started, causing Jaune to choke on his grilled steak as she continued "...and working on our team strategies by fighting minor Grimm since we haven't fought against the Grimm as a team even once. Professor Port assured me that the case of a Grimm Abomination has been resolved after Jaune killed it, so we shouldn't run into Grimm bigger than Beowolves or perhaps an Ursa if we stay near Beacon's grounds…"

' _Okay, This might be bad'_ Jaune thought as Weiss continued her speech ' _I still don't have full control of my Semblance, and if I have to use it in front of the girls… No, what if I turn into that… armored form in front of them? I haven't even apologized to Blake for mistaking her as a Grimm, or for scaring Weiss...'_

Panic continued to mount inside him as the pile of food in front of him depleted rapidly, until he pushed the empty tray away hesitantly.

It felt too much like a final meal a prisoner would have before execution.

"You eat a lot, Jaune." Ruby noted as the team headed towards the lockers "I mean, a Lot. I don't think I could… no, I don't think that even the rest of team SABR could eat half of what you just ate… Is it somehow related to your Semblance?"

"Er, sort of." Jaune explained, calm on the surface even as his stomach tied knots around itself "I'm just constantly hungry, and I feel like I 'fuel' my transformations with food rather than Aura or something"

"Hmm..." Ruby hummed. "I mean, the Grimm are constantly hungry as well so perhaps there's something connecting the two there?"

"Perhaps."

The rest of the walk to the Armory was spent in silence.

 **.**

 **..**

 **...**

"Right!" Weiss announced as the group stood in a small clearing in the Emerald Forest, fully armed after the brief visit to the Armory and descending into the forest with a elevator. "Jaune, can you turn into a Grimm, please?"

"Uh, it doesn't work like that" Jaune stalled for time "I actually have to eat a Grimm first"

A deep silence followed his words.

"What?" Jaune asked from a speechless Weiss.

"Y- you eat Grimm? But they are poisonous! And Grimm blood is corrosive!" She finally exclaimed "How are you not dead yet?"

"Eh, I don't know. I sort of discovered the whole Semblance by eating a Beowolf"

"'Eating a Beowolf' he says…" Weiss covered her face with her hands "´Do you casually eat anything that walks on four feet?"

"..."

"...You can say 'no' anytime now…"

"...'No'?"

"Even I can tell that was fake" Ruby piped up from the side.

"Right… You need to eat Grimm. How'd you transform yesterday then?" Blake asked, sceptical over Jaune's hesitation. "Also. I'm really curious as to how you learned to make those swords of yours…"

"Uh…" Jaune sweated under the combined weight of his teammates gaze, until he distracted them by grabbing the buckle of his belt and beginning to pull his pants down.

"W-what are you doing!" Weiss exclaimed as she turned away, Ruby covered her face with her hands but left a small gap between her fingers, and Blake adopted a neutral expression while looking at Jaune.

"Erm, taking off my clothes?"

"I can see that! Why are you taking them off?" Weiss scowled

"Well, when I turn into a Grimm, I sort of grow bigger and that rips my clothes so I figured I'd save my clothes this time" Jaune answered.

"G-Go do that somewhere else! Shoo!" Weiss pointed at a nearby bush while looking at anything that wasn't him. "Do it there and then come back!"

"Er, I'd still need to find a Grimm and…"

"J-just do what you need to do and come back."

Jaune left the clearing, silently offering thanks to whatever gods may be watching over him for giving him excuse to not use his ability right in front of his team.

' _Right… Now I just need to go and transform to something that isn't that armored form...'_

* * *

"Have you succeeded in identifying the composition of our 'Abomination'?" Ozpin asked as he put aside a holographic screen showing Jaune walking away from his team in Emerald Forest.

He was seated behind his office desk with Glynda Goodwitch standing beside him and looking at the screen showing the group of teenagers, and a most peculiar man with the grandest moustache known to Beacon sat in front of him.

"Yes, for the most part" Professor Peter Port answered from his seat on the other side of the headmaster's desk. "Our small secret has quite the curious composition indeed, if I may say so"

"Go ahead" Ozpin motioned to Port.

"It seems that mr. Arc's form borrows heavily from various other Grimm forms" Port began "The carapace on his back resembles Deathstalker's armored back greatly, with a long tail used to balance the creature replacing the stinger. The legs seem to be borrowed from a Beowolf, although enlarged heavily and with large, Boartusk-like hooves instead of paws- and with a thick claw at the back-end of the hoof to stabilize the creature's walk on two legs, instead of the four legs that creatures with hooves usually have" he recounted.

"What about the arms? I haven't heard of a single Grimm in Sanus's soil with four arms…" Ozpin asked as he looked over a stack of pictures Port had handed to him, detailing the various Grimm-parts with circles drawn over the specified resemblances.

"Quite curious indeed. It was a long search, but I found a similarity to an arachnid-type Grimm form dwelling at the western part of Anima. The arachnid Grimm also had nearly identical bone-structure as to what we observed on mr. Arc's chest." Port said as he twirled his moustache "It seems that mr. Arc has been quite the traveler indeed, coming here from across Anima, crossing the sea and moving in the Saunus before ending up in Vale. I haven't been able to find the Grimm creature that could be the source of his fairly unique head, though"

"I gave you the logs from Vale Police department and the video from our first encounter with mr. Arc… what have you found from those records?" Ozpin asked while nodding at Port's observations.

"Humm, those were curious indeed." the man nodded "I looked through almost all records on land-based Grimm to find one which would use darts, or launched miniature-Grimm as ranged weapon like that… until I found an old drawing of a marine-based Grimm creature which allegedly used calcified bone-spears to attack ships and fishermen, and was believed to nest between the coasts of Saunus and Anima."

Port shuffled his stack of papers until he drew out an ancient-looking paper which had a drawing of a large, squid-like Grimm with massive bone-made carapace, mass of tentacles bristling with bone-spikes, and having rows of small eyes that were blazing red light from between the cracks in the carapace.

"The drawing is perhaps quite… hmm... overdramatized, but I believe the locals referred to this one as 'The Kraken, Terror of the Seas'. The latter part was also included in the name as well, by the way" Port explained to Ozpin and Glynda.

Ozpin raised his eyebrow "It is possible for mr. Arc to have met it since creature would have nested close to mr. Arc's path to Vale, assuming that if he traveled straight from Shion to Vale City and either swam across the small ocean or walked on the ice-sheets that can occasionally drift between Anima and Sanus... Also, 'Terror of the Seas'?"

Port shrugged "The fishermen get creative occasionally, even more so when their livelihood is threatened and I suppose 'a darn big squid' wasn't threatening enough. The Kraken was largely believed to be a Grimm Abomination as well, since no-one's seen the thing for decades… or have not survived the encounter."

"So you are suggesting that mr. Arc has somehow taken parts of multiple Grimm, including other Abominations, and mixed them together to form a Grimm Abomination of his own?" Glynda joined the conversation

"That seems to be the most likely possibility, based on the evidence… however like all things in life, everything is subjective" Port shrugged "We have little information as to how the Grimm Abominations are created and we have very little information on the creatures as a whole beside the recounts from few survivors that have encountered them, and the statements from the teams of Hunters that have managed to slay the few that have been caught… In fact, mr Arc may already be on his way to become the most in-depth recorded Abomination in the history!" he rubbed his hands together.

"What exciting times we live in! Why, if my colleagues suggested to me that I'd be teaching a Grimm to hunt other Grimm a mere month ago, I'd have suggested them to search mental care with all due haste!" the older man said with excited tone. "I have even gone and hypothesized a nickname with which mr. Arc would be recorded into the Grimm Abomination anatomy books for when it's time to publish it to the Hunters as a whole!"

"That may be slightly hasty as we aren't even sure that mr. Arc is a Grimm at his core… but do go ahead and share the book entry with us?" Ozpin said while lifting his glasses. "Although I'd prefer if you kept mr. Arc's secret away from the shared Grimm database at least while he is alive…"

Port shuffled his papers until he pulled a freshly printed page out, and showed it to Ozpin and Glynda.

The paper had a drawing of Jaune Arc's imposing, four-armed armored form with letters in italic above it stating " _Grimm Tyrant"_

"Isn't it grand?" Port asked with a jolly tone.

* * *

' _Don't turn into that… don't turn into that armored thing... '_ Jaune kept repeating the mantra on his head as he struggled to contain his transformation.

He closed his ears to the outside world as he felt his body shift as he knelt on top of a Beowolf corpse with a red blade stuck on the creature's throat. Jaune felt as his face started to heat up and the flesh bubbled, making way for elongating jaw so he could start devouring his prey, and he felt a chitinous growth start to push through the naked skin on his back as his spinal links grew…

' _No, no armor… Beowolves don't have armor…'_ He opened his hazy, red eyes to stare at the dead body in front of him, taking in it's features as he pushed his body to shape itself like it. He felt the shadow push him forwards as it commanded him to reach down and begin devouring it, to allow the flesh and bone to grow freely...

' _No… I'd turn into that thing again…'_ Jaune pushed back against the foreign will while bracing himself against the grassy ground with his pair of large, black arms. He felt a long claw extend into a blade from both his thumbs against his will, again, and he grabbed hold of them in to lock the blades in place.

He felt his Semblance obey him, and fuse the flesh of his arm around the blade to form a long scythe-like blade instead of a massive bone-sword…

Yet he felt a second pair of arms starting to grow from underneath his first one, and he turned his attention to them to stop them from growing further. ' _No, no, no… Beowolves don't have four arms… no… This isn't working...'_

Jaune felt uncomfortably hot as a sickening sensation washed over him and he blacked out momentarily, feeling his body give into the instinct to devour flesh and lunge at the Beowolf carcass he had prepared beforehand.

The carcass disappeared rapidly as his long, sharp teeth gnawed through the oily, cold flesh, and he felt bone-mask grow over his elongated, Beowolf-like head…

' _Haah… Hahh… I did it… well… not really… but close enough… for a first try…. '_ Jaune struggled to think through the ever-rising urge to continue hunting once his food source had ran dry ' _I mean… It's my first time… to do this… this extensively… consciously… '_

Even though he felt difficult to move under the heavy bone-plates that had grown over his back, his chest didn't have the bone-made exoskeleton, and his arms and legs were nearly those of Beowolves with the exception of the hands, and extra pair of small, weak arms under his pair of strong ones.

He heard a loud series of bangs from the distance, followed by sounds of breaking ice which shook him briefly from his daze.

 _T̢̕͟͜͝h̢͘͜e̴͡͞ ͠͏͟p̛͢͢͡͏ŗ͝e̴̸̢͟y̷̨ ̸̀́͟į̷͝͞s͏҉̷ ̛͜͢͢t̸͡͡h̸̛e̶̵͝ŗ̸è̛͢͞.̧́͟͏.̵̕.̡́͘͜҉_

Jaune shook his head and slammed his snout against a nearby tree, sending a crack alongside the bone-mask and sending wood-splinters flying ' _No… they are my team… my friends… Not my food'_

He growled as he felt blood trickle between the cracks, and he dug the sharp scything blades to the ground to stop himself from moving until the maddening whispers had quieted down, yet remained just below the surface of his mind...

A shuffle eventually caught his notice, and he sniffed the air as his eyes were blurred and he could barely see as it hadn't gotten used to the different eyesight his new eyes had.

' _Grimm… Beowolves. One? No… more… Entire pack'_ he concentrated his senses, focusing on the hollow emotions radiated by the Grimm moving through the woods towards the source of gunfire ' _They are heading for the team!'_ Jaune realized with a deep growl.

The Grimm wouldn't hurt his teammates. He'd make sure of it.

A snarl escaped his lipless maw as he began his unbalanced, limping charge towards the source of the gunfire….

* * *

"Blake!" Weiss shouted as she dodged a Beowolves swipe and froze the ground under it, which caused the attacking Grimm to be caught off-balance and allowing Blake to jump on top of the creature and stab her pistol-dagger into it's neck.

"Ruby! Make way!" Weiss shouted as she prepared red Dust on her Myrtenaster, readying herself to launch a fire lance between the attacking pack of Beowolves to split them up.

The red-clad girl moved to the side, allowing Weiss to have a direct line of attack between the creatures… before Ruby moved back to her line of fire while slashing her scythe at a Beowolf that had come forwards.

"Ruby! No!" Weiss shouted as she was forced to cancel her attack mid-strike and slash her weapon to the side, causing the fire-lance to set a single beowolf ablaze instead of splitting the entire pack "Don't attack out of turn, you dolt!"

"Sorry!" Ruby apologized as she pulled back, raking her scythe across Beowolves chest as she retreated before anchoring the weapon on the ground with the scythe-blade and opening fire on the creatures.

' _Sheesh… that girl's really struggling to fight as part of a group rather than fighting alone…'_ Weiss thought as she readied yet another Glyph, this time in front of the Ruby's scythe's gun-barrel to imbue the shots with ice Dust and freezing the creatures that were hit, before shattering them and pelleting the survivors with the razor-sharp ice chunks of their fallen comrades.

' _Blake however…'_ Weiss continued her thoughts as she saw the black-clad girl use the flashy barrage as a cover to slip under the Grimm's radar and reposition herself behind the creatures while still staying off the primary firing lane, biding her time until she'd be given a chance to strike forwards and ambush the surviving Grimm ' _... She's used to fighting as a member of a combat unit… no, as a assassination specialist in a small team. I'm not sure I like the implications of that, with her being a faunus and all…'_

Weiss felt her expression tighten as she took a breath and prepared a time-dilating Glyph under Blake as Ruby's scythe ran out of ammo, and the black-haired girl sprung out of her hiding-spot to launch a flurry of precise, time-dilation enhanced attacks against the pack of shell-shocked Grimm _'No. I can't afford to start doubting my own team, therein lies what Professor Port warned me about...'_ Weiss scowled at herself internally as Blake finished off the last Grimm in the clearing, and the loud snarling and whining from behind the underbrush quieted down.

"Right. Gather up" Weiss said as nothing else moved in the clearing and no more Grimm came through the underbrush, the remaining Grimm having likely fled before having chance of entering the clearing after the back of their attack was broken.

"Ruby, You need to really get more used to fighting as a part of team- specifically to constantly stay aware of what your fellow team-mates are doing and are about to do" Weiss analyzed, causing Ruby's expression to droop.

' _Hmmm, am I supposed to compliment her about something now?'_ she thought as she looked at Ruby's downturned expression and heard the smaller girl apologize.

"...However, you did well in terms of personal combat abilities" Weiss commented.

"Yay! Thanks" Ruby said as the girl's expression brightened and she hopped up and down before giving Weiss a small hug.

"H-hey! Get off!" Weiss scowled as she squirmed out of the girl's hug.

"Blake, you did really well… I can't really find stuff to criticize in your performance," she said simply to the quiet girl who nodded and turned away to look at the Grimm-blood stained clearing and the slowly evaporating corpses.

' _I guess that's the best interaction I can hope with her, noting her reaction during the morning's incident and all…'_ Weiss thought as she scowled at the dead carcasses _'I mean, I did walk in on her and Jaune sharing a private moment and accidentally discovered one of her major, private secrets... but still, there's time and place for everything, and that shouldn't have taken place in our shower at all...'_

"Speaking of team members, where is Jaune?" Weiss asked of no-one in particular "Surely it doesn't take this long for him to use his… Ability"

' _Hmm… I can do fairly accurate tactical analysis mid-battle and support with Glyphs but I'm likely the most vulnerable person in the entire team...'_ Weiss started to think about the partial team's performance as she received shrugs as an answer to her question _'Ruby has very high damage potential at both short and long range and is extremely fast to reposition herself… but she can't keep it up for long. Blake can provide good damage output against fewer targets and she's elusive enough to avoid being noticed, and she can disengage easily with her Semblance… but I think she'd be fairly weak against large swarms or wide-area based attacks since she's too slow to avoid them easily like Ruby, and can't shield herself like I can… So what we are missing is someone who can take the enemy's attention and tie them down, and to stop the enemies from reaching the more fragile team members when we are distracted... I wonder if Jaune could do that?'_

"Umm… I just started to think of this but… If Jaune can turn into a Grimm, what if he had turned himself into a Beowolf and tried to help us with the other Grimm just now?" Ruby said from the side as the smaller girl seemed to realize something, much to the her horror "What if we just accidentally killed Jaune?"

' _Huh, I hadn't thought about that… but surely mr. Arc knows better than to attempt to assist us when we have no way of recognizing him…'_ Weiss thought, slipping back to her formal speech even in her own mind as she felt an uncomfortable sensation settle in on the bottom of her stomach. "I'm sure mr. Arc is alright. He would have been unable to kill that Abomination alone if he was either weak, or foolish" she said instead, attempting to calm down Ruby who seemed to be starting to vibrate on the spot.

A deep growl from the edge of the clearing pulled the team's attention away from wonderings, and each of the students raised their weapons towards the rumbling underbrush until a large Beowolf Alpha broke through the branches and bushes… only to be caught by its leg as something large and sharp stabbed itself onto the Grimm and dragged the loudly whining creature back to the undergrowth and out of sight.

"...What?" Blake mouthed before the Alpha's loud whine was replaced with a brief tearing sound and quiet once again returned to the clearing.

' _Could it be?'_ Weiss thought before she opened her mouth "Jaune" she shouted aloud. "We are here"

Quiet followed her statement until a identical growling came from the underbrush, and a large form, even larger than the Alpha pushed itself through the branches and the brushes.

Weiss's breath caught slightly as she saw a malformed Beowolf enter the clearing.

The beast's back was armored much akin to how a Deathstalker's back would be, extending all the way from it's bone-armor covered head to the base of its wolf-like tail. It's muscled arms were propped against the ground as it walked on all fours, although with a fumble rather than with the fluid motion regular Beowolves had.

The creature seemed to be almost blind as it sniffed the air and moved slowly and deliberately, seemingly having difficulties navigating under it's heavy, mismatching armor.

The malformed Beowolf didn't appear harmless though, as it's jaws were stained in Grimm-blood and it had few large scratch-marks and cracks over the armor that covered its head, not to mention quite few rapidly regenerating, deep cuts in it's unarmored flank.

The creature's arms resembled Beowolf's large arms, with the exception that they were clawless, and the creature's hands were instead fused around a pair of large scythe-like bone-blades, and below the pair of stronger arms the creature had a secondary set of small, almost human-like arms with sharp claws which twitched occasionally, almost if attempting to move or gesture something but didn't quite have the manipulation to do so. Looking further, Weiss spotted a belt full of pouches being held by one of the smaller hands, which caused her to pause as she recognized the piece of equipment...

"...Jaune?" Weiss asked once more as she readied her rapier and prepared to cast a Glyph that would freeze the Grimm still.

The creature stopped by itself before Weiss could stop it however, and continued to sniff the air instead.

' _If it was Jaune… surely he'd communicate somehow? But what if he can't see us? Did something go wrong? ...But I think it did kill that Alpha Beowolf… and it's jaws are stained in Grimm-blood and the Grimm don't eat eachother… and that belt...'_ Weiss thought as she stared at the creature with her weapon high. ' _Oum dammit Jaune, why couldn't you just have a Semblance that allows you to pull rabbits out of your hat or something…'_

Making a snap-second decision, Weiss put her rapier aside and turned to Ruby.

"If the thing attempts to harm me, shoot it's snout- it appears to be blind or have very poor eyesight. Blake, get behind it and get ready to hamstring it"

Before her teammates could object, Weiss stepped forwards and approached the Grimm slowly, readying herself to jump back if it made hostile moves.

The creature seemed to just keep sniffing the air, until it turned it's head towards Weiss and the girl froze as the creature lifted its scything claws…

And sunk the blades deep into the wet soil, completely immobilizing the creature.

' _What…'_ Weiss thought as she started to slowly shift towards the creature that kept sniffing the air, until she could almost touch the creature's snout.

She kept Myrtenaster pointed at the malformed beast's chest as she reached her hand and placed it on the creature's head, half expecting that it'd try to bite her on the touch.

"Mr. Arc?" she said once more as the creature didn't move to attack her after she touched it, but instead pushed against her hand with a soft whine. "Can you nod once if you hear me?"

The creature lifted its ears but didn't make other moves, so Weiss raised her voice slightly and repeated her question, which drew a nod and a snarl from the creature.

Weiss let a out a breath that she hadn't realized that she'd held and she pulled her hand away _'In retrospect, I think I should have asked that before moving closer to touch a potentially very, very hostile creature…'_ she thought idly as she she lifted her hand to pat the Grimm on it's head. "Uh… Are you unable to speak?" she asked, feeling somewhat numb over the unusual interaction.

The Grimm gave a snarl, growl, another snarl then followed it with a nod.

"I… see." Weiss gave Ruby and Blake a small nod as she looked around the clearing, unsure as to what to do.

' _I didn't plan for Jaune's transformation to be -this- extensive… I imagined it'd be just a coat of fur or something…'_ she thought as she continued to numbly scratch the large, malformed Grimm-creature behind the ears, ignoring how the creature's tail began to waggle.

"Is… is that Jaune?" Ruby asked with a fairly high-pitched voice as she crept forwards, having folded her scythe's blade into the weapon and having it out on the rifle configuration as she approached the unusual pair.

"I… think so..." Weiss made to start, but a stern nod from the creature interrupted her "Yes" she translated instead.

"That's… more disturbing than I thought, based off the description and yesterday's demonstration..." Blake commented from the side as the girl continued to maintain her distance with her pistol-blade aimed at the back of Grimm-Jaune's knee.

Ruby gave a miserable whine as she reached to touch the Grimm creature's mask, followed by pulling her hand back as it caught on some of the blood on it's jaws.

"C-can you turn back?" Ruby asked as she looked at the row of long, sharp teeth as the smaller girl appeared to be in great distress over Jaune's form. "Please?"

Weiss stopped her scratching after Grimm-fied Jaune froze still as Ruby continued to stare at him.

"I… I believe that I it might be necessary for us to be able to communicate with words, rather than nods and snarls." Weiss spoke after clearing her throat, searching for the right way to express herself "Please turn back to your human... human shape, at your earliest convenience, mr Arc"

Weiss saw how the creature's hairs stood up, before she felt the creature's flesh began to heat up, and she had to pull her hand back to avoid getting scalded by the hot flesh.

Steam rose from the flesh that seemed to almost flow and bubble like some sort of thick liquid, and the bone-plates on the creature's back cracked and crumbled off, and the pair of small, malformed hands shriveled until the weak appendages fell off completely. She kept backing up as the flesh bubbled further and the creature grew smaller, and it's hands ripped themselves off from the bone-blades stuck on the ground with a sickening sound of tearing flesh.

Weiss looked away as the grotesque transformation continued until she heard the bubbling come to an end and she turned back towards the Grimm-Jaune… and discovered the bizarre blonde teenager kneeling up weakly from the ground as bits of white Grimm-bone sizzled on the ground, giving off exactly similar smoke to as the corpses of Beowolves on the clearing gave.

"...Jaune?" Ruby asked weakly once more as she put her weapon aside "Um…"

"Mr. Arc. I believe you had your clothes stored somewhere?" Weiss scowled as she turned away once more, redirecting her attention to more familiar things to give herself a moment to think and come to terms with what she'd seen. "Please cover yourself" she added after a moment.

"Eeeep" Weiss turned her head to see Ruby squeal and zoom past her to cower on the edge of the clearing with her face brightly red, and Weiss looked to the side to see Blake looking towards the naked teenager with a neutral expression.

"I'll… I'll put them on, one moment" she heard Jaune say breathlessly before she heard rustling come from behind her, and she heard a confirmation a few moments later "I'm good now... "

Weiss turned and gave the now-clothed man a inquisitive look while bunching her hands up.

' _He looks exactly the same as he did before he left us in order to shapeshift… '_ she observed as she glanced at her Scroll which displayed the Aura levels of her team ' _His Aura is still full… Doesn't he lose Aura during the transformations? Also, didn't he have cracks and scratches on his… snout… before he turned back?'_

"Uh… Ruby?" Weiss heard Jaune say, and she turned her attention at the smaller girl who had launched herself forwards and glued herself into Jaune's arm "You're sort of crushing my hand…"

"You're okay… You're you…" Ruby whispered as the red-faced girl distanced herself from the teenager.

"As touching as your reunion is, we have matters to discuss" Weiss scowled, causing the smaller girl to jump slightly as she was brought to reality "Mr. Arc… Jaune. Thank you for demonstrating your ability, as disturbing as it was… however, did it really take that long for you to do it?"

"Uh… well, I had to find a Grimm and stuff…" Jaune muttered while scratching the back of his head with sheepish expression on his face "Er, the transformation is kinda slow and I can't just do a complete shapeshift out of nothing so…"

"Hmm… " Weiss wondered, giving a glance to the side "Blake, come here." she called to the girl that was lurking at the edge of the clearing where Jaune had entered from, with the girl appearing to be somewhat shocked because of something.

"Can you still fight, Jaune?" Weiss asked, getting a uncertain headshake as response as Jaune looked exhausted." I see... In that case, let's move out of here for now, before we attract more Grimm… Also, Blake, what was so interesting about that bush?"

"..." Blake was quiet as she pointed at the broken underbrush where Jaune had entered the clearing from and Weiss moved over to take a look, pulling apart the thick, broken bushes and branches to see behind them.

The scene of bloodshed behind the wall of underbrush caused Weiss's breath to catch slightly as she discovered the mutilated and completely shredded carcass of Alpha Beowolf, and a almost half pack's worth of smaller Grimm which were torn apart and strewn all over the blood-covered trees…

* * *

"So, you can completely turn into a Grimm… I didn't quite believe that it would be so extensive." Weiss analyzed with a slightly shaky voice as the group was walking towards the Beacon's grounds on a paved stone road, after using the elevators to lift themselves off the Emerald Forest.

The majority of the travel had been silent, allowing the teenagers to have some time to collect their thoughts.

"Can you shift into anything else?" Weiss continued her question

"Excuse me?" Jaune asked, slightly puzzled over the question.

"Is that... hmm… thing, your only form you can shapeshift into, or can you form anything else as well?" Weiss clarified, pausing slightly to search for proper word to describe Jaune's form.

' _Uh… No… But I don't think I should tell about the other one'_ Jaune thought as she looked at the girl's thoughtful expression on her pale face ' _I mean… that half-cooked Beowolf-form was sort of the result of me trying my hardest not to change into that armored form… and it didn't quite work out'_

"No, not really" Jaune told her, doing his best to have an honest expression on his face.

"You're hiding something" Weiss said, narrowing her eyes "That isn't your only form, is it?"

' _Crap, she found out'_

"Uh…" Jaune stalled for time, looking at Ruby for help.

It didn't do much as Ruby's innocent, wide-eyed look back just sent a wave of dread down his spine as her silver eyes connected with his, dispelling the remnants of the Shadow's influence from his mind but doing little to help him find an excuse for Weiss's question.

"No… but I don't quite have control over the other one" Jaune confessed honestly.

"'Don't quite have control'? Does that mean you can't control yourself in Grimm form?" Blake asked warily as she kept walking a step behind the group, keeping her eyes on Jaune's back.

"N-no! It's just that um… I'm not quite myself and I do rash things and uh…" Jaune struggled to explain "It's pretty scary and…"

"We get it" Weiss scowled as she crossed her arms and looked to the side "Nevertheless, our excursion to Emerald Forest today has been a partial success… We were able to familiarize ourselves with each other's, bar Jaune's, combat style and we saw a glimpse on Jaune's hmm… unique… ability" she recounted. "Although I'm still curious to how it works."

Weiss turned back to Jaune and pointed a finger at him "You were able to form that red blade and do partial shapeshifting yesterday, without eating a Grimm like you claimed you needed to do. How did you do that?"

"Eh, I just sort of… concentrated on it and did it." Jaune answered honestly "I mean, I've figured out that my Semblance requires for me to have consumed a lot of food for the shapeshifting to work, and Grimm just sort of fit the bill… I can't just up and suddenly snap my fingers to turn myself fully into that combat form"

"That doesn't answer the question" Ruby helpfully pointed out from the side, causing a droplet of sweat to drop down Jaune's neck.

' _Thanks Ruby'_ he thought before continuing "...But um, smaller transformations don't really require that much so I can just do small stuff without gorging myself too much on Grimm or something else…"

"…" Weiss went silent to process the information as the group exited the paved stone-road leading into the Beacon's grounds proper and headed into the armory as the sky above them darkened.

"That sounds quite far-fetched… Then again, the whole ability sounds so far fetched yet we've seen it in action so…" Blake commented as the team's footsteps echoed on the empty hallway.

"Mass." Weiss suddenly said, causing Blake to fall quiet. "The shapeshifting has to be all about usable mass, if it's solely dependant on food and not Aura. You can't make flesh and bone from Aura, as it's only a catalyst in the natural Aura-based healing process where rest and nutrition making the healing possible in the first place, and Aura just works as a catalyst. However, normal shapeshifting consumes massive amounts of Aura to create a proxy form while changing the practitioner's mass but not using it... You're not shapeshifting, you're regenerating!" Weiss announced, looking inordinately pleased with herself as if she'd unlocked some great mystery.

"You don't shift from shape to shape, you grow from one shape to another" she explained as her previous explanation went right over Jaune's head, and based off the expressions that Ruby and Blake had, passed by them as well.

"What's the difference?" Jaune asked "They sound similar"

"Everything!" Weiss scowled "You're not using Aura to change your body from one shape to another, you use your Semblance with your Aura to break your body-matter down and use it to form itself anew!"

"That sounds… gross" Ruby scrunched her face.

"I still don't get it?" Jaune asked, puzzled.

"Gahh, how simple can you be?" Weiss despaired, before starting again, but with slow, deliberate tone "Jaune, when you shapeshift, have you ever had injuries or wounds on you before you shapeshift?"

Jaune nodded.

"Have you had wounds or injuries after you've shapeshifted?"

He shook his head.

"See? You're not moving from shape to shape, since you'd retain your injuries! You're growing from shape to shape!" Weiss explained, smug expression on her face. "A wolf-shapeshifter could only shape to one type of wolf-shape, and if you'd cut their hand off, the wolf-form would also lose a paw and the opposite would also apply."

"You know a lot about Aura and shapeshifters" Blake pointed out.

"I have studied Aura extensively since my Semblance revolves around manipulating Dust with it." Weiss answered easily, bunching her hands as the group reached the Beacon's armory and stepped inside to disarm themselves.

"That only partially answers the question…" Jaune pointed out.

"..."

"Weiss, are you secretly a shapeshifter and that's why you'd know?" Ruby piped up from the side, "Can you turn into a bird? That'd be so cool..."

"W-what! No!" Weiss told the smaller girl. "F-fine, I was reading about people with known shape-shifting Semblances during the Grimm studies class today since I got curious about the subject after yesterday's events..."

"Oh? The model student was not paying attention to the lessons? How shocking" Blake commented with a slightly amused tone.

"Why yes, do take the moral high-ground despite how you spent the exactly same lesson reading that smut book of yours… At least my choice of reading was high-level applied science." Weiss retorted.

"A-At least I'm not going around petting Grimm and scratching them behind the ears…" Blake hissed with a slight tint of red on her cheeks and blazing amber eyes after Weiss's comment. "Hold on, how'd you know what… 'type' of book I was reading? ...It wasn't smut!"

"I saw an excerpt from the book! Furthermore, my reaction to the Grimm creature was merely one born out of shock and..."

"It felt good, by the way" Jaune commented from the side, interjecting himself into the fight before it could escalate. "The scratching, I mean" he clarified after all three girls gave Jaune a neutral look.

"Y-you're welcome?" Weiss said, her cheeks turning slightly red as the girl remembered just who the Grimm in the clearing had been.

Silence followed the team as the teenagers made their way into the showers after depositing their weapons, with Jaune breaking off the group to go into the men's showers, each team-member having thoughts of their own about the passed day.

* * *

"So how'd the training go?" Yang asked the following day as she had once again chosen to sit on team SABR's table rather than on RYNN's table for breakfast "Did you get to show your Crescent Rose to Jaune again?" she grinned.

"Yangggg…" Ruby whined "It wasn't about that.. we were just working on our teamwork"

"Miss Rose…" "Ruby!" "...is correct" Weiss confirmed "However the details are confidential" she preemptively scowled at the smaller girl.

"Uh… yeah" Ruby rubbed the back of her head, stealing a glance at Jaune who was gorging himself on his sixth serving of sausages and eggs, with a small stack of already empty plates piled neatly beside his tray.

"'Confidential' she says" Yang grumbled, bunching her hands but not pressing further.

"Oh yeah, I told Ren about your advice and he promised he'd go visit Port when he'd have time" she told Weiss a moment later as she she changed the subject. "Dunno if anything is going to come out of it, but it can't be a bad thing either way"

"Regardless I wish that your team will find success in their studies and improve on it's performance…" Weiss spoke at Yang who scoffed slightly.

"You can just tell that you're hoping that we get our shit together, Weiss-cream" she told Weiss who frowned "You don't need to be so formal with us"

"I told you earlier that you could be more familiar with us" Ruby piped from the side "And I meant it too!" she added with bright smile.

"Soo… what's up with lover-boy?" Yang asked Ruby as Weiss scoffed and looked away "Is he usually that hungry?" she added as she looked at Jaune putting yet another empty plate aside.

"Yeah, he is. It's related to his Semblance…" Ruby said, before stopping herself with visible effort "...Um… I didn't tell you that" she finally said.

"What's up with 'that'?" Yang asked, leaning forwards "Is he still saying that his Semblance is some weird Grimm-thing?"

"..." Ruby was quiet as she looked away.

"I believe you should consult to mr. Arc should you wish to know more about his abilities" Weiss commented from the side while wiping the corners of her mouth and pushing her tray away. "Semblances are quite private affairs, of which I've reminded miss Rose once already."

"Is she bullying you, sis?" Yang asked with quiet tone.

"N-no! Weiss is just eh, teaching me and stuff…"

"I'm done, thanks!" Jaune announced as he put his last plate away and gave small burp.

"Finally." Blake commented as she stirred her tea idly while reading her book. "One would think that you'd never stop eating… Just where does all of that go?"

"Eh, my stomach I guess" Jaune replied helpfully.

Blake rolled her eyes "I somehow figured you'd answer that way..."

' _I'm really glad that the the girls didn't react too badly yesterday.'_ Jaune thought as she looked at the scene around him as Yang was grilling a furiously blushing Ruby about something, Weiss was occasionally interjecting herself into the sister's conversation and Blake was reading her book.

"Right, the breakfast will end soon, and we need to head out... " Weiss started, glancing at her Scroll "...and prepare ourselves for our first Combat class"

"Um… Do I have to attend?" Jaune asked, holding his hand up as if asking for a permission to speak "I don't have a weapon…"

Weiss gave Jaune a sideways glare, before huffing slightly "Of course you need to attend! Just because you are unarmed right now since you aren't allowed to use… hm… your abilities to fight other students, it doesn't mean you can just skip class!"

"Isn't that up to professor Goodwitch though?" Ruby asked from the side "I mean, I haven't even started to work on his swords… so surely she'd allow for Jaune and I to skip class so we could go and start to work on his weapons on the workshops?"

"Why would Jaune have to go then? Aren't you the one who makes the weapons?" Weiss shot back

"Ehhhh…." Ruby stammered, slight blush creeping into her cheeks "...For work morale factor" she finally said, looking at the side and pointedly looking past Yang's grin.

"You're so adorable when you're blushing like that" the busty blonde cooed at her sister "You could just say that you want to be…"

Yang's words were lost as Ruby reached over the table and put both of her hands over the grinning girl's mouth "Yannnggggg stopp" she whined, doing her best to silence her bigger sister as Weiss scoffed at the display from the side, and Jaune asked Ruby why she'd stop Yang from speaking.

Meanwhile Blake downed the rest of her tea and turned a new page on her book.

.

..

…

"You may begin" Glynda Goodwitch announced as she looked at the two fighters on the combat ring.

A gong rang, signalling the start of a match.

' _Why did it have to come to this?'_ Jaune thought as he gripped a pair of borrowed, somewhat unbalanced slabs of metal someone could call 'swords' that he had been forced to borrow from the armory, and stared at Pyrrha Nikos who gripped her shield and raised her spear to point at his throat.

"Please go easy on me?" Jaune asked, not quite catching the silent muttering the girl responded with.

"...Should have come to train with me…" the red-headed girl muttered as her eyes gleamed through the shadow that partially covered her face "...perhaps he'll train with me if I break his legs, like Nora suggested…"

' _Was I supposed to hear that?'_ Jaune sweatdropped as he was forced to dodge a spear thrown towards his face…

 **AN: Looks like Nora and Pyrrha found some common ground.**

 **Next chapter- 27-28. 10- Flesh and Steel**

 **Omake:**

"So what you're saying is that mr. Arc is essentially a Grimm spider, wolf, scorpion and a squid?" Glynda asked Port after the pair of professors descended from Ozpin's office. "Do you think he can turn into each one individually?"

"From the gathered material, I can't see why not." Port answered lightly "Then again, the material we have gathered so far is quite limited, so there isn't a certainty…."

"A Grimm squid… with tentacles... " Glynda recounted with her face going white "In a team composed of him and three young female students…"

"Is there a problem?" Port asked, confused over the fellow professor's distress.

"N-no… I just thought of something horrifying" Glynda answered, holding a hand to her chest to calm her rising panic.

' _I'm just overthinking things because of stress'_ she thought as she lifted her glasses ' _I'm sure miss Belladonna, Rose and Schnee know better than to give into… No, I mustn't think like that…'_

She was so deep in her thoughts that she almost walked over Ruby as the smaller girl rounded around a corner.

"Ah, my apologies miss Rose" "...Sorry, professor…" the pair exchanged apologies, with Glynda realizing that Port had disappeared as the man had likely returned to his office.

"Uhh…" she looked down at the small girl who tried her hardest to look composed while mouthing something.

"Something is distressing you. Out with it" Glynda said sternly, doing her best to direct the smaller girl's attention away from her unprofessional bump.

"It's… Um…"

"Speak."

"Sorry… It's not school related so um…"

"My patience is not limitless" Glynda looked down sternly, which seemed to break some internal dam in the red-clad girl.

"It's just that I don't know what to do… I think I like Jaune!" Ruby whimpered quietly "But Blake was already naked with him in the shower… And I don't want to lose to her…"

' _Oh gods, It's happening'_ Glynda thought as she froze still, staring at the small girl that had frozen equally still under her unintentional glare ' _I must salvage this…'_

She placed both of her hands on Ruby's shoulders and leaned in.

"Miss Rose… You must resist the temptation" she said sternly to the red-clad girl that had started to stammer "Don't give into your perver… ehm. private thoughts about mr. Arc, he's far more dangerous than he looks"

Ruby blinked innocently "I mean, he did look pretty scary and somewhat gross earlier when he um… uh... " she fell quiet

"I know of mister Arc's secret, you can tell me"

"You do? Well, when he was transformed earlier, he looked really scary and it looked like he wanted to attack us…" Ruby recounted with slightly red face "...but then Weiss went in and started to pet him and scratch him, and then his thing started to waggle like he really liked it and…"

Glynda felt a lance of ice pierce her heart.

"M-Miss Schnee did… did what?" she stammered "No, don't tell me" she interrupted the smaller girl before she could tell whatever unspeakable acts her fellow student had to undergo.

' _I have failed… I have failed them both…'_ Glynda despaired internally until she turned her eyes at the young girl who was looking at her with with a wide-eyed innocent expression on her face ' _I can still save miss Rose…'_

"Miss Rose… have you… um… undergone any similar acts as you fellow teammates?"

"Uh… well, there was this time when Jaune pulled me to an empty classroom and then... we... um... talked... and then I kind of cried a little because it was too much for me but he held my hand the whole way through and…"

"Enough, thank you" Glynda said, turning completely around and marching off as she couldn't bear to listen anymore.

' _No… No… No…. Ozpin, I told you letting him in Beacon would be a mistake…'_ she thought with a heavy heart as she walked with stiff footsteps towards her office, leaving the confused student behind.

Perhaps a shot, or more accurately a bottle, of scotch would help her clean her failure to protect her students out of her mind...


	12. Flesh and Steel

A red streak barely missed Jaune's head as Pyrrha charged, and Jaune dodged... and got a ornate bronze shield to his face for his trouble.

' _Umh... that looked like it hurt...'_ Ruby thought as she looked down at the largely one-sided fight from her spectator's seat above the combat class's arena.

"Go Jaune! You can do it!" she shouted encouragingly at the combatants below while waving her hands at Jaune.

A moment later second voice sounded in the crowd of students- except this one had far more mature and stern quality.

"Miss Rose" Glynda Goodwitch scolded "This isn't a tournament fight, you are supposed to be observing and using what you've seen to improve your own performance, rather than pretending to be a cheerleader with Aura!"

"Ah! Sorry" Ruby apologized while wilting under the stern glare, making a show of taking notes on her notebook as she saw Jaune getting kicked hard in his stomach and doubling over.

' _Do… not… get… kicked… in the stomach!'_ she wrote down, followed by adding ' _Do not get kicked to shin… or kicked in… uhh… Pyrrha, that was dirty move… did Yang teach you that?'_ Ruby let out a small whimper as she saw Jaune keel over after the redhead ended her series of kicks with her last, devastating kick connecting with something no kicks should ever connect with.

"He should attempt to fight back at least" Weiss scoffed from the side "He hasn't even managed to attack properly yet…"

"That's because he hasn't been able to attack properly… see those swords? Unwieldy, likely unbalanced and too heavy…" Blake commented past her book that she had hidden inside a detached cover of a combat manual "It's less about him not fighting back, and more about him not really being able to fight back since his opponent can just parry or block all of his unbalanced and overextended attacks... not to mention that his opponent is a seasoned tournament fighter so she's got to be used to blocking and parrying…"

"Uuhhh…." Ruby whined "Jaune should have gotten good swords… why does Beacon have so crappy weapons in the shared armory?"

"Because, miss Rose, we do not wish to encourage students to regularly leech off our gear rather than forging and repairing their own weapons" came the stern voice of their teacher, carrying clearly over the sounds of combat… followed by a sharp sound of riding crop cracking in the air, and Blake's book snapped shut in front of her startled face. "And miss Belladonna, while I approve of your enthusiasm to read about the class's subject, pay attention to the fight in front of you"

The fight that wasn't going too well in favour of Jaune, at any rate.

.

..

...

' _Whoa, Pyrrha isn't taking this easy, is she?`_ Jaune thought as the girl's red spear turned into a short sword that had almost ended in his gut, were it not for him parrying it away at last second with one of his unwieldy swords. A quick glance at the large monitor above the arena showed the faces of both of the combatants and large bars which displayed their Aura levels, both of which were almost full.

' _I haven't needed to heal anything major yet, so perhaps my Aura hasn't kicked in yet properly…'_ Bruises and small cracks on his ribs and shin were easily dealt with even without his direct attention to the healing process, although he was starting to get uncomfortably hot as his Aura worked on his body independently.

 _D̵̡́̀e̢̧͘s̶͘͜t̵͏̶̕͜r̨̧͘͡o̵̶̧͝y̸̵̡̢ ̨͡h̢̡̡͢e͟͜͞r̡̀͞.̸͏͜_

 _͏̴̵̧́_

 _͠R͢͏́͘͟e̡̨̢̕ń̴̨͠d̛̀͜͝͝,҉̷̢͡ ̀̀͞͞t̸̸͘͢è̡á͡҉r҉͟҉ ̷̡̨̕͟a̧͢p̨̕͟͏a̛͜͢r̷̸͟t̵͟,̡̀ ̷̨̕͟ḱ̛̕i̶̢̨̢͜l̸̛͢l̴͝!͏̵_

'... _And there's that…'_ Jaune though with a wince, which he managed to conceal under a two-handed block as a wild swing of Pyrrha's shield almost cut his throat open, with the parry sending a shower of sparks as the edge of the master-crafted shield cut into his borrowed steel swords, gouging a deep cut in their blades and breaking one of the swords in half near it's hilt.

"Mr. Arc! Please do not damage the school property!" came the stern voice of their combat instructor as Jaune discarded his broken sword "Do not attempt to conserve Aura by not channeling it into your swords at the expense of their durability!"

' _Aura? Channelling? What's she talking about?'_ Jaune was confused, which almost cost him an arm as the relentless assault continued ' _Am I supposed to use Aura somehow here?'_

He felt a spot of black enter his vision as something snapped inside him when he was too distracted trying to both avoid Pyrrha's flurry of blows and concentrate on the teacher's guidance…

...And a eerily familiar thought creeped back into his mind…

' _T̷͢h̵̢͜e͟͝ ́́͘m̷͜a͜͡c͏̴h̸͏͢i̶̛n͟͢͝e̸̴g̵̷u͞n̸͟ ́͟͞fire ̵̧̛b̨͡r͠o҉̨͞ḱ́e ̨͘h̀͢is ̷̀͜cl̶̵e͘̕͡a͟͢v̀͟e̛r͏s͢͞.͝.̴͟..̴́̕ ͡҉̨h́͏҉is̵ ͜͡s͘t̸r͘į̨̧k͠e͏̷ ̛҉s̴è̀v͞e͘ŗ͠ed͘͝ ̨̢t̷̸͢h̨e̛ ̡m̵a̶n̸ ҉i͠͏n ̛t͟͏w̧͡o ̕͝at ̧͢ẁ͘á͞i̵̛s̷̕͘t̵̶͞.́͜.̴.̷̛҉_

 _...Th́e ͠blade ̛s̡e͢par̡àtéd̢ ͠th́e woman̛'s̷ ͏he͘a̵d fŕo̶m h͡e̸r ͡sh̢o͏u̵l̷ḑers..͝. as sh͜e ́s̡ta̢r̶ed̷ ̧at her h͝a̸nds̶ t̀h͝at̴ ̛h̵ad b̡e͟en̛ cut͘ ͢ơf͢f̡ b͘̕͜͜y͘ ̶͜͞͡h̷͢͠į͜͠s͟͡҉̶̨ ̴̢̛͏͢b͝͝l̷̸͘ą̛͘͟d͠҉̵́e̵̴̡̢͘.́͜͝.̧̧͘.͜͝'̡͘͡͡.'_

' _That…. No… get out…'_ Jaune thought as he raged to break the Shadow's rising hold over his mind even as his body started to heat up, and he was forced to divert his attention away from the internal struggle to his body in order to preserve his human shape.

 _St̷e̴p̕ ̶́͟fo͟͢͠r̕͠w͞a͠͏r̶d̸́s͜… ͏͢Sţ̛r͏i͢k͘͞e. ͢͞Tw̸ǫ,̵_

He felt his shoulders relax as he took an unwilling step forwards, lifting his sword as his arm flexed with black veins spreading throughout his body under the cover of his hoodie.

His sword caught the red shortsword and battered it aside before the smaller blade could reach to cut his knee.

He saw through the daze how the red-headed girl's eyes widened as he went unwillingly on the offensive for the first time.

His fist struck with raw strength rather than with finesse, and caught the shield that the girl had raised to block it.

She hadn't anticipated the force behind the blow as it connected with her shield, and she fell to her knees briefly before bouncing up and backing away while turning her sword back to a spear.

' _Words… Can't hear…'_

 _Şt͜͢e҉̴ṕ͏ ̛f̢̀̕o̢͢r͜war̷̴̕ds̵̛.͘͠ ̛P̨̧̕a͞r̢r҉͏y̷͏, B̸l͏̡ò̧ç͠k̛͜.͝͞..̸̢_

He took a step at the retreating girl who struck past her shield with her spear, and he caught the spear's tip with his sword and battered it aside while punching at the spear's shaft when it was at awkward angle. The strike almost tore the spear off the girl's grip as she struggled to maintain her hold on the weapon.

He lifted his sword once more to slam it against the shield, to batter it aside so he could grab the girl…

 _An̷͝o̷҉m̸̡a̵̡l̢͝ỳ…̀͟ W͠͡͡r͝òņg҉̷͏…_

His sword was repelled away from the shield by an invisible force before his strike could land, and he staggered back from the force that the red-headed girl suddenly projected upon his sword. He saw the red spear rear back and strike towards his chest, and he moved his second right arm to intercept while his primary right arm lashed forwards to strike at the girl's eye, and both of his left arms reached to pry the shield off…

' _...Hold on… I don't have a second set of arms…_ _Isn't that only the case in the 'other form?'_ ' Jaune managed to think before the Shadow screeched in pain when something simultaneusly hot and cold lanced through him.

 _P̨͏a̕͡í̷͟n̡… ͏Ẁ͞ro̵ng̷…̸̧́_

Jaune took a gasping breath as the Shadow's hold over his mind lifted briefly, and he broke through the surface of his mind like a drowning man would break through water on a icy lake.

He took a look at Pyrrha and tried to open his mouth to apologize to the girl for his temporary loss of control, but found it impossible as something wet came through his throat instead of words.

Jaune looked down to investigate and saw a splatter of blood on Pyrrha's shield, and that the girl had frozen still with her wide, emerald eyes staring at him with a frightened expression on her rapidly paling face.

He traced the girl's look to the shaft of her spear which disappeared into his chest.

' _Oh… so that's why I can't speak properly'_ Jaune thought idly as he felt a dull sting of pain from where the spear had entered and exited his body. He reached forward to grab the spear's shaft from Pyrrha's limp fingers, and pushed the spear deeper into his chest before he reached over with his other hand to pull the weapon out through his back.

He coughed slightly as he felt his Aura work to repair the broken lung and sliced ribs, and he heaved the blood out of his lungs so he could speak again.

"...R-right." Jaune coughed out, his arm outstretched with the blood-covered spear offered at it's owner that had backed away from him and had put both of her hands over her mouth "Uh.. Let's continue?" he offered.

"..."

Pyrrha kept backing away, mouthing something under her breath that Jaune didn't catch, before she reached the edge of the combat arena and nearly toppled out of it.

"Please continue, mr. Arc, miss Nikos" a stern voice came from the side, and Jaune looked over to see a slightly pale Glynda Goodwitch giving both of the combatants a stern glare as she spoke through the deep silence that had fallen over the classroom "You have no time to freeze in combat, miss Nikos. That mistake has left you unarmed, and both of the combatants still maintain full Aura..."

"Stop this!" Jaune heard a familiar female voice sound in the quiet classroom, and he looked up to see, to his surprise, Yang having shouted at their teacher while gripping the wooden observation desk with knuckles white "Stop this already! He's hurt badly!"

' _But I'm okay?'_ Jaune thought, glancing at his Aura bar just in time to see it rise back to full ' _Odd…'_

He looked to the side and saw Blake staring at him with an unreadable expression while Weiss's was struck between curious, concerned and discomforted, although the latter may have been because of Ruby who had hugged herself tightly against Weiss's arm, and was staring at Jaune with wide, frightened eyes.

"I assure you, Mr. Arc is perfectly capable of continuing…" came the stern voice of their combat instructor, and was swifly interrupted by more agitated one.

"Bullshit!"

"I'm okay, Yang!" Jaune called at the agitated blonde girl "Its just a flesh wound"

"Flesh wound, my ass! How are you not dead yet? That went right through your chest!"

"I'll tell you later okay?"

"Miss Xiao-Long, please stop interrupting the match or prepare yourself for a detention" Glynda scowled from the side. Yang looked like she'd want to argue regardless but went silent while crossing her arms and giving Glynda a glare.

Jaune brought his attention back to the match as the brief debate came to an end.

"Uh… so, here I go then?" Jaune offered to Pyrrha, before he moved back on the offensive.

Throwing aside Pyrrha's spear, he reached back to his remaining sword and moved to charge the pale-faced girl that appeared to be close to passing out.

His initial, overstretched swing was parried as the girl used her vambrace to take the hit, followed by her instinctively reaching her hand past Jaune and towards her spear that was well out of her reach. The girl's self-distraction allowed for Jaune to grab Pyrrha by her throat and give the girl a heavy headbutt, which caused the girl's eyes to roll back on her head slightly and he tossed the disoriented girl aside while ignoring the pinprick of pain that came through his back as something hit him from behind.

He looked down again to discover the same spear that he had discarded mere seconds ago poking out of his stomach, somehow having launched itself from the ground behind him and across the air towards its owner… and into his back as he had throw the girl away before the spear could reach Pyrrha's outstretched hand.

"Again?" he coughed at the girl, starting to feel somewhat annoyed at being skewered twice in a row.

"I'm… I'm... Sorry…" Pyrrha pleaded as she looked at him from the ground, seemingly fine physically but in state of apologetic shock and daze even as she saw her spear slide completely through his stomach in order to fly to the girl's hand… and fall to the ground as the girl let go of the blood-covered spear instantly. Jaune glanced at the Aura pools and discovered his Aura-bar having lost a small sliver from the top again, before he saw it rise back up to full like it had done mere seconds ago.

A sharp crack of riding crop brought an end to his thoughts.

"Very well, I shall call this match a Draw for now as it seems that the fight will not be able to continue due to miss Nikos's lack of fighting spirit… and miss Xiao-Long, see me after the class. Miss Nikos, please get up." Glynda called, giving a stern glare at both Yang and Pyrrha before tapping on her Scroll which caused the screens displaying the combatant's names to disperse and lights returned to the room fully.

"Next pair of combatants can enter the arena…" the teacher continued on as Jaune walked up to Pyrrha and offered her his hand while picking up the girl's discarded spear.

"I'm sorry… so sorry… I didn't mean to…" he heard Pyrrha mutter as she seemed to be lost on her own world. "I only wanted to… No… I only wanted to hurt him a little so that he'd… But I… No… No… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to..."

He reached to touch her shoulder, which caused the girl to jump slightly and shoot a wide-eyed, frightened look at him.

"Let's go back?" Jaune asked, offering the girl his hand again.

The girl froze still as she looked at the bloody appendage and traced her look at his bloody clothes, focusing on the tear on the chest of his hoodies. She let out a small whimper before starting to back away, pushing herself away from Jaune with her hands and legs until she managed to get back to her feet and run away from the combat arena, leaving Jaune offering his hand at air with the girl's spear on his other hand.

"Mr. Arc, please exit the ring so other combatants can enter…" he heard Glynda say behind him. "...And please return the remaining borrowed sword to the armory, and return miss Nikos's weapon to her."

.

..

...

' _Jaune… why…'_ Pyrrha thought as she fumbled out of the ring and into the shared lockers, ignoring the pair of new fighters that gave her a curious and slightly frightened look as they saw her bloodied hands and shield ' _I didn't want to… but how'd he just stand there? With a spear… my spear… on his chest?'_

She turned her attention to her hands which were stained with Jaune's blood after she had touched the bloody spear, and swiftly turned her attention somewhere else, feeling disgusted with herself.

' _Nora… It didn't work… Your plan didn't work'_ she thought as she washed her hands, feeling the sticky liquid come off but the sensation of it remained, making her feel cold and dirty even after the blood had washed off. A sickening sensation settling on the bottom of her stomach as she thought about the plan Nora had told her in the brief moment she had to prepare as she was called forwards by professor Goodwitch. '' _Overpower him, show him your strength so that he would notice you… and then offer to train him… and then use that as a excuse to grow closer!'… but it didn't work, he got too hurt... Is he going to be alright? What if he hates me afterwards?'_

"Hey."

She heard a familiar, friendly voice greeting her from the entrance of the locker room, and she felt her heart jump from her chest to her throat.

Pyrrha turned around to see the object of her worry standing near the doorway to the lockers in his bloody and torn clothes, clutching her stained spear and holding it like some sort of undead revenant even though his eyes didn't have the same bloodlust-filled glint they had previously had.

"Ah… I'm… Sorry..:" She said automatically as her brain locked up.

' _Did he come for vengeance? Is he dead and… no, he can't be... '_

"Please… don't hurt me" she whimpered as she stared at the undead man that closed towards her with her spear on his grasp, and she backed away until she felt the cold steel door of her locker against her back…

"Huh?" her words seemed to cause Jaune to pause, and he looked to the spear with a confused expression "Oh this! Yeah, sorry I came here just to return this thing to you… and apologize for kind of scaring you there"

' _...What…'_

"Umm. it's okay?" Pyrrha got out as Jaune was mere two feet away from her while offering the spear to her. She took it slowly, trying her best to ignore the sticky and unpleasant feeling of his blood on it's shaft. "I mean…I'm sorry that I killed… Uh… hurt you?"

"Ah that? It's okay, It takes more than that to kill me" Jaune answered easily "I'm more concerned about you since honestly, you looked pretty bad back there… No, I mean you looked like you were about to pass out or something, not that you looked bad, you were very pretty and erm…" his speech devolved into a mumbled mess as Pyrrha continued to stare at him.

' _He's… not mad?'_ Pyrrha thought as she heard Jaune's somewhat awkward apologies ' _He's more worried about me then about himself after suffering that horrible wound… Maybe… maybe this could work out?'_

"Ah, it's okay, I was just… not used to that " she told the teenager "I mean, I've been fighting in the ring for most of my life… but I've never erm, killed anyone… or hurt anyone like that so I just locked up when that wound happened..."

"So you're not mad?" Jaune asked, his face brightening "I'm glad… and don't sweat about the 'hurting' part, we were supposed to be fighting after all, right?"

' _Yes… this could work… Nora, I'm trusting you here...'_

"Uhmm… Maybe, would you like to accompany me when I am training sometime?" Pyrrha asked, fiddling with the hem of her sash "I mean, as friends and all that, not that I'm… I mean, It'd be nice, I think? Your swordplay could use some erm, improvements"

"Sorry" Jaune answered, causing Pyrrha's heart to stop momentarily.

"I… see." Pyrrha said as she gripped her spear with numb fingers, and she could feel her face darken as her smile turned brittle.

"I can't do that right now, like I told you previously- it's not because I wouldn't want to train with you, but because I don't have weapons yet" he told her. "...But, when Ruby has finished making my training swords, I'd be glad to train with you" Jaune finished, sending a wave of feeling back to Pyrrha's numb fingers.

"You'd do that? Do you promise?" she managed to get past her lips "Promise that you'd train with me?"

"The Arcs always keep their promises" Jaune nodded, before he vinced almost as if a unpleasant though passed by his head. "Well, those of us who are left never break their promises"

"I… see" She didn't, but it felt as an appropriate response. "So uh, Can you tell me when you have your weapons?"

"Sure, but I think we need to start to clean ourselves up now" Jaune said, glancing at the holographic clock on the wall "The class is near it's end"

"Y-yeah, It's been nice talking with you" Pyrrha responded "And it was.. nice… fighting with you"

Jaune nodded before he departed to the men's showers, pulling his hoodie off on the way and revealing a bloody but otherwise unmarred back which caused Pyrrha to avert her eyes from both embarrassment and confusion.

' _No wounds… Not even a scar… what's going on with you, Jaune?'_ She thought as the teenager had disappeared into the showers. ' _Did he not get hurt when I… Did he heal already?'_

She turned her attention from the men's shower doorway to the blood-covered spear on her hand.

' _Nora… your advice worked.'_ She thought as she smiled while looking at the tip of her bloody spear ' _I'll never doubt your advice again…'_

.

..

...

When the pair of fighters that had passed by Pyrrha returned to the lockers, they saw her giving her bloody weapon a fond look with her emerald eyes shining through a shadow that partially covered her face, and the pair of fighters chose to very wisely turn on their heels and decide to take a shower on their respective dorms instead.

* * *

"So um…" Jaune started after putting down one of his plates as he looked at a fuming Yang who had once again sat herself on team SABR's table for dinner "What'd Goodwitch want?"

"Short story, 'shut up in class and I know what's good for students'" Yang growled out "Long story, she told me to not interrupt the class in future and told that she knows the individual quirks and whatever that affects them, and can tell when to break a match to send a student to infirmary or not" she underlined her point by ripping a chunk out of a grilled chicken's leg with her teeth. "Plus, you need to tell me what the hell was that in the class"

"Mr. Arc doesn't _need_ to do anything" Weiss answered in his stead, causing Yang to growl at the girl "Semblances and abilities are…"

"...Personal matters, I know" Yang glared at the smaller girl "Still, you told me that you'd tell me what that was. I almost had a heart attack seeing someone I know seemingly die in front of me." she continued, turning her glare at Jaune.

"It was pretty scary, but he wouldn't die from just something like that… I think…" Ruby mumbled from the side

"I couldn't keep our promise if I died, right?" Jaune said, patting Ruby on her shoulder and causing the girl to look away with a slight blush.

"R-right."

"So, spill" Yang interjected herself back to the conversation "What'd happen there?"

' _So, here we go again…'_ Jaune though as he recounted his Aura's unusual ability to regenerate to the agitated girl.

"So, No shielding, but fast healing…" Yang recounted "How'd your Aura bounce back up then? It would be spent during the healing and not come back…"

"Regeneration" came the answer, not from Jaune but from Weiss "Since Jaune is willing to share this with you, I'll share my hypothesis about his Aura to you as well."

Weiss coughed slightly before continuing "Jaune's Aura fills itself from his body mass in the same way like how everyone's Aura refills, except in Jaune's case the reaction is far faster due to his regeneration" Weiss explained. "So his Aura would draw components from his body-mass and use them to heal wounds, and then use the same mass to regain the Aura that was used up in the process… Since his Aura has no defensive portion, the Aura that sensors would pick up would be the healing Aura that'd bounce from being partially filled to completely full at fast pace as it worked to alternate between healing him and filling itself."

"I didn't know that, thanks Weiss" Jaune said "Did you figure that out observing the match?"

"I hypothesized it from your yesterday's Aura-recordings and finalized the hypothesis during today's match, even though Ruby did her best to distract me…" Weiss scowled at the smaller girl, although her scowl was without it's usual heat.

Nevertheless Ruby blushed slightly and looked away.

"Just… don't over-rely on the accelerated healing process" Weiss warned him after it looked like Ruby was embarrassed enough "The whole process relies on your mass so overusing the healing would leave you dessicated or shriveled… I think that's the closest thing to being 'out of Aura' you could get"

"Right…" Jaune replied as he thought about Weiss's words. "Oh yeah, Glynda said something about channelling Aura and stuff during the fight when the school's training sword broke. Do you know what she was talking about?"

"Aura channelling is when you extend your Aura over an object to enhance their durability" Ruby piped up "It's how mecha-shift weapons can operate without malfunctioning, getting stuck or jamming all the time, and makes objects far more resistant to damage than they would naturally be!" she added as both Jaune and Weiss turned to look at her.

"What?" Ruby added after looking at Weiss's completely surprised expression "I know about stuff, too! Well, when it involves weapons anyway…"

"So um, how does one do this 'channelling' thing?" Jaune asked, getting somewhat pitying stares as response until Ruby shook her head.

"Figures you'd know nothing about it… how do you usually keep your, eh, 'standard' weapons from breaking?"

"Well, I sort of… um…" Jaune paused, looking at Yang who lifted her hands up.

"If it's some super-secret, I can leave" she said, before moving to lift herself up.

"I… well, You'd have to know the rest of my ability for it to make sense so…" Jaune started, but Yang had already lifted herself up and returned to team RYNN's table where Ren was eating his food slowly and delicately with a pair of chopsticks, and Pyrrha was taking notes as Nora had leaned close to the red-headed girl and was whispering something to her ear.

Jaune noticed that Pyrrha was smiling widely as she listened eagerly, which made him happy as well.

' _It's nice that Pyrrha is getting along well with her partner at least… I hope that the rest of her team gets closer as well…'_

"Soo…." Ruby coughed "Those weapons?"

"Ah yeah, it's sort of… well, I just feed some of my blood to them and they turn red, and stop decaying and become sturdier" Jaune explained after thinking back to the pair of swords he could form.

Silence settled in on the secluded table after his statement.

"Feed them… blood?" Blake joined on the conversation, putting her book aside in order to give Jaune a unreadable look "How… how does that make them stronger?"

"I don't know, they just do. Dunno how channelling works otherwise" Jaune redirected the conversation away from dangerous waters while looking around the nearly deserted dining hall as lunch break was nearing it's end "How do you use channelling?"

"The textbook instruction is to go through meditative exercises to gain mastery over your Aura's form, and then extend it over your weapon by familiarizing yourself with your weapon to point where it becomes part of your body in your mind" Ruby explained "...and after a while, you can use the same self-hypnosis to channel your aura to other objects you touch as well! It's one of the most basic things that is taught at Signal"

"Is that why you are so attached to your scythe, Ruby?" Jaune asked, causing the girl to huff.

"Not only that, but because she is awesome as well!" she retorted while bunching her hands.

"Huh… can you teach me?"

"I don't think that it will work for you" Weiss answered Jaune before Ruby could. "The channelling works by extending out your Aura's protection to your weapon, and your Aura… well, it has none"

Her words drew a despaired whine from Ruby as the girl seemed to realize something.

"Hmm… so how would blood reinforce his, hmm… normal sword?" Blake asked Weiss from the side, ignoring Jaune's earlier attempt to steer away from the subject.

"I haven't seen it in action, but blood carries Aura so if I were to make a guess, if he injects his blood into his weapon the Aura within it regenerates his blade when it chips from combat akin to how his Aura works inside his body… making it appear sturdier without truly being so, and making it able to withstand normal wear and tear but breaking should enough force be applied to it..." Weiss hypothesized, looking at Jaune for objections. "I'm not sure if your regeneration would work on inorganic material like steel though…"

As Jaune didn't object to her hypothesis she nodded, and reached for her notebook to add a few lines and then put it away.

"I keep record of my team's abilities to better analyze future strategies" she explained as Jaune lifted his eyebrow.

"...This is a disaster…" he heard a quiet whine from his side and looked over to discover Ruby having slumped down on the table and covered her face on her hands "...it won't work…"

"What's wrong?"

"..." Ruby lifted her head slowly, looking somewhat defeated "If you can't channel Aura into weapons, I'd have to make hundreds of training swords since without channelling you'd break them all the time…"

' _Oh…'_

"So… I'd have to use my regular swords for training" Jaune wondered "That would mean that I can't really train with people outside team SABR… well, while using my swords anyway"

' _I'd hate to tell Pyrrha that I couldn't train with her… not to mention that I made a promise to train with her...'_

"There may be other way" Ruby muttered "I mean, there's always hand-to-hand fighting, and making stuff like one-use vambraces for protection is pretty easy" she clarified as Jaune looked at her. "I used to make training vambraces and gauntlets for Yang all the time when we were younger since she kept breaking hers when she didn't have enough patience to meditate properly… That was before we made weapons in Signal"

"I thought Signal Academy required for their students to make their own weapons?" Weiss asked Ruby.

"Yep. " Ruby confirmed "But well… Yang isn't the best weaponsmith around so I had to help her a bit with Ember Celica… and fix it couple of times until she learned how to fix it herself."

"Couldn't you just make your swords a bit less Grimm? You know, without the veins, Grimm-patterns and barbs?" Blake wondered, getting a hiss of warning from Weiss. "What?"

"Consider where we are!" Weiss hissed, looking around the public dining hall that was empty of students beside them "Oh... Nevermind"

"Aren't we going to be late to class?" Ruby asked as the subject changed and she pulled her Scroll up "Oh… Yay!"

"What's up?"

"It's friday, and the afternoon is completely free!" Ruby squealed happily "The weekend has begun!"

"Good, now we can go over your studies since you skipped two years of Signal and this is good time to start getting you up to par…" Weiss told Ruby, and before Jaune realized it, she had dragged the loudly whining and protesting girl out of the dining hall by her cloak.

' _Hmm… '_ Jaune thought as he looked at the doorway through which Weiss and Ruby had disappeared, noticing from the corner of his eye that Blake had stood up as well and was making her exit ' _So I have to find a way to make those swords a tad less…. Grimm, or start working on hand-to-hand fighting…'_

He looked over to the now-empty table team RYNN had occupied ' _I wonder if Yang would be interested in training me…'_

* * *

Jaune found himself at the Library after his ponderings didn't bear fruit, and after he couldn't find team RYNN or Yang.

' _I used to like reading… well, before Shion happened anyway…'_ he mused as he ran his hand across the covers of the somewhat dusty books lined neatly on the bookshelves. ' _Huh, dusty… I wonder if it's because of lack of use, or because there are so many books that people can't read them quickly enough?'_

Looking around the nearly deserted library he came to the conclusion that it was the former as all of the visible students were on the computer terminals with the exception of one small group playing tabletop games in the corner.

' _Well, I wonder if there are storybooks in here…'_

 _._

 _.._

…

' _...I can't do it... '_ Jaune thought with frustrated sensation settling on his stomach as he put a book back to it's shelf and continued his wandering thought the library ' _I used to like that series… but… It's so naive... '_

The kings and conquerors of his old favorite book-series seemed so shallow and pale, and the threat of Grimm in the books was always so weak and insignificant, one that was only allowed to exist because of some evil schemes by the villain of the hour.

' _A Grimm King…'_ Jaune though with a disappointed huff and nostalgic sting as he put away the book-series that had accompanied him throughout his childhood ' _There is no such thing… and if it were, it would not be so pitifully weak...'_

"I did not take you for a reader" a somewhat quiet voice came from beside him as he stopped in front of a bookshelf. "I thought you would be someone who'd be more interested in fighting… I assumed that the quiet atmosphere of the library would turn you insane."

"Ah, hi, Blake" Jaune greeted his fellow teammate, having unknowingly stopped almost beside her "Yeah, I like reading… well, I used to. More than I do now, I mean. I still like reading though, I think."

Blake raised her eyebrow as she returned a somewhat worn book to it's shelf in the secluded, somewhat out-of-the-way corner of the library.

"it's complicated" he explained

"So it seems." she replied, turning around to walk off.

' _Come to think of it, Blake reads all the time so perhaps she'd know to recommend books to me... '_

"Blake!" Jaune called, causing the girl to stop and turn towards him warily "Do you happen to know any good books?"

"Why?" she asked, narrowing her eyes "Did Weiss tell you about my books? Did she send you here to mock me?"

"Uh, no. How'd I…" Jaune got out "...Did Weiss do something?"

"Nevermind…" Blake sighed "You're too kind-hearted for that… and I'm still overthinking things..."

She seemed to struggle internally for a moment before pointing at a direction that was clearly away from the bookshelf she had returned her book to.

"There are some good ones over there" She said, causing Jaune to turn her head to the direction she was pointing. By the time he turned his look back to her, the enigmatic girl had disappeared.

' _Huh, I wonder what's up with Blake…'_ he thought as he looked at the bookshelf Blake had been interested in before he had interrupted her ' _Eh, if Blake thinks these are good enough for her, I might as well give them a shot as well'_

He moved to shuffle through the books on the shelf while reading the summaries.

' _Huh, 'adult content'... I guess it'd mean these books are less cliche… or at least have more believable stories…'_ Jaune though as he pulled few books from the shelf ' _Hmm, 'Old Faunus and the Sea', a thrilling story of a middle-aged cat faunus woman putting aside the burdens of society to seek solace in fishing for the greatest catch of them all, the dreaded Terror of the Seas"… eh, sounds good enough to give a glance…'_

He put the book in his bag, and took another from the shelf '' _Ninjas of Love: The Land of Waves' A romantic origin-story about the forming of the Team '6,9', a team of young Hunter-Ninjas in Mistral's combat academy, and their training in the ancient art of hip-to-hip combat' …is that a form of hand-to-hand combat? Might be worth checking out...'_

He loaned the books with his Scroll's scanner, something that the librarian had taught him to do after his first brief visit to the library, and discovered that the 'Ninjas of Love' wasn't actually a library book.

' _Huh, Blake must have put it there by accident while returning some other books when I interrupted her…'_

He separated the book from others and headed out of the library and back towards the dorm, intending on depositing the books and asking Blake if the extra book was hers should he run across her.

.

..

...

"...Uuuuuhhhh…." a soft, despaired whine greeted him as he stepped inside the dorm and he discovered Ruby having slumped over the studying desk with Weiss tapping a first-aid book in front of her impatiently.

"Ruby, concentrate!" Weiss scowled at the girl who had perked up and zoned in on Jaune the moment he stepped inside the dorm.

"Hi Jaune! Is it time to go make stuff in the workshop? Perhaps bake cookies? Read weapon catalogues?" Ruby asked with increasingly desperate tone "Anything that is not studying with Weiss?"

"Hey!" the girl in question squeaked. "I am doing this for your benefit!"

"No offence, Weiss, but your teaching is so… booooooring…." Ruby whined back, causing Weiss to scowl harder.

"First-aid and medical skills are serious matters!" she lectured "Not because it affects you, but because it affects everyone around you!"

"… why do I have to learn it then…" Ruby muttered.

"Because if someone gets hurt, it's up to you to administer first aid, and treat them until they are healed! What if your sister got hurt and you were only one around?" Weiss continued "If Yang was unconscious or otherwise unable to treat the injury herself, it would fall to you to treat her… and if you couldn't do that, you couldn't save her!"

"..." Ruby went quiet and seemed to be vibrating slowly as she went through an internal struggle, after which she once again picked up her pencil and leaned closer to Weiss who continued her lecture.

' _Come to think of it… I haven't gone to pre-Beacon schools either… '_ Jaune thought as he started slotting books from his bag to the small bookshelf above the vacant studying desk.

"Mr. Arc…" a somewhat shocked voice came from behind him, and Jaune turned to face a somewhat speechless Weiss who had seen the covers of his books. "Ah… are those books... yours?"

"No, I borrowed them from the library. They had some interesting stuff I wanted to check out, and perhaps try out as well" Jaune answered, thinking about the Ninja-book he had borrowed and was currently holding onto.

"...T-try out?" Weiss choked out "Y-you'd… I… Fine! But as long as you and Blake don't do it in the dormroom!"

' _Huh… I wonder what's up with Weiss? Why'd she think that I'd train in the dorm-room, that'd leave a massive mess...'_ he thought as he looked curiously at Weiss's rapidly reddening face "I was actually thinking that Yang or Pyrrha might be more interested in that, and I did already promise that i'd do it with Pyrrha. Plus of course I wouldn't do it in the dorms, that'd leave a huge mess."

"H-huge mess?" Weiss asked while appearing to have troubles breathing and even Ruby had perked up from her notebook to look curiously at Weiss "H-hold on, you'd do it with both Yang and Pyrrha? Don't you have Blake already? Y-you fiend!" she continued after a brief moment as his words sunk into the rapidly blushing heiress.

' _Is she feeling left out?'_

"I can do it with you too if you want to" Jaune assured her, which seemed didn't seem to help the white-haired girl's nerves as the girl shot up from her seat beside Ruby, and stormed out of the room.

"Eh, I guess Weiss isn't feeling too well" Ruby helpfully pointed out before continuing to scribble on her notebook as the door slammed shut behind Weiss.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon went in relatively peaceful daze as Jaune continued his reading about the Grimm and Aura from the schoolbooks alongside Ruby who tried her best to concentrate on her own studies. Weiss and Blake were nowhere to be seen, and as clock ticked 5pm, the pair broke off their studies in order to go eat dinner.

As they loaded their food-trays and set off to their usual spot, Jaune spotted Weiss sitting opposite to Blake in their usual dining spot and heard her speak to the black-haired girl who was slumped on the dining table and had buried her face in her arms. "...this might be a shock, but I feel it to be necessary for me to reveal that I believe mr. Arc may be cheating on you..."

"For the last time, I am not dating Jaune…" Blake mumbled with nearly inaudible voice through her arms.

"I know it might be hard to believe, but it is better to get out of the way on the safety of Beacon rather than out in the field." Weiss continued on as Jaune and Ruby walked closer to her table from behind her while carrying their respective food-trays. "While I strive to respect personal boundaries, I will not have my team fracture in the middle of a potentially life-threatening situation if this comes to light at a wrong time!"

"What comes to light?" Jaune asked, putting his tray down beside Weiss and unwillingly startling the girl who froze still like a deer in the headlights.

"I…"

"Jaune, please tell her that we are not dating" Blake pleaded, cutting Weiss off before she could formulate a response.

"We are not dating" Jaune nodded dutifully at Weiss and Blake sighed.

None of them noticed the victorious look that crossed Ruby's face as she sat down beside Blake before her expression was hurriedly replaced by a innocent smile.

"I… you… was…" Weiss seemed to struggle for response, and Jaune waited patiently.

"...The undead is here…." A whisper caught Jaune's ear and he looked around the somewhat busy dining hall.

"Uh, is it just me or is this part of the dining hall unusually deserted?" Jaune asked Blake as he looked at the otherwise packed dining hall, with the exception of the team SABR's table and circle of completely empty tables around it.

"No… It wasn't like this... until…" Blake replied slowly, until she turned her amber eyes at Jaune "...You and Ruby came here"

"Huh?"

"The students seem to be avoiding you two. Or to be more specific, avoiding _you_." Blake told him, nudging her head at the small group of first-years that seemed to be whispering amongst themselves as they shot occasional glances at Jaune, and turned away quickly as Jaune looked at their direction.

"Why?" Jaune wondered "Did I do something?"

"Beside taking a spear to the chest, pushing it through your body, doing it again and then apparently beating a top-ranked championship fighter in single combat even if the referee called it a draw, all in the same match?" the black-haired girl asked with a unreadable expression settling on her face "The students are confused, and that will soon turn to being scared as they are confronted with something they don't understand... Be careful."

"..." Jaune was confused over the girl's advice, and it likely showed through his face as Blake sighed and continued.

"Humans that are scared will soon start to hate the object of their fear, and the hate will soon turn to paranoia and witch-hunt... Just like how it it happened with the faunus." she explained "So be ready for those who would confront you…"

"I won't let anyone hurt Jaune" Ruby piped up from beside him as she bunched her hands up with a uncharacteristically murderous expression on her silver eyes, something which was enough to cause Jaune to whimper internally from the dread it sent through him despite how he was starting to slowly get used to her eye's effect on him.

Nevertheless, he focused his attention on the whispers around him to escape the mounting dread.

"...Yeah, I got it on video... "

"Did he really strangle the champion until she was unconscious and toss her like a ragdoll?"

"Yeah, prof had to call the match or he'd have killed her…"

"I think I saw his eyes blaze red for a moment… It was pretty scary, I thought she'd be done for…"

"...I hope I don't ever get pitted against him, I'd probably throw the match before a blow was struck…"

"...Monster…"

Jaune sighed and turned his attention back to his team. "I don't understand, I got completely obliterated by Pyrrha at start… She just got taken off-guard by the wound and locked up because of that. It wasn't a victory either since Goodwitch called it a draw…"

"...But they don't know that, or remember that." Blake finished his sentence "They will just remember you taking a spear to the chest and beating her down despite suffering apparently fatal injury twice in quick succession."

"Don't worry, we're with you no matter what!" Ruby assured him and Jaune nodded slowly, causing the murderous expression to melt slowly from Ruby's face and she moved to poking a frozen Weiss in her cheek "Right, Weiss, Blake?"

Blake nodded slowly, and Weiss seemed to break from her frozen state to nod somewhat faintly, followed by swatting Ruby's finger off her cheek.

"R-Ruby, that is rude!" Weiss scowled "And we're not done yet, mr Arc..." she started ominously, but was interrupted as the table got new occupants in the form of Yang sitting down beside Ruby and Pyrrha sitting down beside Jaune, the clatter of utensils and food-trays breaking up Weiss' speech completely.

"Yo, team pointy-bits" Yang greeted team SABR "What's up? Why does Weiss-cream look like she's trying to change her face's colour from vanilla to strawberry?"

"Hi Yang, Pyrrha" Jaune greeted "We're just dining, and talking about stuff… and I think Weiss was talking to Blake about their relationship or something"

"You two?" Yang gave Weiss a sideways glance "I didn't take you for a fruit."

"I… we… How dare you!"

"...By the way, where's rest of your team?" Jaune asked Pyrrha as Weiss started to growl at Yang. "You don't usually sit with us, what happened?"

"Ah, I think Ren went to speak with professor Port, and Nora went to accompany him- and I didn't want to sit alone since miss… erm. Yang always sits with your team..." she responded, looking slightly past him as she seemed to listen to something.

A nearby whisper caught Jaune's attention and he turned his head slightly to hear the whispers from the crowd of students that was still giving them a wide berth.

"...Yeah, That's The Pyrrha Nikos… the one he beat so badly…" "Do you think he's got some dirt on her?" "Yeah, he's got to be blackmailing her…" "...Perhaps he's threatening to push charges and get her off tournament scene- if she doesn't do what he tells her..." "...what a bastard, someone's got to save her… what if he forces her to..."

"Ignore the rumors" Pyrrha waved her hand in front of his face, breaking him off the whispers "Trust me, they'll quiet down after a while when the next big thing comes to catch their attention"

"I do trust you, but how can you be so sure?" Jaune wondered "Have you seen this happen before?"

For some reason his words seemed to please Pyrrha who smiled and put her hand down.

"I guess you can call it intuition" she answered and started to eat her meal.

.

..

…

"By the way, Yang, would you be interested in training me in hand-to-hand combat?" Jaune asked as he pushed his empty food-tray away as the dinner was nearing it's end.

Blake had disappeared from the table a while back, and a completely red-faced Weiss had once again dragged Ruby off for studying, and according to her " _in order to warn her about things"._

"Eh, sure I'll train you. You're going to need plenty of exercises anyway to burn all of that away" Yang answered as she was leaning on her hand that she had propped against the table, observing in mild amusement how the massive pile of food once again disappeared inside Jaune.

He did not notice how Pyrrha froze slightly beside him, nor did he see the shadow that had started to creep on the girl's face after hearing the brief exchange.

"Not that I'm against beating you senseless in order to train you, but what'd make you ask, lover-boy?" Yang asked, completely oblivious to the effect her words caused on Pyrrha whose grip on her utensils tightened considerably.

"Eh, I figured that I'd might need some hand-to-hand training" Jaune explained "And you're pretty good at hand-to-hand so I thought to ask… if you're not too busy or anything"

"I'm pretty much the polar opposite of being busy at the moment so no problems- does this weekend sound good?" Yang replied easily "Plus I did pull that little stunt in your dorms, and training you would work well as a proper apology for it"

"Stunt?" came a somewhat quiet voice from beside him, and Jaune looked over at Pyrrha who seemed to be somewhat lost on her thoughts as she looked at Yang. "What stunt?"

"She sort of told me that if I did something to Ruby, she'd castrate me or something" Jaune explained, turning towards Yang who had started to motion wildly for Jaune to shut up.

"I mean, I get that we all have bad days which causes us to say things we normally wouldn't, and I've already forgiven you for it" he reassured Yang whose face had started to pale rapidly for some reason.

"Castrate?" Pyrrha asked Yang "Jaune?"

"Y-yeah, he's forgiven me and I won't do that" Yang answered somewhat nervously while looking at the darkened expression that had fallen over Pyrrha's face.

"Yup, it's water under the bridge." Jaune confirmed, looking curiously at the fork in Pyrrha's hand.

' _Is it just me or are the points of her fork trying to tie themselves into a knot?'_

* * *

"...So, I'm going to need to measure your forearm and hand…" Ruby fussed as the weekend had come properly, and she had dragged Jaune to the Beacon's workshop and smithy in order to get started on his training gear.

"Oh, and I'm going to measure some other things as well, I was thinking about making stuff like breastplate, backplate, shoulderpads and so on" she continued on as she was taking measurements in the metal and oil-smelling workshop as Jaune looked curiously at all the lathing benches, power hammers, CNC machines and drills lining the walls and floors.

"Ah, you really shouldn't make those, they'll just get damaged." Jaune replied "I mean, I'm really grateful that you make me a few training gauntlets, and I don't want to make extra work for you…"

"Nonsense" Ruby answered happily as she was measuring around his waist. "There are plenty of premade easy designs so all I really have to do is alter the measurements and then upload them to a automated system that assembles it"

"Ah, so you don't have to do anything yourself?"

"Well, not really because there are blueprints and the assembly-machines can just cut and assemble the parts…" Ruby explained "it gets more difficult with mecha-shift weapons and stuff that has to be designed from scratch but just a basic armor set and gauntlets is pretty easy to mass produce…"

"So you could technically make mass produced simple swords too?" Jaune asked with hope in his voice.

"Ehhhh… yes kinda" Ruby answered as she was blushing slightly for some reason while measuring his inner thigh "I could que up those too… but it wouldn't address the issue which is that without Aura to protect the weapons, they would break all the time… and unlike a gauntlet with a break or cut, a broken sword is useless. Not to mention that machined swords tend to be a bit more unstable and heavy than custom-made ones, like you found out earlier..."

"Aww…"

"Hey, cheer up, at least you can spar with the gauntlets" Ruby cheered "And the armor should help you prevent getting so hurt… or at least make it slightly harder for you to get hurt. And! And! I will make the gauntlets with fingers so you can use them with swords if you figure out how to use them..."

"Yeah, true" Jaune conceded "And it'll help me simulate the weight of the armor I have in my… err... other form."

"Do you mean that… beowolf-thing?" Ruby asked with a slightly quiet tone as she typed the measurements into a holographic display showing code and machinery jargon that went right over Jaune's head.

"Yeah, sort of" Jaune confirmed "I mean, it's bone-made armor and it's pretty heavy… but at least it protects well"

"Ehhh. It looked really uncomfortable…" Ruby muttered quietly "You were limping really hard too… and we didn't know if it was you… It was pretty scary"

"Huh…"

' _I wonder if I could have something that'd identify me so they don't accidentally attack me…'_ his thoughts steered back towards his brief, partially controlled transformation in the Emerald Forest. ' _Plus, I have to sneak back into the forest soon to continue practising the transformation… '_

A small vince crossed his face as his insane head-companion voiced its approval.

"Oh yeah, I think I can get these done in time for your training with Yang" Ruby hummed as she observed the machinery cutting pieces of steel from a sheet. "I mean, since these will be largely mass-produced with a short life-expectancy, they won't need a chemical bath or anything"

"That's... nice. Ah, also, please don't rush it, Yang said that we shouldn't use weapons if we are just training hand-to-hand combat..."

"Yeah… So uhm… how's the first week in Beacon been?" Ruby changed the subject, seemingly realizing something as she moved back and forth in front of the machinery "I mean, it's been nice and all and weather's good to and…. uh… I heard that there's a new variant of a homing bullet coming out…. and uh..."

' _Hmm?'_ Jaune wondered as Ruby's behaviour started to get more and more nervous. "What's up, Ruby?"

She took a deep breath, steeling herself for something, before bursting into a frantic speech-

"Wouldyouliketogooutwithmeperhapssometimeinthenearfuture…" she burst out "As friends. I mean. Perhaps to a gunshow or Dust-store or erm…"

"Eh, sure"

"Y-you will?" Ruby asked, jumping slightly. "Do you promise?"

"Yup" Jaune confirmed, unsure as to why Ruby was so nervous.

"Ehehe… It worked… I'm so glad" Ruby muttered happily to herself as she turned back towards the machinery that was finishing putting welds on a pair of steel gauntlets and vambraces, humming as she moved few sliders in the holographic screen. Few hours of idle chatter later, the machine let out a ping and cut off the pieces of equipment from their sprues.

"Hot hot hot…" Ruby picked them up with a pair of tongs and the gauntlets flew straight into a bucket of ice-cold water.

"Ah, there you go! Try them on!" she gushed after it seemed that the hot metal had cooled down to manageable levels, and she picked them up to present them to Jaune. "They are not the prettiest things I've made, and they don't have any mecha-shift features but they'll work in their intended role, I think."

Jaune picked up the gauntlets and observed them carefully. The vambraces were unmarked, unpainted and had visible weld-line where the metal had been bent to shape and connected with a piece of pre-made metal locks that would hold the vambrace still in his forearm. The gauntlets were simple bent pieces of metal stapled to a thick frame which was eerily similar to the gauntlets Jaune remembered Yang having used in Emerald Forest, with the exception of offering finger-protection as well.

He tried them on, and noticed to his delight that the pieces of training-gear fit perfectly and he could move his fingers and turn his wrists inside the gauntlets. The weight of them barely affected him, although he imagined that they would be too heavy for Ruby to wield.

"Uh… I think you should use them with gloves or something so it would be more comfortable, I'm sorry if they look crude but um…" Ruby made to begin as Jaune was quiet for a while, and she had started to fidget nervously.

"They are perfect… Thanks Ruby, you're a lifesaver" Jaune marveled the gear, not noticing the pleased blush that had spread on Ruby's face as she queued five more pairs of replacement gauntlets…

.

..

…

"Again, thanks for doing this" Jaune said as he dodged a purposefully slow swing aimed at his face.

"No problemo" Yang replied, following her swing with a somewhat overextended uppercut that Jaune avoided before grabbing onto her arm and using his free hand to throw a punch towards the girl's midsection.

His grapple was broken as Yang turned around while swinging her elbow at his face which connected with his nose with a muffled crack.

"Whops, Sorry!" she apologized but Jaune waved her off as he felt the broken bridge of his nose mending back to it's usual shape. "You know I'm never going to get used to that." she complained as the training continued.

"Efh, ifts allfrige" Jaune replied, snorting and spitting a ball of blood to the grassy ground as the pair sparred on a clearing just outside Beacon's grounds. "Gah, it's healed now… it's hard to talk when your nose is broken, you know?"

"No I don't" Yang said as she reached to hook her arm around Jaune's punch and driving her own to his midsection, causing Jaune to double over. "I've never had my nose broken, since well, you know, Aura."

"Oh yeah…" he replied after he got his breath back and mended a small crack in his rib.

"Also, you need to stop holding back" she scowled, disengaging from the fight and turning to walk to a nearby tree in order to grab a bottle of water that was given to her by Ruby who had come to spectate their fight. "There's no point in me training you to brawl if you are holding back purposefully… Get angry."

"Eh?" Jaune asked, puzzled "Isn't hand-to-hand fighting largely dependant on reaction speed and proper form?"

"Yeah, if you are training yourself to be a boxer or something" Yang answered "But you are not going to be boxing against the Grimm. There's no referee, the Grimm will always fight against the rules and the loser gets eaten or dissolved,"

"Oh… that makes sense"

"So, you have to use your full repertoire of tricks. Poke eyes, kick balls, break shins. Get angry and rip their arms off their shoulders" Yang growled, slamming her fists together and Jaune could swear he saw traces of fire flicker down her hair.

"Yanggggg….. don't bully Jaune" Ruby scolded her sister.

"It's alright Ruby, I can take it" Jaune replied to the smaller girl. "But thanks for worrying"

"By the way, where's the rest of team RYNN?" he asked Yang as Ruby had settled back down and Yang had stopped giving him a wary look,

"Eh, Ren and Nora are probs in dorms or hanging around kitchens… sometimes I swear that girl has same appetite as you have except hers is only for pancakes" Yang shrugged "and Pyrrha is… well, I think the best word for it is scheming. Or sulking, depending on who you ask."

He raised his eyebrow.

"She's somewhat upset that you are training with me" Yang clarified "She's jealous, if that wasn't obvious already"

"Eh, but I told her that I'd train with her when I got swords I could use or knew something about hand-to-hand so I wouldn't waste her time…" Jaune replied, puzzled "I mean, she basically destroyed me in the fight previously so there's no way I could go toe-to-toe with her… well, without using my Semblance anyway" he finished, flinching slightly as the memory of his earlier loss of control returned to him.

' _I can't afford to lose control like that… What if I had accidentally hurt her?'_ he thought as Yang put her water bottle aside while shaking her head and returned to the crudely drawn fighting ring.

"Speaking of which, you still haven't used your Semblance… Is it really that big of a thing?" she asked as she squared off in her usual fighting stance and resumed her deliberately over-telegraphed attacks. "Also, stop hesitating and fight!"

"Yeah… ow" Jaune's response was cut off as her leg connected with the side of his knee, and he felt the bone and sinew give in front of the force that her kick exerted on the somewhat fragile joint.

As he fell on his knees, he felt more than saw the punch that careened straight at his face-

Until he felt stars explode in his vision and he was knocked on his back by the force of Yang's punch.

He picked himself up from the ground and cracked his knee back in place, pulled his legs under him and leaped at the girl who dodged out of the way and swung her fist at his flank as he stumbled.

 _̀Án͏̴n̸͘ó̢͘y̶͢i̴̴͝n̶̡g̶…'_ he growled internally as he tried to turn to face at the yellow blur that sidestepped behind him as he attempted to track her ' _No, can't think that… what if I lose control again...'_

"Come on, fight properly" Yang encouraged, moving closer and driving another punch at his exposed back and driving him to the grassy ground "Get angry, get serious! I can take it!"

' _Fine…'_ Jaune thought as frustration grew inside him ' _You asked for it…'_

He turned around on the ground to face his opponent to see her next punch fly towards his stomach, and he rolled aside to dodge the blow while standing back up. A unusual feeling of familiarity washed over him as he saw the girl's eyes flash red when her attack missed and sent pieces of grass flying.

The Shadow's influence inside his mind bloomed briefly, and Jaune grabbed Yang's hand as the girl resumed her chain of punches. Before the brawler could respond to his grapple, he pulled the girl close and delivered a vicious punch to her throat.

The punch connected, and Yang reared back as Jaune pulled back, shoving the Shadow and the unusual feeling of familiarity back to the dark corner of his mind.

"Ghurk… Y-yeah, something like that- good hit" Yang spluttered as she rubbed her throat "Heh, I got careless~"

She moved back on the offensive as Jaune sprung up and squared off in front of her.

He took a deep breath as he parried the girl's swing at his head, feeling a crack form and mend on his forearm before he grabbed the arm and pulling her closer, trying to repeat the previous attack. However before he managed to strike, Yang used the pull to come inside his guard and deliver a quick punch at his chest and jaw, before shoulder-tackling him to the ground.

Jaune felt Yang trying to pull back to strike again, and he grabbed hold of her shoulder and pulled her closer and elbowed her to the face with his free hand. She took the hit with a stride, and used the attack's force to pull back and clear distance between the pair.

"Heh, you're improving... " Yang commented as she resumed her stance "You're doing better when you stop trying to be so careful and controlled, and let your instincts take over… I think my style might work well on you eh?"

"Huh…" Jaune wondered as he winced internally, curb-stomping the underlying bloodlust that struggled against his control. "I guess so... "

' _Still, I need to be calm, I need to be collected… So the Shadow doesn't take over again...'_ he thought as he listened to the girl's words. ' _But… Yang tells me that I fight better when I let my instincts guide my actions… Perhaps...'_

"Right, let's go again" Yang's voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he looked up to see the girl charging at him again.

Jaune tightened his stance against her charge as he let the foreign instincts creep forwards from the back of his head, and lifted his hand to block her swing even as he pulled his other hand back to deliver a counter-attack at the girl's stomach. Both of the hits connected at the same time and he felt the bone in the blocking forearm break from the force but he managed to land a good hit on Yang as a trade. The hit caused the girl to double over as the uppercut punch to her midsection tore her briefly off the ground, and he followed the attack with grabbing her jacket with his good hand and throwing her over his shoulder as the girl got winded from the force behind the blow.

The girl landed on her back few feet away, and Jaune pulled back while pushing away the haze of bloodlust before it got chance to rise properly.

Curiously enough, he felt a lingering feeling of familiarity from the brief clash continued to wash over him even after feeling the Shadow return back to it's hidey-hole inside his mind.

He resumed his combat stance while mending the broken bones on his forearm.

"Whoap" Yang hopped back to her feet after regaining her senses "Nice one… I guess this works as training for me as well" she commented.

"How so?" Jaune asked, relaxing his stance as Yang pulled back instead of resuming her attack.

"Yeah, I'm really not used to seeing injuries like that so this'll work to rid me of those flaws as well" She replied, shuddering slightly as she looked at Jaune's newly healed arm.

"I thought you'd be used to those, being a brawler and all"

"Nope." Yang answered simply as the pair took a small break in the training and walked to the tree where Ruby was flicking pieces of bread at a large crow that had landed near her. "You see, normally people who train future hunter-students have Aura themselves and very rarely suffer injuries… and I don't usually fight people who don't have Aura" Yang went on to explain. "I think the sparring with you has been my first real experience with actually causing injuries on people with my attacks… even if the injuries don't stick on you."

"Sis, you destroyed a night club…" Ruby piped from the side, joining on the conversation as the crow she had been feeding took a flight to the branches above the girl. "Did you not hurt anyone there?"

"Eh, I told you already, it was sort of accident… and no, all of Junior's people had Aura and the clubbers managed to flee before the real fighting began" Yang replied to Ruby

"Destroying a night club? Junior?" Jaune asked, confused "What happened?"

"Yang was searching for someone, and didn't find them and lost her temper so she sacked the place" Ruby summarised, drawing an indignant squeak from Yang.

"That's not how I'd describe it…" she growled at the smaller girl who looked back innocently "Alright, fine, that's essentially what happened…" Yang conceded as Ruby tilted her head.

"Huh, who were you looking for?" Jaune asked, picking up a sandwich from the basket Ruby had brought with her.

"I was… well. it's sort of private matter. Family-related matter to be specific" Yang replied somewhat uneasily as she ate her own sandwich.

"I see… How exactly were you looking for that person?" Jaune asked, interested on Yang's methods.

"Why are you so interested in that?" Yang asked, narrowing her eyes and Jaune looked at Ruby to discover the smaller girl having started to droop slightly as if it was sore subject.

"It's just because I'm interested in your methodes, since I am looking for a certain group called…" Jaune started, but was interrupted as the crow Ruby had been feeding previously swooped down from the tree above, and plucked Jaune's sandwich from his hand and landed few feet away to peck at it's prize.

"Hey that's mine!" Jaune exclaimed as he shot up to chase after the crow that picked the sandwich up and flew few feet away to continue eating whenever Jaune was getting close to the bird.

"Eugh…blasted feathered food-stealing…" Jaune grumbled as he returned empty-handed to the sisters that had watched his desperate attempt to reclaim his food with a mild amusement.

"Laugh it up... " he grumbled as he sat back down, ignoring the somewhat mocking caw that came from a tree-branch near the clearing

"Right, break over, let's continue shall we?" Yang hopped on her feet, and walked back to the makeshift ring and took her usual fighting stance…

* * *

"That went well, I think" Ruby analyzed as she and Jaune made their way back to the dorms after Yang had declared the training to be over after few hours of fistfighting, and after accidentially crushing Jaune's throat on a chokehold.

' _I didn't lose control in combat despite taking damage... A definite success in control.'_ Jaune though as he rubbed his healed throat absent-mindedly. ' _I'd have to work on the Grimm form next… hmm… but how should I approach the blade-issue…'_

"Eh, I'd say so" he said aloud as he opened the door to their dorm-room, and discovered it empty of their fellow teammates.

The pair of students stepped inside the otherwise deserted room, and Ruby moved to sit on the study-desk as Jaune moved to pick clean clothes out of the closets and prepare himself for a shower after the training

"How's the armor progressing by the way?" Jaune asked after returning from the shower.

"I cut the parts off sprues before I came to watch your spar, and dumped it to a chemical bath- It will be done by tomorrow and after polishing the chemicals off, and attaching straps, the armor will be done by monday" Ruby told him as she fiddled with a drawing of a gunblade that she had been working on for a while.

"Great…"

"You don't sound very enthusiastic about that…" Ruby complained.

"Ah! It's not that I'm not looking forwards to seeing your work, it's just that I'm worried about the sword-issue... " Jaune explained "But enough about me… how are you doing?"

"Eeeh?" Ruby seemed to be somewhat taken off guard by the question "Um… I'm doing well… sort of. I mean, Weiss is helping me with my studies and um…"

"It's pretty nice of Weiss to help you" Jaune hummed "It's nice to see how much Weiss has changed from her previous attitude… although she still occasionally slips back to her old way of acting when she doesn't pay attention, but none of us are perfect from the get-go"

"I like the new Weiss too." Ruby confirmed. "I was worried for a while there that we'd get bossy know-it-all leader… but Weiss is trying really hard to be good leader, and I feel I have to try hard as well so I wouldn't drag you all down…"

"Speaking of which… do you mind if I join you two in your study-sessions?" Jaune asked, causing Ruby to send him a confused look. "I mean, I haven't gone into the prep-schools or Signal so I may be even worse off than you when it comes to Beacon's expected level of education…"

"Oh yeah… you were in the wilds or something... " Ruby said slowly as his lack of preparation dawned on her "Speaking of which, what did you do do in there? I heard my dad talking that Arc's were somewhat famous line of Hunters but they suffered a tragedy recently…"

"...they were killed..." Jaune's tone was quiet as he winced internally, remembering the smell of burning buildings and a blood-red blade wielded by woman with Grimm-mask, cleaving through…

 _S̶͝ę̷́ę͡ḱ̴̢̨ ̡͟t̶͢͠h̴́͠͝͞e̷̛͡m̸̵̢̕͞.̡͞͏.̵̀.̷̧̧́_

 _̕͟K̶̀i̷̕͜͜͜l̵͡ĺ͠.̶҉͢.̴̨̛.̷͟͟͜͝ ͢͟Ą͘͡͝l̴̢͟l̡̛͢҉.̢͠͞.͘.̧̀͟҉_

 _҉͘҉S҉҉͟͠h̢̀͏̢è̷͝ ̷̡͞͏͡i͏̀́s̶̴̛͟͢ ̶̛̕ń҉͏e̡̢̕͝a̷̴̶̧͜r҉͡͞͏.͏̛͝.̸̨҉̀.͘͘͢͜͞_

̀͠͡

"Ghaaah!" a dry heave racked through his body as the old memory once again rushed back to his head from a dark corner of his mind where it always lurked alongside the rest of his worst memories. He felt as his legs stopped carrying his weight, and saw as Ruby turned to face him on her seat as she realized that something was wrong.

"Jaune! What's wrong?" the girl panicked as he doubled over from the combined force of the the dreaded memory once again filling his head and a eerie feeling of having seen the masked wielder of the red blade somewhere near pulsed through his head, and the Shadow urging him to search and destroy… everything.

He felt as Ruby reached to grab his shoulders, and he reacted to her touch by unwillingly growling at her. His body had already started to shift slightly through the haze that threatened to settle over his head, and he could feel his teeth sharpening as a crimson blaze engulfed his eyes...

' _The eyes… Ruby…'_ he thought through the internal struggle, and he reached to grasp the girl by her shoulders. He brought his face up and on level with the girl's paling face, and focused his attention to the girl's silver eyes.

The feeling of bloodlust was replaced with a cold dread and icey wave that spread down his spine, flowing through his veins and pulling him back to the forefront of his mind once more.

"J-Jaune?" Ruby stammered as he slumped forwards, accidentally knocking Ruby off her feet as the girl had frozen still on his hold.

"I- I'm sorry" Jaune struggled to speak out as he focused his mind on undoing the changes his Semblance had wrought over his body, feeling the sharpened teeth retracting and dulling back to normal, and colour flooded back to his face.

"W-what's wrong? What are you doing?" she whimpered as she squirmed uncomfortably, and Jaune noticed that he was leaning over her as she was lying on her back on the floor.

"I- I lost control for moment… I'm sorry" he told her, freezing further upon seeing the discomfort in the girl's eyes "It's just that… there's some bad memories. What happened in Shion, to my family, was…"

A door creaking interrupted his speech, and he looked over to see furious Weiss standing on the doorway while carrying a bagful of pre-Beacon school books and looking down at the partners on the floor.

"Mr. Arc… Miss Rose... " she started with arctic tone as Jaune stood up slowly and offered his hand to blushing Ruby who took it. She let go of his hand instantly after Jaune had pulled her on her feet.

"Must I really explain to you what constitutes as proper or improper behaviour… And miss Rose, did I not warn you about mr. Arc's… habits? Furthermore..." Weiss continued her lecture with a furious scowl while ignoring Ruby's attempts at calming the agitated heiress. Jaune listened half-heartedly to Weiss's lecture about morals or something while he used the time to collect his thoughts.

' _I that memory… It hasn't caused so strong reaction in me for long time… What changed?'_ he thought as the agitated girl's words flew past him ' _And why did i get a feeling as if I had seen that… Grimm-masked woman… Raven... recently?'_

Jaune glanced at the room's solitary window as the white-haired girl's rant continued, and to his surprise he saw the same big crow that had stolen his sandwich sitting outside on the window-still, looking into the room with a pair of accusing red eyes.

' _Is it hungry again?'_ he thought as he looked at the bird that stared back at him unflinchingly.

Giving up to the bird's stare, he walked past the girls as Weiss was growling at him and Ruby was stammering something at Weiss, stopping in front of the twin-belts he had adopted into his 'combat-wear'.

He picked up a small single-packed cookie from a pouch in the belt, and walked to the window in order to lean out of it to offer the cookie at the crow which looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Eventually the crow picked the cookie from his hand and flew off to a nearby tree to peck at the cookie while constantly sending him what appeared to be a deeply suspicious look.

' _Huh, odd… Isn't that the bird that Ruby had on her head when we got partnered? It's almost if that crow has been following me since the Initiation… I must be imagining it…'_

 **AN:**

 **Next chapter 3-4.11 - Icebound**

 **Omake:**

"So uhhh… about this armor" Jaune asked carefully as he moved, or rather, tried to move inside the armor Ruby had made for him.

"I told you that there were Standard Template Construction blueprints uploaded to the assembly machine, I just picked one of those" the girl in question blinked innocently "This way you are at least going to be safe...ish"

"What's this thing called anyway?"

"Ehhhh, the template called it 'Terminator Armour' or something" Ruby answered, pulling up a sheet showing the armor's internals with one hand while pulling a lever on other which caused a mechanical arm to place a thick helmet on Jaune's head.

"It's power armor" Jaune mumbled as his his vision was completely obstructed by the extremely over-armored helmet. "I can't even move in this!"

"Don't worry, I made sure to add a pair of flamethrowers into the gauntlets and a force-field to the armor"

"I can't mooveeee"

"I have a remote controller for that"

"You have… wait what?"

"Go forth, Grimminator 9000!" Ruby squealed as she pushed a button on her scroll which caused Jaune, or more specifically the suit he was wearing, to take a step forwards and launch a cheesy fighting quote while extending a pair of flamethrowers from the power-fist gauntlets.

"Ruby nooooooo…." The desperate plea was ignored as the suit took him towards the combat class.

"That'll teach Pyrrha to hurt Jaune…" the small girl muttered as soon as Jaune had disappeared behind a corner.


	13. Icebound

Monday came slowly and the morning had started miserably as Jaune woke up once again to a nightmare in which he saw places he had never visited and met people he had never met.

Ruby had been quiet and Weiss had been somewhat wary near him during the monday's classes. It seemed that Blake was the only one who retained her usual attitude- not that the black-clad was easy to read even during the best circumstances.

As the afternoon approached Ruby had pulled him away from the rest of the team wordlessly and led him back to the workshops in order to test-fit the armor she had made for him.

"To be honest, I was pretty surprised when you grabbed me…" Ruby hummed as she strapped a shoulderpad on Jaune's arm. "You never told me what happened there and Weiss's interruption didn't help…"

"Yeah... " Jaune agreed quietly "It was surprising to me as well."

"Was it… was it related to your ability? The Grimm Semblance?" her tug of the leather strap holding the pad to his shoulder was unusually sharp as Ruby brought his earlier loss of control forwards.

"..."

"It… sort of scared me. I thought something was wrong, since you just doubled over and fell on your knees without warning…" Ruby continued her speech as Jaune's answer was not forthcoming. "I- I know you wouldn't do it, but it almost felt like you wanted to hurt someone back then…"

The strap around his back which tied his breastplate to his chest was starting to get uncomfortably tight as the girl pulled the leather strap absentmindedly.

"...Ruby, can you promise that you won't freak out when I tell you something?" Jaune asked hesitantly as he felt that he needed to get the reason behind his lack of control out of his chest. "It's something that I didn't tell about my Semblance earlier. Something that is limiting my ability, and to be honest, scaring me as well."

"I- I promise, as long as it won't hurt us… I mean, nevermind." Ruby started, before pausing to take a breath " I promise. What happened?"

"I'm not truly in control of my Semblance" Jaune told Ruby, and he could feel how her movements started to become stiffer than usual. "I have a thing inside me. Something that tries to force me to do things I don't want. To hurt people… I call it The Shadow. A part of me that tries to take control whenever I transform, and to hurt people."

".." Ruby was quiet as she worked on the armor behind him, tightening straps and attaching plates.

"Ruby?"

"I… I don't care" she finally told him with quiet voice "I just… don't care. You are you."

"Ruby, I might hurt people. I might even hurt you!" Jaune said, turning around and causing one of the half-attached plates to fall from his shoulder. "I…"

His speech was interrupted as Ruby put both of her hands over his mouth.

"Don't." she told him with a unusual scowl on her face "You haven't hurt us… You haven't done anything bad to us!"

"But… if I lost control I might..."

"No." Ruby declared. "You won't. You saved me back at Vale. You have been with me and Yang since the airship, and you haven't hurt anyone as far as I can tell."

"Ruby, I've killed people" he responded, and his words caused Ruby to stiffen.

"I… I forgive you" she whispered "It was… when the Dust shop happened, right? You did it to protect me…"

"Even before that." he responded, taking hold of Ruby's hands. "I lost control. Badly. And I killed someone."

"..." Ruby looked away. "But… you held it back yesterday. You didn't hurt me."

"It was because of your eyes." Jaune responded honestly "They… affect me."

"If- if that's some corny pick-up line I'm going to…" Ruby muttered as her eyes flashed and Jaune could feel her hands starting to shake from frustration.

"No, I'm serious. Your eyes, they make the part of me that wants to hurt people freeze" Jaune explained. "When I was about to lose control, I looked into your eyes and it caused the Grimm in me to freeze, to stop its attack and flee deeper into my mind."

Ruby was quiet for a long while as she seemed to be considering his words.

"I don't know what to think." she finally said. "Even Ozpin has told me that my eyes are odd… well, not with those exact words but still…"

Ruby looked up at him "Now even you say the same…"

"I'm not sure what causes the freezing effect, I haven't had it happen with anyone else" Jaune continued as Ruby's speech whittled into silence. "I'm just afraid that one day the Grimm part of me wants to hurt you for it, or hurt people close to us, and I would be unable stop it."

"But I will" Ruby declared "If you can't stop yourself, I will stop you… So don't give up!"

"...Thank you, Ruby" Jaune said while pulling Ruby to a hug as the trust she showed towards him felt incredibly good after the wariness, distrust and straight-up fear he'd endured after returning to Vale. "You're the best partner I could ask for."

"Eh- eeeeeeeeh" Ruby stammered as she froze still against him. "Ehuh- you're welcome?"

"Ah, sorry, I did it again" Jaune realized while letting go of Ruby.

"Its- its alright" Ruby responded, before taking breath to calm herself as she had grown a faint blush on her cheeks. "And… I'm sorry for asking you about your family, if it was what caused you to lose control. I won't do it again..."

"No" he responded simply "It wasn't your fault… it was just a combination of many things."

"I see" Ruby responded while looking unblinkingly at his eyes.

Jaune was confused for a moment, before realizing what was pressing the girl "Ruby, you don't have to stare. I won't lose control right now, I think"

"W-what changed?" Ruby said while blinking and rubbing her eyes with one hand. "I… uh… thought that you might… well, it happened the last time I asked of your family so I figured it might happen again... Well, anyway, you told me that my eyes have er, calming effect on you?"

"Yeah… I'm not sure what happened back then" Jaune explained as he turned his back to Ruby and the girl continued attaching the training-armor plates she had made for him. "There was just some… bad memories involved"

"Want to talk about it?" Ruby asked quietly as she punched holes into the leather straps for locks which would hold the armor plates against his body. "Not that I'm really the best person for erm, moral support or psychology or…"

"It's… okay" Jaune said as he paused for a while to collect his thoughts. "It started in Shion…" he began, recounting the events that befell Shion and his family during the bandit raid, and the death of his father in the hands of the Grimm-masked woman.

"That's… horrible" Ruby half-sobbed as the armor-fitting had made way for sitting on the workshop's stools as the story progressed. "Did… did you find out what happened to your sisters? Or who did it?"

"I haven't found out what became their fate… but Ozpin told me that he'd look for them while I am training." Jaune told her quietly, clenching and unclenching his hand to push back the uncomfortable feeling of rage the memory brought in him, "He told me that I shouldn't look for them as I am… that I would just get myself killed trying to save them."

"He must have had a reason for that. My dad and uncle trust Ozpin…" Ruby responded quietly "Did you find out who was responsible for the whole thing?"

"Ozpin told me she was Raven Branwen" Jaune answered. "Ruby? Are you alright?" he asked a moment later as Ruby's face had lost the last bit of colour it had left.

"Raven… Branwen?" she whispered. "It.. can't be…"

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked, a bit louder this time as Ruby started shaking.

"What... " Ruby seemed to be somewhat lost for words "What are you going to do when you find her?"

"I will find out what she's done to my sisters, and kill her" Jaune answered simply. "She is someone who raids villages and kills innocent people… a bandit, through and through."

"She's… Yang's…" Ruby mumbled, her voice dropping so low that Jaune couldn't hear her words.

"Ruby? Can you say that again?"

"We… Yang and I… know of that woman. Sort of…" Ruby muttered a bit louder, but still somewhat quietly, "Yang… that woman, Raven Branwen… uh... took her mother away…" she told Jaune, looking away from him almost as if she was ashamed of something.

"My dad, Taiyang, was devastated when he lost her which left him unable to really take care of Yang who was too young to take care of herself... My own mother, who was his old teammate, came to help him and they ended up falling in love… resulting in me." Ruby told him quietly "And then she too was taken away... by the Grimm. Dad and uncle told me they couldn't even find her body... "

Jaune reached over to hug Ruby again. This time the girl didn't freeze and instead leaned onto the hug as he rubbed circles on Ruby's back.

"Yang had to take care of me after that…" Ruby continued with slightly muffled voice "...As well as to take care of dad. He eventually got his act together with uncle Qrow's help… but Yang had lost her childhood by that point"

"I see…" he responded simply, and Ruby continued her story.

"Yang's been looking for her mom ever since she... died... because dad never told her what happened to her… just that she left" Ruby continued, and he could feel her growing still in his arms, almost as if she was afraid of something. "Dad didn't want to put Yang through that, after all she had to go through…"

Jaune pulled back from the hug. "I promise that I'll avenge Yang's mom when I find her killer." he promised while looking down at Ruby's pale face.

"Just… promise me you won't tell Yang about her mother" Ruby said quietly while looking away from his eyes "You have to promise me"

"Wouldn't she wish to join me to avenge…"

"No. You can't tell her" Ruby insisted, looking directly at his eyes with determined look on her face. "You definitely can't tell her about her mom… I mean about her mother's killer!"

"Uh… okay" Jaune conceded. "I don't know why, but… you know Yang better than me, I suppose."

"Thank you" Ruby leaned to give him a quick hug before pulling back "And uh… thank you for telling me about your family…"

"It's what partners are for, right?"

"For being emotional bullet sponges?" Ruby asked, blinking innocently while masking a small hiccup as the room's tension unwinded slowly.

Jaune chuckled as he lifted himself up from the otherwise deserted workshop's stool and Ruby hopped down from hers as well.

"Well, the armor isn't going to fit itself, so turn around so I can continue measuring and punching the straps…" Ruby instructed him, and he turned around to let Ruby continue her work on the armor plates.

"...I'm sorry Yang… It's for the best..." Jaune heard Ruby mutter behind him as she returned to her work.

' _She must be sorry that she told me about Yang's secret… still though… I didn't know Raven and her band raided Vale as well since it wasn't mentioned in the Ozpin's message…'_ Jaune thought as he felt the plates tightening against his body.

* * *

"I think I fucked up" a growly voice rang in a ornamental office as the growling man slouched on a clockwork chair that had been raised in front of a ornamental office desk.

A soft click of porcelain against metal was followed with a sigh as the man behind the office desk adjusted his glasses.

"Qrow, what happened?" Ozpin asked simply.

"I think the brat's onto me" Qrow told him, looking warily at a mug of coffee he had been offered when he had excused himself into the headmaster's office. Steeling himself, Qrow pulled a flask from inside his jacket and poured a generous amount of it's contents into the coffee before downing it in one go.

"Do elaborate" Ozpin prodded as Qrow seemed to be too distracted committing his heresy against the coffee.

"He was training with my nieces… and he started to talk to Yang about Raven and her band of asshats so I interrupted them" Qrow recounted "And then later the same day he tried to get it on with Ruby in their dorm room, and I got too close trying to interrupt them... and he spotted me."

"I did warn you not to let your protective side as their uncle hamper your work" Ozpin sighed, disappointed by his agent's lack of care "Then again, there are few alternative solutions for observing him… we may need to change our tactics"

Ozpin leaned against his desk "Did he definitely recognize you? Is your human form compromised?"

"No… I think it's just the crow form" the drunk shapeshifter confirmed "I'm fairly sure the brat hasn't seen me yet in human form…"

"That's good…"

"I don't like that look you got on your face"

"How do you feel about teaching?" Ozpin asked, ignoring Qrow's comment.

"Did it in Signal. Hated it, dropped out after few years." the man in question growled. "As you very well know, I might add"

"I believe we have a option then…"

"Ozpin, No."

"Ozpin, Yes" the headmaster replied. "Glynda has been telling me that she's overburdened being both a teacher and my assistant, so this gives us a ample opportunity to kill two Grimm with one blow..."

.

..

...

"Yo, brats." a somewhat ragged looking man slouched on his chair greeted the combat class as the first-year students assembled into the arena-classroom. "I'm your new combat instructor for now, my name is…"

"UNCLE QROWWW" a red-clad missile launched itself from the spectator's seats and impacted against the teacher, knocking him clean off his seat and out of sight behind the small desk the combat instructor had set up beside the fighting ring.

"Oi, pipsqueak, getoff" the man identified by Ruby as Qrow growled while waving his hand wildly above the desk in attempt to dislodge the over-excited girl that was stuck on the appendage, as the class stared at exchange in mixture of shock and amusement.

"EEEEeeeek" a squeal followed Ruby as she was flung out of the arena, and she used her Semblance to bounce off a wall and to land herself back on her usual seat beside Jaune.

"Is… he the uncle you were telling me about?" Jaune leaned to whisper to her ear, causing Ruby to nod vigorously.

"Yeah, he's really awesome" Ruby gushed, drawing a somewhat wary nod from Jaune. Blake gave Ruby a somewhat dubious look but choose not to comment.

Weiss huffed as she saw the man in question take a swig from his flask in front of the class.

"While it might be early for me to pass judgement, I am not convinced by his… habits" the white-haired heiress scowled quietly as Qrow burped "Also, Ruby, please don't cause a scene like that in the future…"

"Right, shut up y'all" the teacher growled at the students "I'm Qrow. You can call me Qrow, prof, or teach. I'm gonna be standing in for Goodwitch for a while so she can concentrate on her other duties. Any questions?" he asked, ignoring the few upraised arms.

"Alright, if there's no questions, let's get fightin'. Orange, Red, stop whispering when I'm talking" he finished his speech while throwing an eraser at Nora with enough force to knock the girl backwards out of her seat as the piece of rubber hit her forehead. Pyrrha froze completely still as she stared at the teacher that had felled her partner so effortlessly.

The class watched in mixture of emotions as Qrow called an entire team of students to stand forwards.

"Right, brats." he growled at the team of students as he stepped into the ring himself "Try to not get yourselves beaten down in three… two… one..."

"Um… excuse me, sir? Can you reapeaaauughhh" the unfortunate team-member was interrupted and sent to the floor as Qrow's fist forcibly occupied the space the student's head been in.

"Too slow" the older man growled while reaching once again for his flask. "What do they teach you kids these days? To hesitate and whine? That's pretty pathetic."

"Why you…" the leader of the team growled at the man and swung his blade at Qrow's head. Qrow crouched under the wild swing, and delivered a pinpoint accurate punch at the teenager's crotch, drawing a pained whelp from the student and a collective wince from the rest of the class's male population. He showed mercy however, and delivered the team leader to a blissfully unconscious state with a elbow to the face.

The two remaining students backed away slowly as Qrow closed ominously on the unfortunate teenagers, before he stopped on his tracks and made a show of turning around and starting to return to his desk.

The teenagers saw their chance and swung their blades in unison with their focus centered solely on Qrow's back… and missed their swings as both of them tripped over the unconscious body of their first casualty.

Qrow turned casually back towards the students who were struggling to get off the ground after having inexplicably gotten their weapons tangled on their unconscious comrade's clothes, and kicked both of the struggling students to the face.

"So, any questions?" the professor asked as he looked up from the unconscious team lying in a heap on the arena's floor.

Jaune lifted his hand "So um… what were we supposed to learn?"

"You're a brave one, aren't you... starting to question my methods already…" Qrow growled "Knowing that this is this first time we have ever met."

"uh…"

"First time we've met." Qrow repeated, scowling at Jaune.

"But anyway… what you were supposed to learn from that is that you can't win all the time, and some other things as well" the professor continued, addressing the room. "Tell me the other things. I told this team of idiots not to end up in infirmary condition. What did they do wrong?"

Weiss lifted her hand, and got a somewhat hazy stare in response "You're the Schnee brat, right?"

Weiss bristled at the way she was being addressed "I am Weiss Schnee, Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, professor…" she scowled "but to answer your question, the team should have stood up together instead of attacking one at…"

"Wrong" Qrow interrupted the heiress. "Even by fighting together as a team this band of incompetents couldn't win against me. Try again"

"I… they should have tried to flank…"

"Wrong."

"Perhap-" Weiss's speech was cut as Qrow snapped his fingers.

"Wrong. You were about to suggest ranged combat, seeing how I'm unarmed, right?"

"How did… Is there no way..."

"Now we are getting closer. They couldn't beat me. I can tell far in advance what their feeble tactics would be, because I've been teaching students like these for years, and seen them get themselves eaten by the Grimm as well." Qrow growled, directing his words at the entire class "I can tell what newbies like this would do, and can counter their tactics far before they are even realized… Now, Weiss Schnee, heiress of some big ass company, what should they have done in order to not get beaten down?"

"I- don't know." Weiss scowled, frustrated by the man's teaching style.

"Run away." Qrow answered simply, slumping down behind his small desk beside the arena as the entire class sat in shock-like silence.

"Ex- excuse me?"

"Run. Away." the man repeated "I didn't order them to beat me. I ordered them to not get beaten down."

"But-"

"They should have realized that they are no match for a real huntsman from the get-go. Flee. Survive. Throw one of your comrades at the enemy so others can run away. Get creative, don't get bogged down. Recognizing when you are outclassed is something that will save your lives." Qrow recounted, pointing at the pile of students "If that was a real fight, and I was some dangerous criminal they were sent to apprehend, or some strong Grimm, the entire team would be dead because they choose to fight when they should have fled. I even went and turned my back on them which should have been big enough cue to grab their fallen and leg it, but nooooo" he drawled on.

"They fought, perhaps in anger, perhaps afraid of losing face, or from some misconception of pride and heroism… which would make nice epitaph for their gravestones as yet another bunch of Heroes who died pointless deaths" he finished his speech, opening his hands as if to dare anyone to argue.

"I will train you to become Hunters. Not dead Heroes."

Silence followed his words.

* * *

"Your uncle is… interesting man" Jaune commented at Ruby after the class was finished and team SABR made their to the dining hall. Qrow had spent the rest of the class on lessons much similar to the first one, although with less manhandling of the somewhat cowed students.

"'Interesting' is not the word I'd use to describe him" Weiss scowled as she put her food-tray down on their usual table. "Infuriating, brutish, uncouth… however his teachings had a point, even if the delivery method was suspect at best…"

"Yeah, uncle Qrow has that effect on people" Ruby conceded. "He's really good at training though. He trained me to fight, and helped Yang hone out her fighting style, although most of it is from dad…and uncle Qrow uses Scythe as well! It's really awesome too and..." she went on to gush about her uncle to Weiss who looked somewhat discomforted by the smaller girl's excitement.

"What did you think about Qrow, Blake?" Jaune asked the disguised faunus who was quiet as usual, and seemed to be absorbed in her own thoughts.

"I- what?" she asked, startled by the sudden question.

"What did you think about Qrow?" Jaune repeated while looking at Blake.

' _Curious… she's not usually this distracted... '_ Jaune thought as the girl in question seemed to gather her thoughts.

"He seems… odd." Blake answered half-heartedly before returning to her food.

"Yeah..." Jaune conceded. Before he could speak further, a somewhat mocking laughter caught his ear.

He looked over to see a team of first-year students bullying a student with long bunny ears poking out from on top of her head..

' _A faunus…'_ he thought as he saw the leader of the team pulling the girl's long ear.

"Blake…" Jaune nodded towards the bullied girl. "Should we do something about that?"

"..." Blake was silent for a moment although her amber eyes flashed as she saw the bunny-girl's despair. "No…" she finally got out after a brief internal struggle.

"If I hit their leader on the back of his head and you…. huh?" Jaune muttered, but Blake's answer caught him off guard. "No?"

"No." Blake confirmed. "We shouldn't get involved."

"Why?"

"What would you have us do? Knock the bullies out? You would do her no favors… because the bullies would just become more and more cruel, and take their bullying to somewhere where no-one could see it…." Blake muttered quietly as she looked at the team of bullies.

"That… doesn't seem right" Jaune answered, feeling the adrenaline that had flooded his system in preparation for a fight disappear from his body, leaving a cold and weak sensation in it's wake. "She doesn't have her team with her to defend her either…"

"Her team probably doesn't like her either… that's the fate of the faunus…" Blake continued, her eyes focusing on Jaune "Now you know why I reacted the way I did when you found out my secret… "

"Did you think that we'd try to bully you like that?" Jaune asked, feeling a pang of sympathy at the disguised faunus.

Blake nodded "I've had... friends... who have had their teams turn against them upon finding that they were not human."

"Yo'. Wha's this about?" a drunk voice broke their quiet exchange, and the pair turned to look at the table where the team of bullies and the faunus girl had been broken apart as their inebriated combat instructor had waddled to the table.

"Sir, we were…" the leader of the team made to explain, but Qrow spoke over him.

"You're Cardin Winchester, right?" he growled "Don't try to explain, I know what happened here, I've seen it happen time and time again…"

"I… see. Hold on, you're the teacher that told us to run away in face of Grimm!" the student identified as Cardin exclaimed.

"Naw. I taught you valuable life lessons… and I'm about ta do it again, regarding the girlie here" Qrow responded, leaning closer to the teenager.

"What, to not teach the Faunus scum their place?"

"Yeh, I'm not gonna stop you if you're worried about that" the man responded, taking both the bully and the faunus off-guard.

"W-what?"

"Yeh heard me." Qrow scowled "I ain't gonna stop you from bullying your comrade"

"My what? A faunus can never be…" Cardin made to begin, but Qrow snapped his fingers in front of the teenager's face.

"But she is. A fellow hunter-in-training. Just like you." the teacher growled "like it or not, you're in this together… aren't you girlie?"

The somewhat cowed faunus nodded with a confused expression.

"The girlie here isn't just a faunus. She's your fellow Hunter, and in few months when the students get their first missions, she'll fight beside you… or will she?" Qrow growled "The thing with war, be it against Grimm, criminals or other kingdoms, is that the enemy needs their weapons to kill you… your allies need to just 'do nothing' to archive that."

"I…"

"You don't understand, do you?" the temporary professor grumbled

"She's just a faunus!"

Qrow sighed before slapping the leader of team CRDL in the face. "Pay attention"

The slap rang in the now silent dining hall as the rest of the students turned to look at the conflict in their midst.

"You're not students studying to become accountants, chefs, or some other civilians where you can afford internal rivalries or petty squabbles about honor, racism, or pride... You're training to become soldiers in our eternal war against the Grimm." Qrow growled loud enough to carry across the hall. "When I tell you to get the fuck along with eachother, I don't tell it because I enjoy eating in peace and quiet, I tell it because if you shit on your fellow Hunters, your comrades-in-arms, you will eventually end up fightin' alone, or when you charge forward, you will find a Grimm's claw pointed at your face, and a gun pointed at your back."

He took a step backwards to look down at the faunus girl.

"And you, girlie, need to stand up for yourself or find allies, and not wait for someone to come save you like knight in shinin' armor. You're supposed to become a Hunter, not a prey. Get proactive." Qrow scolded the faunus.

"But I…" the faunus started.

"Normally the teachers don't interrupt bullying, because it only happens during the first year, second year at best" Qrow told both of the parties "Guess why? By year three the weak and meek ones have either got a grip on their life, dropped out, or gotten themselves killed… and the bullies have either realized that they are bullying someone they have to trust their with their lives, or gotten themselves killed by the Grimm when the people they bully don't cover their back…"

Qrow made show of turning around and shrugging "Now, I'm going to go back to eatin' and you two can either keep playing your silly games or realize just what you are supposed to become… or don't. It doesn't matter to me, since Grimm eat their prey so at least I don't have to bury anything."

"Professor Qrow is indeed a peculiar man" Blake confirmed to Jaune after the unorthodox teacher had returned to his seat beside Dr. Oobleck, breaking the silence that had fallen over the dining hall.

"He's awesome, isn't he" Ruby gushed at Weiss.

.

..

…

"Sooo~" Yang drawled playfully "What'd make you pick up teaching again?"

"A offer I couldn't refuse… and believe me, I tried." Qrow grumbled.

Yang, Ruby and Qrow had commandeered team SABR's dormroom in order to catch up after the classes ended, and Yang and Qrow were playing a fighting game that they had set up on a desk by the dorm's window, using their Scrolls as controllers. Ruby had sat herself down on the floor as well and was watching the gameplay.

"It seems that Ruby at least got the bunk beds she always wanted though" Qrow commented as he looked at the sturdy steel-reinforced bunk beds while trying to ignore the posters above the other top-bunk.

"Yeah, we had a bit of a tussle over them but Weiss finally caved in and let us have them, she even ordered a bunch of steel beams to hold them up!" Ruby clapped her hands excitedly "I got the top bunk above Jaune and Blake got the top bunk above Weiss!"

"That's grand…" Qrow answered slowly as Yang pressed her assault against the old hunter in the game while winking at Ruby.

"Oh! Are you going to train us, uncle?" Ruby asked excitedly, gluing herself on Qrow's arm.

"My work title is 'assistant combat instructor' so take three guesses, pipsqueak" Qrow responded and tussled Ruby's hair to make her let go. The momentary distraction caused a opening in Qrow's guard, which Yang exploited immediately and launched a series of attacks that slammed Qrow's character on the virtual floor.

"Good one, sis!" Yang cheered as Qrow stared at a large 'You Lose!' message plastered on the game's screen with a shocked expression.

"You planned for that distraction… you two are getting better" the scraggly man grumbled as the sisters fistbumped after their successful tag-team operation.

"Right… good ol' Oz recruited me. He told me that I'd need a break from doing Huntin' for a while." Qrow explained to the sisters "The pay he offered wasn't that good… and I really don't like teaching snot-nosed brats how to walk without tripping on their swords, but at least it beats tryin' to shadow some Grimm for days so it'd lead me to it's nest… or stay perched up on a branch and watch as one tries to get comfy with... " the grumbling died down to a inaudible mumble, although Ruby could hear something about blondes and overly innocent girls.

' _Did dad get a new girlfriend? I thought he swore to never date again after mom…'_ Ruby thought, tilting her head. ' _Oh yeah, speaking about dating…'_

"Uncle?" Ruby tugged Qrow's sleeve, causing the man to look down at her after making sure that his game with Yang was paused beforehand. Ruby steeled herself for a moment while adopting what she called 'innocent, adorable look number 4' (named so by Yang after she had caught her hand in a cookie jar, literally).

"Ummm… I asked a boy for a date, and he said yes." she started, ignoring Yang who seemed to be struggling between having a wide grin and a protective frown after hearing her words. "And uh… I don't really know where to take him, so since you are man, and were once young, and are a wise uncle at the time of speaking I thought that I'd come you for advice?"

Qrow stared at Ruby with a expression of pure horror and Ruby struggled to keep her expression from devolving into a giggle over her uncle's reaction.

"...Who's the soon-to-be corps- I mean lucky boy?" Qrow asked with a carefully neutral tone after getting his expression under control "I can't hunt down- I mean provide advice if I don't even know who he is."

"He's Jaune, who is also my partner!" Ruby answered eagerly, happy that her uncle was willing to advise her. "Oh yeah, I haven't told you about him, he's really nice and…"

.

..

...

Jaune sneezed as he sat once again in the secluded corner of the library.

' _I hope Yang and Ruby are having fun catching up with their uncle...'_ he thought as he put the books he had borrowed earlier on the small reading table, having grabbed them from the dorm's bookshelf before getting booted out of the dormroom by Yang and Ruby.

He had seen Blake pass by him earlier in the library and it looked like she had been searching for something frantically, going through bookshelves and tables with almost desperate look on her face.

' _I wonder what's up with her…'_ he thought as he pulled 'Ninjas of Love' out of his bag, before remembering that it wasn't a library book. ' _Hold on… Is she looking for this?'_

He thought briefly about trying to find Blake but sacked the idea as she would likely run by him again soon, and trying to chase her down would likely just end up with him running circles around the library in chase of her.

"Right… let's see…" he propped Blake's book on the table so that should she wander past him again, she would see the book and could come to recover it. Since the other book was occupied, Jaune pulled off the 'Old Faunus and the Sea' and started reading.

Minutes turned to hour as Jaune read the story where the middle-aged faunus woman was shunned off her village, and instead of trying to regain her place in the village she choose to pursue a life of solitude fishing for the biggest fish in the sea.

' _Huh… that's pretty dark... '_ Jaune thought ' _To be kicked out of community just because of some cat-ears… then again she's happy fishing and seems to like eating seafood anyways so it isn't that bad… still, I wonder what a 'terror of the seas' is, doesn't sound like something that should be fished...'_ He turned a new page as it seemed that Blake was nowhere to be seen, having likely left the library already.

' _...Oh no, the giant squid broke her fishing boat…'_ Jaune thought as minutes passed by alongside the pages of the book. ' _Is she going to die? That thing's pretty horrifying… oh no, she got caught by the giant squid-thing!'_

He turned a new page, and froze after reading forwards a bit.

' _Hold on, is that a tentacle? Wait, that goes where?'_ Jaune thought with a confused expression settling on his face. ' _Oh… that can't be comfortable… eh, nevermind, apparently it is?'_

He turned the book on it's side to look at a illustration of the previous page's 'activities' printed helpfully on the following page, and felt his cheeks turn red almost instantly. '… _Well, she's not dead and uh, is enjoying doing… that… so I guess it's a good thing?'_

"J-Jaune?" a somewhat faint voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked up from the book to see a somewhat stunned and slightly blushing Blake staring at him, or more specifically staring back and forth between the book on his hand, and the one propped up on the table.

"Hi Blake" Jaune greeted back while putting his book down, trying to think about anything that wasn't what he just saw. "Listen, did you happen to misplace a book when you were returning them to a shelf a while ago?"

"N-no…" she responded, looking at the ninja-book on the table. "I- definitely didn't misplace it… I mean there is no book. No book was ever lost."

"I see... I found this book on the shelf where we talked a while ago" Jaune explained, pointing at the copy of 'Ninjas of Love'. "It wasn't library book so I thought you might have lost it?"

Blake looked at the book while she seemed to be fighting some sort of internal battle.

"I- I don't know what you are talking about" she finally got you after her struggle reached an end. "I definitely didn't misplace my favori- I mean book I've never heard about."

"Alright." Jaune conceded "I guess I was wrong… so it doesn't matter if I take this book and put it away?" he said as he made a show of taking the ninja-book from the table and moving it towards his bag, causing the girl's expression to turn increasingly panicked and despaired.

"S-sure" she whispered out while staring at the book longingly "I… I'll… I didn't want it anyways…"

"Unless you want to take it?" Jaune asked, pulling the book away from his bag and offering it at the girl who perked up instantly and snatched the book from his hand with a lightning-like strike.

"I'll take good care of it... Return it to it's owner I mean" Blake responded, and Jaune could see the bow on top of her head perk up slightly as she hugged the book to her chest. "…Be careful not to let Weiss see that you are reading books like that though…" she added almost as an afterthought.

"Huh?" Jaune asked "What books?"

"Exactly. Very good." Blake nodded with a small, approving smile on her lips. "And… thanks"

"You're welcome." Jaune nodded, not quite sure what happened but glad that it was resolved nevertheless.

' _Eh, I guess I'll have to borrow it from her sometime… I really wanted to find out what the hip-to-hip combat was all about'_ he thought as Blake left the library and he picked the book he had been reading back up. '... _Hmm… I wonder if those tentacles have combat applications… uh… not that way though… wait, did that go where I thought it went?'_

He looked out of the window to the slowly darkening sky as he reached the end of the chapter ' _I really need to go to work on my transformations too… Yet here I am, just merrily wasting my time reading fiction while… that woman… still has my family…'_

Making a split-second decision, Jaune stashed his book to his bag and headed out of the library, and headed towards the woods outside Beacon.

' _I can't afford to laze around…'_

* * *

' _I've eaten enough at the dinner so I shouldn't need a Grimm to stabilize myself... I hope that is enough for small transformations.'_ Jaune thought as he sat down cross-legged on the spot of grass he and Yang had trained in previously. ' _The evening is starting to lean towards the night… so the darkness should hide me from sight in case anyone wanders nearby, although I don't think anyone else would be out this late…'_

He shut his eyes and closed his ears to the outside world as he pulled deeper into his own mind, trying to reach what he hoped to be a meditative state.

' _The Aura-book detailed meditation as one of the main exercises in order to understand one's own Aura…'_ he breathed in and out steadily, feeling the dull headache that accompanied the presence of the Shadow intensifying as he reached deeper towards the dark corner of his mind where it nested. ' _Now let's see… I tried and failed to shift into a Beowolf properly last time… so let's try to shapeshift into a small one…'_

He felt the uncomfortable heat building up on his skin as he felt the whispers becoming louder and louder.

He forced himself to stay still as his skin crawled before starting to heat up and black veins once again spread over his body, preparing his body to form plates of armor and…

' _...Not this time… '_ he thought as he opened his eyes, looking at the soft wisps of steam rising from the overheating flesh of his hands. He saw a faint red glow get reflected on the skin that had turned pale, and knew that his eyes had once again started to glow the unholy red light.

He felt his muscles contract as he forcibly steered the transformation towards his goal before the armored bone-plates could start to form, or any other unwanted part to grow.

Jaune leaned forwards to take deep breaths as his transformation struggled against him, the Shadow urging him to go further and further towards his inhuman side, to lose control…

' _No… I'm human… I do this for the people I care about… '_ he thought, focusing on his family as he strained to maintain a controlled transformation.

 _T̶͟ḩ͢ȩ͢ ̧͠m͏u̸t̨͜i̡͟l̶͠at̡͜͝e҉̷d̨͏̢ ͟͠c͜͝o͠r̵̨̨p̶s͏e̶͜ ̴̶̡ò̷f͏ ̴̀h̵̡i̵s͡ ͘͞m͏̡o̕t͟͜h̴̛͡e̡͜͡r͘ ̕͡l҉̕҉a̶̧͜i̸͟d̴͝ ͞ò̷́ņ̧͜ ́͢͡t̸̨͞he̷̶͞ ̷̕w̵͡o̶ode̵n ̸̛͠f̵l͟͠o̕͢or̴.̨.̸̶͢_

 _A͡ ̸͘r̵̢͞e͜d̶̡ ̵̶̛b͢͝l͜a̸͘d͢ȩ͞ ͠c̷͘l̡͢e̸͢av͢e̢͠d ̨͟ţ̕͞h͢r͏o̷u͏ǵ̴͜h̸͝ ͠͡a̷͝ ̀͞s͢͝hì̡e҉ĺ͢d ́a͏n̸̴͞d̨̛ ̵t̶h̡́e̸ ̨̡͢m͟a͝n̢҉ ͞h̸ol͟d͜i͜n͜g̷̶̸ ́́it̶.͏̢̕..͠_

 _T̴h̢̢e ͠si̴͟s͠t́er̵̵s ̴̛͜wa̷t́͡c̡̛̕ḩ́́e̢҉ḑ͠ ̷i͢͡n͝͏ ҉h҉ǫ̶͞r͝ror͜͏ ͡ą͟s͜ ̛͞h҉̴͏e͠ ̨s̸̀a̛͘w͠͝ ̴̕͢ḩ͢is o̸͝w͡͞n̡̕ r̕̕͜è͞f̕l͏é̴͡ç͏͞t̢̡i̸͢oń̵͠ ̷i̸̴n̢͞ ͏t̸h͠͡e͝͠ ̢͘͡d̛͘͞a̶͘r̢̡͘k̵͠ ̸̡́w҉͞i̶ǹ͟͜d̸o̢w̸̷..̸͡͠.͟_

The Shadow whispered back to him, reminding him of the horrors from the past and his fears of present.

' _I do this for the people I fight alongside with… My team...'_ he pushed back, focusing on the memories of his team as the voices became more and more incessant as the transformation progressed.

He looked at his hands which had sprouted thick, black fur alongside long claws, and he felt his legs and spine grow into Beowolf's paws and hunched spine.

 _͜͟F҉͝è̕ąr̢ ̡̀f͞i̧͜ļl͠s hé͘ŕ̸ ̴͝b͟l̵͜͠u͏e͢ ́͢e͜͏ỳ͞e̷҉͏s ̴̢à͝s̛ ͘͏t̵͟h̶͜e̴͝y̡ l̀͘͝o̴o̡҉k ̧on̴̨t̛̕o h͟͏í͘m̶̕.̛́̀.̵҉.̛̕ ̴s̕e͡͏̶ę́ ͡҉̕w̸h̶̨o͜͡҉ ̴̕͡h͞ę̶͜ ̧͢tr̸̶̢ư̵l͟y͞ ̢is̸͟͜.̵.̧̨.̷_

 _C̷̡ó̶l̵̛d̷͠ ̛d̴͢ŗ̷͟èa̷͝d̢̢ ̷͞wą̷̢s͝h͟e͡͝s̶ ́ovę͠r̡̛͜ ͢th͏e͞͞ ͢f̶̸͟r̢͏e̸e͏͡z̢̕iń̶ģ̢ bo͘͢d͡y̷̡̧ a͟͠s̴̕̕ ̸̷̧he̶̴r ͝s͟il͢v̶e̢̧r̢͡ ́͏́ȩ͡͡y̕͢e̕s͏ se҉̀e̸ h̶̴͝im̸̵͟.͘.̡.̛ ̵̧ąs҉͏ ̸h̸̨i͠s͝ b̧͢lo̸͡o̵͘͢d͠ t̀͜u҉r̶̵͠n̵̵s̡ ̡t͡͠o͡ ̶̕͞cr͏̷ýs͏̸t̨͞à͝l.̡͜͡..̢̛̕_

 _̡͡S̷̢h́͞e s̶͜t̷́a͟n̸̛͝d͠͝s͏ ͘͠͞a҉g̢a͟͝i̸n̷͟͠s̀͠t̨ ̡h̢҉i̷̢̡m͞͏̸ ́w͢i̴̡th͠ h̕͟e̛r͡͡͞ b͞l̴͟a̛͝d̴̢e̶͟ ̸d̷ŕ̴a̶̷w̶̸͏n͝ ̷͢a͢͠͠n͠d͜ ͝de̶̷̡f҉̴i̷͝a̸n̡͡c͠e i̛͢n̷͘͡ ̛͠͏he͜r̶̀ ̵am͘ber̀͏ e̶͞y̸͜͡é̵s.̛..̛ ̀b͘͟͢è̴si̸͢d̡̧e͏ ͢͜a̸ ҉̡̛m̛a͠n̴ ̸h͠o͏l̡̢̛d̵i̶n͢͠g͜ ͢͡a̵̕͟ ̸̨c͟͢͞r҉́i̧ms̵͡o͟n̴͘͠ b͠ĺ͝à̛d̵̨e̕ ͏i̕͞n̴̨̡ t́͜h͘͢͞e ̡͡f͢͢oŕe̴st ҉̧ǫ̀f ͝r͘e҉d͟.͘.̴͡.̸̢͘_

' _...I am human… wait, what was that last memory?'_ Jaune repeated inside his head, before his concentration was broken as a fragment of a memory passed by his head ' _Was… was that Blake? Who was the other one?'_

His momentary lapse in concentration was immediately exploited by the rage within, and he hunched forwards as a wave of heat ran through his spine, and he could feel the Beowolf's hunchback start to grow plates despite his efforts to stop it.

Yet despite that, the thing which sent a lance of fear through his spine was how he could feel his stomach growl. The eternal hunger grew stronger as the transformation threatened to exceed what his body could do, and the Shadow commanded him to hunt to support his growing body…

Jaune felt as his body rose up on all fours and turned towards the Beacon against his will. In his altered state, he could feel the faint traces of emotions echoing from the direction of the student dormitories…

' _NO! It… I'm not… I will not!'_ Jaune raged against the instincts that once again tried to make him do something he abhorred even as his head elongated to Beowolf's, and his lips pulled back to a snarl.

He saw the tree where Ruby had sat when she had spectated his and Yang's fight, and launched himself at it, biting his long jaws deep into the wood and anchoring himself to the large tree. Jaune felt as the wood splintered inside his mouth, and his claws dug deep wedges into the tree and the ground as he struggled to remain in control of both his transformation, body and the hunger that threatened to overtake him.

' _Remember… the Aura book…'_ he thought as he heard the tree give a tortured groan as it was being torn and maimed. ' _Calm… but how can I… there is so much hatred…'_

He felt more than he saw the steam that rose from his body as it attempted to shapeshift to something it couldn't, burning away his Aura in it's futile attempt.

' _Crap… crap… shouldn't have tried to do this… so close to Beacon…'_

"Mr. Arc?" a faint, distinctly feminine voice came through the woods, and he felt his fur stand on the edges as he recognized the owner of it. "Are you there? Please answer…"

' _Weiss… no, go away…. Don't come here… why are you here?'_ he thought desperately as he felt a thin armored plate that had tried to grow over his back break off and fall to the ground, his body unable to complete the unwilling transformation with the material it had at hand.

The adrenaline and desperation that the voice amplified was too much for tree he had been tangled on as it finally gave it's last, rumbling crack and he felt his teeth biting completely through the wood, leaving a massive gaping bite-mark alongside the deep gashes his claws had left on the old tree- but more worryingly, it detached him from the tree.

 _P͜r̛è̸͢y͘͠͠.͟͠.̵̕.̷ ҉͠H͜un͝t̴.̡͞͏..̴̛͞ ̴H̶͠u͜n̵͠g̷rỳ̢.̢.̸_

' _No! Weiss is… my teammate… friend… leader…. food… no, not…'_ he whined as he dug his claws into the soft ground, stalking through the bushes and trees of the Beacon's forest towards the source of the sound. His black fur melded into the darkened woods, although he could see a faint trade of red reflected on the leaves as he moved towards his prey.

' _Crap… what did the book say? Meditate, calm, serene… this isn't working!'_ he thought as his feet carried him against his will until he could see a trace of white from between the hazy forms of the trees.

"Mr. Arc, please resp… Grimm!" Weiss gasped out as he pushed through the woods, feeling a snarl escape from through his mouth as he saw the girl's hazy shape through his new eyes.

Jaune felt his body tense as he tossed the Aura book's lessons out of the window, and instead did what he had done previously.

Focusing all of his will on the muscles of his neck, he smashed his head against a nearby tree hard enough to crack the mask on his face even as his limbs twitched.

He saw faintly how Weiss stood motionless even as he smashed his head against the tree again, feeling the mask crack further as he anchored onto the pain. Gradually, he felt the numbing rage of the Shadow lessen as the pain broke through the haze once again,

Jaune slumped on the forest's floor as the pain allowed him to momentarily push the rage and hunger aside, however he knew that he couldn't hold it in for long.

He felt unnaturally light, likely as a consequence of his partially uncontrolled transformation which had cost him a lot more Aura than it should have, burning his body in attempt to both grow and dissolve his flesh.

"...Mr. Arc? Jaune?" he looked up weakly to see the blurry shape of Weiss standing where she had mere moments ago, her arms upraised and ready to cast a glyph and clad in her combat-dress with Myrtenaster in her hand. "Is… it you?"

Jaune nodded weakly before letting his head fall back on the grass with a soft thump as his energy was spent.

"W-what happened to you?" he heard Weiss ask "Nevermind, you probably can't speak… Can you turn back?"

Jaune tried to concentrate on the bubbling, hot feeling that accompanied the transformation and found none. He saw small wisps of smoke rise from his flesh, but nothing else happened beside a rumbling growl coming out of his throat, reminding him of the hunger that lingered just beyond his consciousness.

' _No… If I pass out... I can't stop it…'_ he lifted his head from the ground with a small struggle, and shook it slowly.

"You can't turn back?" he heard the girl ask with concern clear in her voice. "I- what happened? Why can't you… you can't talk, right..." she despaired as the struggle of one-sided conversation once again struck her.

Jaune gave a soft whine as his stomach rumbled, feeling the control he briefly regained starting to slip.

 _Ş̸hȩ̕ ͏̀͡í̵ś̴͝ ̡i͏͞͞n̡ ̷͞f̵̕r̶͢on̷̕t҉̶ ͘o̕͞҉f̧ ̧͜͞ỳ͠o̴͞u̶҉_

 _̨͟T̷a̸k̨͘͜e̴ ̛h͢͟͝e̶r̶͟.͢_

' _No.'_ Jaune was resolute ' _I won't…'_ yet he felt a string of saliva fall between his exposed teeth, and he closed his eyes briefly to hold onto the pain that anchored his will to his body.

' _I need to find a way to let her know… I can't hold myself back for long…'_ he thought as his stomach rumbled once more, this time more incessantly and he could feel his paws dig into the ground in preparation for a leap...

"...Did your stomach just rumble? Are you hungry?" Weiss muttered, and Jaune immediately felt a pang of adrenaline flood through his system.

He lifted his head up again to nod, trying to convey the urgency through the act before burying his head in the ground in desperate attempt to alleviate the hunger by biting into the grass.

The grass-eating did little to help him, however it was enough to convey his urgency to the white-haired girl who pulled something from her pocket.

"...Ruby? Yeah, I found Jaune. No, he's not okay, something is wrong." Weiss spoke to what Jaune assumed to be her scroll "Listen, I need you to get food, anything, from the kitchens. I don't care if you have to break in, I'll just compensate Beacon for replacing… Yeah, it's for Jaune, do you know what happened? Be careful? What do you..."

He heard shuffling as Weiss put her scroll away, and he looked up to see her starting to approach her.

' _No… stay away… don't come closer'_ he growled at the girl who stopped her approach.

"...Jaune? It's me, Weiss. You recognized me" she said "I'm not going to hurt you" she added, almost as an afterthought.

' _No, but I might hurt you…'_ he thought weakly as he saw the girl resume her approach and he growled again to warn her.

"Honestly, what were you thinking? Sneaking into the woods at night- Jaune, what are you doing?" Weiss exclaimed, pulling her hand back as she had been about to check the broken bone-plate that covered his elongated face that had yet to heal, and Jaune had unwillingly snapped his jaws at the heiress.

' _It's not me!'_ Jaune thought as panic surged inside him as he looked at the pale, delicate arm ' _It's… it's not me!'_

"Control yourself!" Weiss exclaimed, backing away while raising her Myrtenaster to it's usual stance.

He heard a growl come through his teeth, before his body jerked forwards unwillingly and his claws extended towards the startled girl- before a white glyph appeared underneath him, and his legs were frozen into a rapidly expanding sheet of ice.

"Jaune, what are you doing!" she asked with a shocked tone, and he could _feel_ the confusion and fear radiating from the girl.

It tasted so sweet.

' _No!'_ he thought once again, straining against the ice that constricted him and unwillingly frightening the girl even further ' _I'm… not… Grimm... '_

A furious roar escaped his maw of razor- sharp teeth, and he bit down with his remaining strength-

Into the black flesh of his arm.

"Wha- what are you doing! Stop!" Weiss called out, but Jaune pushed further until he could feel the bone break, and he tore the arm off before swallowing it and repeating it with his remaining arm.

' _Ahh… that hurts… but… at least now I can't hurt her...'_ Jaune thought with a soft whine escaping his Grimm-form. ' _… Heh, ironic, I did end up eating someone after all…'_

He slumped down on the ice, enjoying the cool sensation against his overheated skin even as he saw the stump of his left arm stop bleeding and he saw a bony, weak arm grow out from the stump.

' _Huh… that looks like the arm… back at Anima… back at Shion… so it was so weak because of malnutrition too…'_ he thought idly as he rested after the struggle. He noticed that the blood-flow from the stump of his right arm had been stopped, yet nothing grew out from the stump.

"What… why did you do that, you absolute idiot?" he heard a muffled voice from above him and he turned his gaze at the white-haired girl who had rushed to his side. She had covered her mouth with her other hand, and seemed to be completely shaken by what she'd seen as she held Myrtenaster in a loose grip.

"Weiss! I heard a roar, have you found him yet- what are you doing?" Jaune looked to the side to see Blake having burst into the small clearing that had been formed when Weiss had coated the ground with ice.

"Why is there a Grimm here?" Blake asked, confusion clear in her tone. "Unless… is that Jaune?"

He nodded weakly at the girl.

"Weiss, why doesn't he have arms?"

"I- he ate them" Weiss answered, shaken by what she'd seen.

Jaune lifted his long head once more to nod weakly at the black-haired girl.

"...Why?" Blake made to ask, but was interrupted as one more person entered the clearing,

"I brought them!" he heard Ruby exclaim as she burst through the underbrush while carrying what appeared to be pair of plastic bags.

"Wha- is that Jaune?" Ruby exclaimed, and Jaune lifted his head for the third time and nodded tiredly.

He felt a growl from his stomach, signalling to him that the time he had bought by his emergency measure was running out.

' _...Although, with both arms cut and out of energy to regenerate, and legs encased in ice, at least I won't be a danger to the girls… so they can kill me if I…'_ Jaune thought hazily, feeling the Shadow's bloodlust start to dissipate to make way for cold and hungry feeling as Ruby approached him, the effect of her silver eyes dispelling the haze of bloodlust. The girl stared at him for a long time, before emptying the bags she had been carrying in front of him.

' _Oh? Meat? Food?'_ he thought as he saw the contents of the bags, before lunging as far as he could to pull the meat Ruby had brought him to his jaws.

The girls watched in silence as he consumed the bag's contents, before Weiss stood forwards.

"Jaune. Turn back. Now." her voice was serious, and he could feel a wave of both fear and rage radiate through the girl's calm exterior.

He gave a small whine before focusing on the bubbling sensation that engulfed his body until he felt the black flesh contract and dissolve, and the bone-plate that had covered his head broke off and fell to the ground.

Slow minutes passed as he struggled to shape himself back to his human form, until he slumped to the ground, his shapeshift interrupted mid-way as he felt too all too tired and spent.

"A- are you alright, Jaune?" Ruby asked as she knelt beside him while looking unblinkingly at his eyes although Jaune could see small tears on the girl's eyes.

"I- I think I'm good now" he got out, before stopping as he felt a small hand impact against his cheek.

The slap rang out in the otherwise quiet clearing, and Jaune pulled his hand up to rub the red skin, noting that his arms had grown back during the transformation.

"Ruby?" he asked, feeling confused over the girl's unusual behaviour.

He got another slap for his troubles, and Ruby grabbed both of his shoulders to shake him back and forth, completely ignoring his naked state.

"You promised… You promised not to go away." she hissed at him "D-do you realize how worried we were when you just disappeared?" her hiss turned to a quiet sob at the end.

"Dis- huh?" Jaune asked. "But I…"

"You didn't tell anyone what happened or where you went, you just disappeared!" Ruby continued, and Jaune could see small tears starting to fall from her eyes "Just like… just like… Don't do that again, ever again!"

"Ahem." a somewhat less furious voice interrupted Ruby, and Jaune looked over to see pale Weiss standing near the partners. She tapped her foot against the ice sheet that had started to slowly melt, and scowled at Jaune "I think you owe us an explanation."

"Oh… right…" Jaune answered. "I was training and it well… went wrong."

"Elaborate" Weiss prodded with a stern expression. "Just what made you go alone into the woods to train until well past midnight, and then try to assault your fellow teammate when they came to look for you after you didn't answer your Scroll?"

"Past midnight?" Jaune asked "How late is it? I… must have lost track of time"

"It's 2 a.m" Blake supplied from the side "We've been trying to find you for hours…"

"I… I tried to shapeshift into a Beowolf…" Jaune started "It… went bad."

"We can tell" Weiss said, covering her face with her hand.

"Is that related to your… control?" Ruby asked quietly "Did you lose yourself?"

"Yes." Jaune admitted, ashamed. "Weiss… Blake... I didn't tell the full truth back when I revealed my Semblance." he started while turning towards the girls, causing their expressions to tighten.

"I am not really in control of my Semblance" he told them "There's a part of me that wants to hurt people… Like a Grimm would. I've already told Ruby of this. Whenever I transform, it tries to take control. Whenever I get too hurt… or go too hungry… it tries to make me hurt people, to use them to regain myself… I'm sorry."

"..." Blake's expression sharpened slightly as she looked at him, but she stayed where she was.

Weiss however shook her head before walking up to him, and slapping him to the face.

The third slap rang in the clearing as Weiss glared at him.

"What do you think a team is?" she hissed "You may be perverted, womanizing idiot but you are part of our team, team SABR!"

"I…"

"If you couldn't control your Semblance, you should have told us!" Weiss scolded him "We would have helped you! Instead you go alone and try to be a hero, and nearly got yourself and people around you killed… just like that teacher, Qrow, warned of us about!"

"But…"

"Starting tomorrow, I'm going to ask miss Goodwitch to give us a temporary break from classes so we can start working on your ability." Weiss interrupted him "...And I will request a trained huntsman to oversee the training so he can hold you back if you go on a rampage..."

"Ah… that won't be necessary" Jaune started, flinching slightly as Weiss glared at him. "I mean the huntsman… I think Ruby would be enough for that"

"Just what…" Weiss started, but Ruby cut her off.

"He told me my eyes cause him to regain himself or something" the girl explained.

"You… how?" Weiss asked "Nevermind, we'll have time to talk… and we _will_ talk, make no mistake of that" She finished her speech by pointing her finger at him, bracing her other hand against her hip.

"Now, where did you put your clothes, mr. Arc?"

* * *

" _I hereby allow team SABR 4 days off Beacon Academy's classes due to unique circumstances. -Glynda Goodwitch"_

Weiss showed the message she had gotten back from Glynda to the rest of the team SABR as team sat in a patch of grass just outside Beacon's grounds, geared up and ready for combat.

"Right, Jaune- start explaining" Weiss told him. "Why do you lose control of yourself? And what do you mean when you talk about the effect Ruby's eyes have on you?"

"Well… I have a thing I call 'The Shadow' that…" Jaune started, explaining the tangle of memories and instincts that lurked inside his mind. Weiss looked sceptical whereas Ruby was still giving him the cold shoulder, and Blake was looking at him with a wary expression as his story progressed.

"...and whenever Ruby looks at me, it… gets afraid. It feels like someone pouring icy water down my spine." he finished,

"That sounds… unbelievable." Weiss responded, lifting her hand to stall further arguments "No, I believe you. It's just that the entire thing is so… alien."

She shook her head "Nevertheless… is there anything else? I really don't want to repeat the last night's episode…"

"I… well, there is one thing." Jaune said slowly. ' _Should I tell her… I guess I don't have options... '_

"Go ahead?" she prodded, crossing her arms.

"Do you remember the large Grimm back at the Initiation?" Jaune asked Weiss, before turning towards Blake. "The one you encountered as well?"

"Yes" Blake nodded,

"You don't mean…" Weiss said slowly as something dawned on her.

"Yeah, I was the Grimm." Jaune confirmed, causing silence to settle on the clearing.

Silence stretched as Weiss stared at him with a shocked expression.

"I… I don't know what to think." she got out before looking to the side as something rustled. "Blake?"

Jaune looked at the disguised faunus to discover that she had leaped up and had started to back away from the rest of the team.

"You… you were that creature after all… I thought you had… but if it was you... It makes sense, that red sword..." Blake's eyes were wide as she stared at Jaune in complete shock,

"I'm sorry, I thought you were a Grimm back then…" Jaune apologized to Blake "You know, black and white colours and so on, and you moved so fast that I couldn't see prop- hey!" he exclaimed as Blake turned around and ran into the woods.

"Blake!" Weiss shouted "Come back…" but the girl had already disappeared amidst the high bushes and undergrowth.

"Just when I said that I wanted to prevent yesterday from happening again…" she grumbled. "Right, Ruby, you're the fastest, go after her!" she commanded and Ruby launched off the clearing, leaving small rose petals on her wake.

"...Wait… that direction…" Weiss muttered as she and Jaune were left alone "Blake's heading towards the Emerald forest!"

"Let's go after her?" Jaune suggested and Weiss nodded, before sprinting towards the woods with Jaune in her trail.

"Sheesh… just what could have caused Blake to react like that…" Weiss grumbled…

* * *

' _I can't stay here'_ Blake thought as she fled ' _He's… that thing. He killed Adam... '_

Irrational panic surged inside Blake as she kept running away from her team.

' _Why? Why did he pretend to be our friend… he's Grimm. He'll kill us all like he killed those people in Forever Fall…'_ Blake kept running until she felt something impact on her back, and she fell to the ground. ' _He got me!'_

She turned around and pulled Gambol Shroud from it's holster, preparing to slash at…

...Ruby, who looked at her with accusing eyes and had her arms tied around Blake's waist.

"Ruby, let go!" Blake panicked "I can't stay here!"

"No!" she responded, tightening her hold despite Blake's attempt to pry her off.

"You don't understand! He'll kill me!"

"No!" Ruby insisted, and Blake was starting to struggle to breath as the smaller girl's hands were tied in a death-grip around her waist. "He won't! I trust him!"

"Even after yesterday? He attacked Weiss!" Blake argued, trying to dislodge Ruby by pushing against her head.

"He- It wasn't him!" Ruby countered, burying her head between Blake's breasts to prevent her from pushing her off. "You heard him, it was the thing inside his head!"

"He could have lied!" Blake shouted "Please… please let me go… or I'll be forced to…" ' _Or I'll be forced to hurt you…'_ she finished inside her head, looking at the Gambol Shroud she still gripped.

' _It would be so easy…'_ a treacherous voice inside her head whispered, one that sound suspiciously like Adam's. ' _Her hands are tied… just one stab and you'll be free…'_

Ruby pulled her head off her chest to look at Blake as her struggling weakened, and Blake saw determination and stubbornness in the red-clad girl's silver eyes. But more importantly, she wasn't even slightly afraid that she'd hurt her...

' _To hurt Ruby… that sounds like something Adam would say…'_ she thought back to the Forest of Forever Fall- where Adam had commanded her to execute a wounded scout. ' _...I am not Adam… I left to become something that isn't him. Still… he was my oldest friend, and it hurts...'_

However before she could find her resolution to either stay or try to fight Ruby, time made the decision for her as the underbrush rustled and Weiss burst through the leaves and branches- and following her, Jaune.

Blake's breath caught and she resumed her struggle which caused Ruby to bury her head on her breasts again- much to Blake's annoyance. "Ruby- get- off" she hissed at the smaller girl as Weiss paused to catch her breath and Jaune closed towards her-

And pulled her off the ground.

"Blake… I'm sorry for earlier… but you really have to stop overreacting." he told her as Blake was lifted to her feet. "I mean, I thought you were a Grimm back at the Initiation Test but I stopped as soon as I realized you weren't one…" he elaborated as Ruby detached herself from Blake.

"You... "

"And uh… I had just gotten out of that form when you caught up with me and…"

"That's not what I mean!" Blake shouted "Forever Fall! I mean Forever Fall you idiot! Where you killed the White Fang scouts, and almost killed me! Where you killed Adam!"

"...White Fang?" Weiss asked from the side. "What is this all about, Blake?"

Blake took a look at the white-haired girl, before trying to continue her escape-

And she got tackled to the ground again by a growling Ruby who latched herself tightly on her back. "L-let me go!" she spluttered as her face dragged against the grass.

"Jaune?" she heard Weiss ask "What is she talking about?"

"No idea" he responded, causing cold dread settle in Blake's stomach.

' _He's playing dumb… figures… why is he doing this? What is he trying to archive by lying?'_ Blake despaired as she tried to pry Ruby's arms off her.

"Blake? What are you talking about when you mean 'Forever Fall'?" she heard Jaune ask, and she felt herself get lifted back on her feet- bringing her face-to-face with the Grimm masquerading as a human...

...

' _What's up with Blake?'_ Jaune thought as he looked at the disguised faunus. ' _Forever Fall… isn't that the red-leaved forest… where I killed the group who had masks… masks…'_

"Ah!" Jaune exclaimed, connecting the dots. "Were you… were you the faunus I spared back then? Wait, she had bunny ears, I think…"

"What? No! You attacked us!" Blake shot back.

"Um… I think the group that attacked me shot first. Literally. In the head, to be specific." Jaune recalled the fight in the Forever Fall, feeling a slight pang of guilt rising in form of the Shadow reminding him of his loss of control at the forest. It must have shown on his face as Blake's expression hardened.

"So you remember… you bastard…" Blake scowled. "You…"

"...Must remember that there are more than two people here." Weiss completed Blake's sentence, reminding them of Weiss's and Ruby's presence. "Now, what are you two talking about?"

"He's a murderer" Blake accused, gripping her weapon tightly although she didn't attempt to run away or attack.

"Uh… That's not how I'd put it but… she has a point" Jaune conceded, which didn't seem to help Weiss's nerves.

"Mr. Arc, is this true?" Weiss asked, trying her best to hide her shock.

Jaune nodded, which caused Weiss to lift her hands up.

"I'm done." she declared, before turning around and starting to walk away- or would have, if it wasn't for Ruby tackling her to the ground just like she had tackled Blake mere moments earlier.

"Ruby what are you doing?" Weiss half-screamed from the ground as Ruby clung onto her waist.

"Not you too!" Ruby growled back. "You won't run away either! Or walk away, or crawl away!"

"Ruby you… let go!" Weiss shot back as she turned on her back on the ground in order to try to push Ruby off her. "I.. I need time to think! I can't do this anymore!"

"Um… Girls?" Jaune tried to interject himself into the argument. "Should we take this somewhere else? Emerald forest is pretty close, and I can feel Grimm getting attracted to the mumble of strong emotions here…"

"Y-you can feel emotions?" Blake got out, before crossing her arms with her gunblade pointed at Jaune. "No. I won't. I won't have you sit in the same room as me, sleep in the same room as me… You're just looking for a chance to kill and eat us too..."

"Blake?" Ruby interrupted the disguised faunus. "This isn't like you… why are you so afraid? Jaune is Jaune! He's not going to hurt us… if he can stop it."

"I don't want to hurt anyone!" Jaune confirmed, starting to feel exasperated over the entire situation. "I just… I just want everyone to get along… to be happy..."

"You… Why don't you understand that…" Blake started to argue but was interrupted as something large and black leaped from the undergrowth, and the girl turned around just in time to see a Beowolf's jaws closing on her head-

-And Jaune grabbing the Grimm by it's head and pulling it away from her.

"Grimm!" Ruby shouted a warning as she tried to disentangle herself from Weiss to grab her scythe.

Before Ruby managed to move to help him however, Jaune had already grabbed the Beowolf by it's throat, and with a furious roar pulled the creature's head from it's shoulders, feeling his sharp claws dig through the creature's throat and it's neck.

"Why can't we all just get along?!" he roared as he tossed the Grimm's severed head aside, and let the headless Beowolf tumble to the grass where it began to sizzle away.

"...I'm sorry" he apologized quietly as Blake shuffled slowly away from him, and both Weiss and Ruby looked at him with somewhat dumbstruck expressions.

"Your face…" she said quietly enough that Jaune could barely hear her. "You're turning again… I have to get away, before you…"

"No!" Ruby shot, grabbing both Weiss and Blake by their sleeves and giving both of them a furious glare.

"Listen… we really need to go. Somewhere that isn't here, preferably Beacon, before more Grimm come." Jaune said hastily as he looked at his blood-soaked hand to discover it having formed sharp claws.

He focused on his human shape and felt as the claws retracted, and his skin regained it's usual colour, although him returning to his normal shape didn't seem to help ease up Blake's expression that was stuck between wary and frightened. He saw as Blake took a small step backwards, and then took another- to a direction which would take her towards the Emerald Forest.

"I- I can't. I'm sorry, but I must go- No! Let me go!" Blake's words turned into a scream as Jaune charged her and picked her up, ignoring the blade that she pressed against his throat.

"Ruby, grab Weiss and let's go- seriously, more Grimm are coming!"

"Right!" Ruby confirmed before she grabbed the somewhat stunned Weiss by her hand and dragged her after Jaune who had started to run towards the Beacon.

.

..

…

"Haaahh…" Jaune breathed out in relief as the team reached Beacon's grounds after running through the perimeter that marked the academy's defence line against the few Grimm that could get into the Beacon's grounds from Emerald Forest.

"Right… " he sighed, looking down at Blake.

"Let me down!" Blake pressed her blade harder against Jaune's throat as he still had her on a princess carry, holding tightly onto her so she couldn't squirm out of his grip.

"If I let you down, are you going to try to run away again?" Jaune asked, and got a glare as a response.

"Guys… can we please stop fighting…" Ruby pleaded as she dragged Weiss behind her. "He's not evil… just… isn't."

"You didn't see him… you didn't have to hold onto the dying and the wounded after he was done with them... " Blake hissed at Ruby.

"...But in my defence, the White Fang attacked first." Jaune complained quietly.

"It was just White Fang scum anyway…" Weiss grumbled, which caused Blake to sent a fierce glare at the girl.

"We are still people! And he just killed them... " Blake scowled, before freezing completely still on Jaune's arms. A moment later her struggle to break free grew tenfold as she seemed to realize what she had revealed.

"Miss Belladonna… are you part of the White Fang?" Weiss asked faintly. "I… I thought I heard wrong but…"

Blake was quiet and turned her head away, which was enough confirmation for Weiss and the girl sat down on the grass.

"I can't do it." she whispered to no-one in particular. "I… just can't. I wanted to be good leader… but… I have a murderer and a terrorist for a team... what did I do wrong…"

Ruby knelt beside Weiss and rubbed her back as the white-haired girl seemed to be in state of shock after all the revelations, and Jaune nodded at Ruby.

"Take care of her, will you?" he asked, and Ruby nodded.

He turned around and gave the pair of girls a bit of space, before settling down himself as well. He let Blake off his carry but held onto her hand- more specifically, held onto the hand that had her weapon.

"Let me go." Blake asked once more, although her voice had lost much of it's heat and was instead replaced by tiredness.

"I won't." Jaune replied to her. "Not before we've cleared the air a bit…"

"There's nothing to clear. You killed people…"

"Who tried to kill me." Jaune replied. "I woke up in Forever Fall, and the first thing I remember is that someone shot me in the face. Someone with White Fang uniform, and backed by a group of other similarly clothed people."

"I… you... you lie"

"I am not lying"

"How can I believe you... "

"That's the second time you tell me that I'm lying…" Jaune sighed.

"That's because you could be…"

"Blake. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so already." he said simply, and saw that the girl froze up from his words. "If I wanted to kill the rest of the team SABR, I would have done that already. You've slept in the same room as me, you've been unarmed near me… we even took a shower together, although in a way neither of us wanted."

"Then why?" Blake asked. "Why you'd kill them… kill him… and not us? The Grimm kill indiscriminately..."

"I'm not Grimm, and I don't know who this 'him' you are talking about is… but I killed the White Fang who attacked me in self defence. Not because I was Grimm." Jaune said. "It was me or them… I chose me. I have nothing against you… or Weiss, or Ruby. I like all of you, and I would fight alongside all of you. The White Fang tried to kill me, they faced the consequences."

"...It… it's just…" Blake started, but words failed her. "I don't know what to think... "

"Then take time to think." Jaune answered. "Just remember that we're here for you… not to harm you."

"..." Blake was quiet for long time, before she finally sighed. "I believe you… for now."

"Thank you. That's all I can ask." Jaune responded. "I believe in you as well so please… don't run away." he pleaded before releasing Blake's hand, and she pulled her arm back with a glare.

"Weiss is never going to accept me for this…" Blake told him quietly. "She…"

"I believe in Weiss as well." Jaune interrupted Blake before she could start. "I'm sure we can pull through this- together."

"We'll see." Blake said quietly with nearly inaudible murmur. "Do you still remember our promise?"

"Hm?" Jaune tilted his head. "You mean about me defending you against Weiss if she started to bully you, and help you escape if she can't be persuaded not to?"

"Yes. Do you still promise me that?"

"Yeah." Jaune nodded.

"I see… I'll hold you to that." Blake closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself.

Jaune lifted himself up and offered his had at Blake who took it warily, as if expecting it to sprout thorns and try to bite her.

As the hand failed to do so, she pulled herself up with it, and they turned to face Weiss and Ruby together…

...And discovered that the two girls had disappeared.

 **AN:**

 **Next chapter- 10-11. Nov. - Shadows.**

 **Omake:**

Glynda Goodwitch walked, no, skipped through the Beacon's hallways.

' _Free time, vacation, more time to do paperwork…'_ she hummed happily inside her head. ' _I feel bad for leaving the students in Qrow's hands… but it's the first proper semi-vacation I've had in years!'_

She walked to the library, intending on loaning a huge pile of books and going to her office to have a reading session while indulging herself on desserts...

...And saw Jaune Arc returning a small pile of books to a shelf in the infamous 'adult' corner of the library.

' _What is he doing?'_ she thought before camouflaging herself against the nearby bookshelves, pretending to check over their covers. ' _Is he… no, that's too horrible to even think about…'_

Eventually she saw the teenager finish depositing his books, and she moved to the vacated shelves as soon as the Grimm-human had left.

' _Let's see… he had loaned that book, and that book… and that…'_ she recounted as she pulled the books from the shelf. ' _'Old Faunus and the Sea'? What's this?'_

She opened the book, and saw a illustration of a certain scene flop open before her eyes.

' _Oh no... it's as I feared...'_ Glynda thought with both rising horror and a blush. _'Also… that looks nice… no, must not think about that'_

She shook her head as she deposited the book to her canvas bag, before putting the other books Jaune had returned to her bag as well. ' _I- I need to remove these before he gets ideas! It's for the safety of the female student population!'_

"Yo, Glyn." a rough voice greeted her from behind and she felt her heart jump from her chest to her throat.

"Aeuh- Ehm. Hello, Qrow" she greeted back with a slightly shaky voice. "I didn't expect you to be in the library, don't you have a class to observe?"

"Eh, I just told the brats to knock eachother out and gave the team leaders the task to oversee the brawl… that way both squaddies and leads get some experience." Qrow shrugged. "So I thought I'd come to grab some books that I can prop on the desk so it'd at least look like I was working…"

"You- that's not how combat instructing works!" Glynda exclaimed. ' _I wish I had thought of that before…'_

"Uh huh." Qrow replied before taking a look at the infamous bookshelf in front of which Glynda was standing with a suspicious-looking canvas bag that was filled to the brim. Before Glynda could react, Qrow had snatched the top book from her bag which happened to be the 'Old Faunus and the Sea', and opened it.

"Whoa, I didn't expect that you were into this kind of…" Qrow started, but before he managed to finish his speech Glynda had pulled her riding crop and whipped it, causing the indecent book to slam into the infuriating man's face and topple him over.

Glynda took her chance and snatched the book off the unconscious man's face, before sprinting off the library.

' _The things I do for my students…'_ she thought as she sat down behind her office desk while growling internally at Qrow's infuriating behaviour. ' _Sheesh, now I need to go through the paperwork to have these removed from the library…'_

She paused for a moment to take a look at the pile of indecent books. ' _Hmm… Well, one more look couldn't hurt… just to make sure…'_


	14. Shadows

"Weiss…" Ruby pleaded "It isn't that bad, honestly…"

"She's a terrorist, and he's… I don't know what he is anymore…" Weiss replied as she paced back and forth in the team SABR's dormroom.

She had fled to the dorms with Ruby on her heels after she had recovered from her shock-like daze earlier, which had been replaced by a frantic back-and-forth pacing.

' _I need to get distance between Blake and myself…'_ Weiss thought as she kept walking in circles with Ruby watching her from near the door, blocking her escape route.

' _I see what you are trying to do, Ruby… '_ she thought ' _But a Schnee never flees from their problems… just tactically repositions themselves to approach the problem from a new angle…'_

"What are you going to do?" Ruby asked. "I- I mean, Blake hasn't done anything to…"

"It's not about that, you dolt!" Weiss snapped. The revelations back at the forest weighed heavily on her nerves, and it made her snappy and easily irritated. "It's about why she is here! And why she's so close to me?"

"Uhh…. I think she's just here to train as huntr-"

"No, why is she my partner? I didn't ask for her to become my partner… unless she planned it from the start…" Weiss realized. "That makes sense… she found me in the Emerald Forest back at the Initiation- and partnered herself to me. It couldn't have been a coincidence... Why? It must have been a deliberate move… to get closer to me…"

"Weiss?"

"...She could have left me to die… no, if the Grimm Abomination was Jaune, then he wouldn't have hurt me… Blake knew Jaune from before, which means she attacked him deliberately, so I'd be indebted to her for 'saving' me, while knowing that I wasn't in danger…" Weiss continued with increasingly hysterical tone. "I- I see, she's trying to get close to me, so she can leverage the Schnee company to give into the White Fang demand-"

A pair of arms wrapped around her and cut her rambling off as Ruby hugged her.

"R-Ruby, get off!" Weiss struggled to push the smaller girl off her, and discovered that the small reaper had a surprisingly strong grip. ' _It must be the result of her constantly swinging that scythe of hers… No, I'm getting distracted, get your mind back in the game, Weiss!'_

"No." Ruby answered simply as Weiss tried to pry her off.

"Why are you doing this? I do not-"

"You are really agitated…" Ruby mumbled to her shoulder. "So uh... I thought that this would work to help you calm down…"

"I am calm!" Weiss screamed.

"You're really not." Ruby responded, and Weiss could feel the smaller girl's grip tightening.

' _Gaah… Why are you doing this, you dolt?'_ she scowled internally. ' _Although it does feel kind of nice… bit like when big sis Winter used to play with me occasionally when we were younger...'_ the memory caused bitterness to well inside her.

' _Yet… those happy days are long gone... because of White Fang…'_ she recalled how her family's relationship with eachother had grown colder and colder as a result of the stress and fear which mounted up alongside the increasing intensity of attacks directed at both her family and her company.

' _Yet Blake was just there, pretending to be a quiet teammate… sleeping in the same room, eating on the same table… I even accepted that she was faunus, and was willing to give her a chance… but she was White Fang all along…'_ Weiss scowled internally and she could feel small tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. ' _She betrayed us... '_

"Weiss…" Ruby whispered, pulling the heiress from her thoughts. "About Blake… about our team… what is going to happen to us?"

"I- I don't know." Weiss confessed. She wanted to scream, she wanted to march to Headmaster's office and tell him that Blake was a member of a terrorist organization, to get the disguised faunus out of her team and booted out of Beacon.

' _...But if I do that, I end up alienating both Jaune and Ruby since both of them seem to be holding Blake's flag…'_ Weiss thought, feeling her rage turn to resignation as the emotional load of the day started to weigh on her. ' _It'd be just like how professor Port said… I'd end up standing alone in the team… Charging alone with claws pointed at my face and guns pointed at my back...'_

"I don't know, Ruby…" she said again. "...Do you even know what White Fang is?"

"I uh… I heard that they were faunus rights activist group gone bad or something…"

"They are terrorists, plain and simple" Weiss scowled. "Terrorists that have harassed, threatened and attacked against the Schnee Dust company and my family time and time again…"

"That sounds bad…" Ruby said slowly. "But… Jaune seems to trust Blake so at least she can't be that bad..."

"What you mean to say is that they are in a relationship…" Weiss pointed out. "He may trust her out of some misguided idea of fellowship or lust…"

"He is not!"

"You don't know that!"

A soft ringing of Ruby's Scroll interrupted the argument before it could escalate, and Ruby picked up her Scroll. "...Yeah we're alright… we just need to cool down a bit… listen, can you keep Blake away for while?"

' _What… is that Jaune?'_ Weiss thought as she not-so-subtly listened to the girl's conversation with her partner. ' _Just what are they trying to accomplish?'_

Ruby clicked her Scroll back to it's carrying form, and grabbed Weiss's hand.

"Let's take a timeout" she told the confused heiress, and led her out of the dormroom...

* * *

"...Right" Jaune confirmed and put down his Scroll. Blake crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow in a wordless question beside him as the pair sat in Beacon's library.

"I called Ruby, she's talking to Weiss" Jaune explained. "She told me that they needed to cool their nerves for a while so we should leave them alone for now"

"...I see." Blake sighed. "For the record, I'm sorry for not telling about my… past allegiances… earlier. But you must understand that I had a good reason for doing so- people like me are treated badly enough without adding that to the mix."

"But you aren't in Whi… that group anymore, right?" Jaune asked, making sure that his tone was quiet. Even though the small corner where they sat was secluded, words could carry far in the hall-like room.

"No…" Blake answered slowly. "No. I left them mentally after some words were said and things were done that I no longer wished to be part of..."

"I see... "

Blake seemed to struggle internally before she steeled herself, and leaned forwards.

"Jaune… when the Forever Fall incident happened… what did you do to Adam?" she asked, and Jaune could see a hint of desperation in her eyes. "I- I need to know that. To have closure. He was my dearest friend and…"

"Uh… who's Adam?" Jaune asked, lifting both of his hands to stall the girl. "I mean, I didn't ask for names… the whole situation went past really quickly, and I was barely in control of myself when it happened."

"The man with a white, four-eyed mask and red blade that fought beside me, back at the cliffside?" Blake asked.

"Uh…" ' _That… doesn't sound like the group of White Fang I fought in the forest, unless… hold on, cliffside, red-covered forest… amber eyes beside man with a red blade... isn't that just like in the memory I saw yesterday … what about that dream? The one where I… died… because something ate me… something that looked like the creature I turned into… hold on, could it be that I somehow know things people i killed knew? How is that possible… unless...'_

"Jaune?"

"It… It is complicated." Jaune got out as he realized his thoughts had trailed off. "I uh… can't really remember what happened."

"...Are you trying to hide what you did to Adam?" Blake asked, and he could feel more than see how her expression turned from resignation to suspicion and distrust.

"No, its not that… you remember what I told about the Shadow?" Jaune asked, trying to find words to describe what he thought had happened. "I- I kind of lost control… when I was younger. Badly. For two whole years… and I only regained myself back at some forest clearing in the Forever Fall, in a form that was not really me, and pretty badly wounded to boot"

"But… you tried to kill me and Adam at the cliffside above the train tracks…"

"Um… I don't remember that" Jaune admitted. "I just… I have a faint memory of a man with red blade and someone with amber eyes in a cliffside, but it cuts there…"

"..." Blake was quiet as she looked at him with naked suspicion.

' _She thinks that I'm lying... '_ Jaune thought. ' _Not that I blame her, it sounds unbelievable even to me…'_

He sighed, lifting his hand in a sign of surrender. "This has been pretty emotionally exhausting day and it's not even lunchtime yet… I think we should do something else for a while. To unwind a bit. How do you feel about going to Vale and perhaps eating something?"

"You… We…" Blake seemed to get caught off-guard by the sudden shift in the conversation. "This isn't a time to just go and…"

"But it is. Think about it. We're all kind of frayed after what happened yesterday, and what happened today. So let's do what Ruby is doing with Weiss, and take a break?" Jaune interrupted her. "I know we technically are supposed to be training during the days… but I think we're a bit too spent to do training today anyway so…"

"It's not that!" Blake hissed. "I need time to think!"

"How about we go get an early lunch from Vale and then read books in silence? That way we have both time to think and food in our systems"

"Fine" Blake conceded. "I'll go get a lunch- alone. Leave."

"...If I leave, are you going to run away again?"

The glare Blake sent him was telling, and Jaune reached to pick up his bag,

"Am I your prisoner now?" she hissed at him.

"No, but I've noticed that you have a habit of running away if something unusual happens… or something uncomfortable gets revealed" Jaune crossed his arms. "I'll just tag along to make sure you don't do anything hasty."

"Great…" Blake grumbled and rose up from her seat beside the reading table…

* * *

"...It's just unfair!"

"Uuhhh…"

"It is! I try my hardest to be a good leader and those two do all they can do undermine me…" Weiss complained as she ate from her large bowl of vanilla and blueberry ice cream with chocolate waffles on top.

Ruby had dragged her to a ice-cream cafe in Vale, and the pair of them were currently sitting in a sunny terrace overlooking towards the lake that separated the Beacon from Vale City. Both of them were eating their own purchases (although Weiss had paid for Ruby's ice cream as well after she noticed how little money the younger girl had in her wallet), and both of them were trying to clear their heads from the earlier events. Sufficient to say, the latter had failed spectacularly.

"...I think Jaune is just struggling to remain what he is, and Blake… I don't know. Perhaps she is just ashamed, and that's why she didn't tell us about her… thingy?" Ruby tried to reason while twirling her bowl of strawberry ice-cream with cookie chips in her hands

' _Sheesh… she's just too innocent… does she even realize just what it means to kill someone or to be a terrorist?'_ Weiss scowled internally at Ruby, before feeling a pang of longing at the younger girl's naivety. '… _Just when have I become this cynical?'_

"Still… I don't feel safe to be around Blake anymore…" Weiss scowled. "She could be up to something… no, she must be up to something, and I need to know what that is."

"Then… why don't we find it out?" Ruby asked, giving up on her attempt to remain calm and controlled in order to start shoveling her ice-cream and cookies to her mouth. "Owooohhh this is sho good…"

"Hmm… what do you suggest? For finding what Blake is up to, I mean." Weiss asked slowly. "And yes, the confectionary in this cafe is somewhat acceptable." she agreed.

"We… We could try to keep an eye on her and if she tries to do something bad, we'll stop her!" Ruby suggested. Weiss did her best to try to ignore how the red-clad girl bore uncanny resemblance to a hamster as both her cheeks were full of ice-cream and cookies.

"Swallow before trying to speak, Ruby…"

"Hgng… haah… that hits the spot…" Ruby sighed happily as she downed the remains of her dessert and slumped back on her chair. "Eheheh… it feels like the morning never happened, you know?"

"Not really…" Weiss replied while pushing her empty bowl away.

"I mean, sun is shining, birds are singing… it's hard to believe that we were chasing after Blake in the forest just few hours ago, and then were running from the Grimm afterwards… plus the ice cream here was so good..."

"I can see what you are trying to do, Ruby" Weiss scowled. "I'm not an idiot… Don't try to sweep the whole incident under the rug. Your partner is a murderer for Oum's sake, are you not worried at all?"

"Jaune… he's not really a murderer... " Ruby responded quietly as her expression wilted. "It's just that… he was put to a difficult place and had to do what he did in self-defence…"

"Why do you trust Jaune so much?" Weiss asked as frustration build up inside her. "Do you two have history I don't know of?"

"He saved me." Ruby answered simply. "I got into a mess… and would have died if it were not for Jaune coming to save me. He… he even killed to protect me and I… I think he trusts me. At least a bit. And I trust his judgement about Blake..."

"Haahh… Fine, I surrender" Weiss grumbled. ' _It must be nice to have a partner who you can trust so much…'_ she couldn't quite stop herself from feeling a pang of jealousy at Jaune's and Ruby's close partnership.

"Just… if Blake tries to do something to me, or tries to commit a terrorist act as part of the White Fang, can I count on you helping me stop her?" Weiss asked Ruby with no small amount of exasperation in her tone.

"Yeah!" Ruby promised eagerly.

"Even if it means you might have to fight against Jaune, who no doubt takes Blake's side?"

"Ye… eeehhh" Ruby's eagerness waned as she considered the possibility. "I- I promise to persuade him to not become a criminal… but I don't think I could fight against our fellow teammates unless…" the girl's speech became quieter and quieter until she tossed her head backwards "Gaaaah! This is so confusing!"

"I am aware." Weiss sighed at the younger girl's struggle. "But I think it is time for us to return to Beacon…" '... _And I have no doubt that pervert has used this chance to 'comfort' Blake…'_ she continued internally with a disapproving frown crossing her face ' _He lied earlier… he is still in a relationship with that girl… I saw how he carried her to Beacon in a princess carry and held her hand all the way through, and the faunus didn't seem to mind- I'm sure she could have just jumped off if she was inconvenienced by that… not to mention their quiet whisperings as they pulled away from us...'_

"Huh, isn't that Blake?" Ruby's voice pulled her from her thoughts, and Weiss traced the red-clad girl's gaze to a small noodle stall where their renegade teammates were currently eating.

' _Wha- just what are those two doing?'_ Weiss thought as she focused on the pair of students to see Jaune eating from his family-sized noodle-bowl with steak on top, and Blake eating some sort of disgusting-looking noodle-soup with fish topping.

Blake seemed to be divided between sending suspicious glares at her lover, and eating the seafood soup with almost euphoric expression whereas Jaune seemed to be trying to both speak to his girlfriend and eat his food.

' _Did those two really decide that this would be a good time to go on a date?'_ Weiss scowled internally. ' _The nerve of those two! Our team's internal trust is splintered and broken, and they just merrily go on a date?'_

"I don't have patience for this." She sighed in exasperation. "We should return to Beacon and leave these two to their…"

"Weiss, this is the perfect opportunity" Ruby jumped up. "We can shadow them and you can see for yourself that they are not bad people"

"I- What?- No! It doesn't work like that, and I have no desire to see what those two degenerates get up to in their dat-"

"Let's go!" her speech was interrupted as Ruby snatched Weiss's sleeve and pulled the girl off her seat…

* * *

"So uh… it's a nice day outside." Jaune tried to do smalltalk. The results spoke for themselves as Blake sent yet another glare at him and continued to eat her tuna and salmon topped ramen.

' _Well, at least she seems to like that noodle-soup… I wonder if it's a universal trait between all cat faunus to like fish, or if it's just her… although that woman in the book earlier liked seafood too… and she had cat ears as well... '_ Jaune thought idly as he continued eating his steak ramen. ' _I wonder if Blake likes that other thing too… the tentac- no, bad brain'_ his trail of thoughts came to abrupt halt and he mentally rebooted himself.

"Just what do you think this is going to accomplish?" Blake asked as she took a small break from vacuuming the fish to her mouth. "...I appreciate you doing this but… I don't even know you."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked. "You don't know me? I'm..."

"No, I mean I do know who you are, but I don't know what you are. I don't know your motives, your ideals… what makes you, you. It's difficult to trust something that you don't understand properly."

"I see." Jaune conceded as he pushed his empty bowl away. "So what you're saying is that we don't know eachother well enough… well, good thing that can be changed." he nodded more to himself than to the disguised faunus.

"What do you mean?"

"Something that shouldn't be talked about in the open." Jaune promised, which caused Blake to raise a suspicious eyebrow at the tall blonde's horrible attempt at mysteriousness.

As he chose not to elaborate further, the black and white clad girl returned to her food, completely oblivious to a flash of red and white cloth in the distance…

.

..

…

"Where are you taking me?" Blake asked, confused as the pair walked out of the trade district and towards the residential district. Little by little the buildings started to change from shops and stalls to tall apartment buildings with few large houses of the more wealthy families littered every now and then.

"I'm taking you to somewhere where we can talk in private." Jaune answered as he walked in front of the girl.

"...I'm starting to get a really bad feeling about this" the girl muttered in nearly inaudible voice as the pair stopped in front of a somewhat worn old house, and Jaune opened the front door after a brief fumble with the door lock.

' _Huh… yeah, those crows on that dead tree do give the house a bit creepy look… not to mention that the house is pretty old and is a bit run-down after dad and mom died… '_ Jaune thought ' _Not that I blame the sisters for it, they are having hard enough time as it is to stay fed and clothed...'_

He stepped inside the Arc home while knocking on the doorframe to inform the sisters of his presence should anyone be at home, although he was fairly sure that the home would be deserted this early in the noon, and the lack of response to his knock solidified that fact.

"So, Welcome to Arc home, Blake" he said and turned towards the girl that had stopped on the doorframe with a hesitant expression on her face. "Do come in!"

"...Your home is… um… lovely but why have you dragged me here?" she asked. "Just what are you hoping to do?" a hint of suspicion creeped into her voice as her expression turned from hesitation to wariness.

"I thought we should talk. You know, clear the air, exchange motives and perhaps build a bit of trust. The house is pretty secure at least in terms of privacy since my sisters are probably at work or at school…" Jaune explained "...And I haven't heard anything from Ruby yet so she must be with Weiss still which means that we should probably steer clear of Beacon until they are done…"

Blake was still looking somewhat sceptical.

"...We also have a library." he pointed out.

"Lead the way"

.

..

…

"...You never told me you had _this_ in your library…" Blake told him as she was prowling through the house's small library. "Or this… hold on, is that a limited edition first draft copy of ' _Ninjas of Love: A Land of Tea'_ … oh, I need to read this…"

"Yeah, all of us in the Arc family used to read a lot when we were younger… although I am not sure how a lot of these books got here." Jaune explained as he sat in the solitary reading table that the somewhat dimly lit library had. "We even had one back at Shion, although it was very limited compared to this one…"

The dimly lit room had deep parchment fragrance which the disguised cat faunus sniffed eagerly, and Blake's earlier apprehension seemed to have vanished away as soon as she got into the library.

"This is pretty extensive library for a single family to have though." Blake pointed out. "Far more extensive than a normal three or four person family would ever need…"

"Yeah… we used to have mom, dad, me and seven sisters so we were far from 'standard-sized' family... We used to be somewhat wealthy family too, you know. Not Weiss's levels of wealth by any stretch of the imagination, but dad was really good huntsman which paid the bills and then some, although he never told me of his missions." Jaune explained before sighing. "Nowdays it's just me and four sisters, with three missing and both mom and dad dead."

"What happened?" Blake settled down while gathering a small stack of books in front of her.

"That's what I dragged you here to tell." he started. "It is the start of a chain of events that led me to the Forever Fall…" he continued on to explain to Blake of his time before Beacon.

"..." Blake's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she listened through his story going from Shion to his wanderings in the forests of Anima. He told of his loss of control and his awakening in the Forever Fall, and his brief battle against the White Fang in the forest...

"...And afterwards I continued through the Forever Fall towards the City of Vale." Jaune finished. "By the way, you can take that bow off here, we're alone in the house and I bet that the bow is uncomfortable…"

Blake was quiet for a long time as she thought about what she had heard, until she finally shook her head while letting her cat-ears free.

"...It sounds so unbelievable." she said while rubbing her itchy ears that had perked upright after being de-bowed. "But at least it matches with what you said earlier… what happened afterwards? How did you get into Vale? I guess that you didn't just walk through the main gate…"

"Yeah about that…" Jaune scratched the back of his head. "I sort of got captured by the White Fang, like I told you earlier when I first revealed my er.. ability."

"…It must have slipped through my mind in the heat of the moment…" Blake admitted. "What happened? White Fang doesn't usually capture people."

"...Well, I sort of wore White Fang clothes and they thought I was one of them, so when they realized that I wasn't a White Fang I got captured. There was a guy with mask and chainsaw sword who interrogated me and told that I was infiltrator." Jaune recounted. "And then they locked me to a encased cell for some time… it was hard to tell how long I was locked up for, and they didn't give me any food- instead they told me that they'd give me food if I told what I was sent to do…."

"That doesn't sound like the White Fang I was part of…" Blake said quietly. "Adam promised me that the White Fang would never torture people…"

"Well, regardless, you know what happens when I go too long without eating anything, so I went berserk in the cage… I woke up a bit later and discovered myself eating a Beowolf that had been put to a cage next to mine." Jaune continued. "I went through other cages as well, and all of them had Beowolves inside them as well…"

"I remember that you said something about White Fang having captured Grimm... " Blake murmured quietly as she leaned on her hands. "I didn't really believe you back then… not that its easy to believe that now."

"I'm telling the truth!"

"...So you say…" Blake countered, before sighing. "…I believe you. But that means we have to investigate it, because if the White Fang are capturing Grimm… what are they capturing them for? And why are they storing them to Vale of all places? Don't they know what would happen if the Grimm were to break free and emerge into the streets of Vale? The damage would be unimaginable..."

"I don't know, and I didn't stay to ask. I fled the the prison via water canal, and met Ruby shortly afterwards and saved her from bunch of thugs… by the way I don't need to breath air." he added almost as a sidenote. "I figured that out when I was stuck on the bottom of the canal, as wells as that I don't know how to swim."

"You… what?" Blake asked before sighing and shaking her head. "You know what, nevermind. I wouldn't be surprised if you could grow tentacles or wings and fly at this point…"

' _I wonder if I could do that though…'_ Jaune thought as he rose up from his chair. ' _I might have to try that sometime… if I get the transformation under my control. Wings would be useful…'_

"W-what are you doing?" Blake asked as he walked towards the door, and he could hear a hint of panic in her voice, alongside some emotion that he couldn't quite place. "Don't tell me you can actually grow tenta…"

"I was planning to get us some tea and snacks, actually" Jaune said, before pulling the library's door open…

...Which caused both Ruby and Weiss to fall into the room and flop to the library's floor.

Blake stared at their fellow teammates in shock over the books she had piled on the reading table, and Jaune froze completely still while holding the door open.

"Eheheh… hi?" Ruby tried to greet Jaune from the floor. "This totally isn't what it looks like..."

.

..

...

"...We were merely taking a pre-emptive measure to stop a possible criminal act from being carried out by our fellow teammates!" Weiss scowled as she cradled a cup of tea in her hands as she sat in the Arc household's kitchen.

"Says someone who was eavesdropping a private conversation…" Blake hissed at Weiss over the kitchen table.

"Guys… can we please not fight as soon as we meet…" Ruby pleaded as she fiddled with her cup of fragrant strawberry tea.

"Uhn-hum" Jaune agreed while drinking his tea. The team had relocated into the kitchen as the small reading table in the library would have been way too cramped for four people at once, plus the library didn't have refreshments.

"Just how did you two get in here anyway?" Jaune asked, trying to steer the conversation off from the impending fight. "I mean, you all are welcome here but… I thought you two were in Beacon?"

"We were." Ruby confirmed. "But we kind of came to Vale in order to get a breather and went to a cafe… and we spotted you two from there."

"Ah, so we had the same idea to go to Vale." Jaune realized. "So what made you follow us here, to my home?"

"Uh… Weiss kept saying that you two were criminals and so on…" Ruby muttered "So I suggested that we'd follow you two so she'd see that you aren't bad people…"

"That is essentially correct" Weiss scowled. "However I must add that I was doing the entire thing under protest."

"You liked the ice-cream though…" Ruby pointed out at Weiss before turning back towards Jaune. "But yeah, anyway, we saw you two enter this creepy looking abandoned old house and Weiss thought that it was enough confirmation that you two were up to no good… so we followed you in after we found out that the front door was unlocked."

Jaune nodded while trying his best to ignore Ruby's description of his family home.

"I must point out that the whole thing was Ruby's idea." Weiss clarified. "And I must admit that I was fairly shocked to find that you two decided to go on a date at time like this…"

"It wasn't like that!" Blake protested. "It wasn't a date, and I am not in relationship with…"

"Yes, yes, you two are in fact _not_ in relationship despite going on a date and no doubt engaging in…" Weiss glared at Blake, but was interrupted by Jaune before she could finish her speech.

"It is as Blake says, we are not in a relationship" Jaune spoke over Weiss, which caused both of the girls to send a glare at him- which surprised him since he didn't expect Blake to do it. "It's good to see you two can interact at least" he conceded finally.

"Ruby convinced me to not take an action against Blake… but I will be watching you!" Weiss declared at Blake. "If I catch so much as a whiff of a terrorist act I will have you booted out of Beacon and sent to jail faster than you can say 'White Fang'"

"I am not part of the White Fang anymore…" Blake glared at the heiress. "...But fine, lets call it a truce."

"Right, so Weiss is fine with Blake being on our team despite her past, and Blake is fine with being in team with Weiss." Jaune said as he gathered the empty tea cups and put them away. "Are we good now?"

"...Yes, for now." Weiss agreed after a moment of silence, although Jaune could hear her grumble something about terrorists, unfairness and bad teammates.

"So ummm... should we look into returning to Beacon or do you want to keep sightseeing around Vale for a while?" Ruby asked carefully as the moment stretched.

"It may be the time for us to depart." Weiss nodded "It's getting late."

"Is that so?" A new voice entered the conversation and Jaune looked over to see his sister, Beryl, standing in the doorway.

"Hello brother, welcome back home… Who are these girls?" the usually quiet sister asked as she put her school bag away and looked at the team sitting around the somewhat large kitchen table.

"Jaune… who is she?" Ruby asked as she tilted her head at the girl who was almost the same size and shape as Ruby, except with long, blonde hair and blue eyes. Blake had adopted her usual expressionless face whereas Weiss had sprouted a polite, well-practised fake smile.

"Ah, Weiss, Ruby, Blake, this is Beryl, one of my sisters. I think she just got home from school, right?" he asked the quiet girl and got a nod as response. "Beryl, this is Ruby, Weiss and Blake" Jaune introduced his youngest surviving sister to his team.

"Hm… this is the first time brother has brought girls back home... " Beryl muttered quietly as the 16-year old girl observed the team. "Huh… a gothic loli, a princess and a cat faunus… and all three at once. You have a good taste, brother, the twins would be proud."

"Wha- how dare you- no, it's not like that!" Weiss's polite, well practised smile cracked to make way for a frown while Ruby blushed but didn't comment, and Blake groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"Do they know about your… thing?" Beryl asked after a moment,

"If you mean the shapeshifting, then yes" Jaune answered. "I trust them."

"I see... " the little sister went quiet for a while as Ruby kept looking back and forth between the brother and the sister.

"Uh… Yeah! Jaune is really nice, and I trust him back! I'm his partner too!" Ruby finally gathered courage to speak to the blonde girl.

"In that case… Please take care of our brother." Beryl nodded at Ruby before turning to nod to Blake and Weiss as well. "He may have… unusual abilities… but he's still our brother and we love him, and would hate to see him get hurt."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of him!" Ruby promised eagerly, which caused the blonde girl to nod appreciatively before turning her gaze towards Blake.

"Are we really doing this?" the cat faunus sighed before nodding. "Yes, I'll try my best to watch his back… as long as he watches mine."

"I see… I hope it won't end there." Beryl replied mysteriously, which caused Blake to slump on the table and let out a frustrated groan that suspiciously sounded like ' _Not_ ' and ' _in relationship_ '.

"W-what?" Weiss asked as the blonde girl's attention was turned towards her. "If you're asking about Jaune, I am his leader, so of course I will look after him. But not in the sense you are implying. I have no romantic feelings towards Jaune."

' _Romantic feelings? Where'd that come from?'_ Jaune wondered as he looked at Weiss's rapidly blushing face, although he guessed that it was mostly from frustration than from any other feeling.

"I see… so she is a natural tsundere… that is so lucky…" Beryl mumbled quietly which caused Weiss to start shaking from her barely contained fury...

 **.**

..

...

"So… It was nice to meet your family. Well, part of it anyway." Ruby commented to Jaune as team SABR returned to Beacon after a brief dinner in the Arc household. The other sisters had not present, the twins being in their boyfriend's house and Amethyst working overtime.

"It was nicer that they allowed me to borrow these books" Blake commented as she carried a canvas bag full of books she had borrowed from the Arc library, most of which had been Beryl's property much to Jaune's surprise.

He nodded approvingly at Blake as she carried the books with almost reverent care. ' _It's good that Blake takes good care of those books… Beryl would likely flip out if her books were to be damaged by mishandling or lack of care- although I didn't know she was interested in the same books as Blake'_

Jaune sighed internally. ' _I really need to spend more time with them as well… I barely know what hobbies my sisters have, which I guess is the inevitable result of being out of their lives for two whole years...'_

"Yeah, I think she enjoyed meeting you three as well." Jaune turned towards the girls to reply to both Ruby and Blake at the same time.

"I liked your little sister… she seemed like descent enough of a person, if we ignore her… misconceptions… about our relationship." Blake added.

"I'm sure that her loaning you a bunch of her books to you didn't affect your judgement, right?" Ruby added her two cents from the side, and Blake gave a small half-nod as a response.

"...Well, anyway, what should we do tomorrow?" Jaune asked Weiss who huffed while crossing her arms.

"Unless more uncomfortable and team-breaking secrets get revealed, I had originally planned for us to have a brief discussion about just _why_ you keep losing control of your ability, before descending to the Emerald Forest and fighting a pack of Grimm that we'll no doubt encounter once we are there." Weiss sighed. "Afterwards, I'll have you turn into your Grimm form with the Grimm carcasses we'll produce while Ruby keeps her eyes on you and I'll have a ice glyph ready to immobilize you should you run rampant during your shape-shifting process."

"Huh, that's pretty detailed... then again there is a reason you're the leader, you're really good at planning." Jaune mused, which seemed to cause Weiss to perk up slightly.

"Yes, I am always excellent in what I do." she said while pushing her chest upwards with a proud expression on her face.

"Jaune, don't stroke Weiss's ego, that'll end badly…" Ruby complained, which earned her a betrayed glare from the white-haired heiress.

Jaune opened the dorm room door and stepped aside to allow the girls to enter before him, before pulling the door closed after himself.

Once inside, Blake pulled him aside briefly.

"Jaune… I'm going to look into the White Fang." Blake started with quiet, almost whisper-like tone. "Can I count on your help for finding evidence of them capturing Grimm and storing them in Vale?"

"Sure." Jaune promised. "I mean… if I don't, you're going to do it anyway but alone, right?"

Blake sent a mild glare at him, which was enough of an answer.

"Can you two get a room?" Weiss's somewhat resigned voice came from behind them, which prompted Blake to stalk away...

* * *

"You know, that is so unfair." Yang commented as team SABR were gathered in the dining hall for a breakfast the following day. Yang had once again wondered to their table, but to their surprise rest of the team RYNN had followed her. "I mean, you get to both skip classes _and_ go to Emerald Forest by yourself to fight the Grimm… It's unfair, I tell you!"

"We have a good reason for doing it." Weiss replied. "There are some critical team excer…"

"Yeah, yeah…" Yang grumbled, cutting Weiss off. "Still, you get to go to Emerald Forest whenever you want... "

"Wait, do you mean you can't?" Jaune asked from the side as he worked to go through all of the food on his tray. Weiss had instructed him to eat hearty in the morning to prepare himself for the exercise in the forest.

"No, we can't. I asked our combat instructors for a permission to enter Emerald Forest after Nora wished to fight…" "...To break the legs of…" "...The Grimm" Ren came into the conversation, ignoring Nora's addition.

"Huh, odd…" Jaune mused. "Why?"

"According to Glynda Goodwitch, the Emerald Forest is too dangerous to allow first-year students to enter unsupervised until they have proven themselves by completing their first mission assignment." the quiet leader of RYNN explained "As opposed to the Initiation test where most of the staff were observing, which meant that they could have moved to assist any students should they run into unexpected danger… which does raise questions."

"Like why they didn't come to help Jaune when he got injured in the Initiation…" Ruby muttered more to herself than to anyone else.

"...And if we are always being watched while we are in the forest, and if so, who is watching us?…" Blake added quietly.

Silence followed her words until Pyrrha broke it by leaning towards Jaune slightly.

"By the way, Jaune?" Pyrrha started quietly. "Do you remember our promise?"

"Ah, yeah. Sorry Pyrrha, I still don't have weapons." Jaune confessed. "I mean, I have gauntlets and armor Ruby made for me… so we could train like we promised but I'd probably end up just wasting your time since I'm not very good at hand-to-hand combat yet…"

"I… I see." she responded quietly. "So you'd prefer training with Yang over me…"

"No, no, it's just…" His attempts to correct the redhead's misassumption were halted as Ren reminded team RYNN that the classes would start soon, and Nora dragged Pyrrha away before he could react...

.

..

...

"I hope Pyrrha didn't get offended…" Jaune worried aloud as the team armed themselves and made their way to the same studyroom where Jaune had first revealed his abilities. Finding it empty, they sat around the round table.

"Eh, I think Pyrrha will be alright. I mean, you'll still train with her, just not now, right?" Ruby assured him. "I'm sure she'll forgive you."

"Jaune, focus." Weiss called. "You can worry about your girlfriends when we are done."

"…Pyrrha isn't my girlfriend either…" Jaune countered weakly, but turned towards the heiress nevertheless.

"Yes, yes…" Weiss rolled her eyes before pulling her notepad from her bag. "Right… start by telling me _exactly_ what happened two days ago. Leave no details out."

"Alright, so I started the day by waking u-"

"Not that, I meant the afternoon and the night part when you went to train by yourself, you dolt" Weiss scowled at him. "Pay attention!"

"Right, so I decided to go train since I had been neglecting my training to use my Semblance…" Jaune started, detailing the events two days ago to his best ability.

"...and then Ruby brought me bunch of food, and I used that to regain my Aura and transform back." he finished.

"Yeah, Weiss called me and told me to go pilfer bunch of stuff from the kitchens…" Ruby added from the side. "I'm really surprised that I didn't get caught looting the stuff I brought to you… I'm really bad at sneaking around so I just boomed in through the kitchen window, ran into the walk-in refrigerator and got out before anyone realized what happened."

"That's beside the point… Just what were you thinking, trying to perform experimental exercises without even a single safety mechanism in place?" Weiss scolded Jaune. "If we hadn't been looking for you, you might have run across a unarmed student, or worse, gotten yourself killed by a group of armed ones!"

"I uhh… Well, I didn't think of that…" Jaune confessed.

"Did you think at all?" Weiss sighed, crossing her arms and leaning back on her chair. She sent a glare at him to let him know that it wasn't a rhetorical question.

"Not really… it was a bit of an 'on the spot' decision…"

"I figured as much" Weiss scowled. "I believe we have said this before with slightly stronger words and some punitive actions, but don't do that again…"

Jaune nodded and Ruby blushed, no doubt remembering her own reaction to finding Jaune in the woods.

Weiss turned back to her notepad and flipped the first page of her notes open. "Right… you transform by visualizing a form you want to get into, and focusing on a 'bubbly' feeling on your body, correct? In which part do you start to struggle with your control of your body?"

"Uh… when I start to move from completely human form to completely… err... not-human form. It's a bit more of a slippery slope than a hard threshold." Jaune confirmed. "It happens when I do partial transformations too, but not as strongly although sometimes it causes things to… grow… that I don't want to."

"Elaborate" Weiss prodded, making a note on her book.

"Remember those red eyes and black veins in my face back when I first told you about my ability?" Jaune asked, and got a nod as a response. "Yeah, I didn't plan for any of that. It just kind of happened. I just wanted to make the bone-sword-thing."

Weiss crossed something off her notebook "But you have managed to regain your senses by somehow in the past, correct? How does that happen? Is it just spontaneous or do you do something?"

"Err… I hit myself. Or if I get hurt." Jaune answered, and got a somewhat incredulous stares as a response. "What? It's true! Back at Initiation it was Blake stabbing me in the eye, earlier in our team strategy thing it was me whacking my head against a tree, and the same two days back."

"...Then why did you… remove... your arms in the Grimm form earlier?" Blake asked quietly.

"I was hungry."

"Right." Blake covered her face with her hands and gave out a sarcastic sigh. "Of course… it makes perfect sense… from you anyway."

"It doesn't make sense!" Weiss scowled. "Why would you… gah, I'll come to that later. Just what did you try to do when you trained?"

"I uh… well, tried to turn to a complete Beowolf." Jaune nodded at her. "I thought that if I used the meditation that Aura books detailed as an exercises to control and understand Aura, I could use my Semblance without it running wild…"

"And that didn't work out, I presume?." Weiss stated. "What happened? What meditation did you attempt?"

"I tried to clear my head of all emotions and maintain calm state of mind. Sufficient to say, it didn't work. The calm state was instantly overtaken by the bloodlust and hatred that always comes with the Shadow…" he rubbed the back of his head.

"Huh… that's odd…" Ruby muttered. "The meditation shouldn't do that…"

"Pain… lack of emotions…" Weiss muttered and her speech became more and more splintered as went through what she'd heard. "Are those linked somehow? Pain lets you return to yourself, but lack of… hold on… if the Grimm are attracted to negative emotions... but would it work the other way around..." she seemed to get lost in her thoughts for a long while until Blake waved her hand in front of Weiss's face, drawing a fierce scowl from the heiress.

"Do share your thoughts?" Blake lifted her eyebrow.

"I was going to." Weiss crossed her arms. "Jaune, have you ever tried to act rather than just react to the Shadow? …Also, couldn't you have picked a better, less cliche name for it?"

"Uh, what do you mean?" he asked back. "And I came up with the name in a dark prison cell so I thought it was fitting…"

"You have always lost control of your Semblance as a result of, urgh, 'the Shadow' coming to you during your transformations, right?" Weiss clarified, making fingerquotes on the name he had given to his more primal side.

"Uh, yes, sort of. I just let it creep forwards so I can start the shapeshifting progress, and it's presence grows in proportion to the…" Jaune explained, and got interrupted as Weiss spoke over him.

"So you just let the thing take hold?" Weiss scowled. "Sounds like you aren't really fighting it if you are just submitting to it…"

"It's not that easy, you know" Jaune grumbled. "What am I supposed to do, get angry at it?"

"Perhaps." Weiss told him. "Since you completely lost control when you tried to clear your head from emotions, I'm guessing that you just gave it an empty canvas to spread itself over your mind. You keeled over and allowed it to walk over you..."

"So what are you saying that I need to do?" Jaune asked.

"Dominate it. Use your will to make it submit to you rather than allowing it to make you submit to it. Be confident, and strike first." Weiss replied. "Didn't you use rage, anger and pain to fight the control of your Grimm side in the past? I'm guessing that the polar opposite emotions, like fear, anxiety and inconfidence feed your other side like they feed the Grimm, so when you feel that you are getting taken over you start to fear it, and lose yourself even faster..."

"And I'm sure that the teenage hormones don't help with that…" Blake muttered mainly to herself, but Jaune and Weiss heard her nevertheless.

' _Huh… come to think of it, I was in a quite sorry state when I lost control two years back… Anxiety and fear… and everlasting hunger were all part of me...'_ Jaune mused as he ran his hand across the warm wood of the table in front of him, remembering the cold and the despair of his wandering through the Anima's frozen forest. ' _...And my ability slipped completely off my hands when I got afraid that I'd go and attack students two days back… or attack Weiss… I let my fear overpower me...'_

"I'm not sure if that theory works.. but I'll give it a shot." he nodded. "But... Can you promise that if I get too much out of control, you'll save yourselves first?"

"No." Ruby said defiantly. "I won't let anything bad happen to either you or anyone else."

"Yeah… you told me that back at the workshop." Jaune nodded. "Thank you."

"Your private matters aside, I think it's time for us to depart to Emerald Forest." Weiss rose from her seat and checked the dust levels on her rapier…

* * *

"...Interesting." Ozpin hummed as he closed a holo-screen showing team SABR's small team meeting in the otherwise empty studying room.

"Do you really have cameras all over Beacon?" Qrow growled from his usual seat in front of the headmaster's office table. "I'd thought Glynda would object on that…"

"She did." the headmaster replied. "However I was able to persuade her that it was for the safety of the Beacon and it's inhabitants… although I was unable to persuade her to allow cameras to be installed into the student dorms or locker room showers."

"Geez, I wonder why…" Qrow grumbled while mentally making a note to buy a bottle of scotch for the stern lady. He wasn't sure what he'd do if he learned that someone was taking videos of his nieces showering, but he was sure that it would be violent. And it would involve pecking out eyes.

"How did your observing go yesterday?" Ozpin moved on. "You had Glynda take over the combat class yesterday for a reason, right?"

"Yeah, the Grimm-brat left Beacon so I had to keep an eye out, but it turned out that he was just takin' the cat-girl to a date… by the way did you know that she is ex-White Fang member?" Qrow explained. "I heard her reveal it when they were spewing teenage drama near the Emerald Forest's edge yesterday."

"Yes, I knew." Ozpin admitted. "Or more specifically, Glynda knew and let her in regardless."

He pushed his glasses up and leaned forwards. "Regardless, it seems that mr. Arc has kept some secrets from us…"

"You believe in that… urgh… 'Shadow' thing?" Qrow asked, rolling his eyes as he leaned back on his chair. "I swear, teenagers and their edgy names…"

"What I believe is that we can't quite ignore the possibility that mr. Arc is being controlled by something… or someone." Ozpin said, leaning on his hands.

"So you think that he's not a spy or infiltrator, but a sleeper agent?" Qrow raised his eyebrow.

"The possibility exists." the headmaster nodded. "Next question is, is he alone or has he been sent to pave way for more of his kind? We don't know for certain what happened to him between the two years since his disappearance from Shion and reappearance in Vale, and his own testimony is suspect at best."

"You're going onto your conspiracy theories again, Oz" Qrow scoffed. "I get it, I get it" he amended as the headmaster lifted an eyebrow at him.

"We must know more." Ozpin nodded finally. "You have your work cut out for you. Try not to let any of our students die in the forest if you can prevent it?"

"Tch, as if I'd need you to tell me that." Qrow scoffed. "Oz… That brat knows about Ruby's eyes. About Summer's eyes."

"Hmh…" Ozpin nodded. "And if he knows about them, and if he is a sleeper agent… then the _Queen_ also knows about them. Ruby may be in danger…"

"I repeat what I told you earlier." Qrow glared at Ozpin. "If he so much as…"

"...yes, yes, if he harms her, you'll take an action." Ozpin nodded. "I know. However, if mr. Arc is more Grimm than he is human, he may be unable to harm her. The silver eyes only work on Grimm creatures though… and it wasn't the Grimm which killed Summer Rose."

"Ozpin." Qrow leaned closer with a threatening growl escaping his lips. "I told you to never speak of that again… "

"...But I feel I must. There is too much on the table. Be careful." Ozpin countered before sighing. "I wish I had managed to prevent mr. Arc from being partnered with miss Rose..."

"...You tampered with the launch pads back at the Initiation?"

"I had originally intended to launch mr. Arc so that he'd land near miss Belladonna... however miss Nikos's most unfortunate and unforeseen interruption put an end to that." Ozpin sighed. "Regardless, you are running out of time if you want to get into a position to overwatch team SABR's 'training'."

"Right…"

* * *

"Haah… haah…" Weiss panted as she braced herself against a tree after last of the Beowolves fell, decapitated by Ruby's scythe.

The team had entered Emerald Forest and it didn't take long for the Grimm to catch on to their presence, even more so with the lingering hostility between Blake and Weiss despite their truce. Jaune had mostly held back as the girls massacred the weaker Grimm, transforming the patch of forest where the fight had begun into a clearing as the Grimm broke few of the trees, and Weiss's glyphs froze and shattered the rest of the flora.

"You… could… have… helped…" Weiss got out as she sent a glare at Jaune who lifted his bleeding forearm to show a row of holes that had been punctured into his flesh after exhaling the bone-spikes through them.

"Uh… I did help. " he told the out-of-breath heiress while trying his best to ignore the scratchy feeling that accompanied the regrowing of his ammunition. "It's just that I didn't charge right in…"

"Hmph." she scoffed while turning away.

"Don't you find it curious that we don't usually run into anything beside Beowolves here?" Ruby asked as she reloaded her rifle-scythe. "I mean, we ran into Ursa and Tajitus during the Initiation…"

"Haah… You'd know if you'd listened to Port, for once..." Weiss stabilized herself. "It's because the huntsmen in charge of maintaining the Emerald Forest keep its Grimm population in a controlled state- deliberately killing Grimm that are deemed too dangerous for students to face in order to create a semi-artificial 'hunting ground' for the students with varying, yet weakened Grimm population… to both protect us from getting overwhelmed by stronger Grimm, and to allow us to sharpen our skills against real, even if weakened Grimm."

"So the Grimm in this forest are basically cannon fodder for us… that's pretty grim." Ruby said, before facepalming. "Oh Oum, that was horrible pun… I am turning to Yang, kill me now…"

As no-one obliged her, the team gathered at the center of the blood-stained and Grimm corpse-filled clearing and Weiss gave Jaune a meaningful glance.

"Huh?" Jaune asked, not quite catching onto her message. "What?"

"Right, now is the time. Do it." Weiss told him, before starting to issue orders to the rest of the team. "Jaune, use your ability to shapeshift yourself… and remember what we talked about earlier. Ruby, you will watch over Jaune since your eyes apparently have that calming effect on him, and Blake, you will watch Ruby's back. She's the most important part in keeping him under control should he fail to rein himself in."

"What about you?" Jaune asked.

"I will prepare a Glyph to restrain you should you go on a rampage… a freeze trap worked well to immobilize you two days ago, so I'll prepare another, larger version of it with more Dust just in case." Weiss answered. "Now, get on it."

"Alright, I'll just go to that bush and start…" Jaune made to begin, scoping out a large bush near the edge of the clearing that could conceal him.

"No, do your transformation in the open. Ruby's eyes won't work unless she sees you, right?" Weiss interrupted him with a tone that didn't leave space for arguments.

"...Okay." Jaune conceded, hiding a mild blush that threatened to spread over his face for what he was about to do.

' _Just… pretend that they aren't here… uhhh… but Ruby is watching me…'_ he thought as he reached his belt buckle and started undressing ' _This is going to be so embarrassing.'_

"W-what are… oh." Weiss made to begin but halted as she seemed to remember the effect that his transformations tended to have on his clothes. "J-just do it quickly. I don't want to see... erm... 'that'… No! Don't turn towards me! And don't point it at me!" her voice picked up another octave as Jaune looked at her- which caused the heiress to turn away quickly, although he saw how her furious blush reached all the way to her neck.

"Erm… just bear with me for a while" he reassured the girls as he put his clothes away, ignoring how Ruby had covered her face with her hands but had left large gaps between her fingers, and Blake was scanning the forest behind Ruby for threats although Jaune could see how the disguised cat faunus's amber eyes occasionally glanced at him.

' _Right… let's get to it…'_ he nodded to himself before kneeling on the Grimm-blood stained grass.

' _What form should I try to use… eh, I might as well use that armored form since the girls know of it already, and it feels natural…'_ Jaune pondered as he felt fear and anxiety build up inside him. ' _What if this doesn't work? If I end up hurting… No! That's exactly what Weiss warned me of, don't get afraid, negative emotions empower Grimm…'_

He felt as his hairs stood on edges as his skin began to bubble and heat up, using the mass he had gathered on the breakfast to start his transformation.

"Here we go…" he sighed as he saw his skin paling and black veins starting to spread through his flesh, before the web of veins started to thicken until his skin had turned thick, leathery and black.

Once again, he felt the static noise of the Shadow building up and his ears popped as they started to reshape, briefly robbing him of his ability to hear.

 _Y̧o̵u̧̧ w҉͘í̕͝l҉̵ĺ͟ ̷҉̕f̡͝ąi̵̧̕ĺ͞.̷͡_

 _͜͞F̶̢ea̡͢ŗ̨̀ ̴o҉́͢v͏҉̶e̶̡̢r̡wh͢͜è̢l͠ms̢ ̧̢yo̡҉u̶̸̸.̨͝_

' _T̵̸̀h͘e͡y ̛͘b͏e̡l̢i̕͝e͏v̡e͟͟ ͏i̸͟n̵̨̧ y͝o̶u͡,̢͞ ̵̀ą̶̸n͞͞d͝ ̕ỳe̵͝t̴͟͡ ̛͝y̛o̴u ͠f͘a̕͜il ҉͢tḩ͞é̡m̧...̷̧_

 _À͘͟͡g̵͜͠à̴͢͢i̸͠ń͘͜͡._

He shuddered as he felt plates grow from his spine, and spread over the flesh of his back.

Jaune looked up to see hazy form of Ruby near the edge of the clearing, standing where she had before and looking at him with her silver eyes. He felt the Shadow flinch, and he turned back to his internal war to exploit the opening it created.

A growl escaped him as his jaws elongated and his lips retracted to reveal rows of sharp teeth that he sunk to a nearby Beowolf carcass.

' _You are nothing… a mere shadow of my imagination… revenant of my past'_ he growled internally at the bundle of static and memories, turning his anxiety and fear to anger as he tore into the dead Grimm.

 _Y̧҉o̕͢u͘͢ ́̕ca̛n͠n͞o͠t͡ ̶́d̨̨̕e͡f́ȩ̷͞a̶͡t̴ ̷͟͡w̛͜͟ha̴͘t͠ ͡y̷̛͢ou̕͜͡ ̷̢͞ąr҉̴͢e̶̴͜.̨͟͞_

 _Y͢͠ó̢u̕͢ ͟c̡̀a҉n̵n҉o̵t̨̡͏ ͢wà̷s̛h̷͟ ̵th̷e͢ ̷b̢l̷͡o͠oḑ ̴̛o̴̷͟f̢͠f́͟ ͢͏y̷̢͞ò̶ư͘͠ŗ̕ h͢a͘͟҉n̶͠ds̷̷̨_

 _A ̵̢́m͠o̢̢ņ̡s͘t͞e̵̡͝r.́́͡_

A faint memory of a frozen forest passed through his head, and he flinched as he felt phantom pain of a small dagger sinking into his stomach, and flinched again as he remembered just what he had done in the forest of Anima- where he had killed an innocent.

Almost instantly he felt his control slip as his anger turned to regret, and he unwillingly sniffed the air to feel traces of emotions around him. He felt fear around him… mixed with determination. He saw through his new, hazy red eyes how a white glyph materialized around him even as he felt a external ribcage grow around his chest.

' _Weiss…'_ he drew the white-haired girl's image to the forefront of his mind, drawing courage from her example. ' _She believed in me when I revealed my ability… and came up with the training in order to help me… I can't let her down by giving up…'_

He focused his eyes where he remembered Ruby being as his spine grew longer, and he lurched forwards as he grew long, thick tail to balance himself to walk on two hoofed legs.

The red-clad girl's silver eyes met his, and he once again felt the Shadow's grip waning as the fear that the static invoked in him was inflicted back upon it.

Jaune felt as a plate grew over his head, covering his elongated face partially and he braced himself against the ground with all four of his arms.

' _I refuse... '_ he thought with a growl as he pushed back at the haze that threatened to overtake him, focusing instead on the hatred that grew inside him- one directed at the Grimm rather than at the humans around him.

 _W̛͟͠e̴͞ ̢͡ar̴͟͠e̵͜ ̶͏o̷͡n̶͏͡e͟҉͢ ̛a͏́n̡͜d͘͞ ́͠͠th͞e ͟sà͢m͘͢͠e̛͝.̴̨̢_

 _T̴͝h̶ȩ͝ kiǹg̕ ̸͟a̡n̡͡d ̷̛͟h͞i͏s̴̛ ͠h͢o̕r̴̕͞s̨e̷҉.̴͜҉_

 _̕͜͞F͟͠͞e̢̨ar̶͟ u҉yor̨ ́o̴͜w̶ņ̀ ͏͝ḿ͝íg҉̷h̵t,̨͞ ̷an͟͠͝d̕ ̸̕h͢͜áte ̧͡y̶o͝u͡r̸̀͜ ̴ów̷̨͝n ̵̧͘á̢c͏t̀̕i̡on̶s͞.̨_

 _̴̨̛̀Ţ̡h̛̛é̷̡͢r̸̴e̷̕͜ ̀͟w̨̛̕à̷̕͠͝s̀͢ ̢͜ń͠͠ȩ̷̀̕v͞͏̶ȩ̸͜r͘͜ ̢͘a͏n̶̨̛͜y̷͘o̧͜͜n̴̶͡e̶͏҉ ̛̀͘o̴̶̕͜t̴̡͢͝h̨̛͟e͘͡ŗ͟͞.̴̢̕_

The static lessened as he grit his long, sharp teeth together, breaking few of them in the process.

' _I am me, no-one else… there is no Shadow… just a name I give to a delusion.'_ he growled, and felt his new, Grimm-blood stained maw replicate the growl.

He slammed his hooves on the soft grass and felt a sheet of ice spread under his legs as the Glyph he was standing on activated.

 _T͝h́͜è͢ ̵͡k͞͠i̴̸͠ng̨͏ ͢͠a͜n̸d ́t̢̢͝h͡e͟ ̛h̸ǫr̢s̷̷e s҉͟wa̕p ̛͢p͏͏l͟a͠c̛e҉͏́s̨̕͝.̸_

 _̶͢Y͏̷o̢͡͠ú̶̕r̢͜ ͏҉̴h͟a͠t̛red̷ ͜͝i̸̡ş̶ ̷w̴e̕͞a̵͏k,̕ ͟and̴ ̴̡i͢͏̴t̴ w̛̕i͝ll̷ ̶͢b͡͝e͘͠t͝r̵͞a͘y̸̨ ҉y̕̕o̕͘ų̵͠.̸_

 _̀͜҉Ḿ̴̢i͏̡̀n̸ȩ is̸̸͘ ̷̡str̢͜o̕͘n͠҉̛g.҉͜.̷aǹ̴̴d͢͞ ́҉̀҉҉i̵͏ţ̧̧ ͏̛̀̕͠ẃ̨į̷͟͞l̀̀l̶͜ ҉̨o̡͏̷̧b̸́̀̀͢e͟͞y̶̸͝ ̸m̕͜͝ę̴̨̛͠.̛_

 _͘͏M̸̡͘y͞ ̢̛͞s̢ha̴dow̡ ̢͝w̡al̨͜͡k͜s̵͟ ̧͟t̛̕͝h͜e͡ ̷pa̛͠͠ţ͘͟h..._

 _I͘̕ǹ͏̴ ̢͜͢͠͝t̡̧͟i̵̧̛m̵ȩ̧,̷͜͜ ͟͢Y̴où̸ ̶̨w̶i̛ll ҉bo͜͝͡w̛͝͏̛ ̷̨́̕t̨̀o̡̕ ̴̴́͝m͢͠͏e̛..._

He reared back and the sheet of ice shattered under his hooves.

He filled his lungs with air, before letting out a loud, hollow roar.

 _̶̸̡" **"I̥** Í͢͟ ̷͘̕R̨͝Ȩ̶͏̧͘F̢͜͞Ų̷S͘͟͝͠E͘"_

.

.

Silence overtook the clearing as the only thing he could hear was his own, growling breath and the soft sizzle of his flesh growing and shaping itself, which reminded him of the instability and volatility of his new form. He lifted all four of his arms in front of his face to see the sharp, pointed claws that extruded from his fingers like they had before, and he saw the white bone-armor that encased his black flesh...

"...ne?" a female voice called to him, and he looked down to see a small, blurry white form the size of his arm reaching towards him. He sniffed the air, and breathed in the fragrant scent that radiated from Weiss Schnee's small form. He heard her speak even while a feeling of Déjà-vu flashed through him.

"Jaune? Answer to me! Are you… Are you in control of yourself?" he heard Weiss repeat.

' _Am I?'_

 _̡̨͘͢͡D̸̨̛̀̕ǫ̕͘u̴͞͞b̕͜t̷̢̧͜͟ ̢́̕ẃ̸i̵͘͝l̷̷̵̛l̸̡̛̕͘ ̕b͏̶r̵̀͟͜͢ì̕͟ń̷g̨̨͜ ̶̵̶y҉̕͟҉o̵̢͢u͏҉r͏̷̕ ͘͜͞d̵̢̡͟͢ǫ̕͘͢o͏̸̨m̧͟͡.̸̛͢_

The sharp claws of his hands drew dark-red blood as they clenched into fists.

He closed his baleful red eyes, and nodded once.

' _I am.'_

 **An:**

 **Thank you for reading and reviewing!**

 **Next chapter 17-18 Nov- 'Ironclad'**


	15. Ironclad

"I don't know how Weiss can do that" Blake muttered as she not-so-discreetly looked at Weiss who was trying to give orders to a massive, four-armed Grimm.

She knew that it was Jaune, but his new form was intimidating sight nevertheless, even more so to Blake as she had crossed blades with it twice already.

She shuddered slightly as she looked at the bone-spike that protruded upwards from the Grimm's elongated forehead like a point on a crown, and remembered how it had come close to impaling her.

"Ruby, Blake, come here!" Weiss called to the pair, and turned back towards to the monstrous creature that had knelt on the blood-stained and partially frozen ground.

"Do we have to?" She asked, and sighed as she didn't get an answer.

' _Well... here we go then…'_ she thought in resignation as she started to creep slowly towards the heiress and the Grimm.

"Can you speak?" Weiss asked the Grimm, before shaking her head. "Nevermind, of course you can't... "

The creature nodded, before crouching forwards and bracing itself on two of its arms while its other pair reached to grab its external ribcage- and pulled it apart to allow Jaune to fall out from the creature's chest with a thick cord connecting his neck to _something_ inside the creature's chest.

"Eugh… that's nasty…" he complained as he pulled himself off of the ground with shaky arms, and sat himself on the creature's outstretched arm.

"..." Weiss was speechless and her example was replicated in full by both Blake and Ruby who stared at the Grimm shapeshifter.

"What?" Jaune asked, before turning his head to look at the Grimm behind him. The Grimm replicated the action and looked to it's side as far as its head could turn, which wasn't all that much considering how the bone-armor around its hunched-up back worked almost like back-half of a neck brace. "Oh yeah, this… _cough…_ "

"Wh… What is that?" Ruby was the first one to regain her senses. "Uh… Jaune? How did you do that?" she asked as Jaune was coughing something black out of his throat, and reached towards his pants to pull them on in order to regain at least a modicum of decency.

"It's… _cough…_ a thing I discovered back at Emerald forest…" Jaune explained as he wiped the blood and viscera off from his face. "If I try to maintain my Grimm form… but also try to grow into Human form… It does both at the same time."

"R-right" Weiss broke from her stunned state to start her questioning once more. "So my theory worked, correct? Were you able to overpower the Shadow?"

"Yes… and no." Jaune answered, rubbing his eyes, and Weiss tried to ignore how the Grimm creature mimicked the action with one of its own bone-armored hands. "I kind of did, but I don't think it's gone for good… it's more of a temporary push than a definite victory."

"I… see." Weiss muttered, before turning her attention to the Grimm-form. "So uh… which one is you? Or are both of you, you?"

"Yes."

"Please be more specific…" Weiss despaired. "Also, why is there a cord connecting you to your… er, you?

Jaune rubbed the back of his head, before tugging slightly on the cord that came from his neck. It seemed to cause quite bit of pain as the teenager winced and he let go of it instantly.

"I'm not certain, but I think it is an umbilical cable of sorts… it allows me to hmm… exist in two forms, I think." he said, rubbing the spot where the black cord connected to his skin. "If it gets cut, one of the forms dies… or at least that's what happened the last time I did this."

"Is there a chance that it goes berserk if the cord is cut?" Blake asked, looking warily at the Grimm creature's maw and flinched slightly as it turned its head to look at her.

"I'm not sure…" Jaune admitted. "But I think it will just die... or this form does. I'm not sure what determines it."

"..." Ruby whined miserably as she leaned on her scythe and Blake could tell that she wanted to cut the Grimm creature off Jaune.

"Right... " Weiss sighed. "Our primary objective is complete… Jaune, can you attempt to return to normal and perform some minor transformations to confirm your control?"

"Hm… I'll try." the teenager in question hummed as he closed both of his eyes on both of his forms. The Grimm form twitched slightly before it reached for the black cord, and snapped it.

Jaune fell instantly on the ground and the Grimm form gave a weak roar before it fell limply to the side, shuddered once and went still.

Ruby kneeled beside the weakly breathing teenager and lifted Jaune back to sitting position while the Grimm form started to vaporize slowly.

"Ghaaah… Ah… that's not very… nice." Jaune panted out. "Haa, that hurts..."

"Are you going to be alright?" Ruby worried, holding Jaune upright and checking his neck to see the remains of the black cord wither and fall off.

"I'll be alright…" Jaune mumbled, standing up on shaky legs and Ruby continued to hover near him, ready to catch him should he fall.

Blake creeped towards the rapidly decaying Grimm-form.

"Are you sure that it's dead?" she asked, feeling somewhat numb after seeing the creature that still occasionally visited her nightmares come into reality, stand in front of her, and then seemingly die.

"That's me you're talking about… or well, what used to be me" Jaune reminded her as he starting to regain his usual vigor. "Its just a empty shell, I think."

"Right…" ' _It doesn't make it any less creepy… or worrying, noting how he could have lost control of himself…'_ she added internally while keeping a close eye at the discarded carcass.

She couldn't quite stop herself from creeping closer to the Grimm as it laid motionless and both Weiss and Ruby were grilling Jaune for information and fussing over the teenager. Blake reached to poke at it's decaying face with her Gambol Shroud…

...And jumped back as the creature's arms twitched ever-so-slightly from the touch, and she could see a brief flash of red in it's dim eye.

"Blake?" Weiss called at the faunus whose hairs had stood on ends. "What are you doing?"

"N-nothing" she said, feeling her voice waver slightly. "I just... Nevermind."

"Alright." Weiss turned back to Jaune, leaving Blake to her own thoughts.

' _He told me that it was dead… and it's decaying like dead Grimm would… but how did it move? Was it conscious, and if so, what was controlling it?'_

* * *

"Soo… are you free this weekend?" Ruby tried to strike conversation with Jaune as the team disarmed themselves in Beacon's Armory.

Weiss had asked Jaune to form his blades few times to ensure that he could do transformations without issues, and he had managed to form the red bone-swords with just his eyes turning red and skin growing black veins, without his usual nosebleeds or other issues. He had discarded the blades and turned back to human form to try again, and had managed to restrict the undesired transformations to just reddening of his eyes after few tries.

The armored Grimm form had evaporated into nothingness by the time the teenager had been done, and Weiss had called for the team to pack up and return to Beacon shortly afterwards as it seemed that no more Grimm were coming after them.

"Am I free this weekend? Yes, I think." Jaune answered to Ruby while scratching the back of his neck, still feeling pinpricks of pain radiating through the spot where the umbilical cord had been connecting him to his Grimm form. "Or rather, I haven't planned anything specific… what do you have in mind?"

"Uh… there is a gun show happening in Vale and I kind of wanted to go there so I thought maybe we could go together… and perhaps we could go eat a cookie or two afterwards?" Ruby asked with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"I'd like that… and I promised that I'd go out with you sometime soon, didn't I?"

"Yeah you did…" Ruby's expression brightened slightly. She had been downcast ever since his transformation, and his fairly painful detachment from his Grimm form had not helped her mood.

A choking sound caused both of them to turn towards Weiss and discover that she had overheard of their conversation.

Jaune wasn't quite sure why the girl was struggling to breathe however.

"Y- you'd…" Weiss struggled out, before grabbing Ruby by her hand and dragging her away from Jaune and Blake.

"What's up with Weiss?" Jaune asked as the Armory's door closed behind the girls, and Blake tilted her head at Jaune. "Did I say something inappropriate?"

"Ruby asked you to go out with her, and you accepted." Blake told him. Her tone was neutral but Jaune could hear something underlying in her voice.

"Uh.. yeah?"

"Do you even know what it means when two people go out with eachother?"

"Huh?" Jaune turned towards the disguised faunus. "Yeah...but... she told me before that we'd go out just as friends?"

"I… I see. Just as friends..." Blake muttered. "Nevermind then, I just thought that you'd… You know what, let's drop this line of thinking. We need to hurry up if we want to get dinner before the dining hall closes."

"Right."

.

..

…

"So… spill" Yang leaned closer to Ruby as she attempted to empty an entire milk carton in one gulp.

It didn't work, and Yang leaned to slap Ruby on the back as the smaller girl coughed.

"You didn't need to take it literally…" Yang drawled playfully and Ruby sent her a mild glare.

Ruby and Weiss had beat their two other teammates to the dinner, and had sat themselves near team RYNN that was already busy with their dinners.

"Anyway, what happened?" Yang asked after Ruby had stabilized herself. "You have smile from one ear to other."  
"Remember when I asked Jaune out?…" Ruby whispered to Yang over the table. "I got us a date location… and he said he's free this weekend so we'll be going to that gun show…"

Ruby wasn't quite as discreet as she thought as it seemed that Weiss had overheard her.

"I must advice against that." Weiss told Ruby. "Even though he claims otherwise, he is still in rel…"

"No, he isn't" Ruby interrupted Weiss. "He told me that he wasn't…"

"He lied!" Weiss hissed back at Ruby. "And I won't have the team suffer yet another fracture because of team members cheating on each other, our internal trust is fragile enough…"

"It's not like that!"

"Ehm." Yang interrupted the pair. "What's going on?"

"I am merely advising Ruby against trying to get herself a date with a taken man" Weiss informed Yang.

"Weiss doesn't believe that Jaune isn't dating Blake despite both of them telling her that…" Ruby leaned closer to whisper at Yang. "Plus, Jaune and I are uh… going to go out just as friends. I think."

"Ruby, Jaune and Blake were on a date yesterday… we even saw it happen!" Weiss fumed at the red-clad girl. "How can you believe him despite what you saw?"

"Weiss, didn't we do the same? I mean we went to a cafe and Blake and Jaune went to a noodle stall and it wasn't a da…"

"Hold on, you are using the time you took off studies for training in order to date eachother?" Yang leaned towards Weiss. "Where do I sign up for that sort of training?"

"No!" Weiss looked shocked as she heatedly denied Yang's interpretation of the events. "That was definitely not what happened!"

"Uh… it sort of is what happened. But there was no dating involved, I think." Ruby creeped her hand slowly towards a new milk carton. A strong arm engulged hers, and Ruby looked up to see Yang leaning closer to her.

"Just remember- if Jaune tries to do anything funny or something that you aren't ready for, use the trick I taught you." Yang advised her. "You know, the one reserved for those that would try to get physical with you."

"Uh… Yang, I tried to use it when the giant Nevermore grabbed me back in Initiation but it didn't work like you said it would…" Ruby whined back at the golden-haired girl. "Plus, I don't think Jaune would like that…"

"You did what at Initiation?" Yang asked, somewhat taken aback before she remembered just what part of the Grimm bird's anatomy Ruby's scythe had been stuck on. "Oh. Ohh… I don't think that trick works on Grimm though."

…

"You heard that, right?" Nora whispered to her ear as Pyrrha tried to not-so-subtly listen to the conversation happening beside her.

"Yeah…" Pyrrha agreed with a whisper.

She was glad that Nora had warmed up to her soon after the whole Initiation fiasco had passed, and even more so after she had found out that Nora wasn't the slightest bit troubled or fame-struck by Pyrrha's earlier life as championship fighter.

"You need to move fast and strike hard" Nora nodded at Pyrrha. "Otherwise his team will snatch him from under you."

"I'm not even sure I like him that way though…" she confessed quietly to her somewhat unpredictable partner. "I mean, I've only known him relatively short tim…"

"Yeah but it's easier to break up with your boyfriend than to make someone break up with their husband. Who will take care of the kids?" Nora countered.

"I don't think its that serious ye-"

"It could be, you don't know. I don't know. I'm fairly sure Ren doesn't know either, unfortunately."

"Then um… what would you suggest?" Pyrrha asked, ignoring the ginger-haired girl's last remark. "It sounds like they are just dating lightly and its…"

"...And it is a worrying prospect. Weren't you worried earlier that he is going to pick Yang over you?"

Pyrrha nodded slowly. "But what should I do… I can't just barge in and ask him out, right?"

"You can, actually. Didn't he promise to train with you?" Nora whispered conspiratorially. "So since he hasn't, you can you can pressure him to go on a date with you as an apology for breaking his promise…"

"Uh… that sounds like extortion." Pyrrha felt a drop of sweat fall down her neck.

"Yup." Nora nodded cheerfully while poking her food.

That earlier drop of sweat was followed by another, and then yet another as Pyrrha thought about her options.

' _Could I… but that sounds really… evil. I mean, would I be barging myself into someone else's life with a threat... But Nora's advice worked in the past, well, sort of...'_ Pyrrha was undecided as she fidgeted on her seat. Needing time to think, she continued to eat her dinner even as Nora happily detailed her plan to have Pyrrha ambush Jaune after team SABR's training...

* * *

"Some of this really doesn't make sense…" Weiss grumbled as team SABR sat in the Beacon's library, catching up to the classes they had skipped. Weiss had complete her reading swiftly, and had turned her attention to her notebook that contained the team's abilities.

"Whafhs doeshnd maf shese?" Ruby mumbled as she was slumped on the library table and had her cheek against an open book. "Hya!"

"Sit properly!" Weiss scolded as she poked Ruby on her other cheek, causing the younger girl to poke her tongue at the heiress before picking herself off the table, and tearing off the book that had glued itself to her cheek. "Ruby, you promised that you would start taking your studies seriously!"

"But it's just history… and its super boring, and I'm sleepy..." Ruby whined. "Do we really have to…"

"Yes." came from both Weiss and from Blake, much to everyone's surprise.

"What? History is important. Those that don't know history are bound to repeat it, and we have enough bloodshed as it is in our past" Blake challenged as Weiss sent a suspicious glance at the disguised faunus.

"What you mean to say is that the White Fang has enough bloodshed in it's past already…" Weiss countered.

"What's up?" Jaune moved to intercept as Blake and Weiss started to send dagger-like glares at eachother. "Weiss, you said something doesn't make sense?"

"I'm just compiling the team capabilities and trying to get a grip on what exactly we can and more importantly, what we _cannot_ fight." Weiss explained, dropping out of the fight. "Like professor Qrow told us, it is the team leader's role to make decisions for when to fight or when to flee, and in order to make an educated decision, I need to know what we can do…"

"Makes sense" Jaune nodded "So what's the problem?"

"You." Weiss put her notebook down.

"Hm?"

"You don't fit into any traditional combat stratagem. You're not a caster, assassin, sniper, etcetera…" Weiss sighed. "There is no preset that you'd fill which would make your role in the team clear. Our team needs a distraction, someone who can draw the enemy's attention and well, your 'other' form does that very well… but it takes so long to actualize that the fight is over by the time you are ready like we have seen happen in past two days."

"Uh… I'm sorry for being slow?" Jaune said carefully, not wanting to upset the girl. "I am pretty sure that I can't really accelerate the process though… or lessen the requirements."

"But can you do something else? Grow just the armor or grow something else that would fit the role of a defender?"

"Can you specify what you want?" Jaune asked, ransacking his head for ideas.

"Something that can draw enemy's attention, tie them down, and survive the retaliation." Weiss detailed. "You had plenty of armor in that… 'thing'. Can you do something like it but in smaller scale?"

"I could try. I'll let you know if I come up with something." Jaune nodded and turned back to his book.

' _I think I can do armor… but what about the 'tying them down' part though… '_ he thought as the words on the white pages of the study book seemed to jumble together, and he soon discarded the idea of studying- even more so as he somehow _knew_ the subjects the books taught despite never having studied them.

' _...A useful side-effect on all those memories that don't really belong to me.'_ Jaune thought as he recalled a ballistic equation that he knew despite never having used, or a door lock code to a large vault that he had never seen. ' _I don't think I should tell Blake that… she is already jumpy and nervous enough with having met me in the Forever Fall, even if I don't remembered it, and I think just casually telling her 'by the way, I can recall the memories of those that I have killed and… eaten...' would push her over the edge…'_

Jaune looked to the side to see Weiss still scowling at her notes while Ruby had fallen asleep on top of her schoolbook and was snoring softly.

Blake was quiet as she kept reading her book with suspiciously worn covers, which on more detailed inspection were revealed to be detached covers from a school book that she had draped on top of her own fiction book to disguise it from Weiss's gaze.

' _Huh… fiction books… come to think of it, that cat faunus in the 'adult' book earlier was tied down fairly umm… effectively… by tentacles'_ Jaune mused internally before his eyes widened in realization. ' _I was right when I thought that those things would have combat use… now I just have to try to make them'_

"Weiss?" he asked and the white-haired girl looked up at him and raised her eyebrow. "I think I found a way to use my ability to tie down enemies in combat."

"Go on?" she pulled a pencil and turned an empty page on her notebook. "What do you have in mind?"

"Tentacles"

"Oh no…" Blake whispered quietly, and Jaune turned towards her to discover that the disguised faunus had perked up instantly and was looking at him with her eyes wide in horror. "Jaune… did by any chance you take inspiration from the book you read earlier? The one I saw you read when you returned… I mean when I found a book that definitely didn't belong to me?"

"Yes, actually." Jaune confirmed. "Are you going to run away again?" he asked, worried, as it seemed that Blake was edging away from the table.

"No…"

"Good, because we have things to do." Weiss's voice seemed to break Blake from her stupor.

"Weiss, you don't know what you are getting into! You can't…" Blake tried to plead, but was cut off mercilessly as Weiss turned back at Jaune.

"Jaune, detail precisely what you had in mind." Weiss commanded, tapping her notebook with her pencil.

"Well, I'll try to grow armor and tentacles so that way I can tie enemies down while withstanding their damage, and use my swords and darts to fight those that get past the tentacles." Jaune explained the idea to Weiss.

"S- so you could actually grow those… things?" Blake's voice was faint and and it seemed that the girl was on verge of either passing out or running away.

"I haven't tried yet."

"But you believe you could?" Weiss asked. "If so, I believe we have tomorrow's training subject decided."

Jaune nodded.

Blake whimpered.

Ruby snored as she slept on top of her book.

* * *

"I think this is enough." Jaune said as he put a second bag containing half of a cow down in middle of a activated combat simulation room.

The room had no spectator seats, and instead the wide room was made to accommodate Dust-based environmental controls which would allow it to simulate various climates from deserts of Vacuo to ice storms of Atlas, and to the lush forests of eastern Mistral- and therefore the room allowed students to familiarize themselves fighting in foreign environments without the necessary travel, and without subjecting themselves to danger by giving the Grimm a definite home advantage.

As it was, the room had been configured to take appearance of a boreal forest with moss covered ground and trunks of pine trees and spruces restricting the visibility of area around them. Jaune shivered slightly in the somewhat cold air before he felt his Aura kick in again to start heating his body up.

He didn't like the memories that the chilly air brought as it made him remember his trek in the forest of Anima, but he choose to steel himself and try to withstand the sickening sensation it sent to the bottom of his stomach.

"To be honest, I didn't know that the simulation rooms could replicate areas like this quite so accurately" Weiss commented as she put her Scroll down after the room had finished shaping itself.

"You don't sound all that happy about it?" Jaune observed as he prepared himself mentally for the transformation and the fight ahead.

"I am not looking forwards to getting my hair caught in just about every twig or branch around." Weiss sighed while checking the Dust levels of her rapier. "But I would much rather train myself to move in this kind of forest without the risk of running across a Grimm, thank you very much. I got enough of that back at Initiation."

"...You ran to a Grimm while stumbling through a bush?" Blake asked from the side with slightly amused voice. "That sounds so… princess-like."

"I like this kind of scenery" Ruby hummed happily to Jaune while Weiss was busy scowling at Blake. "It is so pretty…"

"Well, it's nice that at least someone likes it." Jaune nodded.

"Right, Jaune, can you do your thing again?" Weiss interrupted the pair while pressing few buttons on her Scroll. "The school has quite few training robots, outdated Atlesian Knight models to be specific, that we can use as practise targets for our team combat efforts. I will call a few of them forwards when you are done."

She turned to nod towards Ruby and Blake, and the two got the wordless message. Ruby turned her attention to Jaune and Blake retreated to assume a overwatch position, although Jaune could see that the cat faunus was extremely nervous for some reason.

 _'...I think Blake is still feeling the pressure from two days back…'_ he sighed before kneeling on the ground and pulling his shirt off.

Heat radiated to the cold air from his skin even as he called to to heat in order to begin shaping himself, and he felt the Shadow hovering ever stronger at the edge of his mind.

' _No.'_ he thought, shoving the bloodlust back as he focused his thoughts on what he was attempting to do. Ruby's eyes helped, and he focused his attention solely on the bone-armor, shutting down the growth of his body.

In response to his will he felt a series of bone-spikes extrude through his now blackening skin and a segmented sheet of bone grew over his back, but he limited the growing so that it wouldn't pass the limits his body placed on the new form.

A thick sheet of bone extended itself over his head and covered his face, and he went blind for a moment before a pair of eyeholes opened in the featureless mask to allow his red eyes to see. A pair of blades extended from his thumbs as he leaned to consume the meat he had brought with him. Soon, he felt the blades reach their maturity and he gripped them hard to feed them as he fed himself. A series of slick, cold sensations shot through his spine as he pushed his body towards an end-goal, and he felt himself grow a new pair of arms, and yet another pair, and yet another until he lost count…

His ears popped, and he leaned forwards as a heavy sensation settled on his back.

"Gha͜a̸h̢.͞.̧. D͞i̴d̶ i̡t ̸w͡o͘ŕk?͞." Jaune felt his voice vibrate in his throat as the voice came out as a deep, vibrating boom instead of his usual tone.

He lifted his arms in front of him to discover that he had only one pair, which confused him as he could have sworn he had grown more.

"I… um…" a somewhat uncertain voice came from somewhere near him, and he looked over to see a pair of amber eyes staring at him. He could feel definite fear radiating from Blake's direction-

 _Ç̷͞͞o̶̕͢͜n̡͢͡s̴͏̧u̕̕͠҉m̶̀͘͠͞e͞҉́͏͠.̧̛͟_

' _Down.'_ Jaune commanded to the Shadow, feeling something twitching behind him as the unnatural presence fought for control over his body, before withdrawing as his will exiled the bloodlust from his mind.

A click broke him off from his internal voice and he looked over to see Weiss closing her Scroll.

"63 seconds. Not bad, but could be better." She nodded while walking towards him, seemingly unfazed by his appearance although he could feel a twinge of uncertainty radiate from the girl. "Now, to experiment with that…"

"Weiss, no!" Blake reached to pull Weiss back. "Don't get close to those!"

"Wha- Blake, don't be obtuse!" Weiss hissed back at the somewhat cowed faunus. "I know exactly what I am doing!"

"No, you do not!" Blake tried to plead, but Weiss had already started to circle around Jaune.

He tried to ignore the twitching and shivering that was originating from behind him as he worked to regain the focus of his eyes and get used to his new form. He noticed that his arms had bone-vambraces like before, and he nodded as he saw that his height was unchanged, even though he had grown segmented plates of armor over his blackened skin.

He let out a breath that the had not remembered keeping, and saw the air come out in a white steam through his reinforced jaw.

"Any̧ ̕m̵irr̛or̡s͡?" he growled out, feeling somewhat faint as he was in a form that he was not accustomed to, and the waves of fear that radiated from Blake didn't help the issue of his control over the unnatural flesh and bone.

A quiet snap brought his attention to Ruby, and he saw her turn her Scroll around to show his picture to him through the Scroll's camera.

' _Huh… so I succeeded… nice.'_ Jaune nodded internally as he flexed his arm, happy that he maintained control throughout his purpose-driven transformation and didn't go berserk for once. He walked closer to Ruby, ignoring how Blake creeped away from him as he passed her and took a closer look at the video she was taking of him.

He had grown white bone-armor much resembling a knight of old, one much like he remembered reading about in one of the books he had read in the past. He had a smooth, emotionless mask covering his face, and he saw intricate red details glow in the white surface of the bone. The white bone mask had two eyeholes through which he could see his eyes blaze red, and a crown of bone-spikes extruded upwards from his head to form a crude crown much like the one he had in his larger form. He opened his mouth to see the lower part of the mask open to reveal two rows of sharp teeth.

Jaune closed his mouth as soon as he saw Ruby flinch from being so close to it.

Instead he focused his attention on a mass of writhing tentacles that had fallen down his shoulders in a disturbing imitation of king's cloak.

' _I really should have picked a better focus…'_ Jaune sighed internally, feeling a dull headache incoming as his control over the Shadow took it's toll on his mind. ' _I always wanted to be a hero… Guess it doesn't mix that well with the whole 'Grimm' part...'_

He lifted hand to rub the bone-mask and discovered that trying to convey rubbing motion through the hardened mass wasn't that easy. However the human-like motion seemed to help Ruby get used to his new form as her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly, even while the tentacles that flowed down his back were writhing from the discomfort the silver eyes inflicted on him.

A poke at his back distracted him and he turned slowly around to look at Weiss who was observing him with critical eyes. She had one of his limp tentacles in her hand and she turned it around before letting go of it, drawing a muffled whimper from Blake in the process.

"Good… you can talk, and you can control yourself." Weiss nodded. "I'll call the training bots."

.

..

…

A rusty Atlesian Knight attempted to swing its dull sword at Ruby and got pulled away by a thin tentacle that tied itself around it's waist. A red blade burst through the robot's chest, and was pulled off to reveal a quickly corroding metal and wires through the massive wound as the robot fell to the ground.

"Blake! The big one!" Weiss commanded as she conjured a series of glyphs to launch ice spikes at the approaching robots even as Jaune struggled to stop the robots from overwhelming the team. Ruby was cutting the robots apart with ease, but she was running quickly out of ammunition whereas Weiss and Blake still maintained their offensive potential, and Jaune was slowly starting to tire as he worked to regenerate the wounds that the Knights managed to inflict on him and grow back the tentacles that had been cut off as the rusty Knights struggled against his grasp.

Jaune looked up to see Blake climb on top of a large, four-legged robot, and she stabbed her blade to what appeared to be the robot's power core.

' _Hold on, don't the power cores explode when…'_ a resounding boom shook bits of bark and branches off the pine trees, and shockwave threw moss in the air as the large robot exploded.

Jaune saw as Blake fall from the wreck and he reached over with his swarm of tentacles to catch her, before turning his attention back to his current fight to swing his sword at a robot…

...And the robot pulled itself back on a standby pose, causing his attack to come to an stumbling halt. The sounds of battle whittled down even as a loud summer signalled for the training simulation's end.

"Haah… haah…" Weiss braced herself against a pine tree. "That… worked… well."

"W͠hy̛ ̶d͏id t͝ḩe r̕obo̕ts st͠op͠?" Jaune asked, confused, even though the deep growl of his new voice distorted all signs of emotions from his voice. "͞What͢ h͝a͡p̶ṕened?"

"Someone's Aura dropped below tournament ring-out levels so the bots automatically called the fight off… Blake?" Weiss righted herself and pulled her Scroll to check the team's Aura levels. "Good catch by the way… "

"H҉uḩ?" Jaune looked behind him to discover Blake still in the grasp of his tentacles, and he saw that the girl was sending extremely suspicious glares at the appendages while keeping her somewhat shaky blade aimed at a tentacle that had tied itself around her back and her waist to stop her from falling to the ground.

Ruby sat down on the moss before flopping on her back as she had spent all of her ammunition and was low on Aura, the training bots having provided more challenge than she had thought. Weiss pulled her notebook and started recording her observations while Jaune put Blake carefully down on the ground, and retracted the tentacles that reformed his grotesque cloak.

A deep growl coming from his stomach reminded him that he was running low on Aura, on food, and he didn't want to try testing the limits of his newfound control over his Semblance,

"We͜i͡s̵s͏, I͏'̸m̢ ̕go͢i̶n͡g̸ t͜o g͢o for҉ ea̶rl͡y ͡lu̴nch̶.̛..̢ ͏" he nodded at the team's white-haired leader and got a nod as response.

He stepped out of the room and into the locker room that had been placed conveniently next to the training room, and prepared himself to go to the shower. He took a bottle of water that Pyrrha offered to him almost automatically. He looked closer and saw that the girl had a dumbstruck expression in her face as she stared at him with her wide emerald eyes…

' _...It's the 'Blake in the showers' all over again.'_ he thought idly as he drank the offered liquid and put the empty water bottle down, and prepared to grab the red-haired girl if she tried to run away.

In retrospect he should have expected that Pyrrha would not react the same way Blake did as he felt the face-mask crack from a sharp punch hitting his face.

"GRIMM!"

…

"Why are you being so infuriating?" Weiss scowled at Blake as the girl was still shaking after the battle. Ruby was still resting on the soft, clean moss and Weiss was fairly certain that the red-clad girl would fall asleep soon.

"He's planning something. Something horrible. I know it. We must prepare." Blake attempted to steady herself. "You have not seen the things I've seen…"

"GRIMM!" a shout caused both of the girls to turn their attention towards the lockers.

"...Do you think that Jaune might have forgotten to undo his transformation?" Weiss asked lightly before she sprinted to the lockers, and discovered a certain Pyrrha Nikos trying to punch Grimm-fied Jaune Arc in the face, while the red-haired champion was being held in air by his tentacles and her movements were constricted by the black appendages that had tied themselves around her arms and thighs.

"I told you it was just a matter of time" Blake declared from behind Weiss.

.

..

…

"So you came to spy on our training?" Weiss grilled Pyrrha as Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Pyrrha sat in a deserted study room after Ruby and Weiss had pried Jaune off Pyrrha, and Blake had dragged the nearly catatonic champion off while Jaune transformed back to his human shape. Jaune had departed from the group in order to go and fill himself up at lunch so he would avoid the backslash from getting too low on energy.

"What was… that?" Pyrrha asked faintly. "I… I must have eaten too lightly. I think I saw a Grimm in the lockers… A Grimm with tentacles."

"You must stay quiet about that." Weiss hissed at the champion that cowed under the heiress's glare. "Jaune's ability must remain secret!"

"That was Jaune?" Pyrrha whispered. "I… it looked nothing like him!"

"Yes, his ability is to turn to a Grimm." Weiss looked serious as she leaned towards the whimpering red-headed girl. "By direct order of the Headmaster of Beacon himself, it must be kept a secret!"

"Weiss, I think Pyrrha is intimidated enough…" Ruby complained from the side as she gently patted Pyrrha's hand.

It was a slight understatement as Pyrrha's face was pale as a sheet of paper, and her bright emerald eyes were still wavering from the encounter.

"I- I'm sorry, but I don't understand!" she blurted out. "What happened? I was waiting for Jaune to come out of the simulation room, and suddenly a Grimm comes through the door, grabs the water bottle I had prepared for Jaune and drank it, and then… and then…"

"There, there…" Ruby kept patting Pyrrha reassuringly as Weiss scowled and Blake had retreated behind her book, although judging how the book was upside-down, the disguised faunus was just trying to look for an excuse to not talk about their resident Grimm.

Ruby's eyes narrowed as she processed Pyrrha's last statement. "Pyrrha, were you waiting for Jaune?"

"Yes" Pyrrha confessed, the shock of the event had not yet passed and she spoke freely without thinking what she was talking about. "I was planning on asking him for a date after Nora told me that it would be the best way to get his attention…"

The small hand on top of Pyrrha's own tightened ever so slightly.

Door opening interrupted whatever reply Ruby might have gotten out as Jaune stepped into the room in his regular human form and in student uniform, having finished his hasty lunch.

"Hi guys… er, girls." he started. "So um…"

"Jaune. Get in, and close the door." Weiss commanded, turning back towards the table.

"Pyrrha." she continued addressing the red-haired girl that kept sending glances at Jaune. "I require your word that you will not attempt to spread his secret."

"I… I won't tell anyone…" Pyrrha nodded weakly. "I'm sorry? For finding out… I mean…"

"Ah, it's my fault" Jaune came to her defence. "I should have turned back earlier, it was completely my fault"

"Jaune, don't try to make me the bad guy here!" Weiss hissed at him. "You're supposed to be angry!"

"But…"

"Weiss…" Ruby moved to pat the white-haired girl's hand.

"Ghrh… Fine!" Weiss huffed and turned away. "You can convince her then!"

"Um… Pyrrha?" Jaune started, looking at Pyrrha and trying to ignore how the girl seemed to look at him as if he was her last chance of survival.

"Jaune… Weiss tells me that you were that… tentacle-Grimm." she started, pausing to search for an appropriate word to describe his form. "Please tell me that she isn't telling the truth..."

"She is telling the truth." Jaune nodded, reaching to his Semblance to turn his eyes red and grow veins on his face to show her a proof of his ability. "Pl͏ea͢s͢e do̧n'́t ̵tell a̸nýon͡e҉ ab̀ǫu̧t ̢i͟t, ̵o̷k͞ay?"

Pyrrha's response was lost as the red-haired girl seemed to lock up completely while staring at his transformed face.

"What?" he tried to ask as all three of his team members sent a glare at him.

 **Next chapter- 24-25. Nov. White Fang.**

 **I worked a bit on the grammar of the first few chapters which would hopefully make them more readable- and I would have gotten this chapter out on time, were it not for some unscheduled family events which I had to attend to. I apologize for the delay.**

 **Omake:**

"Jump." a corgi jumped.

"Roll." a corgi rolled on the ground.

"Fetch me a newspaper." a slightly salivated-on newspaper was dumped in front of her.

"Fetch me Raven." a slightly salivated-on bird was dumped in front of her, and the bird flew away after panicking briefly.

"Not that kind of Raven…" 8-year old Yang sighed at the family's pet corgi, Zwei, as she sat on a patch of green grass behind her family home in island of Patch just outside Vale City, trying to command the corgi to do her bidding. "I meant fetch me my mom."

The dog sprinted off once again, and Yang felt her hope rise…

...And it was swiftly crushed as Zwei dragged a petite woman by her white cloak to her.

"That's my mom…" she sighed as Summer lifted her head to look at Yang curiously.

"Are you using Zwei inappropriately again?" she asked, causing Yang to hide the dog behind her back. She tried her best to ignore how the corgi tried to lick her unruly hair.

"N-no!" Yang tried to defend herself. "I was just erm… conducting science experiments!"

"I see…" Summer lifted herself up. "Come inside when you are done, and I'll comb your hair… Zwei, stop trying to lick her hair!"

"R-right, thanks mom!" Yang cheered up, and lifted herself off the ground to follow Summer back home...

.

 _.._

…

Nearly 10 years later, a certain Raven Branwen shivered in her sleep as she remembered a vicious hellhound that had once snatched her from her bed and had dragged her to Vale in it's jaws...


	16. White Fang

Pyrrha was feeling quite numb, if she was being honest to herself.

One moment she had been steeling herself in order to attempt to ask a boy for a date, and the second she had been fighting a tentacle-Grimm barehanded. She confessed that she might have gotten slightly scared when the creature had wrapped her in its tentacles, yet she had found hope when a team of students had burst through the door to the locker room where the entire thing was taking place- except instead of helping her slay the Grimm, the team had pried it off her and asked if it was alright, before dragging her to a empty study room to have her swear secrecy on the entire event.

It did not help that the Grimm in question had been revealed to be the boy she had wanted to ask for a date, nor did it help that the said boy was looking at her over the wooden table with blazing red Grimm-eyes and pale face framed by black veins.

For a moment she contemplated just passing out and hoping that the entire day was some sort of fever dream that she had slipped into after drinking one of Ren's herbal teas that the leader of team RYNN insisted for the team to drink every morning, but a more rational part of her mind kicked in and snapped her out of her stupor.

"I'm sorry" she said automatically, unsure of what she was apologizing for but it felt somehow natural to her.

"F̕o̴͘͜ŕ ́̕w͞hat̨̡͜?" the Grimm-human hybrid asked, and she couldn't quite stop herself from flinching at the growly, unnatural tone of his voice. It seemed that he noticed her discomfort, and he shifted back to his human form. She let go a breath she didn't realize that she had held as she saw how Jaune regained his usual, somewhat clueless yet warm eyes and healthy complexion.

"Oh, right. Anyway, this is my Semblance. the ability to shapeshift myself to a Grimm. Or at least I think it is." he said simply, as if it wasn't a big deal. "There's a bit more to it but that's the gist of it."

"I… see" Pyrrha didn't. Not really. It seemed that the boy in front of her sensed her confusion as he tilted his head before nodding.

"You are a bit confused, right?" he asked, and got a nod as a response.

' _...'a bit' is a slight understatement….'_ she thought as Jaune seemed to be gathering his thoughts before sending a questioning glance towards his team leader.

Weiss didn't seem to catch the message as the white-haired girl lifted her eyebrow at the teenager in a response.

"Weiss, I am going to tell her the full extent of my ability… is that okay with you?" Jaune asked.

"Huh?" Weiss was taken aback by the question. "I- It's your ability, so I don't see why you require my permission if you consider her trustworthy?"

"Yeah but you're the team leader so I thought…"

"Yes… Yes I am. You are correct to ask me first." Weiss seemed to puff slightly as her position as the team leader was addressed. " You have my permission to tell her"

"Jauneeee…." Ruby complained and Pyrrha just now noticed how the red-clad girl had continued patting Pyrrha's hand reassuringly. "I told you already, don't feed Weiss's ego, it goes to her head…"

"You just want Jaune to praise you as well" Weiss snipped at Ruby who blushed and looked away which served as confirmation enough.

"Right…" Jaune nodded before turning back to Pyrrha. "This might take a while but bear with me…"

Pyrrha nodded numbly as Jaune explained how his ability functioned from his unnatural Aura to food-dependency and finally to the ability to shapeshift himself.

"...And I had just finished training with Weiss, Ruby and Blake using tentacles as part of our new team tactic before I ran to you, and well, here we are." Jaune finished.

"Y-you were... training your team with tentacles?" Pyrrha choked out, feeling horrified, dirtied and somewhat intrigued. ' _Is training their… uh… 'codeword' for... 'that'? Hold on, didn't they take four days off… for… for 'training'... oh god…'_

She knew she shouldn't have read 'those' books that her mother had warned about…

"No!" Blake denied. "He was not doing that! There were no tentacles involved!"

"Uh… yes there was, didn't you see the things?" Ruby asked Blake from her seat beside Pyrrha. "He had them wrapped around you at one point, remember? You know, when you almost fell down after that thing blew in your face?"

"R-Ruby!" Blake's voice broke slightly. "Don't say it like that!"

"Please excuse Blake, she's been like that for the entire day…" Weiss apologized to Pyrrha. "But to answer to your question, yes we were training to properly utilize his new form- like Jaune said, he's had some control troubles and today was arguably the first time he was able to control himself fully in his transformed shape from start to finish."

"C-control troubles? Start to finish?" Pyrrha felt faint again as she pictured the scene in her head. "H-he wasn't able to control himself… and… and… you just let him do that?"

"Yes, but that issue should be sorted for now, although it took no less than three sessions to resolve the issue" Weiss conceded. "His newfound control over his Semblance is the result of a team effort."

"Team effort…" Pyrrha muttered. "You were all together? Weren't you bothered by… erm… that?"

"To be honest, we were at the start. His ability is after all quite unusual… but we managed to overcome our fear and eventually we came together as a team despite our differences." Weiss nodded. "I believe we will be able to function well in the future."

"C-came together?" Pyrrha felt faint as blood rushed to her head.

"Laying it pretty thick there Weiss…" Ruby muttered quietly, although Pyrrha was able to hear her clearly as she sat next to the red-clad girl. ' _Thick?'_

"Miss Nikos? Pyrrha? Are you feeling ill?" she heard Weiss call to her.

Pyrrha wasn't sure if she was as she felt her face burn bright red after the recent revelations,

"I- I'm fine, thank you for asking" she got out.

"I guess you now understand why I couldn't train with you earlier… I'm sorry for that." Jaune told her. "But um… since you know about my secret now, that block has been lifted. So uh... would you want to train with me?"

Pyrrha felt her legs grow weak, and her head impacted against the wooden table as consciousness fled her.

.

..

...

"I take it that the plan didn't work out?" Nora asked Pyrrha after Ruby had accompanied the red-headed champion back to team RYNN's dorm, where her partner had been ready and waiting for the news of their operation's success or failure.

"N-no… well, it did… kind of." Pyrrha stammered to the ginger-haired girl. "He- um… he had kind of skipped dating his team part and had gone right to… um… other things… when I arrived."

"I see…" Nora was thoughtful. "Hm… why that's good, very good… Perhaps if I tell Ren to go spend time with him, he might pick up some of his habits."

"I met him just after he was done… um… with his entire team."

"Okay, scratch that idea, I'm keeping Ren as far away from him as humanly possible." Nora nodded seriously and Pyrrha shivered as she saw a familiar glint and shadow flash in the girl's eyes. "Fear not, my fearless acolyte! You will have your prize in time!"

"Um… okay… but what should I do?" Pyrrha despaired. "He uh… asked me to join him in his… 'training'... but I'm not sure I am ready for that kind of step yet…"

"Didn't you ask him to train with you earlier?" Nora tilted her head. "Why the hesitation?"

Pyrrha opened her mouth to tell her about the secret behind team SABR's training, but closed it a moment later as she remembered that she had promised not to talk about it.

"'Yo guys" a somewhat cheery voice joined the conversation and Pyrrha turned around to see Yang walk out of the dorm's shower as the morning's combat class had finished, and the busty girl had likely chosen to use the dorm's more comfortable shower instead of the public shower that the armory had. "What's the occasion?" she added as she saw Pyrrha and Nora whispering in front of the dorm's door.

"Eh, Pyrrha's having some cold feet after Jaune asked her to train with him." Nora answered easily. Pyrrha noticed that Nora had started to grow somewhat less hostile towards Yang as she had found out that Yang was training with Jaune, and the busty girl didn't show much interest towards Ren. Nora had likely figured out that the light-hearted flirting that Yang directed at the team's quiet leader was just what it was- light-hearted.

Pyrrha felt her thoughts focus towards Yang as she remembered that Jaune had trained with the busty golden-haired girl… and she now knew just what it had meant.

"...How did you do it?" she heard herself ask even while her mind was processing the mental image. "You 'trained' with Jaune, right? What did you do with him?"

"Yeah, I did." Yang nodded. "It was kind of interesting, I taught him some of my tricks, and he… well, he helped me get used to some things I wasn't quite used to before. His weird ability is pretty handy for it"

"Uh… but how did you do it? Weren't you nervous, or scared, or…" Pyrrha tried her best to ignore Yang's last remark. She really did.

"Not really." Yang shrugged. "I mean, it was pretty gross at first and I admit I freaked out a bit from time to time but I think I got used to it in the end."

"I- I see." A twinge of jealousy was mixed to the fear.

' _How can she speak so brazenly about… about those 'things'?'_ Pyrrha felt her words failing her.

She gulped as her mouth was completely dry, and tried to stop her hands from shaking as she sat on her bed, and lied down on her back.

Perhaps when, if, she woke up the entire day would be revealed to be just a fever dream.

Yang and Nora shrugged at eachother as they observed the normally calm and collected redhead's unusual behaviour...

* * *

"Right, that concludes our training for the day" Weiss announced as evening started to creep closer and closer, and the team's energy started to wane. She had asked Jaune to train his shapeshifting in front of the team to improve his shape shifting speed until he had managed to get it under 45 seconds as opposed to over a minute, and had managed to isolate parts of the transformation even to point where he was able to just manifest his bone-helmet, or just one large tentacle, or ten small ones.

"Haa… haah… good…" Jaune panted from the floor of the simulation room, having collapsed after the last transformation in which Weiss had commanded Jaune to shapeshift completely into a small Beowolf and back with the help of a pack of meat that had been brought for the occasion.

He had succeeded, although it had taken far longer than it should have, and it left him exhausted as he had turned back.

It really hadn't helped that Blake had kept sending mixed emotions his way until the black-clad girl had finally gotten used to his form, and had gradually stopped freaking out over the tentacles he had on his other form- even to the point where she had gathered enough courage to poke at one of the appendages with her finger.

"Training is over… sooo that means… its weekend!" Ruby exclaimed, jumping slightly.

"Not exactly, Ruby, it's still friday..." Weiss pointed out, but Ruby was having none of it.

"Yeah, but friday after school still counts as weekend!" she clapped her hands excitedly. "Ooh, ooh, what should we do? We can go watch some movies or perhaps eat something sweet and…"

"I was planning on catching up to my studies." Weiss nodded as if it was natural thing to do on her free time.

"Eugh… but… why?" Ruby scrunched her face adorably. "Weiss, do you not have hobbies? Or things you like to do?"

"Wha- of course I have! I like studying, and um…" Weiss's voice faded out. "I used to sing… but I didn't really like doing that, it was more what my family insisted me to do…"

"So… you don't have hobbies?" Ruby concluded, turning towards Jaune. "What about you?"

"I like reading." Jaune nodded, and Blake nodded from the background to agree.

"Uh… So do you guys wanna watch a movie or something?" Ruby asked. "You know get close and comfy?"

"W-what does that even mean?" Weiss stammered, looking at the smaller girl as if she had grown a extra head. "Are you suggesting that we'd…"

"You know, fire up a movie, sit down, perhaps grab blankets or something and get snacks and just relax?"

"I... "

"That sounds wonderful" Jaune nodded as he picked himself off the mossy floor of the simulation room. "Do you have a movie in mind?"

"I'll have to decline" Blake leaned her back against a tree. "I already have plans for the evening…"

"Uuh…" Ruby let a small, disappointed whine. "But I wanted everyone to be together…" she blinked at Blake with a heart-wrenchingly sad expression on her face.

"That won't work on me" Blake said simply.

"Darn… well, it was worth a shot anyway." Ruby muttered, looking away.

"I'll get the snacks" Jaune nodded.

"I'll uh… what are you supposed to do when doing things like that?" Weiss asked, and Jaune saw a hint of blush on her face. "What should I do?"

"You can help me pick the movie!" Ruby nodded happily, before grabbing Weiss's hand and dragging the girl off.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us, Blake?" Jaune asked the quiet girl, and got a wary nod as response.

"I have more important things I have to do." she said mysteriously.

"Uh… sure. Just be careful, okay?"

Blake nodded.

.

..

…

' _Well, technically I didn't lie…'_ Blake thought as she moved quietly through the docks of Vale as sun started to set. ' _This is more important than watching some movie…'_

She leaned over a railing and looked down at a water canal below.

' _If I remember right, that's the canal he was talking about… which means the warehouse that White Fang used to store Grimm must be… that way.'_ She creeped alongside the canal towards the hideout Jaune had told her about, trying to match the scenery she saw to what she'd heard of.

"There." she breathed quietly, spotting a tall warehouse by the docks with a second-story emergency exit opening towards the canal like how Jaune had told her.

' _Now to get in... '_ Blake unholstered her Gambol Shroud, and threw it at the railing of the emergency exit. Seeing it get hooked, she scaled up to the emergency exit using the weapon's ribbon and blade as a grappling hook. Darkness would cover her infiltration and her natural talent at stealth would allow her to get in without anyone noticing-

If the building was what she had been told it would be.

' _Grimm holding pens…'_ Blake thought as she pulled the partially broken emergency exit open without sound, and slipped into the dark corridor inside. ' _If there are some, they will leave traces, and I can find out for sure if White Fang are smuggling Grimm into the city… or if Jaune is lying to me.'_

She felt something sticky catch to the sole of her boot, and she looked down to see a large patch of something black on the floor. She knelt down, and reached to touch the substance lightly, rubbing it between her fingers. A smell that had haunted her in her nightmares invaded her nostrils as she smelled the dried blood.

' _Someone must have gotten hurt here… no, died here, judging by the amount of blood.'_ she wiped her hand. ' _Something has happened here… is this place deserted? I can't hear anything moving…'_

Blake thanked her heritage for the ability to see in the dark as she moved through the unlit corridors. She figured out that if there were any holding cells, they would be deeper, away from emergency exits and close to loading zone to deny the Grimm easy way to get into the city should they break free, and allow easy transportation of the cells from and to seaside.

' _Still, if this place held Grimm, one would think that they would be guarded somehow… but there's no-one here.'_ Blake scanned the hallway in front of her, seeing cleaning equipment gathering dust and empty crates that lined the grey concrete walls.

She moved forwards, seeking possible drag marks on the ground, and found few. ' _Now… where do these lead to?'_ she descended a slope leading underground, stopping to observe a stairway which would lead to the elevated emergency exit.

' _He could have come from here… and climbed those… and then get to the corridor earlier and out of the facility.'_ Blake nodded to herself. ' _Which would mean, he would have had to be imprisoned close by…'_

A bloodstain on the floor caught her attention, and she followed it to a small watchroom to discover its floor stained in blood, almost as if someone had died while sitting on a somewhat old-looking chair propped near a desk that housed a series of monitors. A deeper investigation revealed blood on the table as well as a small blade-mark, indicating that the watchman must have gotten ambushed while being asleep on top of his desk, and executed in cold blood.

Blake looked at a set of shut down monitors, likely wired to cameras, and reached to flick a switch on the central unit. Almost immediately the screen started to flicker and reveal a series of sturdy cages much like she remembered seeing during Professor Port's Grimm studies class back at Beacon.

"Wh… those cages… could it be..." She muttered quietly, leaning closer to one of the screens showing a cage that had it's door broken open by what appeared to be large slashes across it's surface. She couldn't quite make out the details through the static of the low-resolution camera screen, so she flicked the cameras off.

She took a look at a map of the facility behind her and determined her position in it, and the position of the cages she had seen.

' _So the cages would be… that way…'_ Blake creeped out of the watch room to the corridor, and stalked to a door that had its lock broken by what appeared to be a sharp blade.

' _These are the pens...'_ Blake thought as she saw the concrete boxes that lined the walls, each with their doors cut open although she couldn't see blood in any of them bar one. ' _The Grimm blood evaporates, although slowly… which means they won't leave physical traces outside things like scratch marks…'_

She ran her hand across the inside of a cage to feel deep claw-marks in the walls. ' _This feels like Beowolf… perhaps a small one, it could move inside the cage but couldn't break through it…'_

A sinking feeling settled to her stomach as she observed the traces of Grimm inside the pens, and saw a scratched White Fang logo on the side of one of the concrete cells- a logo that had been hastily scratched out of the other cells.

Jaune had been telling the truth.

She needed to document this, and find out _why_ the White Fang, the faunus liberation front, were capturing and storing Grimm. The promise she had squeezed out of Jaune came to her mind and she hesitated as she considered getting Jaune tangled into the entire affair.

Blake knew she had wanted to leave White Fang behind her, but she couldn't just ignore something this big, not when it could affect so many.

.

Distracted and deep in thought, Blake never noticed a pair of soft, nearly inaudible footsteps until something hard hit the back of her head.

* * *

"Did anyone ask what Blake was going to be doing?" Ruby asked as credits rolled on the movie she and Weiss had picked. She wasn't sure if romantic comedy would send wrong messages, but it seemed that Jaune had liked it and while Weiss would deny it adamantly, Ruby had a feeling that the usually usually cold heiress had liked the movie as well.

However she couldn't quite push aside a pang of disappointment at Blake deciding to go off to somewhere and not spend time with the team, but she figured that the disguised faunus had a life of her own to live.

Jaune had brought the three-quarters team a selection of snacks and Ruby had draped herself onto a blanket to watch the movie from the holographic television the dorm room had, and after a brief struggle she had draped Weiss onto her blanket as well.

Of course Weiss had protested first, but as time went by and movie went on the heiress had relaxed slightly and hd pulled the soft fabric closer to herself. Much to Ruby's surprise, the white-haired girl had even started to gradually lean against Ruby who sat between Weiss and Jaune.

"I believe Blake didn't tell anyone of her plans... " Weiss answered Ruby's question, before turning towards Jaune and lifting her eyebrow in question.

"I have no idea either," Jaune shrugged, almost dislodging his blanket. "I think she just wanted some peace and quiet after some of the recent events… and I don't blame her"

"Still, she needs to hurry if she wants to make it back in time for curfew" Weiss sighed, curling deeper into the soft blanket. "Thank you for arranging this evening, Ruby." she added after a moment of thinking.

"Huh? Eh, anytime!" Ruby was slightly taken off-guard. "I mean, that's what friends do!"

"Yes… friends." Weiss nodded slowly. "I must confess this was my first time doing these kinds of events."

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head. "Why?"

Weiss twirled a corner of her blanket in her hand for a while as she thought her answer. "It's just that I've never really had friends… well, I had, but those were 'friends after money' or 'friends because they wanted to get closer to a Schnee' kind… so this kind of stuff is not something I'm used to."

"You've never had a sleepover? A pajama party? Played games with your friends for whole night and sleeping the following day?" Ruby hugged Weiss closer to her. "You missed out on so much!"

"Ruby!" Weiss admonished, trying to push the small reaper off her. "You're making me sound like some sort of lonely princess…."

"I mean, you are a lonely princess, right?" Ruby tilted her head.

"I wish you didn't quite put it like that…"

"Uh… you started it…"

Weiss sighed as she checked the time, sending a mild glare at Jaune as the boy seemed to be chuckling slightly . "Regardless, the curfew has now passed… and Blake is nowhere to be seen."

"Do you think something happened to her?" Ruby felt a pang of concern invade the warm mood of the room. "Or if she just… left?"

"I don't think Blake would just leave… she promised not to." Jaune pointed out from the side. "I think she's either lost the track of time or missed the last airbus to Beacon if… she was… in Vale…" his speech seemed to slow to a halt as it looked like Jaune remembered something.

"I'll call her" Weiss pulled her Scroll up.

.

..

…

" _You have Three Unanswered Calls from: Weiss Schnee"_ a mechanical voice announced from a Scroll sitting on top of a small table in a badly lit room.

Blake tried to look calm and collected despite the pounding headache that pulsed from a bruise at the back of her head. Gripping nervousness flooded her as she looked into the emotionless full-face mask of the bull faunus she knew as 'Lieutenant'. She had never bothered to learn the man's real name, nor had she needed to as her previous interactions with the man had been miniscule at best when she had been a member of White Fang- as Adam had always had his conferences and meetings with the man whenever Blake had not been present.

"I find it curious as to how a dead girl came to haunt one of our old holdouts and how she seems to be directly in contact with one of our greatest enemies." the Lieutenant said calmly, his deep voice booming in the small, barely lit interrogation room.

Blake's hands and legs had not been tied, yet her weapon had been taken away and her bow had been taken off her head while she had been unconscious.

"I..." Blake ransacked her head for an excuse she could give to the man.

"Wordless, are we?" the man seemed to sense her hesitation. "Let's start… what happened to you in Forever Fall when you went missing-in-action?"

"I… was separated from Adam by force. A Grimm did it."

"And how did you survive?"

"I landed on a train."

"I see." the Lieutenant leaned closer. "The train must have taken you straight to Vale then. Now what puzzles me is why did it take weeks for you to seek contact with us- assuming you were attempting to contact us via visiting that warehouse which in itself is curious as you are aware of the usual ways of contacting White Fang which don't involve sneaking around in old hideouts, are you not?"

"I… I was wounded!"

"You seem fine enough to sneak around"

"I got better!"

"Indeed… and got some curious contacts while doing so." Lieutenant nodded. "Makes me wonder if you paid for the medical care with your loyalty… who do you answer to, Blake Belladonna?"

"..." Blake was quiet.

"No answer then?" the disguised bull faunus leaned closer to the cat faunus. "I find this whole situation very suspicious…"

"I am not a traitor!"

"Yet you act like one." the words came out softly from the masked man's lips. "I was once too soft, too merciful, and I paid the price for it. Or to be precise, my mistake caused someone I cared about to pay the ultimate price... I am not going to take chances."

"Wha…"

"I will escort you to a holding room. You will remain there until I secure a transport for you to be moved to Atlas where Adam Taurus will decide your fate." the Lieutenant sighed. "I want to believe that you are innocent, but I cannot risk it."

"Wait, Adam is alive?" Blake leaned forwards. "Tell me! Is he alive?"

She got no reply and instead she saw a black bag fall over her head, robbing her of vision before she was lifted off her chair…

* * *

"She's not answering." Weiss frowned at her Scroll. "Something might be wrong"

' _Did Blake run away, or is she using this chance to report to her White Fang commanders?'_ Weiss's paranoia instantly kicked to overdrive as she remembered what organization the black-haired girl had belonged to before Beacon.

"We should search for her." Ruby nodded seriously. "If she's in trouble… we need to find her before anything bad happens to her."

"Where should we start?" Weiss tilted her head.

"Uh… I don't know, library?" Ruby sounded as unsure as Weiss felt, and the pair went quiet for a while.

"I think I might have a possible lead." Jaune had put on his jeans and hoodie and had started to tie his belt around his waist. "We… well, Blake and I talked earlier about the White Fang holdout where they held me captive earlier … and that it held Grimm. She told me that she'd look into White Fang, so she must have gone to investigate the building."

"Then our direction is clear." Weiss stood up…

* * *

"..."

' _This is not good.'_ Blake tried to be calm as she looked around the cramped and dark concrete cell she had been dumped into. ' _This is not good… these cells can be moved and shipped… so they might ship me off Vale before I can escape… if I can escape.'_

She thought about her Scroll which had those incriminating contact details. ' _I will be either thought as a traitor- or sent to kill Weiss…'_

Blake looked at the heavy steel door of her cell, and tried to push it open. At start it didn't budge, but after she propped her shoulder against the cold metal she managed to slowly pry the heavy door open.

' _Wha- they didn't lock the cell?'_ Blake stared out at the brightly lit corridor which was lined with similar cells, and started to creep away from her cell. ' _What an amateur mistake... '_

She stalked through the corridors until she came across a watchroom identical to the previous facility's one, and for a moment she struggled mentally to just walk past it- but in the end, curiosity got the better of her and she slipped into the empty room.

' _File cabinet…'_ she went through the papers that the watchman had piled on his table, and it looked like that the room had been vacated very recently. ' _These papers might have a definite proof of Grimm smuggling… '_ she grabbed few files which seemed to touch the subject, and stashed them to a plastic bag she had found, and creeped to the door leading back to the corridor.

She opened the door to step out…

...And felt a strong arm grab her throat and lift her to the air.

"Ghah!" Blake tried to struggle against the grip and she clawed at the arm that was throttling her, and she tried to kick the masked man who was standing in the doorway.

"Like a fish to the bait… you revealed your true nature." the Lieutenant's soft voice rang in her ears as consciousness started to flee her. "Traitor…"

* * *

"Is that it?" Ruby asked quietly as the three-quarters team approached a deserted warehouse, stopping near a alleyway to hide themselves from anyone who might be looking at their direction.

"Yeah it is." Jaune confirmed as he looked at the worn building.

"It looks abandoned, are you sure it is the…" Weiss started, but Jaune spoke over her.

"Yes." he said, leaning forwards to make his swords. "It looks abandoned, but they might have left sentries or security cameras."

"If… If she's not there, we're basically committing a crime." Weiss said quietly. "No, even if she's there, if there are no White Fang in there… then we're breaking and entering. I… what If my sister hears about that… "

Ruby patted the white-haired girl reassuringly on the back.

"Regardless, we need to get in there." Jaune said, having finished transforming his blades that glowed slightly in the chilly air. For a moment it seemed that Weiss would object, but she nodded finally.

"Jaune, can you see in the dark?" Weiss asked as she collected her thoughts and started to analyze the situation. He nodded, and Weiss continued. "Ruby and I will set a perimeter, and will alert you if someone gets close to the warehouse. Ruby's weapon is not good for constricted spaces, and mine is too flashy to be used in a stealth mission." she detailed.

"So I go in alone?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, we'll stay in touch via Scrolls and earpieces, and if something happens inside we will come to assist you, or create a diversion so you can get out… you've been there before so you should be somewhat familiar with the layout, right?"

"Right…"

.

..

…

"Those are the cages…" Jaune whispered to himself as he moved through the empty facility.

He ran his hand across the scarred surface of the cage that had held him, lost in thought for a moment. It seemed that the warehouse had been abandoned soon after his escape.

' _Makes sense… if I was a police infiltrator, I would have brought the police to raid the location after escaping…'_

There had been no sign of Blake however, although he had passed few doors and hinges that looked like they had been disturbed recently. As he contemplated, he felt an emotion radiating from close by, and his Grimm side picked up a trail of something human-like approaching him.

He waited as a pair of soft footsteps approached him, until he felt more than he saw something heavy being flung at his head-

-And he grabbed the mace mid-swing, feeling few of his fingers break and regenerate as the piece of metal came to a stop mere inches away from his neck.

When he turned towards the White Fang sentry that had tried to knock him unconscious his eyes were blazing red.

A violent growl escaped his maw of razor sharp teeth.

The man in white and grey clothes whimpered.

.

..

…

"I know where Blake is being held" Jaune came back to the two of his teammates.

"W-what happened?" Weiss was horrified as she looked at his bloodied clothes. "Are you hurt?"

"There was a sentry inside… he didn't come quietly but I got him to reveal what had happened. Blake was there earlier, and she was captured." Jaune recounted quietly, emitting the details.

"I-I see. We have to avoid main streets with you looking like this th- oh." Weiss started, but stopped as Jaune pulled his bloodied hoodie off and grabbed a fresh shirt from his pouch. "Okay, I forgot you had those…"

* * *

"Gah!" Blake recoiled as a fist connected with her face, and she felt her teeth cut into her lip as she was flung against a hard concrete wall of her holding cell.

"Traitor." a faunus in White Fang outfit spat on her after making sure to kick her away from the door..

Blake cowered in the corner of the concrete cell as the metal door was snapped shut and she was left shivering on the cold floor. Her clothes had been taken away by her captors and she had been hit over and over again as her old comrades had discovered that she had betrayed them. She felt tears streak down her face as she remembered how one of the masked girls had written 'Traitor!' on her forehead with a thick marker pen, and although she had been spared the other cruelties one of the male White Fang members had suggested, she felt dirty and despoiled nevertheless.

Blake tried to rub sensation back to her arms and legs as time passed and the cells started to go colder and colder as the night deepened and the cells had no heating whatsoever. She felt as her bruised hands shook from both the cold and the fear that gripped her.

' _They're going to ship me off… No-one is going to save me after that…'_ she felt sick as she pulled her legs close to her chest. ' _They even broke my Gambol Shroud in front of me…'_

Her ears ached as one of the men had pulled and wrung the sensitive appendage.

She tried to rub it to lessen the pain, and doing so she missed the commotion that happened outside the door of her cell… until she saw the metal door open.

A swarm of black and white tentacles entered soon afterwards and for a moment Blake saw her very, very unpleasant death approaching.

' _Did the Grimm break out of their cages?'_ Before she got a chance to scream in horror a more familiar face-mask appeared in the doorway, and to her relief Jaune stepped inside in his Grimm form.

"B̧lakè... ͘a̧re ͢yo̵u a̵l̴r̨ig͝hţ?"

She felt tears streaking down her face as she picked herself up the floor on shaky legs and hugged the teenager.

.

..

...

"Do you think he's alright?" Ruby asked Weiss as she lied on her stomach on a nearby rooftop, aiming through the scope of her Crescent Rose at the warehouse Jaune had entered mere minutes ago. Nothing seemed to move around the place and if she didn't know better, she could have sworn it to be just another slumbering warehouse. As it were, Jaune had told her that it was a White Fang hideout, and she believed him.

"He'll contact us if he isn't." Weiss answered her, keeping her hand to her ear to check that her earpiece was still in place, before leaning to look at the warehouse through a monocular Ruby had given to her. "So I'm supposed to tell you ranges or what? I don't know how spotting works"

"Just keep eye out for anyone moving in the windows or around the building." Ruby sighed. "Also, you're holding the spotting monocular wrong way..."

"Ah." Weiss blushed slightly as she turned the device around to look through the smaller lense.

" _I f͝o̕und̡ ̵her̢"_ a growling voice came through Weiss's earpiece and she turned her attention towards the device.

"You found Blake?" Weiss asked. "What's her status?"

" _Not͝ ̡g͢o̕od. ̕Sh͞e'̢s nak͡ed ͘an̷d͡ ̷b͡r̀uiseḑ."_

Weiss's hand tightened around the grip of the monocular. "...Is she conscious? She's naked? Have those beasts… harmed... her?"

" _W-Weiss_ " a shaky, muffled voice came through the earpiece, Jaune having given the device to the faunus. " _I- I'm okay…"_

"By the sound of it, you are most definitely not!"

" _T-thank you… for coming..."_

"Sheesh…" Weiss sighed at the earpiece. "You stupid, stupid girl… Just why did you do this? Why did you have to run to White Fang of all people?"

" _I… I had to make sure… "_ she heard shuffling as the earpiece changed hands, and Weiss heard Jaune's voice come through the device once more.

" _W̢e ̛ca͡n ͟ta͡lk la̡te̷r._ " Jaune told her " _I d́e͘a̛lt͘ ͝w͝it͘h̕ ̧th̸e ͟wa͜tc̨hm͠an b͡u͟t I thi̡nk̸ t͞h͏ey͜'l͠ĺ r͏ęa͠li̵z̡e ̢th҉a̸t̢ some̵t̨h̀įng'͢s not̶ ́right̷ s͝o̡on.̀_ "

"You deal- hold on, what did you do?" Weiss asked, feeling her hands starting to sweat around the monocular through which she looked at the warehouse.

"..."

"...Answer to me"

" _We̛ ̕h͡av̷e ̡t̶o ̸ma̢kè sa͜c̛r̶ifi͘c̷es._ "

"You killed him."

" _Y̷es̸_."

"Just… just get Blake out of there, please" Weiss ended the call.

"Weiss…" Ruby muttered quietly from beside her.

"I- Its nothing." she muttered. "I just _really_ hope we don't get caught now…"

.

..

…

Jaune creeped closer to the emergency exit, holding Blake against his back with his tentacles. He had given the faunus his shirt to cover her, and then tied the girl to his back as she was unable to walk properly.

"H-How did you find me?" Blake whispered with shaky voice as she shivered from the cold and from the tentacles against her bruised skin. "I-I thought I didn't l-leave traces…"

"I҉ r͜ecalled̛ ͟th͜àt ̶you͢ ̢sai҉d̶ ͞you͜ w͜a̸n̛t͠ed ͠to ̴loo͡k͜ ҉i͢ǹto ҉Wh̢i͡te̡ ̡Fa͢n͜g͏.." Jaune whispered quietly as he moved through an empty corridor, scanning the surroundings with his red-glowing eyes through his emotionless bone-mask.

"Be c-careful, I tried to escape before y-you came…" Blake shivered. "T-they have cameras all over… I think…"

"Y҉eah,̢ b҉ut the̡ w͠ątc͠h̸ma̷n̵ is̴n'̴t ar͞ou̡ǹd t͝o look͝ at͝ ̴t͢h̢ęm so it̴ ̀sh͝oul̢d͠ ̷bȩ o҉ka͜y̸.́"

"I-I see" Blake's voice was fragile and she fell quiet for a moment. "H-how did you get in w-without alerting anyone?"

"Ţh̕erè was a sen͡t̀ry iņ ̨th͏e old b҉uil̕d͝įng ͟wh͢o̴ ̢l̨ét̨ ̛me ͡kn͞ow̴ of͠ t͠h̡i̴s͢ pl͟ace's l҉ayo̷ut" Jaune whispered to her as he rounded a corner quietly. "I t͏ook ͢car̷e̸ ̛of th͏e ̷s͠en͟t͝r͠y͟ ̀out҉sid̴e ͟an͘d̕ ̷avoi̷d̷ȩd th̡e͠ ̕m͠or͠e ҉po͝pu̕lated̀ ̷areas̀.́."

He paused slightly as he came to a corner on the illuminated grey-walled hallway, before lunging past the corner to grab a guard that had been stationed next to a exit door. Blake heard a sickening crunch and the guard's sharp gasp turned to silence as the tentacles grabbed the man's head and pulled it back to an unnatural angle.

"Y-you killed him…"

"H̸e wo͟u̢l͢d̀ h҉ave ͜a̛l̨e̵r͟t͠e͠d ̢hi͏s͢ f͜ri̶ends͝ ̨o̕th͠er̀wis͏e̵."

Blake fell silent as Jaune reached for his belt that he wore on top of his armor, and took a smoke grenade out of his belt and reached for his Scroll. "W̸ei҉s͝s, Ru͠by,̵ wȩ'rę ̴abo͠ųt͏ ̧t҉o e͡xit̨ via̷ b̛ac̢kdoor... ̡ho͡w͢'s͝ thé ͟out͞side?"

" _Nothing moving in here… "_ came the reply " _Weiss and I talked… We're going to send an anonymous tip about this place to the police after you get out"_

"Śo͝u͢nds go͞ód͘.͘" Jaune replied as he carried Blake out of the facility...

* * *

"T-thank you…" Blake muttered as the group had made their way to Beacon via a automated air-taxi as the last airbus between Vale and Beacon had left long ago, and it was well past midnight already to the point of being closer to a early morning than a true night. The taxi fare was high, but Weiss had paid for it before anyone managed to object. Ruby had detached her cloak from her shoulders and had draped it over the shivering faunus, and Blake had pulled the hood over her head to hide her cat ears from view during their trek through Vale's and Beacon's empty alleyways, and Jaune had turned back to his human shape to avoid unnecessary complications.

"We couldn't just leave you, right?" Jaune told to Blake as he opened their dorm room's door to allow the girls to enter, and his question caused the shivering faunus to sniff and shudder slightly.

"Are sure you're going to be alright as well, Jaune?" Weiss asked, looking over at the teenager as he closed the door behind him.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"I was just wondering… you did a full transformation, yet you didn't eat anything." Weiss pointed out as she sat down on her bed. She also noticed how Jaune started to sweat from the observation, so she chose to not press the issue.

"Blake…" Ruby rubbed the girl's back, "You're shivering and you're dirty… go take a warm shower." she pushed the girl gently towards the dorm's bathroom.

Blake complied, and Jaune looked at the black-haired girl with concern as she disappeared into the showers with shaky legs.

"I hope she'll be okay…"

Ruby nodded beside him.

A small crash, much akin to a shampoo bottle hitting a tiled floor rang from the shower, and Jaune's concerned frown deepened. "...Do you think she's having a difficulty showering?"

"Might be all those bruises… and she may have a minor hypothermia…" Weiss was thoughtful as she thought back to their trek through the nightly Vale. "What?"

Jaune had turned his gaze at the girl and was nodding towards the shower.

As it seemed that Weiss didn't get the message, Jaune clarified "Weiss, I think you should go and help Blake"

"W-why me?" Weiss was taken aback. "Aren't you her uhm… special someone? Wouldn't…"

"No." Jaune's answer was resolute, although Weiss saw a faint hint of blush on the teenager's cheeks. "She's your partner. Help her."

"Weiss… I don't think Blake is after your life…" Ruby added quietly from the side. "You were worried that Blake might be part of White Fang still… but I think after what happened tonight... well, you saw what they did to Blake."

"I..." Weiss remembered how fragile Blake had looked as Jaune had carried the girl away from the White Fang warehouse. "Fine…"

.

..

…

Blake felt frustrated tears threatening to form on the corners of her eyes as she struggled to open her shampoo bottle. Her fingers were still numb and bruised not to mention how her grip was still weak from the cold that the cell had radiated. She had to sit down on a small folding shower stool as her legs were still shaky from the whole event and she was fairly sure that she would have collapsed mid-shower if she hadn't sat down.

She hiccupped slightly as she realized how close call it had been- if her team hadn't saved her, she would have been shipped off Vale with none the wiser, or died of hypothermia as her Aura had been broken and she had been left lying naked to the cold concrete cell.

A small creak startled her out of her thoughts, and she looked past the shower curtain that separated the fairly sizeable shower and small one-person bathtub from the toilet, sink and a small wall-cabinet- and to her surprise she saw Weiss stepping into the bathroom and beginning to disrobe herself.

"W-Weiss?"

"Blake. You're having trouble showering with your injuries, right?" Weiss went straight to the point. "Jaune insisted me to come and help you since I am your partner."

"I… I'll be fine by myself…"

Weiss ignored her, and walked up to the faunus to snatch the shampoo bottle from her hands and open it. Sighing, Blake allowed Weiss to start washing her black hair as it seemed that the white-haired girl wouldn't be persuaded otherwise, and if she was being honest to herself she didn't have the energy to argue.

"Sheesh… you're bruised all over. Turn your face towards me and I'll see if I can get that writing off your face…" Weiss grumbled to Blake, and the faunus obeyed. She had completely forgotten the ' _Traitor!_ ' that had been written on her forehead, and the text made her just feel more miserable. "Blake? Blake!" Weiss turned Blake's head to face her.

"I- its alright. I just… started to think about things" she muttered, turning her face away.

"Were you taken… advantage of?" Weiss asked as she resumed washing Blake's hair after using one of her own products to remove the ink.

"N-no… but it was close one…" Blake answered quietly. "...Thank you. For coming."

"Hmhp." Weiss huffed. "Just don't do that again… we already nearly lost Jaune because of his stunt, and now you too…" her words caused Blake to shrink to herself, but she felt a spark get ignited inside her from the girl's words.

"I had to know. The White Fang were stor-"

"That's no excuse!" Weiss hissed as she rinsed Blake's hair. "You should have told us, we could have gone together!"

"I- I didn't trust Jaune's story about White Fang… Not really." Blake confessed quietly to calm down the agitated heiress. "He told me what White Fang had been smuggling Grimm to Vale… and I had to find out if I could trust him… so I went to find out..."

"Stubborn, pig-headed, idiotic…" Weiss muttered to herself as she moved to clean Blake's back and shoulders while Blake tried her best to clean her front. Despite her agitated state, Weiss's touch was a gentle one- which Blake appreciated as the bruises on her skin were still sore and raw.

"Just promise to never do that again... " Weiss finished and rinsed Blake with warm water.

"I- I promise." Blake nodded quietly. "I'm sorry."

"You better be… but I think you learned your lesson." Weiss sighed. "Come up, let's get up." she pulled Blake on her feet, and led her out of the shower to dry her up, and afterwards help her put her kimono-like pajamas on.

"Alright, shoo. I'll take my shower… and you can go sleep." Weiss shooed the girl out of the shower, and Blake agreed eagerly as the wear and tear of the night started to catch up to her.

* * *

'" _Traitor…" a deep voice rang in her ears as she clawed at the hand that throttled her… A fist impacted against her stomach and kick to her shin brought her to her knees… A girl took a marking pen and lifted her head up to write something on her face, before turning her face towards a mirror… 'Traitor!'..."_

Blake woke with a startled gasp, and tried to pry a large hand off her throat as she was suffocating...

… And instead of a hand she found that the collar of her pajama shirt had pressed itself lightly against her throat, and she fell back against the warm bedsheet after prying the soft fabric away from her skin. She breathed in the familiar scent of the dormroom, taking in the fragrant vanilla scent that radiated from Weiss, the slightly sweet scent from Ruby and the somewhat bitter, blood-like scent that radiated from Jaune as she tried her hardest to remember that she was surrounded by friends, in the familiar dorm, and that she was safe.

' _It was just a dream... '_ she thought, shivering in her bed despite how the dorm air was warm and her bed was soft. Blake rolled around to try and wrap herself on her blanket, but sleep eluded her and she finally reached for her Scroll… and realized that it too had been left to the White Fang hideout. She lifted her hand to rub her eyes as she fought back the tears that threatened to build up as she remembered what else had been lost in the hideout. _´They broke her… I'll have to replace Gambol Shroud… somehow.'_

She thought back to the weapon she had build when she was younger and which she had used when she had trained to fight alongside older White Fang operatives. She wanted to refuse to believe that the people who she had thought for the longest time to be fighting for good, to be fighting for equality… to be such monsters. First in Forever Fall where Adam planned to have an entire trainful of civilians killed to send a message, and then by smuggling Grimm into the city… and now her treatment in their hands…

' _I wanted to be free of White Fang when I came here… I guess curiosity did kill the cat…'_ Blake thought bitterly as she rubbed her eyes. A brief shuffle alerted her to something moving and she turned towards the other beds…

...And saw Jaune offering a small chocolate bar to her as he stood in front of her bed, having stepped onto the rail of Weiss's bed to get enough height to stand eye-to-eye with the faunus.

Blake muffled a scream that had almost escaped her mouth at the sudden appearance of the teenager.

"You do know I can sense emotions… and to be specific, negative emotions, right?" Jaune asked quietly, offering the sugary treat at her. "Sorry I don't have cocoa this time..."

Blake hiccupped slightly as she remembered the last time Jaune had ambushed her when she had been distraught, and how he had managed to get her to relax. She picked up the chocolate bar from the teenager's hand and unwrapped it quietly.

"Want to talk about what happened back there?" he continued as Blake took bites off the chocolate. "I mean, you don't have to but…"

"It's… can you imagine that you had been with a group for the longest time?" Blake started quietly. "You think of them as your family… you think that what they do, they do for right causes… but as time goes on you start to get doubts but you don't really want to believe them- what are you doing?" she paused her speech as Jaune climbed onto the bed and sat down on it.

"I just thought I shouldn't wake up Weiss by hopping around with my feet few inches away from her face…" Jaune whispered to her.

"I-I see…" Blake steadied herself. "A-anyway… White Fang had been that group for me the for the longest time… I thought they were doing it for equality between humans and the faunus…"

"And I guess they actually weren't?" Jaune asked quietly.

"They were... at start. But there was a change of leadership not long ago…" Blake told him. "And… things changed. Peaceful protests became less peaceful… there were attacks against store owners that would discriminate against Faunus… " she took a deep breath. "And then things escalated even more… do you remember what happened back in Forever Fall?"

"Yes"

"The White Fang… they had wanted to board the Schnee Dust train and… steal the Dust and kill all passengers. To send a message." Blake told him quietly. "I… that's when I left them. But I didn't really leave… not fully. Not all of me. I still had hope. Hope that it was just the vision of one man, and not the whole organization…"

"What happened?"

"Today happened." Blake felt her hands start to shake once more. "I… I didn't really believe when you told me that White Fang had captured Grimm... I didn't want to believe that they would sink so low that they would to place so many people in danger by having Grimm inside the walls… I needed to see for myself. I didn't want to have you accompany me so my opinion would be flawed, to be influenced by outside source… but it was a mistake. Mistake that already cost me so much, and it could have cost me everything…."

Jaune reached to grab Blake's shaking hand. "But it didn't cost everything"

"I- it doesn't make it r-right!"

"It doesn't have to. What is done is done, and we won't hold it against you. Well, I won't hold it against you, but I think neither will Weiss or Ruby..."

"I… it… Thank you…" Blake sighed and hiccuped.

"So was that all that troubled you?" Jaune asked, tilting his head.

"Yes…"

"Blake… I can feel negative emotions…"

"You're infuriating, you know that right?" Blake sent a mild glare at the teenager as she wiped her nose. "F-fine… I had a nightmare. About today… about how I got captured… they hurt me… they broke my w-weapon… and they wanted to ship me off Vale." her voice started to break a little, and Jaune held tighter onto her hands. "It was so close… if you hadn't come, I would… I would…"

"Blake, sshh…" Jaune leaned closer to hug her as it seemed that Blake's speech was starting to clog up completely. "We wouldn't have let you get taken away…"

"T-thank you…" she tied her arms around his shoulders. "C-can you stay like this?"

"Hm?"

"Stay with me until I fall asleep? Like last time, before the Initiation?"

"Sure. That's what comrades are for, right?" Jaune nodded and Blake set herself back down on the bed. He climbed forwards to set himself down beside her and tie one of his arms around the top of her waist and sneaked the other under her shoulder.

"I didn't mean this physically…" Blake muttered quietly to his chest as she tied her own arms around him and pushed her forehead against his chest. "But fine… just don't try anything funny... "

"You have my word." Jaune nodded solemnly, and the pair fell asleep soon afterwards.

.

..

…

Blake would never admit it aloud but as she woke up in the morning she felt calm. It was a odd feeling as she had frozen still as she had felt a foreign pair of arms around her, but she had calmed down as she had taken in Jaune's familiar scent and had remembered what had happened the night prior, and after she had made sure that she still had her clothes on. She didn't really believe that Jaune would take advantage of her that way after the events that had happened last night, but she wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

The careful movements however caused the bruises that littered her body to start aching again, although her Aura had likely refilled during the night and had healed whatever minor fractures or large bruises she had before falling asleep. She felt her cat-ears lift up slightly as she listened to Jaune's breathing and determined that the boy was still asleep.

A foreign voice exited her throat as she stretched slowly, and she clamped her mouth shut instantly.

' _Did… did I just purr?'_ Blake felt mortified, not only because of the sound or the significance of it, but also because of why it had happened- because of _who_ it had happened. ' _I- its just a physical reaction! It could happen to… er, with… anyone!'_ she tried her hardest to justify it while she struggled to make her mind to either try to pull away from the arms that still engulfed her, or just let go of her hesitation and lean closer, and go back to sleep.

As it was, her hesitation took too long and she felt more than she saw a somewhat sleepy Weiss rising up from her bed, and take a look at Jaune's empty bed.

Blake felt an ominous feeling settling on the bottom of her stomach as Weiss turned around slowly, very slowly until Weiss saw Jaune's back poking out from the bunk above hers, and Blake looking over Jaune at the heiress while she still had the boy's arms around her.

"I- Its not what it looks like!" Blake whispered desperately, trying her hardest to keep her tone down so she wouldn't wake Jaune or Ruby up by causing a commotion. "I'm not in-"

"You know what, I don't care anymore." Weiss lifted her hands up and turned around to walk into the bathroom. "Just make sure you change the sheets afterwards, I don't want the room to start smelling of… things."

"Great…" Blake grumbled at the bathroom door as it closed behind the heiress.

' _I mean, my reputation is gone at this point, so I might as well…'_ Blake sighed before she cuddled herself back to Jaune's hug, and closed her amber eyes once more.

 **Next Chapter: 2-3 Dec. Guns and Blades.**


	17. Guns and Blades

Jaune felt warm as he woke up slowly.

It was curious feeling as he had become used to waking up either shivering from cold sweat after a nightmare, or uncomfortably hot from a near-transformation as his sleeping self went through memories that he had never experienced, most of which had very gruesome endings. Yet this time he didn't remember seeing any, or if he had seen any they had not carried over to his waking self.

He felt something warm on his chest, and he instinctively hugged his arms tighter around the form that was lying on top of him. A moment later he heard a soft purr come out of the form as a response to his action, and he creaked his eyes open to see Blake Belladonna sleeping peacefully while snuggled against his chest.

For a moment he was honestly confused why Blake was in his bed, and why Blake was sleeping on top of him, and why the girl was purring much like a cat- before he remembered what had happened the last night, and also the fact that the bed was Blake's.

' _Curious…_ _since fear, nightmares and other negative emotions agitate and empower the Shadow, I wonder if the reverse also applies?'_ Jaune sighed as he let his head fall back down on the pillow. He focused on his ability and forced it from it's nest to temporarily strengthen his ability to 'smell' negative emotions, and to his curiosity found none from immediate vicinity- and more importantly, the Shadow didn't struggle against his will as much as it usually did. ' _Yeah, I think that 'don't use the ability while surrounded by strong negative emotions' still applies, but I think it also works in reverse… '_

His thoughts came to a momentarily halt as the purring grew slightly louder to the point where he could feel a slight bit of vibration against his chest. Jaune looked down to discover that while he had been deep in his thoughts one of his hands had started to scratch Blake behind her cat-ears, much to the girl's apparent delight if the sound she had made was any indication.

' _Well, I think it's getting pretty late and I promised that I'd go out to Vale with Ruby today so…'_ he lifted his hand up from Blake's head...

...And the girl snatched his wrist, locking his hand in place before guiding it back to the top of her head.

"I didn't tell you to stop." Blake mumbled sleepily to his chest.

"Blake?"

"Keep scra- Jaune?!" her mumbled turned to a gasp and the girl reared slightly back to look at him with wide eyes. She had a faint blush on her cheeks despite the bruises all over her face from the last night's events. "W-were y-you scr- umm…"

"Good morning?" Jaune tried to greet the girl that seemed to have a miniature panic attack. "Did you sleep well?"

"You… nevermind." Blake sighed, slumping back to his chest. "Yeah, I did… thanks."

"Don't worry about it." he said, "Anytime."

"I'll hold you to that." Blake mumbled quietly as she stretched with slow, deliberate movements.

"Come on, we should get up for breakfast, or er... lunch actually" Jaune told her while looking at his Scroll. He glanced to the side to see Ruby still asleep on her bed, and he contemplated waking her up as well.

' _She's probably tired from last night… I should let her sleep…'_ He nodded to himself as Blake lifted herself up from the bed, allowing him to exit as well...

.

..

...

Ruby Rose was facing one of the greatest battles of her life. No, it was _the_ greatest battle of her life.

Her hand shook as she thought about the battlefield that had been made by her opponent, and about the wall that she had to climb. She gulped as she reached for her armor, and grabbed a small, inconspicuous square package with a round shape protruding through its thin plastic cover. Steeling herself, she slid the package into one of her pockets that had been sewn into the underside of her combat skirt.

The pockets were usually full of ammo cases and magazines for her rifle, and also had an oil bottle and a gun-cleaning kit, and a spotting monocular should she need to call ranges, laser targets or call in air or artillery support. She wasn't sure _where_ she could get air support from, or _how_ she would call it, but if she ever needed it, well, she could place a laser-tag for it. Better it land on wherever or whatever the ordinance was meant to land on rather than it to land on top of her.

Ruby shook her head as she was once again getting sidetracked by her weapons-crazy side.

' _Jaune was in Blake's bed last night'_ she thought and she couldn't quite stop herself from feeling a shiver running down her spine as she remembered pretending to be asleep while watching the girl and the boy rise up from their bed through narrowed eyes. She knew Blake and Jaune had been close before hence the shower thing, but something must have come between them since they both denied relationship… but last night… ' _I heard their talk… and it was really nice of Jaune to help her when she was distressed… but… what if he gets back together with Blake?'_

Her heart raced as she stood in the team's empty dorm, the rest of the team having left for a late breakfast-lunch.

The plastic package weighed like a ton of steel and burned like a secret in her pocket as she moved slowly towards the dorm's door.

' _I… I need to get on equal grounds with Blake… or I will lose…'_ she felt how her face turned redder and redder as she stepped into the corridor. ' _The date is today… You can do this, Ruby, you can do this!'_

She took a deep breath, and set off towards the dining hall where the rest of the team should still be.

* * *

' _I hope Blake will be okay…'_ Jaune thought as he was finishing his late breakfast. He looked at Blake who was carefully eating from a pile of fish and rice that she had gathered on her plate, and he discovered that the girl had a almost-smile on her face and her amber eyes were bright despite the bruises on her face.

"So what happened to you, Blake?" Yang started the conversation as team RYNN was eating with team SABR, with only Ruby missing from the table. "Those bruises look pretty rough."

"We were training yesterday." Blake answered quietly. "We were slightly over-eager… and things happened"

"Uh huh, must have been one hell of brawl if the bruises are visible even today…"

"We were very eager."

"Argh.. _cough… cough..."_ Jaune looked at Pyrrha who was sitting beside Yang and was currently choking on her food. Yang slapped the redhead few times on the back, and it resolved the issue partially, although Pyrrha was still extremely red in the face and seemed to have difficulties breathing. Jaune wasn't quite sure why she was sending _him_ a wide-eyed stare though.

' _Odd… she's not usually that… well, unusual.'_ he shrugged mentally.

"Hi guys!" a cheerful voice came from nearby and Ruby came to the table- empty-handed.

"Hi Ruby." Jaune greeted her while Weiss looked at the red-clad girl curiously.

"Ruby, are you sick?" Weiss asked, worried, as she looked at Ruby's bright red face. "Did you catch a cold? Also, where's your food?"

"N-no, I'm perfectly fine!" Ruby stammered, looking at Jaune with wide, almost betrayed-looking eyes as Ruby's usual place next to Jaune had been filled by Blake. "Y-you know what, I'll just go get my food… and eat it... in some hidden corner, away from everyone…" she sprinted off.

"What's up with Rubes?" Yang asked, looking at Weiss. "You didn't do anything too outrageous yesterday, right?"

"N-no… we were just uh… having a small party in blankets, I suppose, and then we got into mood to do some training and um…" Weiss tried to avoid eye-contact with Yang "It got pretty wild and Blake got a bit hurt and it seems that Ruby might have a cold since she didn't have her cloak on for a while and…"

"A party eh?" Yang mused. "Well, next time you have one of those, let me know. I'd love to attend."

"Pyrrha, are you quite alright?" Weiss asked carefully, dodging the party issue. "You look… unwell?"

"N- never been better…" Pyrrha got out as a response. Weiss tilted her head as she looked at the champion that once again seemed to be on the verge of unconsciousness based off how the girl was shaking and her face was so red that it was practically shining light.

' _Hm?'_ Jaune looked around as Weiss was worrying over Pyrrha and Yang was conversing with Blake, and Nora seemed to be trying to spoonfeed Ren some of the boy's… food. Jaune wasn't quite sure what the green-and-white thing in the boy's plate was, but he was fairly sure it was both sickeningly healthy and equally bad-tasting. It seemed that Nora's attempt was unsuccessful as Ren exhibited extreme skill in his ability to eat with chopsticks by using them to eat soup.

His attention however was elsewhere- on something that honestly baffled him.

Ruby had sat on a deserted corner of the dining hall and was eating her breakfast slash lunch alone.

"Right, I'll see you guys later." Jaune nodded to the rest of his team and got a nod back. He lifted himself up, grabbed his empty tray and walked to the counters to refill his plate with few bread slices and some bacon, before walking to Ruby and sitting down beside her, like how he usually sat.

The act seemed to startle Ruby out of her thoughts, and if Jaune didn't know better, he could have sworn that Ruby had been brooding.

"Hi Ruby" Jaune greeted the girl.

"Hi Jaune" Ruby responded somewhat glumly. "What are you doing here? Wouldn't you rather sit beside Blake?"

"Huh?"

"I- uh… I thought… nevermind." Ruby sighed. "It's nothing… but you can leave if you want to go sit beside her, Blake might miss you..."

Jaune nodded, unsure of what troubled the girl. It seemed that Ruby wouldn't elaborate, so he choose to continue eating beside her. He had eaten enough earlier but he could always stuff in more, and he figured that Ruby needed company.

It appeared to be the right thing to do as she seemed to cheer up slightly as he didn't leave her side.

.

..

...

Rest of the early lunch was spent in silence, although Ruby had started to hum happily by the end of it, and the pair left the dining hall soon afterwards.

"So um… When do you want to leave for the gunshow, Jaune?" Ruby asked as the pair walked towards their dorm. "It's open already but it will stay open for the whole day, marketing their products and stuff."

"Whenever you feel ready." Jaune shrugged. "I'm not in a rush so don't worry about me, but would, hmm, 2pm sound good?"

Ruby seemed to be thinking about it for a while as it gave her an hour to prepare, and she nodded shortly afterwards as the pair came to the entrance of their dorms

Jaune opened the door for Ruby and she stepped inside. He made to follow her, but was forced to come to a halt as the girl had frozen still on the doorway.

"B-Blake? W-what are you do-doing?" Ruby stammered as she blocked Jaune's entry to the room.

"Hello Ruby…" he heard Blake greet the girl from inside the room, and Jaune looked past Ruby to see the faunus sitting in front of one of the room's study desks, attaching clasps to a sheet of black cloth. He looked at the shape of the fabric that the girl was working with and realized that it was a cloak, one that was much like Ruby's with the exception of having black colour and purple clasps instead of Ruby's red fabric and silver clasps.

"Change of style?" Jaune asked as he ushered Ruby into the room so he could enter as well, and he closed the door behind him.

"Yes and no." Blake answered cryptically while removing the bow on top of her head to release her cat-ears. Jaune raised his eyebrow, prompting the girl to continue.

"I noticed that there was a gun show ongoing, and I lost Gambol Shroud yesterday…" Blake seemed thoughtful "So I figured that I'd go see what they have for offer, and if they had parts I could use to construct her anew, better and stronger."

"So why the cloak?"

"White Fang knows that I'm alive, and they will be looking for me. While my ribbon works to hide my faunus parts from view, I doubt that it is enough to completely hide my identity" Blake explained as she rose from her chair to swirl the cloak around and attach it to her shoulders. "So I fashioned this cloak from cloth I grabbed from a shop on my way back from breakfast."

"Wait, there are shops that sell clothes in here?" Jaune asked, baffled, as he had not explored Beacon all that much beside the training facilities and the library.

"There's shops that sell clothes, ammo, weapon parts, and other necessities for Hunters in Beacon" Blake lifted the hood of her cloak over her head so it concealed her cat-ears. Jaune saw her amber eyes glint clearly through the faint shadow that was cast on her face by the edge of her hood. "There's even a spa in Beacon, although I have not visited it."

"I see. The cloak looks good on you." Jaune nodded as he stored the information for later use, and Blake pulled her long black hair from the hood so it cascaded down her right shoulder and onto her chest.

"I can see now why you keep your hair short, Ruby" Blake told the red-clad girl while searching for good way to keep her long hair from not getting in her way.

"B-but…" Ruby seemed speechless. "...That was my style…" she continued in small voice.

"Hm?" Blake seemed to be as confused as Jaune was over the small girl's behaviour.

…

Ruby was feeling many things at the moment. One of them was despair, other was uncertainty. There was a mix of apprehension, depression and a tinge of jealousy as well, but the two stood out the most.

' _Blake has a cloak as well now!'_ she thought as her mood fell faster than a wingless Nevermore. ' _And… she's going to the gunshow to get a new, potentially kick-ass weapon… and she's taller than me, has um… bigger… chest than me… and she's pretty, and both she and Jaune like reading… how am I supposed to compete?'_

She felt like cancelling the date so she could go hide under her bed and cry… until she remembered that she had a bunk bed now, and if she went under it, she'd land on top of Jaune's bed.

Which opened a whole new can of worms.

' _W… what if she's really good at… um… sleeping with boys as well?'_ Ruby gulped as she felt her face reddening. ' _What if I'm not good enough? No, I know I'm not good enough, why do I even try…'_

"...Ruby?" she heard a male voice call for her, and she turned her attention upwards to see Jaune standing in front of her with one of his hands holding her shoulder. "Ruby, are you alright? You are shaking and your face is red… did you really catch a cold yesterday?" the hand that was on Ruby's shoulder lifted up from it and Jaune reached to touch her forehead with the back of his hand to check her temperature.

"You're burning up… should we cancel the date?" Jaune sounded worried. "We can go somewhere else later if you're not feeling well."

"Your date? It was today?" she heard Blake ask from the side, and Ruby detected a faint, miniscule hint of worry mixed to the girl's voice.

Ruby found strength in the other girl's hesitation, and took a deep breath before latching onto Jaune's arm.

"Yeah, we were planning on having the date today. To Vale. Gun show. Do things." Ruby tried to force words out of her throat.

"Just as friends though, right?" Jaune asked Ruby, and she felt her eyebrow twitch slightly.

' _Why, why did I have to add that part when I was asking him out…'_ she despaired internally as she nodded glumly. "Yes, just as friends…"

Her mood was not helped how Blake seemed to relax ever so slightly after hearing her words.

"I see… if you two are going to go out 'just as friends', I'm sure you won't mind if I tag along?" Blake asked, and Ruby really didn't like the half-smile that the black-clad girl had on her face. "After all, we are going to the same place, right?"

"That would be nice." Jaune nodded beside Ruby, causing the red-clad girl to snap her head towards the boy. "Plus it also means that if you get ambushed despite your disguise, we'd be around to help."

"Indeed." Blake replied. "Thank you."

Ruby groaned.

* * *

A squeal rang in a somewhat crowded hall.

"Oooh, ooh, that's a magnetic recoil dampener with an in-built capacitor pack! It reduces up to 82 percent of recoil from rifles up to .75 caliber!" Ruby gushed as she practically drooled on top of a display case containing a weapon part that Jaune couldn't tell apart from a coverless toaster if he tried.

"I see… however it is stated to be experimental and not ready for public release for at least five years…" Blake commented from the side as she read the stall's introduction leaflet while the salesperson was trying, and failing, to get Ruby's face off the display case.

"Excuse me, Miss, mister? Can you please control your daughter." the salesman finally conceded his defeat and turned to the other two teammates.

"D-daughter?" Blake asked quietly, hiding deeper into the hood of her cloak while Ruby squawked indignantly from the way she was being addressed.

"Ah, Ruby, please don't… uh… salivate on top of the weapon parts." Jaune tried to come to the salesperson's rescue, causing Ruby to flare deep red and pull away from the display case.

"S-sorry…" she muttered to the clerk. "I'm not his daughter though…"

"Come Ruby, let's go see some other things?" Jaune attempted to defuse the situation as he pulled the red-clad girl away from a stall. The three of them had headed to the gunshow happening in Vale together after letting Weiss know where they would be, and the white-haired leader of the team had told them that she would be in the Beacon's spa for the day if they needed to contact her.

"I wonder if there are non-experimental parts for pistols and blades…" Blake wondered with a quiet voice as the three of them moved deeper into the hall that had been converted into a weapons expo. While most of the items on display were experimental parts and prototype weapons just put on show to display technological prowess, some of the stalls sold parts imported from Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo and even Menagerie- allowing Hunters who attended the expo to buy parts and even complete weapons that were not usually found in Vale.

"Yeah, they're that way" Ruby pointed out at a set of stalls that seemed to contain pistols and other small guns. "If you go that way, we'll could go this way... " she tried to drag Jaune towards a stall that seemed to display rifles with long barrels. Ruby's plans ran to a crashing halt however as Blake had taken hold of Jaune's other arm.

"Would you like to help me pick the parts for my new weapon, Jaune?" Blake asked, looking at a pistol grip that was hanging off a shelf.

"He doesn't even know how guns work!" Ruby countered. "No offense" she added a split second later, turning towards Jaune with ashamed expression overtaking her face.

"None taken." Jaune sighed. Ruby's statement was not strictly true as he had absorbed quite few splintered memories which contained hints of weapon usage- most of which he had recently de-Shadowed as he had ransacked his mind during the transformation training, although it was one thing _knowing_ how something worked than _doing_ something.

"True." Blake nodded, turning towards Jaune with a faint smile on her lips. "Would you like if I taught you how guns work?"

"That would be…"

"...Unnecessary." Ruby ended Jaune's speech, causing both Jaune and Blake to turn towards the girl. "I mean, I'm your partner, right? I'm pretty sure I know a lot about weapons so naturally I'd be the one to teach you, right?"

"Hm, true" Jaune conceded to Ruby. "Speaking of which, wouldn't it make sense for you to help Blake out with her weapon? You know, since you're the best in our team when it comes to weapons?"

"A- eh?" Ruby's speech came to a halt. "I- I suppose?"

"Good!" Jaune nodded. "Then we could go pick parts for Blake's weapon together, right? That way you can teach me what each part does and Blake gets a good weapon."

"I- uh, eh…."

"That's fine with me." Blake nodded as Ruby seemed to be struggling to counter his logic, and the red-clad girl nodded glumly a moment later.

.

..

…

' _This isn't working!'_ Ruby screamed internally as her 'other side' was having extreme amounts of fun picking out parts for Blake's new pistol-dagger-machete-whip-thing that the girl was building while her other, slightly more rational side was struggling to come up with a excuse to dump Blake somewhere so she could have more time with Jaune. ' _Plus, Jaune was being a jerk, inviting another girl into our date… although if we were just going to hang out as friends, it wouldn't be a big deal, but I… uuh… this is so infuriating…'_

"Are you sure that this blade is up to par?" Blake asked beside her as she was looking over at a segmented, box-cutter like blade that could be used as a blade for a sword, or released with the segmented parts of the blade detaching from eachother while staying attached to a steel cord inside the blades. transforming the blade into a brutal whip with razor blades attached alongside the whip's length.

"Yeah, but it's pretty dangerous to the user, so you might want to check this blade out." Ruby heard her voice tell the other girl while her hand picked a slightly longer, slender ribbon-like blade that would transform similarly but the razor blades it produced would be far shorter, allowing for greater finesse and control at expense of power and weight.

"Thank you" Blake bought the blade and added its case to an ever-increasing pile of boxes that Jaune had been volunteered to carry around.

"Euh" the boy staggered slightly as the boxes shifted. "Why do gun parts always come in massive boxes? Some of those parts are tiny!"

"It is so that they are more difficult to shoplift." Blake answered. "The parts themselves are small, and could be shoplifted easily from the open stalls were it not for those sealed boxes. The display parts which are the only ones outside boxes are always attached via secure chains so they are nearly impossible to steal without alerting anyone."

"Uh, do you mind if I go to put these to a locker and come back?" Jaune asked as he struggled to balance the part cases.

"It might be for the best" Blake glanced at the unsteady pile. "We'll go sit in a food stall, you know where to find us."

"I'll be back soon." Jaune nodded and walked off with the pile of boxes waving left and right above his head.

It wasn't until the boy had disappeared from Ruby's view that she realized that she could have excused herself to go help Jaune, and by the time she realized that, Blake had dragged her off already…

.

..

…

"Sheesh, where were those lockers again?" Jaune grumbled to himself as he stumbled through the crowd carrying the pile of weapon-part boxes. He was fairly sure he had seen a set of storage lockers meant for the attendees to store their personal belongings to when he had entered the expo, but he wasn't completely sure where exactly the lockers were located.

He missed a flash of black hair and red cloth as he was too deep in this thoughts trying to remember the route, and paid for it as he collided against someone.

"Ah!" "Sorry!"

Jaune tried to stop the pile of boxes from falling on top of whoever he had collided with, and doing so fell over with the boxes cascading over him. A groan escaped his mouth as he tried to climb from under the heavy cases containing whatever parts Blake had bought.

"My apologies, I must have been careless." a slender hand was offered to him and Jaune grabbed it while pushing himself upright. He knew that despite his normal built he weighed quite a bit more, so he didn't place much weight on the hand that was offered. "I hope you are alright?" the woman he had collided with asked with a polite voice.

"Sorry, that was completely my fault… and I'm unhurt, thanks" Jaune told her as he looked at the scarlet-clad woman that he had almost toppled over, and for a moment he was about to ask why Blake had changed her clothes so radically before realizing that the woman in front of him was a entirely different person. The lack of cat-ears, shorter hair and slightly sharper features gave it away, although the jet-black hair and gleaming golden-amber eyes reminded him uncannily of the disguised faunus.

"Cinder Fall" she introduced herself as she leaned to pick one of the fallen boxes from the floor and hand it to him.

"Jaune Arc" he greeted back as he piled the boxes so he could pick them up again. "Again, I am so sorry for colliding with you, I was looking for the lockers so I could store these for a while."

"Quite the curious purchases." the woman commented, looking at a the cover of one of the gun-part cases she held in her hands. "Would I be incorrect if I were to assume that you are a Hunter?"

"A student, actually. I mean, hunter-in-training. In Beacon." Jaune tried to answer as he took the case that Cinder offered to him. "First year. I was just looking around the show with two of my teammates, one of whom had lost her weapon recently so these are going to be for her."

"A thoughtful gesture of you to carry her burdens." Cinder nodded. "Would you accept my company in your search for the lockers?"

"That would be nice."

"Then let us be on our way."

* * *

"..."

"..."

Ruby narrowed her eyes as she looked over her potato fries at the girl sitting opposite to her. Blake mimicked the action, her eyes glinting through the shadow of her hood as she sunk her fork to her bowl of deep-fried fish. The two girls had sat down in front of a food stall after buying their snacks, waiting for Jaune to return from his trip to the lockers.

"What are you after?" Ruby opened the conversation.

"I'm just here to shop for weapon parts." Blake countered. "What are you after?"

"Why did you insist on coming with Jaune and I?" Ruby asked, dodging Blake's question.

"No reason." Blake answered a little too eagerly. "I mean, I wanted him as protection. That's the reason."

"Uh huh… You seemed to be pretty happy when he was petting you this morning?" Ruby's mouth betrayed her, much so her internal horror. "I thought you two were not supposed to be uh, together-together"

"Wait, you were awake?" Blake was taken aback. Her cheeks reddened ever so slightly before she narrowed her eyes at Ruby. "...Are you jealous by any chance?"

"No!" Ruby denied, feeling her face heat up. "No way, not, never, not a chance."

"Hm…" Blake ate her fish-snack with smooth, precise movements while the girl seemed to be deep in thought.

' _This is bad…'_ Ruby felt her chest tighten as she thought about her opposition sitting about two feet in front of her. ' _If I hesitate… I lose. I can't have doubts anymore… I just need to get her out of my way so I can do the... deed… But… Am I ready for that yet?'_

She shook her head as she was once again falling into her thoughts, ignoring the bigger issue at hand- which was how was she supposed to get Blake off her date with Jaune so she could spend more time with him!

"Ghghg" a grumble escaped her lips and Blake lifted her eyebrow at her.

"Is something wrong, Ruby?" she asked, and Ruby shook her head.

"Hi guys" a male voice came from near them, and Ruby felt her spirits get lifted slightly as she recognized Jaune's familiar voice.

"Hi Jaun- neeeeh?" Ruby turned to greet the teenager, but felt herself freezing mid-sentence. Jaune had returned from his trip to the lockers, and had brought a tall, gorgeous woman with jet-black hair, gleaming golden eyes and beautiful features with him.

Ruby had never felt more inadequate than she felt now as she looked at the woman that was standing beside her sort-of-crush.

"Wh-who is she?" she felt her mouth ask even while her brains locked up completely.

"Ah, Blake, Ruby, this is Cinder Fall. Cinder, this is Blake and Ruby, my two teammates." Jaune introduced the girls. Ruby looked to the side to see Blake sending Cinder a somewhat suspicious look while Cinder nodded graciously to both of the girls, taking extra care to take in both of their features.

"The pleasure is mine." Cinder smiled at Ruby, and she felt instantly that she would not get along with the woman. "I believe you two are Beacon students as well, correct?"

"Yes…" Blake answered slowly, hiding deeper into the hood of her cloak so Ruby could only see her amber eyes glint somewhat hostilely through the darkness that the hood cast on her face. "Why do you want to know that?"

"I was merely wondering, since we may be comrades-in-arms soon as my team will be transferring over from Haven Academy to Beacon in just few weeks." Cinder nodded politely. "I decided to head over to Vale before my team in order to get a chance to familiarize myself to Vale beforehand, and this gun-show caught my attention."

"I see…" Blake's answer dripped distrust. "Please forgive me my curiosity but where did you meet Jaune if you've been in Vale for such a short time?"

"I accidentally crashed to her" Jaune rubbed the back of his head as he answered in Cinder's stead. "She helped me find the lockers… thanks for that, once again."

"You're welcome." Cinder said graciously. "Perhaps we'll meet again in Beacon once my team has transferred over?"

"That would be n..."

"...Never." Ruby interrupted Jaune mid-sentence.

"Ruby?" Jaune tilted his head at the girl.

"Ah, I mean, perhaps. Maybe. Uh… I'm sorry?" Ruby tried to amend for her outburst.

Cinder merely chuckled at Ruby's panic, and the smaller girl got a strange desire to stuff her Crescent Rose down the woman's throat and unfold the weapon.

"Well, it's been fun but I believe that it is time for me to return to my wanderings." Cinder nodded at Jaune.

"Thank you for your help" Jaune thanked the woman. "You're welcome to join us if you want to sightsee Vale, since we're about to…"

"Oh, but I wouldn't want to intrude." Cinder sent a sly gaze towards Ruby who was practically seething at the older woman.

"It's no pro-" Jaune's speech was cut short as Ruby grabbed the boy's sleeve and bodily dragged him off, leaving the scarlet-clad woman chuckling at the way Jaune was being manhandled through the expo hall.

Blake followed quietly in Ruby's wake and the two girls exchanged a meaningful glance- swearing a wordless pact to unite against the common threat.

.

..

…

"I'll be returning to Beacon soon." Blake told both Jaune and Ruby as they idled around the gunshow after having visited most of the stalls that had interested them. "I don't want to overstay my welcome in Vale… I have a feeling someone might have seen me, and possibly recognized me."

"Are you going to be alright? We can come escort you off if you don't feel safe…" Jaune worried, and Blake nodded

"I should be alright, but I'd like that, just in case." she said. "Plus, you can help me carry the cases to the airbus."

"Euh, sure…"

The sun had started to set by the time the three of them extracted themselves from the gunshow. Jaune had managed to carry Blake's luggage to the airbus, much to the disguised girl's delight.

"Are you two going to come to the Beacon with me?" Blake asked as she was standing on the ramp of the airbus.

"W-we could go sightseeing for a while longer, right?" Ruby asked Jaune, and the teenager found himself torn between the two girls.

' _Sheesh…'_ Jaune looked at the amber eyes that glinted through the shadow of Blake's hood, and at Ruby's somewhat desperate silver eyes as the smaller girl hang onto his sleeve. He felt his big brother instincts kick in and remind him that he was supposed to be going out to Vale with with Ruby, not Blake. ' _...I'm not doing this 'date-but-not-really' thing all that well, am I?'_

He nodded, his decision made.

"Wanna go for a late dinner in the city?" Jaune asked Ruby, and got a somewhat shaky nod as a response. He wasn't quite sure why Ruby was being so nervous all of a sudden, but he figured that it would either pass, or either of them would bring it up and they would deal with it.

"S-sure!" Ruby agreed, although Jaune got a eerie feeling that the girl had been taken off guard by his decision to go with her.

"..." Blake's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the red-clad girl, and Jaune could tell that the black-clad girl was contemplating something. However before she managed to say anything a air-horn sounded, signalling that the airbus was about to leave.

"I'll see you two in Beacon later…" Blake said meaningfully and noded at Jaune before she stepped into the airbus.

"So um… where do you want to go? To eat, I mean." Ruby turned to face Jaune as the airbus started to glide out of the docks on its four massive hover-engines, and for a moment Jaune wondered if he chose the right thing as Ruby's face had started to slowly turn redder and redder as she stood beside him.

"Ruby, are you alright?" he asked, worried. "Your face is red again…"

"Ahehe, I'm alright. Completely normal. Nothing to worry about." Ruby reassured him with giddy tone as she let go of his sleeve in order to grab his hand. "I'm just happy that I got a chance to… um..."

"I noticed a steak place on our way from the gunshow" Jaune thought back about the places he'd seen as Ruby's speech came to a halt. "Wanna go grab something from there and perhaps go see a movie later?"

"S-sounds good… and uh… if we happen to miss the last bus, can we perhaps g-go to a h-hotel?" Ruby stammered. "I… I... umm…"

Jaune reached to touch the girl's forehead to check her temperature as he was getting more and more worried over the girl's behaviour, not to mention how she was basically shaking. It seemed to worsen the issue as Ruby's shaking grew wilder as he touched her.

"Are you sure that y…"

"I'm not. I mean, I am, I'm perfectly alright!" Ruby told him even while she looked like she might pass out soon. "I am totallynotplanninganythingbad."

"Uh, I didn't get that last one" Jaune confessed as Ruby's speech blurred to an indistinguishable jumble of words.

"It doesn't matter, let's go!" Ruby swallowed nervously, and started to drag him away from the airship docks…

* * *

' _Curious…'_ Cinder Fall thought as she sat in her hotel room after returning from the gun show, watching a CCT recording play out on her Scroll. In the recording she saw a certain Blake Belladonna being rescued from a Grimm holding cell by what appeared to be a very unusual Grimm creature that against all odds, _didn't_ kill or destroy everything and everyone they could. ' _Haah...it is unsurprising that those animals couldn't so much as keep one prisoner from escaping… they should have just executed her instead of fiddling with faunus trafficking. All this is making shipping Grimm into the city so much harder than it needs to be...'_

The White Fang had told her that their watchmen had been killed by an unknown infiltrator and the security monitors had been trashed, but the recorders had managed to catch a video of the one responsible for the rescue operation.

She had 'requested' the camera footage to see the incident herself after her White Fang contact had informed her that their hideout had been raided, and they had only barely avoided revealing the existence of captured Grimm inside the city. Unfortunately the solution White Fang had used to prevent the Grimm from being revealed had been to execute all of the Grimm that had been stored and let them evaporate. While the loss of those Grimm had been a setback, it was a better alternative to having her plan be revealed…

'... _And that's the second warehouse that had to be scuttled.'_ Cinder thought with a frustrated sigh escaping her lips. ' _It seems that we have to fall back on our secondary plan to store the Grimm elsewhere and find a way to get them in Vale later during the later stages of the plan… we can't afford so many close calls in so short period of time.'_

Cinder put her Scroll down as the video footages interesting part ended with the Grimm creature escaping from the facility with the cat faunus wrapped up in it's… tentacles.

' _Quite the curious case indeed… Not to mention how the little faunus traitor is apparently in Beacon and is in contact with both of the people who were responsible for Roman's failure to rob the Dust store…'_ Cinder tapped her foot against the mahogany floor. ' _I can use this…'_

The White Fang had debriefed her of the earlier disasters that had been caused by a certain blonde-haired, 6-foot something teenager with blue eyes, first by infiltrating a White Fang hideout and then almost immediately afterwards foiling one of Roman's Dust robberies.

It was quite fortunate of her to literally collide with the said blonde teenager in the gun show, and for him to then lead her to his collaborators.

' _Sometimes all it takes is a smile and a helping hand.'_ Cinder chuckled internally. ' _He will be dealt with in time… I know he is attending Beacon, he has nowhere to hide...'_

' _That Belladonna girl was unlucky… if I had just passed by her, I wouldn't have been able to recognize her… but that hood of hers only goes so far.'_ she thought as she picked her Scroll from the table and brought in another file on her Scroll, showing a certain Adam Taurus asking for her help in finding Blake Belladonna. The message was dated a few weeks ago. ' _The White Fang no doubt know of her betrayal now, and will be looking for her… and that bull will be looking for answers… he loved her, that fool.'_

' _I noticed how both of those girls looked at me as I walked beside that Jaune boy... they were jealous…'_ She felt her smile widening. ' _I wonder how enraged, how human-hating would Adam Taurus become if I were to tell him that his beloved's heart has been stolen by a human boy? And so soon after their… fateful departure?'_

' _If I play my cards right, I can use that cat-girl to fan Adam's flames of hatred towards Beacon… she just needs to stay alive until my plan is realized.'_ She slid her Scroll it into its carrying case, and rose up from her comfortable seat to walk around in the luxurious hotel room. ' _That just leaves the mystery of that Grimm creature… What was it, why did it do what it did, and how is it connected to the Belladonna girl? Could it be what that fool, Ozpin, had been hiding? A weapon to control the Grimm?'_

* * *

Jaune sneezed as he walked out of the movie theater while holding hands with Ruby. He was glad that Ruby had calmed down after she had gulped down prodigious amounts of steak from the steak place and popcorn from the theatre during the movie, although he wasn't quite sure why she had insisted that he'd eat so much pineapple. He had nothing against the fruit but it was somewhat unusual for her to suggest eating healthy, noting how her usual diet had so much sugary and sweet things.

"So uh… we've been up for a while now…" Ruby started as the pair idled through the late evening Vale. "And I thought maybe we could go somewhere to rest for a bit? A h-hotel perhaps?"

"Hm, true... it's been pretty busy day. Are you feeling tired?" Jaune asked. "We could return to Beacon, there's still airships going back and forth…"

"No, no… uh…" Ruby stammered."I'm feeling really tired, like, right now…"

"Hm?" Jaune tilted his head at the girl and leaned closer. "You're burning bright red again… are you feeling ill?"

"Eeep!" Ruby backed away as his face closed to hers.

"Ruby?" he was getting more and more worried as he looked at the girl.

"What's going on…" "...in this neck of the woods?" a new voice came to their conversation, and Jaune turned around to see his twin sisters, Amber and Ember walking towards them on the sidewalk. "Hi Jaune!" they echoed in synch.

"Ah, hi!" Jaune greeted the sisters.. "What are you doing here?"

"We were shopping for food…" Amber started, and Ember continued "...And we saw you two so we followed you!" The twins lifted heavy-looking bags of second-grade vegetables and other discounted foodstuffs.

The twins stalked closer to Ruby after Jaune took the bags from the sisters so he could carry the food in their stead.

"Who…" "...is... " "...she?" the twins spoke in turns, before ending with a combined gasp "Your girlfriend?"

"Euuhh… not really. Yet. Maybe." Ruby tried to stand against the tide valiantly. It proved to be ineffective against the inquisition. "I mean, no, I don't think so… Who are you?"

"Ruby, this is my sister Amber and her twin, Ember" Jaune introduced the twins to Ruby. "This is Ruby Rose, my partner."

"She looks…" "...Young." the twins circled around the red-clad girl who seemed to get somewhat light-headed from the rapid swapping of the speaker. "She's got so pretty eyes, but… "...Are you sure..." "...that she's legal?"

"What?" Jaune tilted his head at the sisters who seemed to be scrutinizing Ruby. "Also, give her some breathing space, she might have a cold."

"Hm?" the twins took a slightly more concerned look as they swarmed closer to the red-clad girl that had started to vibrate slightly. "She does have a really red face…" "...And she's shaking, poor thing!"

"Yeah, Ruby told me that she was tired after the movie and wanted to go to a hotel, so we'll probably return to Beacon…" Jaune told them. "...What?"

The twins had started to rub their foreheads in synch. "Of course you would miss…" ...So obvious hint."

Amber turned towards Ruby while Ember caught Jaune's hand, and the twins started to walk the pair towards the residential district.

"Well, if she's feeling _tired_ …" "...Our home is closer than Beacon, right?" they echoed in synch as an answer to Jaune's unasked question. "And we have spare rooms…" "...So you two can stay the _night_ if you're feeling unwell!"

Jaune wasn't quite sure why the twins focused so much on those two words, but he shrugged his shoulders and followed them.

It's not like they were planning for something bad, right?

"I-I-I I'm not ready!" Ruby tried to stammer, but she was dragged along nevertheless…

.

..

…

" _Thanks for letting me know where you two are. I would have worried if you suddenly dropped out of contact after the recent events."_ Weiss's reply flashed in Jaune's Scroll as he was in the Arc household's kitchen, making snacks for his sisters and Ruby who had commandeered the living room and were relaxing by watching TV. He had sent a message to Weiss and Blake to let them know that they would stay in Vale overnight.

Jaune pocketed the Scroll and picked up a tray of cut fruits that he had prepared, and walked to the living room where Ruby was fidgeting on the sofa while his sisters either watched the television or were trying to talk with Ruby. 'Trying' being the key word as it seemed that Ruby was getting somewhat nervous from all the attention that was directed at her.

"Thanks, Jaune" Amethyst sighed as Jaune put the snack tray down on a coffee table in front of the sofa. "And thanks for coming. We missed you."

"Yeah… I missed you four as well" Jaune conceded, reaching for a peeled mandarin before turning towards Ruby. "I sent a message to Weiss and Blake, they'll know not to worry if we stay in Vale overnight."

Ruby nodded somewhat nervously.

"Who's Weiss and Blake?" Amethyst asked curiously.

"Weiss is the team leader in our team, team SABR…" Jaune explained, looking at Ruby who seemed to relax slightly from the familiar subject, and helped him to describe the rest of his team to the sisters. Beryl had already met the rest of his team and occasionally leaned to whisper something to Amethyst's ear, which seemed to cause the girl to blush slightly.

Evening eventually turned to night, and the twins rose to guide Ruby to her bedroom that Beryl had left to prepare beforehand.

Amethyst lifted herself up to follow them, but Jaune pulled her aside.

"Hm?"

"Am, are you girls really alright?" Jaune asked with quiet tone.

"So you picked up on it…" she sighed. "Figures. You used to be a lot more dense, and you still are in some areas…"

"That doesn't answer the question." he told her.

"No, I suppose not…" Amethyst turned towards the door through which the rest of his sisters had left. "But to answer it, we're coping. The twins are trying to ignore your… ability, and act like the two year gap never happened. Beryl… I don't know. If I were to guess, she is feeling a bit lonely since you're back but you spend your time in Beacon instead of here… she chooses to act normal for the sake of everyone and she won't say it out loud, but I think she's really attached to you."

"And you?"

"I'm worried, frankly." she said simply. "Worried over you. You went through so much horror, so much pain… and you had so little time to recover before getting thrown to Beacon. I'm worried that you'll snap, and that you'll end up hurting yourself or the others."

"I won't." Jaune told her, lifting his hand to stall her response. "I told my team of my ability, and my past… and they are helping me to recover and get in control of my Semblance."

"They sound so wonderful people…" Amethyst nodded. "Take good care of them, people like those are rare to come by.."

"I intend to." Jaune answered seriously.

"What's your relationship with your teammates, by the way?" she asked after a moment. "Beryl hm… suggested some things, but I'd rather hear it from you."

"We're friends, I think." Jaune said. "Blake's been a bit distant but I think she's getting closer with the rest of us, Ruby's really friendly with everyone although she's a bit clumsy with her interactions, and while Weiss started a bit cold and arrogant, she's been toning both down quite bit after she was made the leader of the team."

"I meant that as in 'are you in a relationship with any of them'?" Amethyst asked with a somewhat amused tone.

"Oh, no." Jaune sighed. "I mean, I like think about them as if they were sort-of sisters to me… I really haven't had time to think about relationship stuff."

"Heh… I'm fairly certain that the Rose girl wouldn't mind if you did" Amethyst muttered to herself with amused smirk crossing her lips.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind, oh little brother of mine…"

* * *

 _'This is the hour.'_ Ruby was shaking slightly as she lifted herself up from the bed that had been made for her in the guest room of the Arch household. A quick glance at her Scroll told her that it was getting somewhat late, and Jaune would have gone to sleep by this hour… in his bedroom, which was adjacent to the room that had been given to her. ' _I… I have to do this now, or lose him to Blake...'_

The adjacency being something that had been not-so-subtly hinted to her by Jaune's twin sisters...

' _T-they know what I'm about to do…'_ Ruby thought as her shaking hand reached for the guest room's door, and opened it so she could step into the dark corridor. She was wearing a loaned set of soft, cream-white pajamas that were a bit too big for her, and the cloth shuffled quietly as she moved with uncertain footsteps towards Jaune's bedroom door.

She gathered her courage for a while as she rested her hand on the doorknob, before taking a deep breath and opening the door as quietly as she could.

She saw Jaune's form lying on the solitary bed of the room, although she couldn't see details of the room because of the dark. A tentative step was followed by other, and she felt her palms starting to sweat as she reached for the boy's blanket to lift it...

...And Jaune's hand reached to grab hers.

Ruby reared back in panic as she saw his eyes flash red for a moment as he turned around to look at her, and for a moment she was afraid that he'd transform and attack her… until the boy's shoulders slumped and his eyes returned to normal.

"W-what are you doing here, Ruby?" Jaune asked as he let go of her hand, and she saw a shiver run through the boy as she stared at him with wide eyes.

"Um…" Ruby tried to calm her beating heart. "I um…"

"You're afraid…" Jaune mumbled as he lifted himself up to a sitting position, "Is something wrong? What happened?"

' _More like 'what was about to happen'...'_ Ruby thought nervously. "I um… I just wanted to uh..."

"Hm?" Jaune tilted his head sleepily at her. "What?"

"C-Can I sleepwithyou?" Ruby blurted out. ' _Ten out of ten, nailed it'_ she thought sarcastically as her more rational side analyzed her confession of sorts while her less-rational side locked up completely.

"Huh?" Jaune asked, "I don't think that's a good idea... "

"W-why?" Ruby felt her nervousness crack to make room for a sinking feeling that settled on her stomach. "Ah- Am… Am I n-not good enou…"

"You're afraid of something." he said simply. "I feel negative emotions you know… and negative emotions cause me to become a bit more unstable than usual so I might end up hurting you."

"B-but my eyes can calm you down, right?" Ruby forced out. "S-so it's okay, right? I mean, if you g-go too w-wild I can just look at you and everything's alright again?"

"True…" Jaune sighed. It seemed that the boy was too tired to argue further as he laid back on his bed and lifted his blanket for Ruby. "Come then…"

"R-right…" Ruby gulped loudly before climbing to the bed, and slowly tying her arms around Jaune's waist. "I- I'm inexperienced s-so p-please t-take it e-easy on m-me…"

"Goodnight, Ruby... " Jaune muttered to her before reaching to pull her closer to him.

"Eeep!" Ruby froze still against Jaune's chest. ' _I- Is this how it ends? I'm too young to become a mother!'_

She had read a 'top five tips for sleeping with men for the first time' article from a relationship advice site with her Scroll beforehand, and the article had warned her that the first time could hurt a lot, so she prepared herself mentally as Jaune's hands reached for her head…

...And started to pet her head gently.

' _Huh? Eeh… that feels… kinda nice actually…'_ Ruby felt herself starting to slowly relax as the pleasant sensation continued and no pain followed. ' _It's sort of like when mom petted me when I was younger…'_

She sighed as she felt herself warm up as the blanket covered both her and Jaune, and she felt tiredness gradually starting to overtake her.

' _...Yeah, this is pretty nice... '_ Ruby thought as she closed her eyes just for a moment...

.

..

…

...And she woke up to the morning light shining through the room's window.

"Pwah?" Ruby lifted her head slowly from its warm, comfortable nest that happened to be Jaune's chest, and looked up at the boy who still had his arms tied around her back. "H-hi?"

"Good morning, Ruby." he mumbled sleepily as her voice seemed to wake him up. "Did you sleep well?"

"Y-yes." Ruby nodded, feeling excitement starting to flood her head. ' _I did it! Take that, Blake, I can sleep with Jaune too!'_

She felt her thoughts come to a momentary halt s she remembered what else Blake had been doing the day before. ' _...Oh no, what about that other thing? I need to try to do it, what if it's some important part of the experience that the article missed?'_

"Purr."

Jaune raised his eyebrow at Ruby. "Did you just… say 'purr'?"

"Y-yes. Purr."

Jaune seemed to connect the dots and began to chuckle. "Ruby, did you want to sleep with me because I slept with Blake? And you are 'purring' because she purred in the morn… Hold on, you were awake during that?"

Ruby froze slightly.

' _He found out!'_ "Y-yes…" She confessed. "But it was really sweet of you to help Blake fall asleep after the things that happened to her… but I won't lose to her!"

"Lose to her?"

' _Crap, I need to start controlling my mouth… '_ Ruby felt her face heat up and she started to unconsciously trace circles on Jaune's chest with her finger. "Uh… I mean… Well…"

"Ruby?"

"Isortakindalikeyou!" ' _Mouth, you and I need to have a talk'_ Ruby felt her eyes widening as the outburst left her mouth. "I mean um…"

"I like you too." Jaune nodded as he started to pet Ruby's head.

' _W-what? Is this it?'_ Ruby's thoughts came to a crawl. ' _I- is this marriage? Should I start to look for wedding dress?'_ "R-really?"

"Yeah, you're my partner" Jaune told her as he rubbed his eyes sleepily with his free hand. "And you're the best partner I could hope for."

"I- I'm so happy…" Ruby mumbled quietly as she latched her arms around Jaune's chest, and hugged the boy tightly.

She hesitated slightly before climbing up from his chest and leaning forwards to place a quick kiss on Jaune's cheek, and snuggling back to his hug.

Unknownst to both of them, a crow sitting on a dead tree outside dug its claws deeper into the wood as it looked through the window to the bedroom.

.

..

…

"So here come…" "...The champions." Amber and Ember echoed as Jaune and Ruby came to the kitchen where the sisters had been making breakfast. Ruby had changed into her usual clothes and Jaune wore his normal jeans and hoodie coupled with his usual twin-belt.

"Hm?"

"How was…" "...last night?" the twins immediately swarmed over Ruby.

"Nice, warm and comfortable, I liked it." Ruby hummed happily.

"Not too…" "...rough, I hope?" Ruby was pulled aside although Jaune could hear her answer "No, Jaune was very careful so he wouldn't accidentally hurt me…"

' _Yeah, It was a bit rough to control the Shadow when Ruby was so afraid last night…'_ Jaune sighed. ' _Good thing that petting her head helped her to calm down… Still, I wonder what made her feel that scared…'_

Jaune sat down to the dining table and started piling stuff on his plate, and got a sideways glance from Amethyst.

"So did you really do… it?" she asked neutrally.

"Do what?"

Amethyst rubbed her face for a moment before leaning to whisper something to Jaune's ear, and the contents of the whisper caused Jaune to blush brightly. "No, no, we didn't do erm… ' _that'._ We just slept together since Ruby was feeling scared."

"I see… you shouldn't mislead that girl" Amethyst sighed as she reached for an apple. "Otherwise you're going to end up hurting her eventually…."

"I'll do my best to avoid that." Jaune promised as he spread butter on his toast. ' _I wonder why she's saying that I'm misleading Ruby though… I mean, I haven't done anything like that, right?'_

"What do you plan on doing today?" Amethyst interrupted his thoughts.

"We'll probably return to Beacon and see about catching up to our studies… we took four days off to get my Semblance under control so we really need to catch up with other students." Jaune said as he started eating.

"So... is 'it' under control now?" Amethyst asked quietly, and Jaune saw how Beryl leaned closer to listen as well.

"Yeah… I'm in control... well, mostly in control." Jaune nodded lifting his hand… but before he managed to transform anything, Beryl grabbed his upraised hand and brought it back down.

"We believe you… you don't need to show us." she whispered with a slightly pale face.

"Time and place." Amethyst scolded. "Your word is enough for us."

"Thanks." Jaune nodded to the sisters and continued his breakfast as the twins and Ruby returned to the kitchen.

Was it just him or were the twins paler than usual? ...And a bit green?

* * *

Ruby hummed happily as she walked hand-in-hand with Jaune. The pair had said goodbyes to the Arc sisters shortly after breakfast, and had boarded an airbus which took them from Vale to Beacon.

"By the way, Ruby?" Jaune turned towards Ruby as the pair walked through the Beacon's hallways towards their dorms. "What happened with the twins back at my home? They seemed… odd after your discussion with them."

"Hm? They wanted to know details about your bed, I think. They also asked how big you were." Ruby thought back to the conversation she had with the twins. "I wasn't sure what they meant so I just said that yours was bigger than mine."

"Wait, what was bigger than yours?" Jaune asked, confused.

"Hand, I think, since they were asking about last night. You know, the petting and all." Ruby lifted her hand up so she could compare her hand's size with his. "They got a bit weird after I told them that, although I have no idea why."

Jaune shrugged as the pair reached the Beacon's dorms and he opened their dorm room's door. Ruby pulled her hand away from his, and she turned towards team RYNN's dorm which was opposite to theirs. "I'll go talk to Yang for a while, see you soon~"

He nodded and they separated, Jaune stepping into SABR's dorm and Ruby entering RYNN's dorm.

…

Yang was lazing around in her bed, reading a bike magazine while drinking from a juice pack, thinking about her team's internal dynamics and bike hydraulics. Nora and Ren had gone to Vale to do god-knows what, and Pyrrha had been beating the simulation robots for a while and was currently taking a shower in the dorm's comfortable bathroom.

She found it somewhat adorable how the team's leader was stoic and quiet and all, but the fact that the green-clad boy was about as dense as mountain and equally impervious to the pink-clad girl's flirtations was somewhat infuriating to watch. Not that Pyrrha was any more successful with her 'flirtations' towards Jaune.

Yang sighed internally as she thought how similar the two girls were, yet opposite in nearly every other way.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the dorm room's door opened and Ruby stepped in.

"What's up Rubes?" Yang greeted while drinking her juice.

"Yang, I just slept with Jaune."

The juice flew straight from her mouth.

"Bwah?" Yang spluttered as the liquid dripped down her chin while she was staring at the small red-clad girl that positively _glowed._

* * *

"What is it now?" Ozpin asked as Qrow drank his coffee.

"I don't want to talk about it." the man grumbled as he sat in his usual chair in the headmaster's office. Qrow looked like he'd been forced through hell as the man had red-veined eyes, ashen-grey face and fingernails that looked like they'd been dug to hard wood for a long time.

"Then why did you come here to drink…"

"Because I felt like I need company, and I can't handle Tai's smug face right now." Qrow said while indulging on another cup of the black liquid.

"Fine…" Ozpin sighed. "What have you observed?"

"About the Grimm-brat? First of all, he's way too close to Ruby." Qrow grumbled. "Secondly, did you know what almost happened to the cat-girl?"

"Explain."

"She apparently got herself abducted." Qrow leaned forwards. "By White Fang no less."

Ozpin lifted his eyebrow. "How are they tied to all this?"

"I don't know, since I didn't get a chance to enter their hideout, but apparently they had been hauling Grimm to the city." the man was serious. "Grimm, of all things."

"I may need to have a word or a few with my contact in the Vale Police… We are importing Grimm to be used as training targets for our students during classes, so it may be possible that someone is using our credentials to bypass security checks." Ozpin was thoughtful as he sipped from his mug calmly, although Qrow could see that the man's grip was slightly tighter than it usually was. "While the whole thing is worrying as it is, I do wonder why would White Fang import Grimm to the city in the first place?"

"I don't know… but speaking of them and abducting people the catgirl…" "Miss Belladonna?" "...yeah, that's the one…. she was rescued by the Grimm-brat." Qrow pressed on despite Ozpin's interruption. "I would have rescued her myself had I known about the whole thing, but I was a bit busy trying to watch after the other brat."

"I see… it's a good sign that mr. Arc went out of his way to rescue her." the headmaster nodded. "It seems that my guess about mr. Arc's personality was a correct one at least."

"So what are you going to do with him?" Qrow asked. "I can't keep tailing him forever, he's eventually going to figure out that he's being watched… even more so when I shadow him in my human form."

"He appears to be growing more used to his Semblance." Ozpin dodged the question, pulling up a screen showing Jaune Arc training in the simulation room alongside the rest of team SABR. "It may be time to start directing his actions towards our true foes…"

"You're talking about the queen, right?"

"Yes." Ozpin leaned on his desk. "He doesn't need to know of our secrets in order to work for us."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Qrow asked. "The brat's hatred is directed to someone else."

"It may not take much to convince him that his enemy and ours are one and the same…"

"Are you saying that you want to convince brat that Raven and the Grimm queen are allied?" Qrow rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I'm supposed to be the drunk one here remember? I know Raven is bad apple in a worse tree, but she's not _that_ bad… or at least she wasn't when we last met."

"I'm merely suggesting that we'll be a bit more selective in the truths we tell him." Ozpin said.. "After all, mr. Arc and I have an agreement of sorts…"

 **Next Chapter:**

 **Forever Fall- 9-10. dec**

 **Due to some RL things involving work I have less time to write than I'd like to have, which means I only really have time to write during weekend- because of this I have to swap the release dates from fri-sat to sat-sun. I apologize for the inconvinience.**


	18. Forever Fall pt 1

Yang was feeling many emotions as she stared at the small red-clad girl she knew as her adorable, innocent little sister.

One of the emotions was numbness, one was disbelief, one was shock, and one was a rising desire to remove some dangly-bits from a certain blonde boy. As it was however, there were some more immediate concerns to attend to which halted her inevitable attempt to fulfill her desire to commit manslaughter.

"R-Ruby?" she got out as she rose up from her bed to stare at the girl who stood in front of team RYNN's dorm room's door. "C-can you repeat that?"

She wasn't sure if she _wanted_ Ruby to repeat what she'd said, but Yang _needed_ to know for sure.

"I slept with Jaune." Ruby nodded happily. "It was awesome. It was so warm, and it felt really good and..."

Yang let a choking sound. "D-did you at least use protection? What exactly did you do?"

"Protection?" Ruby tilted her head. "Oh yeah… Oh no!" her expression went from happy glow to horrified in an instant, and the smaller girl pulled a small square package with a round shape in the middle from her skirt. Yang looked at the condom package curiously as Ruby's thoughts seemed to come to a halt.

"Ruby?"

"I-I forgot." Ruby whispered. "O- oh no. W-what if… no way, what if…"

"Ruby, talk to me!" Yang started to worry. "What happened betw-"

Her speech was interrupted as the dorm room's bathroom door opened and Pyrrha stepped into the room, clad in her bathrobe.

"Yang, I think Jaune got me pregnant!" Ruby burst out, completely oblivious to the red-headed girl behind her. "W-what if I become a mother?"

Yang watched numbly as Pyrrha's expression froze completely still, and the girl turned around on the spot and returned to the showers. ' _Oh boy…'_

She shook her head as there was more immediate issue that had to be resolved, so Yang reached to put both of her hands on Ruby's shoulders to stop the smaller girl from fidgeting and panicking.

"Ruby, step by step, what happened between you and Jaune?"

"Eh- ahe?" Ruby seemed to come out of her shock as she saw a concerned and more than a bit desperate look on Yang's face. "I um…"

"Ruby…"

"W-we were on a date, but Blake butted in, and then…" Ruby told Yang of her date-but-not-really with Jaune. "...A-and then I climbed into his b-bed and he um… started petting my head."

Yang's breath hitched as Ruby approached the crucial part of the story.

"What happened next?"

"Um… I fell asleep." Ruby mumbled quietly.

"...Eh?" Yang blinked.

"And then I woke up in the morning and we went for a breakfast." Ruby confessed.

"B-but did you… um… do 'that'?" Yang was not sure if she wanted to let herself feel relieved just yet.

"What?"

"You know, the uh…" Yang wasn't quite sure how to put it, so she pulled her hands off Ruby's shoulders to make a circle with her forefinger and thumb, and then inserted the forefinger of her other hand to the circle a few times.

"Huh?" Ruby seemed to become even more confused by the hand gesture, and tilted her head to the side. "Handsigns? Sign language? I don't think Jaune did that… or if he did, I didn't see it since uh, I kind of had my head against his chest."

Yang facepalmed.

"Sis, do you know how erm… sex works?" Yang finally got out. ' _Goddammit dad, this should be your job not mine…'_

"Sex?" Ruby blinked. "Psh, of course I know how it works uh… it's when two people who love each other sleep together on the same bed and the lady gets pregnant, and nine months later a stork brings a bab-"

"N-no… it's… uh...Timeout!" Yang interrupted was on verge of either breaking down after the emotional rollercoaster of the last few minutes, or bursting to a relieved laughter over Ruby's innocence- and over the fact that she didn't have to go through something she was ill-prepared for. As it were, she made the universal timeout hand gesture and sat down on her bed.

She just now noticed how hard her hands were shaking as she thought about Ruby's close call- and how the innocent girl had no idea what had almost happened.

' _Well… I'm glad to know that Jaune at least has his head in the right place... '_ she sighed internally. ' _I'm so glad that he didn't… do 'that' to Ruby. But she needs to know what she's getting into if that continues...'_

"Ruby, has dad told you about the bees and the flowers?" Yang finally got out while patting a spot next to her on her bed. ' _I'm really not looking forwards to explaining her this…'_

"No, what do they have to do with…"

"Just... get in here and listen…"

.

..

...

"...And then that goes there, and then this thing happens." Yang finished her little explanation to Ruby. "Ehm. Did you get all that?"

"..." Ruby nodded very, very slowly, and Yang warmed her hands momentarily in the heat that radiated from the smaller girl's face.

"Also, can you uh, cool down sis?" Yang added as Ruby's self-combustion continued and Yang could have sworn that the room's temperature had started to rise slowly.

"I-I-I-I I… I will try to do that…" Ruby stammered and Yang offered the girl a soda can from her bag, and Ruby pressed the cold metal against her head for a moment. "B-but we… um… Jaune and I didn't do a-any of _that._.."

"Yeah, he better not have." Yang growled. "But at least you now know what you're getting into when you jump into someone's bed… Not all boys are as considerate as Jaune is."

"But… Yang, that means I might still lose him to Blake! I need to hurry up and seduc-" Ruby's outburst was cut off as Yang grabbed her hand to calm the girl down.

"Ruby, don't get into stuff you aren't ready for!" Yang tried to reason with Ruby. "Ask yourself, are you doing this because you like Jaune so much and you want to do it with him, or is it because you're getting pressed for time because of some other girl?"

"But… but… What if... " Ruby went quiet. "I don't want to lose him…"

"Have you tried telling him how you feel?" Yang sighed. "You know, be direct?"

Ruby seemed to be thinking for a while. "I… Well, I did tell him that I liked him…"

"And how did he respond?"

"He… H-he told that he liked me too…" Ruby confessed quietly.

"I see, so you two are sort-of dating, and you like eachother, right?" Yang smiled, ignoring a vein that wanted to pop in her forehead. "I'm sure that there's no problem then? There's need to get into things that you're not ready for? Right?"

"Y-Yeah…" Ruby cheered up and she hugged the older girl. "Thanks Yang!"

"That's what big sisters are for." Yang nodded happily. "Just remember, if he tries something funny, use a swift kick to the…"

"Aaand there goes that mood…" Ruby grumbled.

' _Now I just have to find a way to stop Pyrrha from going after Ruby… Well, I'm sure that it won't be too hard...'_ Yang though as she returned Ruby's hug…

* * *

"Um... "

"Hss."

Jaune tilted his head.

Blake turned a page on her book as she lied on her bed.

"Why are you hissing at me?" Jaune asked Blake. He was standing in front of his study desk, trying to pick a book to read from a bookshelf above the desk while Blake was reading her book in her bed. Blake had taken off her bow, and her cat-ears were pressed flat against her head. She had started to give him the cold shoulder instantly after he had entered the room after separating from Ruby in the dorm's hallway.

"You know what you've done." Blake sent him a glare over her book. "You know what's wrong."

"Hm…" Jaune tilted his head to the other side, and looked at the faunus who was glaring at him as if he had committed a grave crime against her. "Are you hungry?"

"No, that's not it." Blake denied.

"Thirsty?"

"No!" Blake hissed. "Stop guessing!"

"Then how am I supposed to know what's wrong?"

"You- gah, nevermind." Blake huffed and she returned to her book.

Jaune shrugged, and picked a book from the shelf that seemed interesting. He walked to his bed and sat down to read, which seemed to push Blake's patience over the edge.

"What happened yesterday?" She asked finally. "After I left I mean."

"Ah, Ruby and I went to eat and then we went to see a movie." Jaune nodded.

"I meant after that. You two stayed the night in Vale" Blake sent a glare at him.

"Eh, we went to my home and we slept the night." Jaune told her. "Ruby met the rest of my sisters and so on."

"Did… Anything else happen?" Blake's ears lifted slightly upwards. "D-did you sleep with Ruby?" she added almost inaudibly.

"Yeah, I did." Jaune nodded, looking curiously at Blake's cat-ears that seemed to flop down after hearing his words. "How did you know?"

"I- just… Don't talk to me." Blake seemed to withdraw into her thoughts as she turned away from him. "Go away." she added as Jaune tried to open his mouth to ask what's wrong.

' _Something's wrong'_ Jaune thought with concern as he reached for his other side, and smelled the air. There were strong negative emotions radiating from Blake, and he stopped using his ability soon after as the Shadow's hunger rose from the negativity. ' _What made her so… I don't know what that emotion is, sad, perhaps? No, it is more bitter than sad… Is it… hold on, could it be… Jealous?'_

Jaune tilted his head at the girl's back as she continued to read her book in her bed, facing away from him. ' _But why would she be jealous? Unless… Unless if she wanted to go to Vale to eat and sleep in my home as well? Blake did like our library... And she probably doesn't have a home to go back to since she was in White Fang for the most of her life... '_

"Blake?" Jaune asked.

"What?" the girl responded somewhat bitterly.

"Would you like to go out with me?" Jaune asked. "You know, to Vale and so on?"

"...You'd cheat on Ruby so easily?" Blake's tone took an aggressive notion and she turned around to face him.

"Cheat on her?" Jaune was confused. "But… Ruby and I aren't dating, right? Or at least I don't think so…"

"But… You slept with her!"

"I slept with you too." Jaune countered.

"Y- hold on." Blake's thoughts seemed to come to an halt. "D-did you not have sex with Ruby?"

"No, I did not." Jaune's cheeks reddened. "She was feeling scared for some reason so she wanted to sleep together…"

"I- I see." Blake went quiet for a while. "Really?"

"Yeah, she was a bit like one of my sisters in that. Beryl used to sneak into my bed when she was feeling scared back when she was younger." he nodded.

Blake seemed to relax slightly after hearing his words, and he waited for a moment before continuing. "So about that going out thing…"

"You really need to work on your timing." Blake sighed and put her book aside. Jaune saw that her ears had perked up again slightly as she turned to face him fully. He felt an emotion that was something between happy, surprised and wary radiating from her.

"But we'll have time to work on that, and to answer your question... Yes, I'd like to go out with you." Blake finished after a brief internal struggle.

"Awesome! So... would you like to go out to Vale next weekend?" Jaune asked, happy as it seemed that the black-clad girl had cheered up.

"Sure."

Jaune opened his mouth to say something, but a small creaking sound interrupted him. He looked over and saw Ruby opening the door and entering the room.

He tilted his head at the girl as she seemed to flush bright red after looking at his face.

"H-hi Jaune…"

"Did something happen? Your face is red again…"

"It's nothing, uh, actually, I'll go tinker with Crescent Rose for a while…" Ruby sprinted out of the room.

Blake lifted her eyebrow at Jaune.

Jaune shrugged.

.

..

…

' _Sheesh, it's really embarrassing to look at Jaune now…'_ Ruby thought as she inspected Crescent Rose for battle-damage in Beacon's workshop. There had been few scrapes and a bit of paint had been scratched, but the weapon was in peak condition otherwise and she had repainted the weapon already… like she had done time and time again, since she maintained the weapon after every battle, after every training session and after the classes ended.

' _Haaah… Yang just had to tell me 'that'…'_ Ruby's cheeks reddened again ' _I'm kind of glad that Jaune didn't uh, well, do that… It sounded pretty nasty.'_ She felt a small snap come from a bolt she'd been tightening, signalling that Crescent Rose was once again assembled and ready to be used. She folded the weapon and set off to return it into the armory. ' _But… Just sleeping in the same bed was so nice… So surely that uh… other thing wouldn't have been so bad as Yang said it would be, right?'_

Ruby heard a frustrated sigh come from one of the small workrooms that lined the hallway that separated the workshop from the armory, and she stopped for a moment to listen as the voice sounded familiar. ' _Weiss?'_

"...This completely, incredibly… Frustrating thing…" Weiss's grumble came through the workroom's door, and Ruby creaked it open to see Weiss leaning at a workbench where she had her weapon, Myrtenaster, disassembled and ready for maintenance. Weiss seemed to be having troubles with the weapon though, and Ruby saw the girl referring to a sizeable hardback user's manual as she tinkered with the weapon.

"Weiss?" Ruby called, and she saw Weiss snap around to face her, clearly startled by her presence.

"R-Ruby?" Weiss responded, and Ruby saw that the white-haired heiress's cheeks had reddened slightly as she stepped in front of her disassembled weapon to block Ruby's view of it. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, I was maintaining Crescent Rose…" '... _And taking a timeout from Jaune so I could process what Yang told me.'_ Ruby said, choosing to only reveal the first part of her reason to visit the workshop.

"I see." Weiss was short-worded and Ruby got a strange feeling that Weiss didn't want Ruby to be around.

"Weiss, is something wrong?" she asked, going straight for the problem's jugular.

"N-nothing wrong…" Weiss told her, and Ruby narrowed her eyes.

Weiss glared back at her.

Ruby narrowed her eyes further.

" _Fine_!" Weiss crossed her arms and looked away. "I was having trouble with Myrtenaster… It's barrel and Dust chamber suffered a bit of corrosion after I used fire and lightning Dust at too fast of a pace and at low Aura level when we trained…"

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head at the girl. "Doesn't that mean that you'd need to replace the barrel with new one? Why do you have a file?"

"I thought I could file the barrel until corroded parts are-" Weiss started, but Ruby cut her off.

"That's going to leave the barrel rattly and unstable!" The red reaper burst out, catching the white-haired heiress off-guard. "Filing the barrel and the Dust chamber is a really bad idea!"

"Huh?" Weiss seemed to consider her words. "But…"

"Weiss, it can cause a jam in the cylinder when you fire Dust!" Ruby forgot the issue of Jaune and she concentrated on Weiss's weapon.

"I…" Weiss started, and Ruby once again talked over her.

"And then the Dust clogs the barrel and because you use caseless multi-charge Dust it could spark a chain detonation, and then another expl-"

"I get it!" Weiss huffed and sent a glare at Ruby. "Just... Gah, I get it."

"Right… So uh…" Ruby calmed down under the glare. "Um… You need to change the corroded barrel entirely…"

"..." Weiss sent a glare at her.

"..." Ruby fidgeted slightly under the gaze. "So um… Do you know how to do that?"

"W-why yes, of course." Weiss countered a bit too quickly, and Ruby sighed.

"You have no idea how to do that, right?"

"..." The silence was telling, and Ruby walked closer to Weiss's workbench to grab the disassembled Myrtenaster, and to grab Weiss's hand.

"Come, let's go see if I can help you with that…"

.

..

…

"Sheesh, that took far longer than it should have." Weiss huffed as she swung her reassembled Myrtenaster, and heard the Dust cylinder click as it rotated smoothly on the mechanism. She opened the weapon to insert a dummy Dust cartridge to check if the new chambers accepted the charges properly.

They did, and Weiss pulled the cartridge out in order to reload the Dust-caster rapier with live cartridges, clicked on the safety and she placed the weapon to its carrying case which had few spare cartridges stored on its ammunition slots.

"Yeah, I kind of had to use the measurements that your manual had to redo some of the parts…" Ruby rubbed the back of her head.

"Thank you, Ruby." Weiss sighed, lifting the weapon-case off and the two girls set off towards the armory to store their weapons. "I… I had no idea how that machine worked."

"Didn't you make your own weapon?" Ruby asked curiously. "I mean, we had to make our own weapons in Signal…"

"I prepared for Beacon differently. I had a private teacher." Weiss answered somewhat vaguely. "The Myrtenaster is a weapon specifically commissioned for me, I was taught how to use it and how to do basic maintenance on it… But to be honest, I never really studied weapons in great detail."

"Huh?" Ruby opened the Armory's door and stepped inside. "But… You're always good at knowing stuff…"

"I'm not a all-knowing entity, Ruby…" Weiss sighed as she stashed her weapon to her locker which was beside Ruby's, and next to Blake's and Jaune's lockers. "My study specialization lies firmly in Aura, economics, leadership and harnessing my Semblance… And I admit that I may be less than perfect in some other areas, as you discovered today."

"So… You're indirectly telling me that I'm really awesome at guns?" Ruby smiled happily and hugged the girl who squeaked indignantly at the contact. "Thanks Weiss!"

"Getoff!" Weiss struggled weakly to push Ruby off, and the red-clad girl separated from the white-clad one. "You need to learn manners, Ruby! Hugging people out of the blue is inappropriate!"

"Yeah." Ruby agreed eagerly, and Weiss let a small, frustrated scream before turning to walk away towards their dorms.

' _Odd… Was it just me or was Weiss blushing really hard just now?'_

* * *

' _Sheesh… That thing keeps coming back to me…'_ Ruby fidgeted in her bed. Team SABR had settled down as day ticked down to night, and monday would follow soon after. Ruby had tried to avoid meeting Jaune's eyes all the while, although she had noticed the look Blake had given to him. ' _She's up to something...'_

Nevertheless, the team had went to sleep, and although Ruby had managed to fall asleep initially, a certain thought had kep invading her dreams and waking her up.

Ruby sighed and turned around in her bed. And she turned around once more as the fidgeting continued. ' _I can't sleep like this…'_

' _Come to think of it… Jaune is sleeping just below me, and we're kind of dating, right? So I could just go and sle- No! What if -that- happens?'_ Ruby felt a faint blush creeping up her neck so she buried her head in her pillow. ' _Although… I'm not sure if I'd be completely opposed to the idea… Hold on, are my legs rubbing together? Stop! Mutiny!'_

Ruby lifted herself to a sitting position so she could send a reprimanding glare at her legs, and she slumped back down on her bed as the mutinous rubbing stopped.

' _I'm not going to get any sleep like this... And we need to study hard tomorrow so we catch up to the other students...'_

She thought about her dilemma, and came up with a possible solution to it. Her eyes narrowed, and her face flushed slightly as she contemplated her idea.

' _Yeah… I could do that.'_ Ruby nodded, ignoring how her legs seemed to have a life of their own as they once again started to rub against each other. ' _And uh… I don't think -that- would happen if he's asleep, right?'_

She rose up from her bed, and jumped down to the floor from her bunk bed, making sure to muffle her landing as much as she could so she wouldn't wake her other teammates. Taking a deep breath, Ruby reached for Jaune's blanket and slipped into his bed.

' _Yeah… This is better…'_ She thought as she wrapped her arms around the boy's warm body and he unconsciously reached to hug her closer to himself with one of his arms.

She reached to grab his free hand with her own and snaked her other arm under his waist, and entangled her legs with his to keep her thighs from rubbing together ' _Stupid legs… Don't do that when he's right there…'_

Ruby waited for a moment to see if Jaune would wake up, but after it seemed that he wouldn't she let her head rest on his shoulder, and relaxed against him. She breathed in his scent, ignoring how there was a odd tuna-like smell mixed into it.

Sleep followed soon after.

.

..

...

Jaune felt quite warm and comfortable as he woke up. It was a feeling he'd grown quite familiar to after the events of past few days, and the comfort was a definite improvement to the unstable near-panics and transformations of the last few weeks, and he welcomed the change with open arms. Quite literally as he felt familiar weight on his chest.

He had _almost_ panicked when he felt something heavy lying partially on top of him as he woke up, but he had managed to restrain himself in time and instead just pulled the form closer to himself.

"Nhh…" A faint, sleepy whine came from a form that had her arm under his back, and Jaune looked down at Ruby who had apparently snuck to his bed last night.

"Purr..." He glanced to his other side where Blake was purring quietly as she slept curled against him- and to his surprise he saw that Blake was holding hands with Ruby.

' _Huh… I didn't know that Blake and Ruby were that close…'_ Jaune thought about the parts of the two girl's relationship that he know of, and the interactions Ruby and Blake had shared in the past were quite few. ' _Well, its nice that they are getting along at least… I wonder what's the time though?'_

He attempted to snake his arm off from around Ruby, but found out that it was harder than it should have been since the girl seemed to roll over his hand whenever he moved it, and he gave up trying to pry his arm off soon afterwards. Trying to pull his hand from under Blake proved equally futile, and he sighed as he slumped against his bed.

'… _Well, there is one more option.'_ Jaune thought, focusing on the pleasant feelings radiating from the two girls and he called into his ability, pushing The Shadow back as it rose to challenge him.

As a response he felt bubbling coming from his back, and a moment later a black appendage reached out under his sheets to grab his Scroll and after a bit of fiddling, he managed to unlock it.

' _These things are fairly useful…'_ he thought as he looked at the smooth, black tentacle that he used to access his Scroll. ' _It's morning… I should wake the girls up.'_

A shuffle from the other side of the room caused him to turn his head, and he saw Weiss staring at him with an expression that was somewhere between frustrated and resigned as the girl rose up from her own bed, dressed in her nightgown.

"Hi Weiss?"

"Good morning, Jaune. Can you please not do that in the dorm?" Weiss growled, pointing at his tentacle before she spotted Ruby's head poking out from under the blanket. "Ruby? What are you doing!"

"I'sm… Awakeh" Ruby mumbled sleepily as she woke up from Weiss's outburst, and Jaune felt how Blake froze up slightly under the blanket as well when the retracting tentacle brushed against her as Jaune undid the transformation.

"Blake?" Ruby squinted her eyes at Blake, and Jaune saw how the faunus girl sent a glare at the small reaper.

"Good morning?" Jaune tried to greet as the two girls noticed that they were holding hands, and pulled away from eachother as if the touch burnt.

"Jaune, why is…" "...Ruby..." "…Blake..." "...In your bed?" the two girls asked in near-unison, and turned to glare at eachother as they realized how they had shared speech..

"Uh…" he tried to open his mouth, but Blake spoke over him.

"He told me I could sleep here whenever I wanted." Blake challenged Ruby.

"She's right." Jaune nodded. "But uh… I didn't think you'd take it literally." he added, looking at Blake.

"B-but... " Ruby withdrew into her shell as Jaune confirmed the other girl's claim. "I… Wanted to do that too… And I couldn't sleep because of uh..."

"I mean, sure, you can sleep here if you want to..." Jaune tried to come to Ruby's rescue.

"Jaune!" Blake hissed at him. "Don't just cave in to her demand, you're supposed to be my bo…"

"If this keeps up I might have to ask for a personal room so I don't have to witness your debauchery as the first thing I see each morning." Weiss's arctic voice interrupted the fight before it could start. "Also, Ruby, go to your own bed!"

"We might as well get up and get ready for the day since it's getting close to breakfast time… and we need to get back to normal school routine." Jaune said as Ruby flinched from Weiss's words.

"Fine…" Blake sighed, and turned to give a meaningful glare at Ruby.

Ruby glared back at the girl, and Jaune got an eerie sense that a wordless message had been passed between the girls.

* * *

A riding crop whipped and brought the combat class to an end as the last set of fighters, Pyrrha versus team CRDL, were dismissed from the combat arena.

If Jaune didn't know better, he could have sworn that Pyrrha was venting for something as she had pounded Cardin's head to the ground, multiple times, and repeated the performance with the rest of team CRDL.

"May I have your attention." Glynda Goodwitch glared at the students and the class stood still with eyes glued to their teacher as a response. "Good."

She slapped her riding crop against her palm for dramatic effect, and she continued her announcement. "As you no doubt have heard from your upperclassmen, your first mission approaches."

"The mission will be a guided, cooperative and shared between the entire class, as opposed to the missions that you will be able to take on later during your studies." Glynda paused to let her words sink in.

"Our intention is to have you to complete a simple Grimm-related objective, and to do so as a team. I will be present, and will intervene if I deem it necessary." She walked in front of the class, pausing for effect to let the students memorize her words.

"The goal of the mission is to allow me to evaluate your teamwork, and the level of your team's internal bond so far." Glynda continued addressing the class as the whispering between the students had quieted down. "If you perform adequately, you will be allowed to enter Emerald Forest as a team to hone your skills against real Grimm. Failure will result in you being unable to do so, and further team building exercises will be assigned to you."

"You will be notified further via Scroll message detailing necessary equipment, expected opposition as well as any other mission-critical information." Glynda finished her announcement. "Any questions?"

"Where are we going? For the mission, I mean." Jaune asked with his hand upraised, and Glynda turned towards him.

"Forever Fall."

.

..

...

"Guys, are you excited about the mission or what?" Yang asked cheerfully as she sat in the table teams SABR and RYNN had chosen to frequent in the dining hall. The classes had went without problems, although Ruby had been somewhat clueless about the class's subjects as the days SABR had taken off school caused Ruby to fall behind the studies ever further.

Ruby had sat on her usual place next to Jaune after a brief struggle with Blake, after which Blake had sat on his other side. It seemed that both of the girls were stuck between sulking and sending somewhat hostile glares at eachother, and Pyrrha was in equally bad mood for some reason despite how Nora seemed to be trying to cheer the girl up.

Ren, as usual, was watching the entire thing unfolding with calm but curious eyes.

"We are," Weiss nodded politely at Yang, and Yang huffed slightly.

"You'all certainly don't look like it." she complained, reaching to drum the table a bit. "But since you're used to your _schneekret_ training in Emerald forest, perhaps Forever Fall is a tad too lame for you?"

"I'll ignore your violence towards my family name for now since we are comrades-in-arms" Weiss wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin. "But no, our 'secret training' doesn't mean we're not excited about things like Forever Fall…"

'... _Come to think of it, how do I keep my ability hidden if the entire first year class is going to participate in the 'Forever Fall' mission?'_ Jaune thought as the rest of Weiss's reply to Yang passed by him. ' _I mean, if a Grimm attacks us, and I have to transform, I'd reveal my ability to everyone...'_

"Jaune?" Ruby broke off from her glaring match with Blake. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah, it's nothing… I was just thinking about some possible complications…" Jaune replied.

"With what?"

"With uh… things." Jaune dodged, looking at the packed dining hall although it seemed that the other students were still giving him a wide berth. "I'll tell you later, okay?" he added as Ruby's expression fell.

"Okay." Ruby nodded happily.

"Are you going to tell me that as well?" Blake came to the conversation. "Or would you rather prefer Ruby?"

"Of course I'm going to tell you too." Jaune replied, looking curiously at Blake. "Is everything alright? You're not usually this… well, confrontive."

"It's nothing." Blake huffed, and crossed her arms.

'... _And there's the universal 'something is wrong but you're supposed to know what it is, and no you can't just ask'- code phrase again…'_ Jaune sighed. ' _Now, how am I supposed to figure out what's troubling her…'_

He considered briefly to use his Semblance to feel the emotions around him so he could feel what emotion caused Blake's distress, but quickly discarded the idea as no doubt the dining hall's hustle and bustle would affect his ability to use it undetected- and having a half-Grimm materialize in the middle of the dinner would most likely cause an uproar amongst the students.

His head clicked empty as he didn't find any alternatives for divinating the reason behind Blake's bad mood, so he sent a look at Ruby, wordlessly requesting her help. Ruby shrugged her shoulders and batted her eyelashes at him innocently, which seemed to be the wrong move as Blake's frown deepened as she witnessed their wordless communication.

…

' _I'm not sure I like how close Ruby and Jaune seem to be…'_ Blake thought as she resumed eating her food. ' _Did nothing really happen in Vale? She's acting like she has something to hide… Although Jaune did promise me that he didn't touch her…'_

Blake's thoughts returned to the conversation she had with Jaune yesterday, where he had asked her to go out with him. ' _Haah… Why did I have to agree?'_

The proposal had taken her off-guard, and if she was being honest, she wasn't quite sure if she was ready for another relationship. She was done with the White Fang, and with Adam… but she wasn't sure if she was ready to trust someone intimately so soon after the whole debacle.

Then again, she was certain that Jaune was a good person under his Semblance, and she admitted that she had lost a lot of her energy to refuse having a relationship with him after repeatedly denying Weiss's insinuations- And if she was being completely honest to herself, she had grown to like Jaune even if she wasn't sure how deep her feelings toward the boy were.

She shook her head briefly as her inner self reminded her that she'd been caught sleeping in the same bed as Jaune twice already. ' _That's different… He wasn't doing it because of romantic feelings the first time… and the second time… uh… I may have sneaked in because if was so comfortable the first time… And he gave permission, and we're dating now so it's alright… Although I'm not sure about taking it further than that yet...'_

"Blake?" Jaune's voice shook Blake out of her thoughts and for a moment she almost forgot that she was supposed to be angry at him for allowing Ruby to slip into his bed as well, despite how he was now dating Blake.

She wasn't at all trying to hide the embarrassment of accidentally holding hands with Ruby when they slept under the guise of anger.

"What?" Blake asked somewhat confrontationally. ' _Be just a bit angry, just a bit accusing, just a bit jealous, but not enough to scare him off… Just enough to make him look at me, and not at Ruby... '_ Her treacherous side whispered inside her head.

"Would you like to go and read in the library after dinner?" Jaune asked, and Blake narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes… Which I was going to do anyway." '... _Okay, that came across a bit too bitchy…'_ she sighed internally as soon as the words left her mouth.

"I meant that we could do it together, right?" He tried to salvage the situation.

"Sure…" Blake agreed perhaps a bit too eagerly.

"Can I come too?" Ruby piped in from beside Jaune, and Blake opened her mouth to deny her request…

"Sure." Jaune nodded at Ruby, and Blake clamped her mouth shut to stop herself from hissing something inappropriate.

.

..

…

"So the Forever Fall mission is tomorrow." Jaune commented as he skimmed through the message that had been sent to all first year students.

He was sitting on a quiet corner of the Beacon's library with Ruby, Blake, Weiss and Pyrrha. The late evening's light shone through the tall windows of the Beacon's library, painting the library with hue of orange and yellow, and Blake was sitting on his one side and Ruby on his other. Ruby had gathered a pile of magazines and was skimming through them, and Blake was reading her own book while Weiss was rehearsing her study material on the opposite side of the library table. To his surprise Pyrrha had decided to join them in the library and had sat next to Weiss.

"Yeah… I'm looking forwards to it." Pyrrha told him. "We, team RYNN, haven't really had a chance to trai… erk, I mean to fight together as a team. How about you?"

"I've… Had some bad experiences with that forest." Jaune confessed. "I'm not really looking forwards to visiting it again."

"Ah… I see." Pyrrha seemed to struggle to come up with a response to that. "Well, I'm sure it will be alright. Speaking of missions, have you seen professor Qrow recently?"

"Actually… No." Ruby answered to Pyrrha. "Glynda taught the combat class today… Is uncle Qrow missing?"

"Yes, he's had very few appearances in the class so far. It's odd, although he's a replacement teacher so I guess he doesn't have all that many classes to teach…" Pyrrha thought aloud. "And apparently he's away from Beacon right now."

"Huh, odd." Ruby tilted her head. "He usually tells us if he's going somewhere… Or at least leaves a message."

"Quite curious indeed." Pyrrha nodded at the smaller girl, and Jaune sensed that Pyrrha had something against Ruby even though she didn't say anything.

The conversation eventually whittled down, and soon the only sound was Weiss's pencil against her papers. Eventually Pyrrha started to fidget in her seat as the girl seemed to gather courage to say something, but failed at the critical moment.

"Um... " Pyrrha started.

"Is something wrong?" Jaune asked, putting his Scroll down.

"It's… Well…"

"I'm listening."

"Well... um... Congratulations for… Getting a baby." Pyrrha half-choked out, although Jaune could feel even without his ability that the words were bitter in her mouth. "I'm… um… happy for you two…"

"Baby?" Blake lowered her book so she could see the red-head over the pages, and Weiss's pencil came to a halt. "What baby?"

"Um… Ruby is pregnant with Jaune's baby, right?" Pyrrha said while her face turned as red as her hair.

Blake's book fell from limp hands as she turned her attention to Jaune who was equally flabbergasted. Ruby seemed to freeze still as she stared wide-eyedly between Pyrrha and Jaune, and a sharp crack rang in the air as Weiss's pencil snapped in two in the girl's hand.

"What?" came from four mouths at once.

"Ah, I'm sorry, was it meant to be a secret?" Pyrrha looked horrified as she put her hands over her mouth. "I haven't told anyone else, I swear!"

 **Okay, I was being** _ **really**_ **optimistic when I assumed that I would have time to write in the weekends as christmas season is closing in and work continues to pile on my desk. I had originally intended this to be another 15k word chapter as usual, but it seems I have to split it in 2 parts because of time constraints.**

 **As it is, I'll give a release date for the second half of the chapter, but expect delays.**

 **Next chapter- Forever Fall pt. 2- 16-17 Dec.**


	19. Forever Fall pt 2

"..."

"..."

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha repeated somewhat desperately.

"Jaune, what is she talking about?" Blake asked as she put her shaking hands on the table.

"No idea." Jaune confessed to Blake, and Ruby nodded vigorously from the side. He tried his hardest to ignore the look Weiss gave to him, and instead concentrated on the redhead that sat in front of the reading table in Beacon's library where team SABR plus Pyrrha had settled down to read and relax after school.

"B-but… I heard Ruby telling Yang that Jaune um... " Pyrrha fidgeted on her seat. "...That Jaune got her pregnant."

"Oh." Ruby blinked. "Oh… Wait, you heard that?"

"Ruby?" Weiss asked with a somewhat unsteady voice. "Is she telling us the truth?"

"Well… yeah, kind of." Ruby admitted. "I did tell Yang th-"

Her speech was interrupted as a sharp slap rang in the library, and Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha turned to look at Jaune who was rubbing his cheek which had a rapidly reddening slap-mark.

"You promised me that you didn't touch Ruby!" Blake hissed with small tears in her eyes as she pulled her hand back after slapping Jaune. "You promised!"

"But…" Jaune tried to argue, but a second slap shut him down.

"Liar!" Blake grew more and more furious, until Ruby came to Jaune's rescue and grabbed the girl's hand, and Jaune reached to grab Blake's other hand to pin her in place. "And you! How coul-"

"Blake!" Ruby tried to reason with the enraged faunus. "Calm down! I'm not uh… pregnant."

"But you said…"

"I uh… kinda panicked and mistook some crucial concepts involved in the thing…" Ruby admitted with a red face. "Um… I did sleep with Jaune, but I'm not pregnant. I mean I didn't uh… do _that_ with him. Yet."

"Yet?" Weiss narrowed her eyes at Ruby. "What do you mean by that?"

"But… don't you four have group o- orgies?" Pyrrha asked faintly, and got a flat stare from four pairs of eyes in response. "You know, when you t-train and Jaune uses his umm… 'thing' on you?"

"Gaak?" Weiss let out a noise which might have been question at one point, but sounded more like a pigeon having a heart attack as she stared open-mouthed at the red-haired champion whose fidgeting intensified even further.

Blake seemed to suffer a malfunction as she froze still with one of her hands still pinned against the table by Jaune.

"Orgies?" Weiss shrieked after she regained control of her vocal cords. "I'm holding orgies?!"

"A orgy?" Ruby asked, looking at Pyrrha with confused expression. "What's that?"

"Uh… Perhaps we should take this to somewhere else?" Jaune asked somewhat faintly as the small group, or more specifically Weiss, was starting to attract stares from other people in the library. It seemed that no-one present really heard his suggestion so he rose up from the table and stashed his books on his bag.

"Come, let's relocate to somewhere else." He repeated as the girls continued to stare at Pyrrha in various states of disbelief, and the whispering from students nearby grew noticeably louder.

Weiss nodded numbly and rose up after him, clearly shellshocked from the sudden claims…

.

..

...

' _O-okay this might be bad…'_ Pyrrha thought as she sat on Jaune's bed after team SABR relocated to their dorms as Jaune had dragged Pyrrha to the dorms alongside rest of the group.

Her nervousness was not helped how Jaune's bed had his scent on it, nor did it help that the sheets were soft from recent use. ' _I- I'm not sure what has happened in this bed, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to know just yet… W-what if he brought me here so I could participate in their 'session?' I'm not ready!'_

She looked around the dorm to see Blake sulking, Weiss sitting in front of a study desk looking somewhat shellshocked, Ruby looking panickedly back and forth between everyone present, and Jaune trying to calm Blake and Ruby down, although it seemed that he was failing quite spectacularly.

"Um… Jaune?" Pyrrha broke the stalemate so she could confirm her fears and the not-entirely terrified anticipation that had grown inside her over the past few days. "W-why have you brought me here?"

"I just thought we'd better talk in somewhere a bit more secure." Jaune nodded at her. "Now… what were you talking about? Something about orgies?" he asked, and his words seemed to cause Weiss to break through her shock and the white-haired girl took a deep breath to steady herself.

"M-miss Nikos?" Weiss asked faintly. "Please tell me you aren't suggesting that you believe that we… we… "

"B-but you told me that yourself!" Pyrrha burst out. "Right after you had s-sex with Jaune in his… tentacle form, I think?"

Her words caused Blake to snap her attention to Weiss, and Weiss shook her head vigorously at Blake.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, and the champion turned her attention to the boy only to discover that he had walked in front of her, and he placed the back of his hand on her forehead. "Do you have a fever? You're saying uh… all kinds of things and your face is really hot…"

' _Wha-'_ "No, I'm perfectly alright!"

"Did you eat something inappropriate?"

"No!" Pyrrha blurted out. ' _Why are you looking at me like that!'_

"I… I think we all need to calm down a bit." Weiss's voice sounded from near the room's exit, and Pyrrha heard a lock snapping in place as the white-haired girl locked the dorm's door. "...And we need to get to the bottom of this."

...

' _Sheesh... '_ Jaune thought as he checked Pyrrha's temperature. The girl was almost shaking as she sat on his bed and had her hands on her lap. ' _What happened to you, Pyrrha?'_

"Now… You had some ridiculous claims earlier." Weiss seemed to regain her usual vigor as she went for the offensive. "Explain yourself!" she pointed a finger at Pyrrha, who looked at the finger as if it could pierce right through her at any moment.

"I… Didn't you... " the blushing redhead stammered. "But you were training your team with tentacles earlier… and you had entire sessions of that… "

Pyrrha turned to Jaune for help as the stares continued.

"Yeah, I did." Jaune came to Pyrrha's defence, ignoring the effect his words had on the red-haired girl. "We were practising new tactics... "

"Ah…" a sharp gasp caused Jaune to turn his attention to Blake who seemed to have connected the dots. "You… You thought that Weiss was… having Jaune do… uh, indecent things to us when we trained, right?"

"Yes…" Pyrrha confessed with her eyes downcast. "W-was I wrong?"

' _What? How are those things even remotely related?'_ Jaune thought, confused, until he remembered a certain book about a faunus woman and a certain squid.' _Oh…. Oh. Wait, did she think that I…'_

"Uh… Pyrrha?" Jaune asked carefully. "Have you been reading a certain type of literature? One about um… interactions with tentacles?"

She nodded very, very slowly, and Jaune let a relieved breath. "I see… Well, rest easy, nothing like that happened."

"What tentacle interactions?" Ruby piped up from the side, and Blake quickly put her hand over Ruby's mouth to shut her up.

"What about the pregnancy thing?" Blake asked suspiciously, keeping her hand over Ruby's mouth and addressing the question to Pyrrha.

"I um… heard Yang and Ruby talking about it… was I wrong there as well?" Pyrrha asked somewhat faintly as she fidgeted on Jaune's bed. Jaune tilted his head at Pyrrha, and Blake quickly pulled her hand away from Ruby's mouth as the red-clad girl had started to lick the disguised faunus's hand.

"Pyrrha…" Weiss drawled, and Jaune saw that the girl had a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Did you perhaps jump to a conclusion and assume that we were some sort of sex-fiends who would use training time for orgies?"

"Um… Maybe?" Pyrrha shook like a leaf under Weiss's polite, fake smile that failed to disguise a vein that was about to pop on the heiress's forehead.

"Miss Nikos, I believed you to be a level-headed individual who would be above listening to rumors or jumping to conclusions." Weiss walked slowly towards Pyrrha, and Jaune felt a shiver run through his spine as he saw the white-haired girl's practised, polite expression that didn't quite manage to hide the outrage the girl was feeling. "It seems that I was wrong, miss Nikos, so allow me to correct you- No, We have not been having group-sex as part of our training doctrine. Am. I. Clear?"

"Y-yes." Pyrrha got out as Weiss's face was mere inches away from hers and Jaune could practically feel the waves of ice radiating from the white-haired Schnee heiress, and the waves of heat radiating from the red-haired champion's face. "I'm so sorry for um…"

Jaune sighed as Pyrrha seemed to crack down under the pressure. "Weiss, I think Pyrrha gets it…"

Pyrrha nodded vigorously at his words, and Weiss pulled slowly away from the redhead.

"Sheesh, I and here I thought Jaune and Blake were the perverted ones…" Weiss shook her head, ignoring the protesting squeak that came from Blake's direction.

"S-so let me get this clear, you're not dating eachother?" Pyrrha asked, and Jaune heard a clear relief in the girl's words.

"No." Weiss's tone was final as she crossed her arms and glared at the redhead.

"So uh…" Jaune scratched the back of his neck as the commotion died down. "Do you want to go do something?" He asked, addressing his question to the entire team.

Pyrrha took the straw that was being offered, and rose from the bed. "Can we perhaps, um, go and train in the arena?"

"That may be ill-advised since we have a mission tomorrow, so we shouldn't tire ourselves out." Weiss told Pyrrha before walking to her own bed and sitting down. "I would advice for preparation and rest for tonight so we'll be in peak condition for the mission."

"Right…" Pyrrha rubbed her arm. "So… In that case, I'll go see if my weapons are in proper fighting condition after today's combat class…"

"Can I come too?" Ruby asked eagerly. "I've seen your sword-spear-rifle and shield, and I kinda want to know how it works!"

"S-sure?" Pyrrha answered, and that was about as far as she got before Ruby grabbed her hand and lead her out of the dorm.

"...Well, that was a thing." Weiss rubbed her eyes tiredly, before she lifted herself up from her bed to walk towards the bathroom. "I think I'll go soak for a while to calm myself down. Execuse me."

"Right." Jaune nodded to the girl's back before turning towards Blake who had been somewhat quiet throughout the ordeal bar her initial reaction. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" Blake jumped slightly as she realized that he was addressing her as the two were the only ones left in the room.

"Is something wrong? You seem… distracted." Jaune tilted his head at the black-haired girl that had sat down in front of a study desk. and was looking at him with a mixture of emotions.

"It's just that… I'm sorry." Blake answered. "I'm sorry for slapping you, and doubting you."

"It's alright." he replied. "I've noticed that you're kind of prone to overreacting so it didn't really surprise me all that much, to be honest… and I've grown pretty much immune to pain at this point."

His words caused Blake to lower her head, ashamed, and Jaune could swear that if the girl had taken her bow off, her cat-ears would have flopped down against her head.

"I'm sorry." she repeated.

"Blake, you were worried and angry for Ruby, and you thought I had uh, done something _really_ inappropriate to her." Jaune sighed as he walked closer to the girl to place his hand on her shoulder. "It's good that you're protective of your friends and teammates, I understand."

"No! It's not that!" Blake argued. "It wasn't anything as noble as that… I just... I trusted you, and then I thought that you had lied to me… and… I just saw red, and didn't pause to listen to you and I just jumped on Pyrrha's words and…" she confessed, leaning against his hand. "...I'm sorry for it."

"Don't worry about it." he reassured Blake. "It all turned out to be just a miscommunication, and its been resolved now."

"...I've learned my lesson. Again." Blake sighed, and she rose up from her chair. "In the future, I promise to listen to your side of the story if something like this happens again."

"I'd appreciate that." Jaune nodded.

"...But, to be honest I expected that you would be angrier than that." Blake said quietly as she walked to grab a book from her bookcase above the study desk. "Is everything alright?"

"Huh?" Jaune tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"I accused you of lying to me… I even struck you, and you took it in a stride. You seem really… emotionless." Blake told him with quiet tone as she looked into his eyes. "No, not emotionless. You display emotions… but it's like you don't really feel emotions like we do. Like you're not really here, or really understand us."

"I… Don't know what you're talking about?"

"…" Blake was thoughtful as she looked into his eyes. "After you returned to civilization… did you ever pause to recover from what happened to you?"

"Well… Not really." Jaune confessed. "All of it happened kind of quickly… One moment I was there, the other I was somewhere else entirely, and then I got drafted to Beacon before I could really reconnect with my sisters."

"Would you like to talk about it?" Blake walked through the room, sat on his bed and patted a spot next to her, inviting him to join her. "Maybe I can help."

"What about you?" Jaune asked in return as he sat down next to Blake. "You went through Forever Fall, and your situation was as bad as mine… did you talk to anyone about it?"

"Well… no, not really." Blake sighed. "I got rescued by professor Port, and I spent the week between Forever Fall and Beacon just recovering from it, but I didn't really have anyone to talk to... "

"Where did you go to recover?" Jaune asked. "Is your family living around here?"

"No…" Blake looked down. "They're not… well, around."

"I see." Jaune nodded mournfully. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Wha- No, they are still alive!" Blake's head snapped up, although her mood dropped shortly afterwards as she continued. "Or… at least I think so. I haven't talked to them in a long time, and they live in Menagerie so there's a distance to consider as well."

"Why?" Jaune tilted his head at the girl. "What happened?"

"Well… we have some ideological differences… or rather, had." Blake sighed. "I used to think that White Fang after its reform was the right way forwards for the faunus… My parents disagreed. I disagreed with them, heatedly, and I left shortly afterwards."

Blake lifted her foot on the bed and hugged her legs close to her chest before she continued. "I didn't even leave a message, or say goodbye… I was so furious."

"I see." Jaune sighed. "So you just had a fight… I'm glad."

"Glad?" Blake's eyes flashed dangerously as she focused her attention on Jaune.

"Yeah, they are still alive, you are still alive, and you can still reconnect with them." Jaune told her. "That fight between you and your parents would have cooled down by now- even if it was a fight about ideologies. Fights happen all the time, even between best friends or inside families, and if every time one happened we'd lose our friends and family forever, everyone would be alone. Granted, the fight you had might have blown out of proportion in this case but… they are still out there, and if you reached out to them, they would no doubt accept you back."

"You don't know that." Blake said quietly. "They must hate me."

"You don't know until you've tried, right?" Jaune patted her shoulder reassuringly. "At least your parents are still alive, and the distance between the two of you is just a sea and a few words. I'd kill to have the same chance."

"Haah…" Blake sighed. "This was supposed to be my attempt to help you come to terms with your past… but it turns out it was the opposite. You must think that I'm a useless girlf…"

"You're not useless." Jaune admonished, cutting Blake off mid-sentence. "Just a bit prone to overreacting and with a flair for mysterious and dramatic."

"Right." her reply dripped sarcasm, but it was without heat or bitterness. "I'll keep that in mind… but in all seriousness, thanks. I think I needed to hear that."

"Anytime." Jaune nodded, and Blake reached to hug him briefly.

* * *

A small Nevermore was flying through a red-leaved forest, approaching a faint trace of human emotions it had picked up earlier.

It felt as the emotions waned ever stronger it got closer and closer to its unsuspecting targets, and it its talons curled and uncurled as it grew more and more agitated from the trail that grew as it flew towards the humans, until it let a shrieking caww and struck its sharp talons towards its prey…

...And was sucked into a military-grade 'Bullhead' air-transport's large turbine intake, pressed through the filtration grill and splattered over the side of the aircraft in a black mess of sliced feathers and black blood.

Jaune grimaced as he saw the Grimm bird's fate and its remains on the side of the airship as he held onto the ship's safety rail with one of his hands, and to his stomach with the other, trying to keep the latter's contents from spewing all over the tightly packed transport craft as he looked out of the small observation window at the red-leaved forest passing below.

' _Air sickness… I wonder if it's just me or is it a universal weakness of all Grimm-like beings…'_ he thought as the forest of Forever Fall passed few hundred feet below them. ' _I kind of wish that we didn't have to embark on this mission via aircraft, but I suppose it can't be helped…'_

"May I have your attention, please." a stern voice of their instructor rang in the tight passenger-slash-cargo space of the ship, and Jaune turned his attention from the remains of the Grimm bird and the forest to his immediate surroundings where Ruby was practically shaking from excitement, Weiss was looking mildly curious but controlled and Blake was somehow managing to read a small novel in the shaking and dimly-lit ship. The other students, including teams RYNN, CRDL and few other teams had stuffed themselves into the same Bullhead as SABR, and the flight had two other airships equally packed with first-year students.

"Good." Glynda Goodwitch began her briefing as the students focused their attention to the stern woman. "We will arrive on our landing zone in a few minutes, and I expect you all to be on your top performance during this mission. You are to disembark immediately once we touch down, eliminate any and all Grimm in our immediate vicinity, and gather up near the airships once landing zone is secured, and stand by for further orders. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Professor!" the assembled students echoed, before flinching as the voices echoed perhaps a bit too loudly in the confined space of the airship.

"Let's get to it then." Glynda told them, and a red light near the emergency exit turned to green as the airship set down on a patch of grass, and the assault ramp on the back of the airship slammed down on the soft ground.

The students charged out...

.

..

...

"Can you give me a new can?"

"Sure, this one is full."

"I'm sorry, but can you give me a new tap?"

"I thought thought that the mission would be a tough one, but it was all _bark_ , get it?"

"Nora, please stop trying to eat from the haul…"

"Never!"

"Jaune, are you feeling alright?" Ruby asked with a concerned voice as she replaced a full can of tree sap under a tap with an empty one, making sure to clear any blockages from the tap that Pyrrha had driven into one of the Forever Fall's maple trees with her Semblance.

"It's nothing…" Jaune sighed in response as he and Ruby carried the full, sealed cans of tree sap to the area they had chosen as their storage zone. "I just thought that the mission would be a lot more… I don't know, demanding, challenging, important?"

"Well… I don't think that the professors want to assign any missions that determine the fate of the world or something to the first year students…" Ruby said as she lugged the cans of tree sap to a pile of already full cans, carefully sidestepping Yang's and Nora's wrestling match as the blonde tried to distance the hungry ginger-haired girl from the pile of sugary goods.

"Yeah…" Jaune agreed, rubbing his forehead. "Still, I'm fairly sure that there could have been more important tasks for us than to gather some rare tree sap to be sold for funds, no matter how tasty it is or how good price it fetches."

The landing had gone without a hitch, the students disembarking from the transports and killing the few Beowolves and Ursa that had come out of the woods to investigate the ruckus. There had been some outcries after the students had finally learned the main objective of their mission, but had eventually dispersed into the woods to extract the tree sap. Teams SABR and RYNN had decided to group up and had headed into the woods together, and few other teams had followed their example and had teamed up together while some teams had gone to the forest alone.

"By the way, Weiss?" Yang asked as she got Nora into a submission hold. "I heard some rumours yesterday, mind clarifying them for me?"

"What is it?" Weiss asked in return as she observed the sap flowing into the cans from the trees, and refreshed the reverse time-dilation glyphs she had casted under the trees to make the sap flow faster to the waiting cans.

"I heard some rumors from the other students that your team is holding orgies and Pyrrha had wanted to join in?" Yang asked with fake innocence, which didn't quite hide a suspicious undertone. "While I don't really care if you indulge in your… pleasures, I hope you are not having Ruby do something inappropriate, right?"

"Wha- Gah?" Weiss squeaked a shocked response, which caused a glyph she had been casting to miscast and the time-dilation glyph which was supposed to make the tree give sap faster instead withered and dessicated the tree as the thick sap burst out of the tree like if it had been launched from a firehose, drenching the white-haired girl from head to toe in the sticky sugary liquid.

A shrill scream echoed in the woods as Weiss let everyone present know of her predicament.

"Shut up!" the white-haired girl hissed at Yang as the golden-haired brawler had started to snicker at the sight. "This is entirely your fault!"

"Aha… Aheh, sorry, sorry" Yang apologized as she let Nora go so she could get up and offer Weiss a piece of cloth so the agitated girl could at least wipe her face. "I didn't really expect that to happen though…"

"Ghgh…" Weiss grumbled as she did her best to wipe the sticky sap from her face. "What did you expect to happen then! You just straight up accused me of… of… No, I am _not_ having my team do that!" she denied heatedly.

"Right, right… I sort of figured that you probably wouldn't order your team to start an orgy but I had to make sure anyway…" Yang assured her. "Still, there's been some rumors going on about that, so you might want to do something about those rumors before they get more widespread."

"Haah… First Pyrrha, and then you… I'm going to strangle the one who started those rumors." Weiss swore as she scowled at her sap-covered hair and clothes.

"Yeah, but first you need to wash that sap off you." Blake commented from the side where she had been checking the seals of the cans. "According to the guide professor Goodwitch sent, the smell of that stuff has a chemical effect which attracts Grimm for some reason- which is why we are using resealable cans and small taps in the first place"

"Heh, see something you like, Jauney?" Yang turned towards Jaune. "You're practically salivating, wanna eat some Weiss-cream already?" she teased, causing Weiss to flare bright red from the comment, although Jaune guessed it was more from anger than embarrassment.

' _...Hold on, what did she say?'_ Jaune's thoughts came to a halt as Yang's words sunk in, and he discovered that his face had contorted into a hungry, snarl-like smile as he smelled the enticing, bitter-sweet flavor that came from the liquid on Weiss's̨͡͠ b͘͜ó͘͞d̸y҉̸

The snarl-smile made way for a growl, and he sunk his nails into the flesh of his palm to anchor himself back in control of his expression.

 _I̛t̷́͜ ̕͝wo͘u̵͜l͞d̴̢ ̴̧̕b͏̕͝e͘͡ ̸͡ş͟҉o͘ e̢a̛ś̡̡y͡_

' _It will never happen…'_ Jaune snarled back at his inner tormentor, hiding his expression from those around him.

"Aww, you didn't have to get offended by that…" Yang drawled playfully, mistaking the reason for his growl. "But yeah, Weiss-cream, you should seriously get rid of that topping of yours before it attracts Grimm."

"Sheesh, what do you think I'm doing…" Weiss huffed as she tried to wipe her clothes and hair with the piece of cloth, although it didn't manage to remove all of the liquid.

Jaune tried his best to concentrate on anything that wasn't Weiss, or the enticing scent of the tree sap on her, and doing so he caught a whiff of a raw, violent emotion approaching them slowly. He concentrated on it, and he felt the source of the emotion separating and separating once more to form cacophony of splintered, hungry half-emotions...

'… _.D̨̡͜e͜͜v̵o͘͝ur̵͟.̛́͟..̸_

 _.̛͠͠.͠͏̀..͢H͞ú̕ng̨̕͢er̷.̵̡.̷.̶҉_

"Guys?" he said quietly as he reached for his belt where he had stored his premade bone-swords on canvas sheaths that Ruby had made for him. "Grimm, a full pack, approaching from the west." he briefed quickly as the group turned towards him.

"How'd you know?" Yang asked as she unfolded her Ember Celica, and the rest of the team members stood up from their tasks with their weapons drawn.

"I… just did." Jaune dodged the question and pulled the bleaching bone-swords from their sheathes, and squeezed their barbed hilts to feed them and to turn the bleaching bone to a vibrant red blood-colour as his blood flowed through the hollow veins inside the blade. "Get ready."

As soon as he finished speaking, the first Beowolf charged through the underbrush towards them, and was ragdolled back as Ruby's Crescent Rose barked it's deadly payload to the Grimm's white bone-mask. It didn't seem to deter the ten or so Beowolves or the Alpha who followed behind the first one…

.

..

…

"Gah, is there no end to the Grimm horde?" Weiss despaired as she spun on the spot and casted a fire glyph, sending a searing fire arrow into the chest of a Alpha Beowolf, toppling the beast over and causing it to panic and spread fire over its smaller brethren. It wasn't enough to fell the beast, however, and the Alpha rose back on its feet after slapping the fire off, looking even more ferocious with its white bone-armor blackened from the fire and its flesh seared from the flames… until Weiss turned around again, and a ice-glyph froze the Grimm still long enough for Nora to jump up and slam her hammer on the beast's head, splattering the ground with sharp shards of shattered bone and Grimm brains.

The death of the pack leader seemed to cause the rest of the Grimm to pause for a moment, but they rallied and resumed their attack… aiming for Weiss.

"They are attracted to the sap!" Blake shouted as she climbed on top of a Beowolf, and sunk her borrowed dagger into the beast's eye.

' _Sheesh… Blake should have told us that she hadn't managed to assemble her new weapon yet…'_ Jaune despaired as he struggled between the Shadow's urge to chase the delicious scent that radiated from the sap that covered Weiss, and maintaining control of his body to prevent himself from completely transforming out of his human shape. Weiss nodded at Blake, and raised her rapier to cast a flame glyph that incinerated the sap that had been spilled on the ground when she had ruptured the sap tree, yet it did nothing to the sap that was still covering the white-haired girl.

' _We need to ...ç̸̕o̸ns̢u͢҉m͢҉e̵... get Weiss out of here, the sap attracts too much attention…'_ he winced as the Shadow's thoughts invaded his own as he got distracted by being forced to block a swipe aimed at his head, and in return he severed the head of a Ursa that was assaulting him.

He paid for his distracted state as a Beowolf sunk its teeth to his right arm, and as his Aura provided no protection, the strong jaws of the beast tore his caught limb apart.

"Grh…" Jaune grit his teeth together to stop himself from howling from the pain and frustration, and instead he stabbed the blade he still held on his left arm to the Beowolf's throat, and twisted the blade to tear the creature's throat open.

It wasn't enough to save his arm though, and he pulled away from the Grimm to inspect his injury and discovered that the beast had torn his arm away just below shoulder, and he winced again as he saw the white bone protruding through his shredded flesh.

"Jaune!" a pair of concerned shouts drew his attention, and he saw both Blake and Ruby coming towards him to check his condition, Ruby decapitating a Beowolf on the way. "Are you…"

"I'll be alri _ģ̵h́t͏̡̢_." Jaune growled out as his face twitched from pushing the Shadow's influence back after it peaked in response to the physical trauma, and he felt new flesh and bone starting to grow from the arm-stump even as he spoke. "Go help Weiss!"

"Jaune, do it, change forms!" Weiss shouted at him from where she was launching waves of ice-spikes to maim and shred the legs of the charging Grimm, and Ruby and Blake soon joined her to cut down the Grimm that threatened to swarm the white-haired heiress while team RYNN protected the sap containers- if the containers broke the sap's scent would be exposed to air, even more Grimm would get attracted to the group.

"But… what about the other students?" Jaune shouted back at Weiss, struggling to get his voice heard over the growls and howls of the Grimm as he ran to join his team. "They don't know about…"

"Then we'll explain your ability to them afterwards- we'll get overwhelmed by the Grimm at this rate, so do it!" Weiss hissed at him and Jaune nodded in response, using the action to disguise a pang of hunger he got as he smelled the sap still on the girl's clothes and hair..

' _Here we go then…'_ he sighed internally as he focused his Semblance, and pushed his ability to reshape his body.

In response he felt the arm regrow, but as he tried to focus on his knight-like form, the scent of the sap distracted him, and brought in more animalistic hunger- and in response, his body grew thick, black fur and he felt his face elongating to a Beowolf's snout. Spikes of bone grew through his shoulders and forearms, tearing apart his clothes and allowing him to grow freely.

A nearby Grimm tried to attack him, but he grabbed the beast's arm with his clawed hand and pulled the creature closer so he could sink his elongating teeth into it, tearing chunks out of the smaller Beowolf to fuel his transformation.

The whine of the Beowolf that was still alive in his claws as he devoured it broke through the sounds of battle raging around him, and eventually the bubbling of his body died down as the transformation finished. He discarded the torn Beowolf that gave a miserable squeak before expiring, and he stood on his two long legs to observe the battlefield through his blurry red eyes in his new shape that resembled a large and slightly more armored Beowolf Alpha.

"...ne? Jaune!" a voice called, and he leaned towards the source of the sound, towards a white-clad figure that radiated an irresistible scent…

' _...But… who… to̕͜ ͟c͏͠o͝͝ņ̀s̸̢u͜͞m̕e҉̢…no, not… I won't. I'm Jaune… of Arc…'_ he struggled to think through the rising haze that sought to undermine his control, and he tried to seek for the familiar feeling of Ruby's eyes, for his safety net… and discovered that Ruby was busy fending off Grimm that had tried to sneak up to him during his transformation.

Jaune saw a Beowolf trying to reach for Ruby as she swung her scythe at one of the Grimm before her, and he lunged to tackle the beast to the ground before it could reach to grab the red-clad girl. He tore the Beowolf's throat open, before sinking his teeth to the creature's shoulder to tear a chunk of black meat from the dying creature...

A pat on his shoulder pulled him from what would have become his next meal, and he looked down to see Weiss retreating closer to him as the majority of the pack had focused on her. ' _Why do you disturb me… I'm hungry, let me e̸͢͞a̕t͡.͘͠..̢̕'._

"...we need to regroup!" the white-haired girl told him as she stood beside his transformed form, and he lifted his elongated head to see more Grimm pouring into the clearing, attracted by the scent of the sap and the sounds of the battle.

 _Ḿo̵r͘͢͠e̡..͘͏.͡͏ ͜d̛͘̕e͢͠v̶͏͢o̵u͞r͢͝ ̧t̡͘he҉m̸̀͢..̶̛.͠͠_

 _̢G̡͜͞ŗ̸̕o̸̡͠w̢͘͝!̷͘̕_

He sniffed the air, and smelled the rest of team RYNN fighting nearby, and felt the feelings of shock, dismay and determination that they radiated…

...And he caught the smell of the sap on Weiss's clothes once more as he sniffed the air, yet this time the girl was so _close_ that the bittersweet scent almost made him lose his self-control _._

A Beowolf lunged at the stained white-haired girl, and she raised her rapier in her defence...

' _No, Ḿi҉ne!'_ Jaune growled internally as he saw the foreign Beowolf reaching for a member of _his_ pack.

Before Jaune managed to stop himself, he had reached to grasp Weiss by her waist, and had pulled her back as his other clawed hand smashed to the charging Beowolf's face, puncturing his sharp clawed fingers through the beast's mask. He tightened his hold on the Grimm's shattered mask, and pulled the struggling creature to the ground before stomping on its neck to kill it.

He pulled his claws free from the dead Beowolf, and used his other hand to hug the confused heiress to his chest as he charged away from the sap-gathering spot that had turned to a battlefield, clutching his prize against his body as he ran.

"Wha- stop! Go back!" he heard the girl shout as she struggled against his grip, and he ignored her as he carried the source of the enticing smell away from the rest of the Grimm pack...

'... _To get the t̷ŗ͢ę̶a͠҉t̢̧͘… Weiss away from the Grimm, so they should start following us and leave the others alone…'_ he tried to find the reason for his impromptu getaway, even while he struggled to remain fully concious under the assault of the Shadow's whispers and the enticing smell that the girl radiated.

The screams and shouts of the battlefield grew more and more muffled as he ran further away from their teammates, and he started to pick up pace as he got more and more used to his new body- the somewhat awkward human-like run having turned into a leaping sprint.

A small hand hammering against his chest caused him to turn his attention to Weiss and he saw that the girl was trying to get his attention by slapping her hand against his black-furred chest while her free hand was holding onto her rapier tightly. "Put me down!"

He tried to respond to the girl, but his words came out in a snarling growl that did nothing to help the girl's mood, and Jaune felt a tinge of fear get mixed into her anger as his red eyes met her light-blue pair.

A faint growl and grunt from nearby deterred him from further trying to convey a message to the girl, and he sniffed the air to feel the waves of splintered emotions emitted by the Grimm that had broken off the fight to chase the pair.

Jaune considered momentarily to make a stand and fight, but discarded the idea soon afterwards as it would no doubt turn to another fight like that had happened near the sap-gathering spot, yet this time they would stand alone.

' _I need to find a way to get the sap off her… t̷̀͏o ̛͞͠d̢ȩ͞͡vǫu̸͠҉r̵̷ ̷h̵͜ȩ̶̴r͡.͘.̵͏.̴͏ so the Grimm would lose trail…'_ he growled aloud as he fought to restrain his growing desire to do something he would regret. ' _The sap isn't doing anything by itself, but it's scent is amplifying the instinct to hunt and eat…'_

He heard the Grimm beasts approaching and as he listened to his surroundings, he heard a faint sound of a water flowing. ' _A river? No, that sounds more like a stream… Still, maybe I could use it to remove the sap… to c͠o̶n̷̷s҉͞u̸m̨ȩ͏ ̛͏į̴t͏̵͘.̷.̡.̛͢' '_

He hugged the struggling form of his team leader against his black-furred chest, and set off towards the sound of the stream in a leaping run.

.

..

…

"What are you doing!" Weiss exclaimed as she tried to pry herself off the massive Beowolf Alpha's hug. She knew it was Jaune, but the creature didn't act like the bumbling, perverted blonde teenager that she knew Jaune to be- and it made her increasingly worried that perhaps the teenager had lost control of himself to his inner demon.

' _This is bad, he took me away from the team… Just what do you think you're doing!'_ Weiss thought furiously as she held tightly to her rapier. ' _He told me that he could regain control of himself from pain… so should I try to…'_

Her increasingly desperate thoughts came to a halt as the creature stopped, and Weiss looked away from the beast to see that he had stopped in front of a deep stream running through a long creak. She had to admit that the scenery was nice as the red-leaved trees and their dark-barked trunks made nice contrast to the clear and slightly blue water.

"Oh no, you aren't thinking about…" a realization dawned on her a moment too late as the creature crouched forwards, before it leaped into the water.

A shrill scream echoed in the woods before it was replaced by loud splash as the Grimm-human beast half-swam half-tumbled downstream with the heiress in its grip.

' _Cold! Cold! Cold!'_ Weiss screamed internally as she struggled to gasp for air whenever she got her head above the water. ' _You idiot, you absolute idiot, just you wait until we get back to Beacon and I'll make sure you're on water and dry biscuits for a month…'_

Eventually it seemed that the Grimm-beast got enough of splashing around in the water and leaped out of it after swimming few hundred feet downstream.

"F-f-finally" Weiss stuttered as she shivered, the coldness of the water and chilly wind having caught up to her when Grimm-Jaune let her down from his grasp so he could shake the water off his fur like a dog.

The heiress slumped down on the forest's floor, feeling tired, cold and spent after the entire ordeal. A moment later her shivering slowed down, and instead of shiver numbness started to spread over her limbs.

' _N-no, I-I c-cant s-stay l-like this or I'll c-catch h-hypothermia…'_ It was almost as if Jaune could read her mind as the teenager-turned-Grimm grabbed her and pulled her back against its chest before curling its body around her on the ground like a massive dog would. ' _W-warm... '_

She felt the numbness starting to slowly recede as the warmth spread through her, and she saw wisps of steam starting to rise from the creature's fur and from her wet clothes as heat radiated from the Grimm-human beast's body.

' _O-okay m-maybe I-I'll downgrade your punishment to just juice and bread for a month…'_ Weiss thought shakenly as she unconsciously reached to scratch the Grimm-like beast behind the ears. She ignored how the creature's tail began to waggle in response, but she couldn't quite ignore how the the creature began to lick a patch of sap that was still on her clothes despite the impromptu bath. It didn't help that the patch of sap was located near the collar of her bolero so the rough tongue of the beast occasionally licked her neck and face.

"Stop! Halt!" she cried out as she tried to push the beast's snout away from her neck, but doing so she only managed to get her hand licked and covered in fast-evaporating saliva. "Ew!"

The violation of her privacy continued until the patch of sap had been completely consumed, and she managed to pry herself away from the creature's grasp when its grip loosened as a result.

"S-sheesh…" Weiss complained as she backed away from the Jaune-wolf, and raised her hand to point a finger at his elongated, bone-masked snout. "Control yourself! expected you to treat me with appropriate respect befitting of a team leader, and you crossed the line!"

The beast whined miserably in response, and pushed its snout against her hand.

"Grrrgh, don't whine like that, you're making it hard to stay angry at you" Weiss tapped the ground with her foot angrily and huffed with her arms crossed.

She sighed after a while and turned her eyes back to the massive Beowolf Alpha that whined at her feet (or at least she assumed it was what he was doing, and Oum help him if he actually wasn't begging for her forgiveness and was trying to find more sap from the puddle of water she had dripped on the ground).

"Fine, I forgive you... Hey! No licking!" her regal voice turned to a squeak as the beast reached to lick her face, and she quickly pushed it away before it managed to commit the deed.

"Stop! Sit!" she commanded with what she hoped to be an authoritative voice, and the Grimm-beast halted its assault and sat down on its haunches, cowed. "Good boy… And I'm guessing that you can't speak, right?"

The Beowolf Alpha-Jaune blinked few times, almost if waking from daydream, before it nodded and Weiss sighed again. "Well, what are you waiting for? Transform to a shape in which you can speak."

The creature let another whine, and Weiss reached to pat its bone-mask for a while as it prepared to transform, and withdrew her hand as the creature's flesh began to bubble and flow until what stood in front of her was Jaune in his armored knight-form, tentacles writhing in his back to form a grotesque cloak and clad in segmented bone-armor. He looked at her with blazing red eyes through a emotionless mask that had formed to cover his face, and he flexed slightly to get more used to the weight of the bone-plates that formed his protective shell. Weiss guessed that the reason for him not need to consume Grimm in order to take the Knight form was because his earlier Beowolf Alpha-shape was so much more massive than his current form.

"Right, can you talk now?" Weiss asked as she crossed her arms and glared at the shapeshifted teenager. "Also, I know I asked you to transform to a form where you can speak but I thought it was clear that I wanted you back to your human form…"

"Í.̢.. ͡Don̕t ͏h͢av͠e my͞ b͝el̸t w͏hi͜ch has͟ my̶ ̢spa͢r̨e ͘c̕l͏othes̕ an̢d I d̵on't ̢re̵all͞y ̨want͜ t҉o ͢wąlk around̕ n͟aked. S̨or͏ry?' The teenager answered simply and Weiss sighed, frustrated, as she reached for her Scroll which had luckily survived the whole ordeal.

' _I have to thank Winter for providing me with a Specialist-grade elemental-resistant Scroll…'_ the heiress thought as she checked the local network created by the student's Scrolls and linked to the Bullheads that would be waiting in the LZ. When she opened a display showing her team's status, she discovered that although Ruby's and Blake's Aura levels were somewhat low, they were not critical and were recovering- which told her that the fight near the sap gathering area must have concluded, and their fellow teammates had either fled the gathering area or had managed to chase the Grimm away.

But more importantly, the rest of the team was safe, and would most likely be on their way to the landing zone alongside team RYNN to alert their instructor.

Weiss paged Ruby's contact on her Scroll, and pressed the call button before lifting the device to her ear.

She sent a reprimanding glare at Jaune just for a good measure, and Ruby picked up the call soon afterwards.

.

..

…

"Boss?"

"Quiet, he's thinking."

"Do you think he has a plan?"

Cardin Winchester made a shut-up gesture at the three of his teammates, Russel Thrush, Sky Lark and Dove Bronzewing, and he tried to press his back tighter against a rock to hide himself from view as his heart hammered wildly in his chest. He saw that his three team members did the same, and tried their best to camouflage themselves against the rocks.

"Calm, stay calm, stay emotionless." Cardin instructed quietly as he tried to keep his team hidden as they observed a unnatural and bewildering event.

They had been gathering sap when he had heard a feminine scream echo faintly through the woods, and after a moment of contemplation they had camouflaged the sap containers and set off to investigate the source of the scream.

Cardin loathed to admit it, the words of their substitute teacher, Qrow, had caused them to pause to consider the ramifications of their previous actions- and they had, albeit begrudgingly, chosen to avoid 're-educating' the faunus students of the Beacon if they could, and to try to act more like Hunters rather than what the other students termed as 'bullies with Aura'.

Cardin freely admitted that he didn't like the faunus. His family-line had suffered enough in the hands of the beasts during their Faunus Revolution, and the hatred of all faunus-kind had been sown to him from early childhood- yet in the same he had been taught the values of virtue and pride. He wasn't altruistic enough to claim that he fought Grimm to protect the weak, but he was confident enough to claim that he was fighting to protect the mankind from a threat that would, if unopposed, destroy them all.

If that meant that he had to swallow the hatred bred to him, if momentarily, then so be it. Everyone had to make sacrifices in order to become a Hunter, right?

It was that desire to safeguard mankind which had driven his decision to lead his team in search for the student in distress, yet in doing so it had led them to a far more sinister truth.

' _What… Just who are you?'_ Cardin thought as he recalled the scene he'd seen, of Weiss Schnee, the heiress of a long and respected line of Dust merchants, _playing_ with a massive Beowolf Alpha. The mere sight of the unnatural act had been enough to drive the entire team CRDL to cover and to hide and observe as opposed to charge in to slay the beast- and to make matters worse, the heiress's corruption didn't end there.

As team CRDL watched, they saw Weiss Schnee touch the face-mask of the Grimm that stood in attention, waiting for her orders, and in response to her touch the beast's flesh bubbled and liquified until it flowed to a new, far more ominous human-like shape.

Cardin had been reading ahead of the other students- he had, like many other boys of his age, dreamed of being a protector of mankind, and from his studies he recognized the sight of a Grimm Abomination. A amalgamation of many other beasts of different shapes and sizes yet unique in its form.

' _That girl… She created a Grimm Abomination!'_ Cardin gripped the handle of his mace so tightly that he felt his knuckles popping, and his fingers felt cold as he struggled to remain calm and controlled despite the mounting dread and cold fear. ' _The Schnee girl… she commands the Grimm!'_

He saw from his hiding place as the girl finished her Scroll-call to an unknown collaboration, and she gave a few orders to the Abomination that seemed to obey her orders without a question or doubt. Cardin breathed slightly easier as the dreadful pair picked a direction and set off to walk before they disappeared into the forest and out of sight.

Cardin slid down the rock he had been leaning on until he was sitting on the mossy forest floor of Forever Fall. He took a deep breath to steady himself, and pried his fingers off from his death-grip on his mace's handle as he thought about what he'd seen.

"Boss?" Russel Thrush asked quietly, equally cowed by the sight he had witnessed. "What do we do?"

"I don't know." Cardin admitted shakily. "But… Give me time to think, and I will know.

* * *

' _So... What do you want me to do?" a scraggly man leaned on a ornate office desk._

" _The first thing we need if we are to change mr. Arc's priorities is information." Ozpin told Qrow in the Headmaster's office. "Information about his current target… And fortunately, we have a way of getting that."_

" _So you're telling me to go speak with her…" Qrow sighed. "This is going to be a pain in the ass…"_

" _It is for the greater good." Ozpin lifted his eyebrow at Qrow. "Can you do it?"_

" _I can, but if I burn a bridge doing that, its on you…"_

A crow flew over the forest that spanned western Anima, looking for a very specific tree in a very specific spot. Finding it, the bird settled down on a very specific branch, and began to caw at the empty forest.

Minutes turned to hours and nothing happened... Until the crow tilted its head upwards, and it saw another bird fly through the canopy of leaves and settle down on a branch in front of the crow.

The birds stared at each other with their red eyes for a long time, until the crow tilted its head. "Caw? Caww"

"Tweet." the second bird answered somewhat blandly.

"Ravens don't go 'tweet'" the crow sighed in gruff, resigned voice.

"Oh I'm sorry, it wasn't I who devised this ridiculous way of contacting eachother." the raven's voice dripped sarcasm, and it dived down from the branch before the crow could answer…

…And a tall woman clad in red and black kimono top, black skirt and black stockings landed on the forest's floor, and shook free her wild mane of black hair.

"Now, what do you want, brother?" Raven Branwen turned towards the crow that had jumped off the branch after her.

"We need to talk." Qrow Branwen told her as he leaned against a tree.

"I guessed as much." Raven said as she pulled her red blade, and swung it in front of her to create a shimmering red portal. "Come."

 **So this chapter and the last were supposed to be one, uninterrupted chapter but hey hou, the santa is here and the reindeers took a dump on my writing schedule.**

 **Next chapter- 30-31 dec (although this might run slightly late as well, depending on what happens during the new year's party/socializing event preparation)**

 **Merry Christmas and happy new year (I'm fairly sure those two stay on schedule anyway)**


	20. Weissdice

"Yang…" Ruby muttered as she fiddled with a bit torn belt she knew to be Jaune's utility belt, which she had picked up after the battle in sap gathering area. "I did kind of tell you that his Semblance is kinda, well, Grimm."

Team RYNN, Blake and Ruby had relocated from the spot where the teams had been gathering sap to a new location. They had managed to grab some sap from the pile of sap containers, but not all of it and they had lost so much time fighting that they wouldn't have enough time to gather more before the students had to return to Bullheads for ride back to Beacon.

The sap would be enough to earn the teams a passing mark, but wouldn't be enough to get them extra credits (or few hundred lien reward, as it were). However the lack of extra spending money was far down on the priority list as team RYNN was trying to come to terms with what they'd seen- while Pyrrha had been privy to the full secret of Jaune's transformation, it came as a shock to Yang who had heard of it, but had not been told of its extensiveness.

Ren and Nora who had been completely in the dark about the unusual ability were, as it could be expected, speechless and dumbstruck, respectively.

' _Well, at least they aren't freaking out too badly…'_ Ruby though as she glanced warily where Nora was sitting on the ground with Pyrrha, and for change it was Pyrrha who was muttering something to the girl's ear and not the other way around. Ren was sitting on a fallen tree trunk and was listening to the conversation happening between his childhood friend and her partner.

Blake was hanging back and observing the group with somewhat wary expression, almost as if the disguised faunus was expecting their fellow team to turn on her and Ruby at any moment.

"It was… Well, I did not expect that…." Yang said shakenly as she sat on the grassy ground cross-legged with hands pressed against her knees to stop them from shaking as the adrenaline from the fight and from the revelations had caught up to her. "...What happened to them? Weiss got carried away by that Alpha… er, or was it Jaune? Alpha-Jaune?"

"Weiss called, she's safe and is coming back with Jaune in tow." Ruby tried to reassure her big sister. "They're safe, and he's back to normal…"

"Yeah… So uh, he's a Grimm." Yang's tone was bland as she tried to process the event. "A Grimm. Human. Human-like Grimm? Grimman?"

"Well, he can change shapes from a human to a Grimm, but I think he's just like us at the core." Ruby continued to pat Yang's hand. "I mean he's nice, and friendly with everyone, and also kinda huggable… erm… Ignoring that, I mean It's not like he suddenly becomes a bad person because he has an unusual ability, right?"

"It's just… Unbelievable." Yang sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I when you first told me that he had a Grimm related Semblance, I thought it was just some made-up sob-story he had spun as an excuse for getting physical with you…"

"He's not like that!" Ruby huffed at her sister and crossed her arms. "He wouldn't do that!"

"I get it… but..."

Ruby narrowed her eyes at Yang in an attempt to be intimidating, which came off much like a adorable puppy trying to scold a lion.

"Fine…" Yang conceded, and Ruby reached to hug her sister briefly to both calm her down and show that she cared for her.

A stray word caught Ruby's ear as she pulled away from the hug, and Ruby turned towards where Pyrrha was still muttering something to Nora.

"...Yeah, and he has tentacles… I thought he'd be, well, using them on his teammates and…" Pyrrha whispered, and Nora nodded numbly as the usually-cheerful girl took in what she was being told. Beside them, Ren was trying his hardest to keep his expression calm and neutral, although Ruby noticed that the boy's face was turning more and more green as he listened to the conversation his two teammates were having.

"What are you two talking about?" Ruby asked curiously, although she never got an answer as shuffle from nearby alerted the group to someone approaching, and soon afterwards Weiss walked, or more accurately stumbled through the underbrush and into the small clearing the teams had chosen as their retreat.

The white-clad girl managed to let a small growl and pick a stray branch from her long hair, before Ruby shot off from her seat beside Yang and latched onto the grumbling Schnee heiress.

"WEISS!" the red-clad reaper squealed happily as she saw that the girl was alright, even if a bit grumpy, covered in stray leaves and branches and…

"...You're kind of wet." Ruby noted as she pulled away from the hug to let Weiss recover and catch her breath after getting it squeezed it out.

"Yeah… Jaune found a way of getting the sap off me." the heiress grumbled. "Not the way I'd liked, but I can't deny it wasn't effective… I just wish he hadn't licked my face doing so."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, confused, before she saw the underbrush parting to give way to Jaune… in his armored knight-form.

She felt more than she saw as Yang froze behind her as she took a look at the slightly over six feet tall, heavily armored form who Ruby knew to be Jaune… but was a unknown to Yang.

Ruby moved herself between Yang and Jaune before the former could rise from her sitting position and do something she might regret.

"Hi _Jaune_!" she exclaimed deliberately loudly, making sure to put pressure on the boy's name to keep the rest of their fellow team from mistaking him as some sort of super-Grimm. "So uh… welcome back?"

"T͞ha͠nḱş..̧" the growly, somewhat distorted voice greeted her back, and without further ado Jaune grabbed the belt Ruby offered to him, and she saw his flesh start to bubble and his bone-armor starting to sizzle and drop away, until what was in front of her was the teenager she knew as Jaune, in his human form… and completely naked as well.

' _Uhm… Try not to look at 'it', Ruby…'_ a voice that somehow sounded like Yang's rang in Ruby's head as she turned her eyes away from Jaune's body to give him a sliver of privacy as he pulled a spare pair of pants from his belt.

"What the hell?" came the actual voice of Yang as the blonde girl got over her initial surprise. "What the actual hell was that? Were those tentacles?"

"Yeah, they were" Jaune told her as a response while Ruby hovered nervously between him and Yang. "It's a thing I do to fight… _cough_ … sorry, its a bit hard to talk…" he added before leaning over and coughing something black from his throat.

"So uhm… what happened, Weiss?" Ruby turned towards Weiss who was tapping the ground impatiently with her feet. "You kinda got carried away and uh…"

"Don't try to change the subject!" Yang got up from the ground and stormed towards Jaune who had managed to cloth himself. "You! What are you?!"

"A student, I think." Jaune told the busty girl, causing the girl's ire to peak.

"Do you think this is some sort of joke?!" Yang growled, ignoring Ruby who quickly stepped between him and the agitated blonde girl.

"No." Jaune said simply as he slumped down to a sitting position "But I'm too tired to care… Those transformations are taking their toll on me."

"He is someone who is capable of shifting between forms, using biological material as a building block. In its essence, or at least I believe so, it is composed of..." Weiss came to his rescue and started to lecture Yang on Jaune's unusual ability.

Ruby bobbed nervously in front of the sitting boy and looked towards the rest of team RYNN who seemed to be latching onto Weiss's explanation, somewhat desperately if Ren's expression was anything to go by.

"...And therefore he is in fact, not a Grimm but a human. And should be treated as such." Weiss ended her explanation, and glared at Yang just in case she had an objection. "Did you understand or do I have to repeat?"

"..." Yang blinked few times as she seemed to break out of her lecture-induced stupor. "...I literally didn't understand anything you said."

"Like, I, Said…" Weiss made to start, but Yang cut her off.

"Fine, fine… whatever." she huffed, and glared back at the white-haired girl. "Do you really trust him?"

"Yes." Weiss and Blake echoed in response, and Yang turned to lift her eyebrow at the black-clad girl that had joined the conversation briefly. Blake glared back at Yang, before resuming her silent vigil over the two teams.

"Right… I believe you." Yang sighed. "Just… keep your guard up. Something about him seems fishy."

"I'm… right here, you know?" Jaune said as he sat on the grass, and Ruby reached to pat his head reassuringly.

"Come on, we need to get back to the landing zone before the Bullheads leave." Weiss told them and reached to grab a salvaged sap container...

* * *

The Bullhead let a decelerating whine as its twin-turbine engines spooled down after the flight of aircraft landed on Beacon's small airstrip, and the students had exited the craft with the sap they had gathered from Forever Fall in tow. The sap containers were deposited into waiting racks with the team name written onto the container's side, and it would be added into the grade of the team and count towards the individual grades of the students after the amount and quality had been determined.

Team RYNN returned to their dorms after the mission was deemed to be complete, and team SABR tried to do the same… or would have, were it not for a message sent to both Weiss's and Jaune's scrolls.

" _Mister Arc, please see me in my office, now. -Glynda Goodwitch"_ Jaune read out, and Weiss nodded as she read her identical message except for her name instead of his. "Do you know what this is about?"

"I do not." Weiss said slowly as she re-read the message. "It can't be anything too important or dangerous since she's using message to contact us as opposed to coming to fetch us in person… but she's expecting urgency."

"Uh, should we come along?" Ruby asked, and Blake nodded to add her opinion to the pile.

"No." Weiss decided after a very brief moment of considering their offer. "You two need rest and I don't think you could help if the matter is something concerning both me and Jaune specifically…"

"Okay." Ruby said, and Jaune reached to pat her shoulder before he turned to walk after Weiss who had already started to walk towards the headmistress's office.

.

..

…

"A failure?!" a shrill scream rang in the spacious office, and Glynda Goodwitch reached to readjust her glasses as Weiss's outburst died down.

"Yes, miss Schnee. Mister Arc left the team to face the Grimm alone, against your will and spent the rest of the mission fooling off in the middle of a forest." Glynda told the agitated white-haired girl. "Your personal score is unaffected, but we are obliged to inform the team leaders whenever their team members fail their practical tests."

"He was doing his best!" Weiss argued, and Jaune reached to pat the girl's hand. They had barely managed to sit down before Glynda had told them of their grades, or more specifically that Jaune had failed the mission while Weiss and the rest of team SABR had passed.

"His best was not enough." Glynda replied. "Control yourself, miss Schnee."

Weiss visibly gathered herself before pulling her hand away from Jaune's, and turned towards the combat instructor once more.

"He was not, in fact, leaving the team to face Grimm alone." Weiss countered. "I had accidentally ruptured a maple tree which soaked me in Grimm-attracting sap. He carried me away so the Grimm would get drawn away from the team, and then washing the sap off me!"

"Nevertheless his actions removed two students from the fight, and he spent rest of the mission away from the team, reducing their overall efficiency." the combat instructor adjusted her glasses again. "I'm afraid my mind is already made, miss Schnee."

"I… But… Grr..." Weiss restrained herself with a herculean effort, and instead smiled her trademarked fake smile. "I see. Thank you for your input on our team tactics, professor. What would you have suggested that we'd do to remove the Grimm threat? I believe water was necessary for me to remove the sap from my person."

"What do you get when you combine Ice Dust with Fire Dust?" Glynda asked, leaning on her desk.

"You get… water." Weiss's smile cracked slightly. "Very well, I see your point, professor. What is mr. Arc's punishment for his… failure?"

"Additional combat classes with a personal instructor." Glynda said simply, addressing her words at Jaune. "Professor Qrow, after he returns from his current mission, will be overseeing your extra studies."

"I see." Jaune sighed. "I'm sorry…"

"You need to better control your... urges and your abilities if you wish to remain in this facility." the headmistress glared at the blonde boy. "While you have been successful in keeping your ability secret from the majority of population, you need to restrain yourself from running amok where other students could see you. I've had one team come to me and try to convince me that miss Schnee was in fact, and I quote, 'a evil over-mistress of the Grimm' after seeing her 'pet and play with a Grimm' which I assume was your… interaction… with miss Schnee. I dismissed their sighting as mere delusion, but close calls such as those are inexcusable."

"I… I'm sorry?" Jaune felt his face heat up slightly and heard Weiss squeak indignantly at the rumor from her seat beside him. "Wait… you saw that?"

"I observed all teams present in the mission with surveillance drones to grade individual students and as a safeguard so I could move to assist teams in combat should I deem it necessary." Professor Goodwitch said simply. "With that in mind, mr. Arc, you will be informed of your extra studies via Scroll message once professor Qrow returns. Dismissed."

Jaune sighed, nodded, and rose from his seat.

…

Glynda shook her head after the pair of students left her office, and she picked her Scroll up from her desk.

" _Is it done?"_ a somewhat distorted voice asked from the Scroll, and Glynda sighed as she heard the distinctive sound of the headmaster taking a sip of coffee.

"Ozpin, I've told you time and time again that your plan is going to fail, spectacularly so… but yes, it is done."

" _Thank you. I believe Qrow will be able to convince him to properly join our cause… if he had time to interact with him, alone."_

"And you thought that having him 'fail' the test he should have passed would be good enough of a chance to do so?" Glynda felt her blood pressure rise again. "Remind me why I'm on your side again?"

" _Because we both work against the true enemy, the one behind the Grimm threat… and we need bigger weapons if we want to win."_ the sound of Beacon's headmaster sipping his coffee came through the Scroll again. " _And he certainly fits the bill."_

"Uh-huh… And what do you suggest we do about the rumors that have started to spread recently?"

" _About miss Schnee being the 'dread mistress of Grimm'? I believe I already told you to dismiss them as mere rumors..."_ Glynda waited until she heard heard Ozpin sip his drink again before answering.

"No, about miss Schnee holding orgies amongst teams SABR and RYNN"

The coughing and spluttering that came through the Scroll caused Glynda's lips to turn up into a vicious smile.

* * *

"..." Jaune looked suspiciously at a herbal incense candle that spread a spicy scent into a large and somewhat crowded sauna in Beacon's spa as he walked down its wooden steps to exit the hot-air room. He had determined that he'd been cooked enough to move onto the next item in Weiss's list.

The spirits of team SABR had dropped after Weiss and Jaune told Ruby and Blake of the conversation they had with their combat instructor, and Weiss had suggested that the team should go spend the rest of the day in Beacon's spa to cheer themselves up and to get the grime of the mission off their skin. Blake had agreed after Ruby had jumped on the idea, and Jaune tentatively agreed as well.

' _I hope the swimming pool isn't too deep... '_ Jaune thought as he took a brief shower to clean the sweat out of his skin that had popped up during his brief stay in the hot room. ' _Well, here goes nothing…'_ he sighed internally as he walked out of the shower and into a large, hall-like room that a selection of pools ranging from long, deep swimming pools designed for distance swimming to shallow and hot-watered ones designed for relaxation and chatting with friends.

He looked around the pools and spotted his fellow teammates sitting in a somewhat out-of-the-way warm-water pool that was partly covered by a indoor tree that had its thick roots drinking from the pool's water, and its leaves partially obscured the students inside the particular pool from his view.

Jaune made his way towards the pool and saw Weiss and Ruby already soaking in the pool's warm water. Blake was eyeing the pool suspiciously and was kneeling on the edge of it, reaching to carefully test the water with her hand.

Ruby was clad in red and black one-piece swimsuit with her burning rose sigil over her chest, and Weiss was clad in a blue and white swimsuit with a intricate pattern forming a snowflake sigil on her hip, and she had her long white hair tied to a bun to keep it from getting soaked in the water. Blake was wearing a black two-piece swimsuit with violet detailings and a ribbon tied to her waist to compliment her usual bow which she still kept on her head to cover her faunus parts from view. Jaune felt slightly ill-prepared as he wore a simple, un-detailed black jammer that didn't bear his insignia or intricate detailing, unlike the rest of his team.

' _...I might have to think about getting a personal emblem made… There's the Arc family's usual yellow twin-slash emblem but I think I don't fit the ideal behind that anymore…'_ he thought as he approached the pool, and greeted Ruby who had lifted her hand to wave at him…. and unknowingly splashed water on Blake in the process which caused the disguised cat faunus to hiss at the red-clad girl.

"Hi Jaune!" Ruby greeted him energetically, and Weiss opened her eyes to take a look at him, and close her eyes again. Jaune lifted his eyebrow at Weiss in response as he sat down beside Ruby, which seemed to be enough of an incentive for Blake to overcome her apparent fear of bodies of water and she slid down into the warm water, and took a seat beside him.

"Took you long enough… were you trying to bake yourself in the sauna?" Weiss asked as the team had started to relax in the warm water, cleaning the fatigue of the earlier mission away.

"Not really… I just tried to stay in there long enough until my ability activated and started to cool me down" Jaune scratched the back of his neck, ignoring a soft purring sound that came from beside him as Blake had closed her eyes and was leaning on both him and the underwater seat to keep herself upright as she soaked in the warm, scented water.

"Right…" Weiss drawled. "Can you not perform your experiments in public areas? It might take a bit more than a 'sorry' to explain a Grimm suddenly popping up in the showers… Even more so with your hm… newly found form"

"Sorry."

"Haah, whatever…" Weiss sighed with frustration before she closed her eyes again and sunk herself deeper into the hot pool, taking care to not let her hair touch the water.

Minutes passed as the team relaxed, and Jaune patted Blake on her shoulder to keep the girl from falling asleep.

Eventually Ruby tilted her head and turned to Weiss. "So uh… What do we do next?"

"I reserved a massage for all of us in about twenty minutes… I suppose we should swim or do something a bit more active before that." the white-haired girl answered, opening her eyes and slowly rising up from the pool. Ruby nodded and hopped off the pool as well, soon followed by Jaune and Blake.

"Right, so that pool is for relaxing, that is for distance swimming and that is…" Weiss pointed the pools out for Ruby, but it seemed that the hot water had energized Ruby too much as the red-clad girl shot off to jump into a long, deep pool before Weiss managed to finish her explanation.

A shrill scream echoed in the hall soon afterwards, and Weiss sighed while rubbing her temple. "...And that is the cold water pool…."

.

..

…

Jaune wasn't quite sure what he thought about the massage. Since the massage rooms had two beds each, Weiss had separated the team to Blake and Ruby, and Jaune and Weiss with the reason being that Weiss felt it necessary to be around him in order to 'scold him out of any experiment he might carry out in the public area'.

' _Well, I did experiment with my heat tolerance in the sauna so she might have a point'_ Jaune conceded inside his head as he felt the masseur's hands rubbing his shoulders and upper back.

The sensation was alien to him, and since the massage came from his blind, vulnerable spot it sent an instinctive desire to turn around in the massage seat and lunge h̀i̧s _jaws̀_ …

' _Whoa, down!'_ Jaune growled slightly as his body tensed, stopping the instinctive need to tear apart his not-exactly-assailant.

"You're quite tense. Is something wrong, mr. Arc?" the man massaging him asked, and Jaune lifted his head up from the shaped pillow to tell the masseur that everything was okay.

While doing so Jaune glanced to the bed next to his where Weiss was getting kneaded like dough, and saw that the girl was on another level of existence entirely.

He felt a uncharacteristic pang of a emotion within him that he didn't immediately recognize as he saw the male massage therapists hands on his team leader's back, and the way he kneaded the flesh of Weiss's lower back.

' _She's M̢i͏ņe̴…_ ' Jaune thought as he saw the foreign male's hands on a member of _his_ pack… and he blinked as he realized the emotion he was feeling. ' _Hold on… Am I… Jealous?'_

The thought caused him to freeze, and he blinked few times to clear the bloodlust that threatened to rise, to command him to do something he'd surely regret. ' _Why am I jealous of Weiss getting a massage? Or… could it be… am I jealous because I'm not the one doing it?_ _Could it be that I have feelings for her?'_

The realization was enough to distract him from the massage until the session's end, and he rose from the massage bed, still deep in his thoughts.

"Right… that felt good." Weiss told him while she flexed her shoulders after the massage while she walked beside Jaune towards the dressing rooms where they were supposed to meet up with the rest of their team.

Ruby and Blake would no doubt be finished with their massage sessions as well, and would be heading to the dressing rooms to swap to their usual clothes and get back to their dorm. It had been busy day and Jaune admitted that he was starting to get somewhat sleepy- and that was with his semblance-enhanced body. He was fairly sure that the girls were close to falling asleep as well, although Weiss hid her tiredness like professional.

' _Makes sense, since she was trained to be the heiress of that Dust company so hiding her true feelings might have been something that was included in it…'_ he thought, feeling somewhat bad for the girl. ' _I wonder how much the training changed her personality…'_

He nodded to Weiss, unsure if he should say something about the newly-found feelings he wasn't sure he had towards the heiress. It seemed that Weiss detected something being wrong as her light blue eyes narrowed towards him, but she chose not to press the issue and instead separated to walk into the women's dressing rooms- the lack of argument being a clear sign just how tired the girl was.

Jaune sighed as he pushed the men's dressing room door open, only to freeze as he heard a familiar voice scream from the women's dressing room.

' _Weiss!_ ' Panic shot through him, and in response he felt as his body prepared itself for combat, chips seperating from the bones of his forearms to form clusters of spikes inside them, rapidly maturing to be used as projectile ammunition. He stopped his body from further transformation as, like how Weiss had pointed out earlier, a tentacle Grimm bursting into the women's dressing room might give out a wrong message.

Jaune crashed through the dressing room's door, and saw Weiss glaring threateningly at four masked men in the otherwise deserted room who had armed themselves with… Weiss's underwear?

Jaune blinked, taken back by the masked assailants choice of weapon- and his hesitation was enough to allow the four underwear-thieves to flee through the door that led to the women's showers, causing a round of foreign female screams to erupt from the direction.

"...What just happened?" Weiss growled, and Jaune could only shrug his shoulders in response as he looked at the devastation the thieves left behind.

* * *

"Boss, that didn't didn't go as planned." Russel Thrush supplied helpfully as team CRDL sat in their dorm, having barely avoided capture by a crowd of extremely angry huntresses-in-training after they had been caught red-handed in the girl's dressing room.

"Yes, thank you." Cardin ground out. "Your helpfulness to our cause has been noted and recorded."

He hated how Russel seemed to preen from the praise, having missed the obvious sarcasm in his voice. Cardin had led his team to raid their resident Grimm Mistress's locker in search for evidence after, much to their dismay, professor Goodwitch had turned down their theory as mere rumors and hallucinations.

Cardin wasn't sure if Goodwitch was in league with the dread Scnhee, but if she was, he would circumvent her authority and go straight to the Headmaster, and he was determined to gather enough proof of the Grimm corruption within Beacon to have his voice heard.

His father praised headmaster Ozpin as honorable and just, so surely Ozpin would be above such corruption!

"At least they didn't recognize us…" Russel continued as the team's mood was low after the failed operation. "What should we do now?"

"We need to keep eye on them." Cardin sighed. "We may have been too… eager today. If we are to succeed in our crusade against the darkness that resides within the school, we must be unrelenting. We must be unstoppable… but we must be slightly more careful."

"Yeah…"

Cardin swung his hand horizontally, cutting any arguments before they could start. "I know we are not a team designed for covert operations, as we saw today. Instead, we must do what we do best."

"What do we do best?" Sky Lark asked, and Cardin felt a vein in his temple start pulsing again.

"We rally people to our cause, we stand against the darkness, and we shall persevere! And with our swords, we shall break the back of darkness! Our crusade will be decisive, it will be just, and it will be victorious!" Cardin decreed, and for a moment he saw himself clad in golden armor with his banners held high on the Vale's unrelenting walls, the banner's soft fabric flowing in the morning breeze as he placed his leg on his vanquished foe in a field full of dead Grimm with the dread king, or in this case the dread queen of Grimm lying dead at his feet.

"Boss?" a voice broke him off his daydreams and Cardin looked down to see himself posing on top of his chair.

"Ehm." he coughed as he sat back down and leaned to whisper conspiringly at his three teammates. "Our next step is to find out just how far the corruption has spread, and for that, we need allies…"

* * *

Jaune was… conflicted.

It was a understatement as he felt positively murderous as he stared at the sight before him, jealousy raging inside him like a thousand slithering appendages being thrust into...

' _Okay that was slightly too much.'_ he thought as his earlier line of thinking went deep into something uncomfortable. ' _I need to stop reading those novels… '_

The team had gone to sleep after reporting the attempted burglary to the spa's security team. Luckily, Weiss had only lost her underwear to the thieves, which had caused her to both swear eternal vengeance against the thieves and to be extremely careful as she had walked back to the dorms in her usual dress.

The next morning a package had been delivered to the team, which had set him on edge immediately as he detected a faint trace of… something from the package.

He had hesitated too long and before he managed to stop her, Ruby had opened the package and a creature had burst out of it like some sort of living trap, and had latched itself on the girl's face before Weiss had managed to pull it off.

It had proven to be little help, however, as the creature had jumped on the white-haired girl's chest and began licking her neck- all the while Blake fled in terror, having barely managed to return from the shower to witness the scene unfolding before her eyes.

Jaune focused his attention to the small furry creature who was enjoying the full attention of the rest of his team, and to be more precise, Weiss who was cuddling and scratching the creature while Blake was looking at it with extreme suspicion from on top of her bunk, and Ruby was shuffling uncomfortably while reading a note that came with the package.

"So uh… my dad is going off to a trip with his class back at Signal so he sent our pet here…" Ruby clarified the situation. "Um… that's Zwei, our family's pet corgi."

"He. Is. So. Cute." Weiss squealed happily as she played with the dog, sending another wave of jealousy down Jaune's spine.

' _Grrrr... Why is that mutt getting all of that attention… I want to be scratched too…'_ his thoughts returned momentarily to the moments where the Schnee heiress had scratched and petted him in his Alpha Beowolf form, before he shook his head to clear his thoughts and quell the rage inside him.

"So uh… what happened to Ein?" Jaune asked, trying to come up with a topic and focusing his attention on Ruby to keep his self-control from slipping to dangerous territories.

"Ein?"

"Yeah, isn't Zwei a number two in old Valyrian language?" Jaune clarified, unsure where he'd learned of the old language but he decided to not dig too deep into it. It was most likely from someone he'd… "Did something happen to Ein?"

"Uh... " Ruby was thoughtful and her face scrunched up cutely. "I think we had a corgi named Ein before we had Zwei but dad told that Ein left to pursue greener pastures or something… I'm fairly sure that wasn't the case though, since Zwei doesn't eat grass. Trust me, I tried feeding him some but it didn't end well."

Jaune tried to ignore how the dog froze still in Weiss's grasp when the grass had been mentioned, and he tried his hardest to not feel sympathy towards the furry creature.

He sighed as he failed, and he reached to pat the dog reassuringly… before pulling his hand away as the dog snapped its jaws at him.

"Zwei! Bad!" Ruby admonished as Zwei growled at Jaune, and the small dog put itself between him and Weiss. Jaune growled back, resisting the urge to shape himself to something more appropriate… until a thrown pen hit his forehead, shaking him off his impromptu staring match.

He looked up to see Weiss having thrown the pen, and that she had grabbed Zwei to stop the dog from trying to lunge at him.

"Can you two have your territorial disputes elsewhere?" she scolded him, and turned to scold the corgi… that had rolled on its back, tongue lolling out of its mouth and its paws paddling the air.

"Aww…" Weiss cooed at the corgi, completely forgetting the scolding in favor of petting the dog.

"Hss." a somewhat familiar sound of Blake hissing caught Jaune's attention, and he turned towards the cat faunus who stared the corgi with her golden-amber eyes. "That thing… is it going to live with us?"

"Uh… yeah, but if he's being a problem, we could tell Yang to take care of her…" Ruby said with a heart-wrenchingly sad expression on her face and a pleading look in her silver eyes as she looked between Jaune and Blake.

"..." Blake was unconvinced, and Jaune reached to pat Ruby's head reassuringly as he broke under the stare.

"Don't just give into her demands!" Blake hissed as she sensed his hesitation. "I… I can reward you if you make that beast go away!"

"Huh?" Jaune tilted his head at the girl, completely missing Ruby poking her tongue out at Blake. "Reward?"

"Y- I meant no." Blake grew a slight blush as she seemed to regret her choice of words. "I mean uh… I… I can um..."

A soft ring rescued the black-haired cat faunus from her own mouth, and Weiss pulled her Scroll to see a reminder she had set to alert the team of their approaching Grimm studies class, which was enough to pull the girl from her own corgi-induced daze.

"The class starts in five minutes!" Weiss shrieked, spooking Zwei and causing it dash under Weiss's bed. "We need to go!"

"Where do we put Zwei?" Jaune asked while Blake took the chance to jump down from her bed and dash out of the door. "I mean can we just leave him here?"

"He'll be alright" Ruby nodded, pointing at the dog that was… opening a can of dog-food with a can opener under Weiss's bed?

"Zwei is a clever dog!" she added proudly.

"Just… fine. Okay." Jaune grumbled, and followed Weiss out of the dorm...

 **Next chapter 13-14.1 - Crows and Ravens**

 **I promised delays, and I delivered.**

 _ **Dodges a thrown shoe**_

 **Okay, maybe that was better inside my head. Anyway, with the break over and some stuff sorted, we should be back on regular schedule now. Thank you for your patience, and sorry for the short chapter.**


	21. Crows and Ravens

"I thought you'd bring me to your camp."

"You thought wrong." Raven told Qrow as she took a glass of whiskey that the man offered.

The red portal that Raven had created had dumped Qrow in front of a bar somewhere in Mistral. Qrow hadn't needed much more persuasion before he was sitting in one of the bar's more secluded tables with pair of glasses and a bottle, locked in a staring match with his not-exactly friendly sister.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why did you choose a bar?" Qrow asked, pouring himself a generous amount of the fiery liquid before taking a controlled sip. He needed to be at least semi-sober for this. ' _Goddamn Ozpin and his stupid ideas…'_

He needed to figure out just what was Raven's agenda regarding to the Queen of the Grimm and what was going on with the rest of the Arc family so Oz could push his agenda into the Arc kid… not that he agreed with the plan. If it were up to him, he'd ask the brat straight-out to either join their cause or die… preferring latter if the brat's moves towards his nieces were accounted into the decision.

He did _not_ want Ruby to discover an alternative use to the tentacles the brat had sprouted in the camera recordings Ozpin had showed him.

"Lets just say that I don't trust you enough to allow you access to our camp anymore… and the place sells well-aged whiskey" Raven's voice shook him out of his thoughts, and Qrow looked up from his glass, prompting Raven to continue as she leaned her head on her hands with her elbows resting against the wooden table. "You won't be getting into the camp- Not after what you did, or what you took from me."

"After I did what, left behind the band of murderers and cut-throats we called family?" Qrow asked, lifting his eyebrow. "I'd award myself a medal for that."

"The band of murderers and cut-throats _I_ call a family." Raven corrected him. "But enough speaking of the past. What do you want?"

"What, I can't come to just say hi to my beloved sister?" he asked somewhat challengingly. "After all this time?"

"I wouldn't mind if I was your _beloved_ sister, but as it is, I am not one. I am your sister who is getting increasingly tired of your antics." Raven narrowed her eyes. "You want something. Out with it."

"Well… I'd hate to disappoint you, but I'm here to just check up on you." Qrow stated. "Really. How are you doing? I heard your tribe is doing well, you know, spreading chaos, raiding villages, killing innocent people?"

"You're talking about Shion, aren't you." Raven said quietly, and Qrow leaned closer.

"Hell yes I'm talking about Shion." Qrow growled. "I don't know if you noticed in your bloodlust or in that bullshit doctrine of yours, but you killed a lot of good people there."

Raven raised her eyebrow in response. "Anything I don't know already?"

"I want to know why." Qrow stated simply. "Why do that? Were you just following your 'only the biggest asshole survives' thing?"

"Only the strongest survive." Raven corrected, unfazed by his horrible attempt to mangle her ideology. "We needed supplies to last the winter- food, medicine, warm clothes. Shion was the wealthiest village around with the fewest defenders. They had grown fat and careless, and paid the price. It was either them, or us... and in the end, the stronger survived."

"Yes, and the Grimm who followed to clean up after you left were completely unintended, right?" Qrow's drawl was interrupted as Raven grabbed his hand, stopping him from drinking from his glass.

"We didn't know the Grimm would swoop in so fast after we left." Raven told him. and Qrow was anyone other, he might have even believed her.

"Yeah sure… and what did you expect would happen when you raided and pillaged a village? That the survivors would radiate happy emotions that wouldn't attract Grimm?" Qrow scoffed, pulling his hand free. "You knew all along that the Grimm would swoop in as soon as you left... and they would finish off what you started."

"I gave all villagers who surrendered an option. Stay, or come with me." Raven narrowed her eyes at him as her bluff was called. "Those that refused my aid choose their own fate."

"Uh huh… and you had no qualms letting those who didn't join you to die." Qrow growled. "Did you even know that one of our old classmates was in there?"

"Oh, you mean Nicholas Arc?" Raven said with sweet tone, blinking her eyes. "I must confess that the years had done their thing on him as I didn't recognize him at the start of our small duel…"

"You bastard…"

"Maybe if he had been stronger, he might still be amongst the living?" Raven mused. "Not that it matters anymore."

"And his family?" Qrow asked. "Remember that thing? You used to have one. Or maybe you forgot? You seemed to give up on your daughter easily enough..."

His words seemed to hit a nerve as Raven's hand dropped on her sword's hilt, and her red eyes flashed. "Quiet."

"Just imagine if someone just happened to go and shove a sword into Yang?" Qrow asked…

...And dodged as the half-empty bottle of alcohol disappeared from the table, and was flung at his head with enough force to break his neck if it had hit. Qrow didn't look behind him as he heard a sharp crack of the bottle shattering against the bar's wall.

"Doesn't feel good, right?" Qrow asked, ignoring the red blade of Raven's sword that she had drawn and was pointed at his throat.

"You know damn well enough that it was you two who took Yang from me!" she growled as Qrow lifted his glass to his lips and downed the rest of the alcohol within.

"You mean it was me and Tai who stopped you from taking Yang with you when she was just a baby and you left us…" Qrow told her, putting his glass on the table. "We know you kept eye on Yang for several years afterwards… waiting for a chance to snatch her. Your raven form is pretty distinctive with its red eyes."

"She would have grown strong under my care." Raven said simply.

"Would she have grown as someone who makes their own decisions?" Qrow asked dubiously with a raised eyebrow for added effect. "Or would you have just stuffed her full of your own ideals, made her a miniature Raven Branwen?"

"Enough." Raven said, pulling her sword back and turning around. "I don't need to hear this. Goodbye, brother."

"Nicholas had most of his family with him in Shion." Qrow reminded her, and Raven stopped momentarily. "Did you kill them as well?"

"Why do you care?"

"Oh, I'm just wondering just how much of a soulless murderer you have become over these years… Summer would be sad. She used to be so fond of you…" Qrow drawled.

"She was too good of a person for this rotten world we live in." Raven sighed. "If only someone had taken a good care of her and not let her…"

"That doesn't answer my question."

"And neither does yours answer mine. Why do you care about that particular family amongst the others? Don't feed me the drivel about you caring what I am, and I know you weren't _that_ close to Arcs..." Raven countered Qrow's question, turning back around to face the man.

Raven and Qrow stared at each other for good minute, neither wanting to back down, before Raven's eyes widened ever so slightly in realization.

"What?" Qrow asked challengingly, noticing the change in her expression.

"So Nicholas's brat survived." Raven said simply, causing Qrow to freeze slightly. His reaction didn't go unnoticed and Raven's lips turned to a smirk. "And he sent you to find out what happened to his sisters…"

Qrow was quiet, which might as well been a confession. Raven sheathed her sword and sat back down on her seat with a calculating look on her face.

"You want information- for him." Raven said, and Qrow could practically feel the glee in her voice. "Look at you… Ozpin's fabled scout and spy, reduced to a boy's tool. Was he afraid to come meet me by himself? Perhaps he's afraid that he'd meet the same fate as his father in my hands?"

"He doesn't know about this." Qrow said.

"And you just _wanted_ to play the role of goody-two-shoes? Don't make me laugh…" Raven said, motioning for a terrified waitress to bring another bottle of alcohol. The waitress seemed to be on the verge of passing out but a stern glare sent to her direction made the woman stumble to the table and place another bottle of whiskey on it before practically fleeing away from the two Hunters.

"So the kid didn't die." Raven said. "Impressive. He ran into the Grimm-infested wildland alone, unprepared and just before winter… He must have grown strong if he survived that."

"Don't tell me you're into kids now." Qrow gagged at the thought. "I didn't take you for a cradle robber."

"I am into strong people." Raven lifted her eyebrow. "That hasn't changed nor will it change."

"Uh huh…" Qrow was unconvinced. "...But if you were planning on meeting the brat, take my advice… don't."

"And why is that? Perhaps you are feeling protective? Have you taken more kids under your wing?" Raven taunted. "Perhaps Nicholas's son is calling you 'uncle' now? After all, it's not unusual for those who serve Ozpin to take kids and turn them into his weapons…"

' _I'm telling you to stay away from him for your sake…'_ Qrow wanted to say, but something held his tongue. Perhaps it was that if he'd told Raven that the brat might be on par with her she'd take it as a challenge, or that he secretly hoped for her to have a run-in with Arc brat's tentacles- and that she'd discover the alternative use for the appendages. ' _It would serve you right... you self-righteous, hypocritical, murderous bitch…'_

Qrow shook himself off his thoughts by offering his glass to the bandit who filled it, and he took a long sip. He didn't want to have the image of Raven getting physical with the brat in his head. ' _Why am I thinking about that anyway… I don't usually get this distracted…'_

"Right… No, we're not turning Nicholas's brat into a weapon." Qrow lied, and Raven lifted her eyebrow in response. "Honestly."

"Uh-huh." she didn't sound convinced. "So he must be quite strong indeed if he's got you running around doing favors for him… or you haven't managed to get your claws into him just yet, and you need leverage."

"..." Qrow was quiet as he tried to find a way to turn the conversation to his advantage- and it seemed that Raven took his silence for more than what it was.

"And you want something… You want me to tell you about the brat's family so you can hold them in ransom for him, to press him into doing whatever you want." Raven's voice was filled with glee. "It looks like the tables have turned, brother…"

"What have you done to the brat's family?" Qrow tossed subtlety out of the window and leaned closer. "Are you allied to the Grimm? You used them to clean up your mess so easily… are you trading with the devil?"

"Not telling." Raven singsonged, twirling her glass of whiskey in her hand- and Qrow noticed that her glass was still almost full. A quick glance to the side told him that the whiskey bottle itself was half-empty already, and that was after a bottle that Raven had tossed to the wall…

' _Shit... '_ Qrow cursed his carelessness as he realized her ploy, and why she'd taken him to the bar in the first place. ' _She's trying to get me drunk so I'd slip and spill Oz's secrets… The whiskey is darn strong in here, and I've already drank almost a full bottle of it…'_

He shook his head drunkenly, using it to hide how his eyes hardened for a moment. ' _You underestimated my power, sister… Now is my time to strike...'_

He pointedly drew his hand away from his glass and slid it next to the bottle, and leaned on the table, using the motion to hide his hand slipping into his sleeve for a moment to press a small, soundless button- which was hardwired to switch his Scroll's voice recording on and off. "Raven. Please."

"No."

"We need him. The Arc kid." he said while offering to pour more whiskey on her almost-full glass after filling his. "He might hold a key to ending the Grimm... Please. Give his family back to him."

"And you'd think that I'd just hand over something you could use to control him?"

"We just want to return them to him. To make the Arc family whole again- or as whole as it can be after what you did…" Qrow whispered loudly. "For Nicholas, for all those you've killed…"

"Guilt-tripping won't work on me. If you want them back, then take them from me- but until then, I'm keeping the family." Raven drawled. "If he wants to join them, then tell him that he's free to seek me out and ask to join the tribe. He sounds strong enough…"

"You'd try to recruit him?" he asked, making sure that his tone sounded surprised. "You'd keeping him from focusing on the real threat… Are you working with the Grimm?"

"Yes, I'd take him in if he was as strong as you claimed he was." Raven tilted her head at him, sipping lightly from her glass. "As for the Grimm… I didn't take you for a deluded drunkard. Have the years done a number on you, brother?"

"If you weren't working with the Grimm, you'd give the Arcs you hold hostage to us…" Qrow drawled. "Are they even alive?"

"I am not working with the Grimm… I'm merely using them when it suits me." Raven narrowed her eyes, and Qrow detected a miniscule slur in her voice. "As for the Arc kids, they are... a part of our happy family."

' _You've always been a lightweight when it comes to booze, sis… let's ramp up the stakes…'_ the crow-shapeshifter thought as he glared at his sister.

"You told your men to torture and rape them, didn't you?" Qrow growled accusingly, slamming his hand down on the table and covertly pressing the button hidden inside his sleeve again. ' _I know Raven's a right bastard, but she wouldn't sink so low… and if she did, I can just ask something else.'_

Ozpin _had_ asked him to deliver 'evidence' of Raven's deeds after all...

"No." she responded, her red eyes flashing with fury. "I am a bandit, but I am also a woman… The old chief _would_ have ordered such barbarics, but I won't. Broken people make poor workers."

"So Svart's dead?" Qrow remembered the old chief of the tribe, back when he and Raven had still been in Beacon. The barbaric man had been one of the big reasons Qrow had chosen to leave the tribe and band together with Ozpin in the first place.

"I didn't approve of his methods, and he didn't approve of mine." Raven said simply. "The stronger won, and the weaker was buried."

Qrow sighed, and prepared to press the button in his sleeve again after he asked his next question. "So you're the new leader of the tribe?" ' _...and click'_

"Yes" Raven rolled her eyes. "They obey me. My word is law, and they know better than to defy me. Those that try to do so end up dead."

' _And there it is… '_ Qrow reached to sip from his glass again, using the motion to press the button again to end the recording. ' _I got it now… Ozpin better appreciate this.'_

"What about... " Qrow started, but Raven cut him off.

"Now now, brother… you've had your questions. Now it's my turn to ask." Raven asked and her eyes flashed sharply. "Tell me what is this power you told that Nicholas's kid had, one that could push the Grimm back?"

"Not telling." Qrow mimicked Raven's earlier tone, and her eyes narrowed in response.

"I didn't take you for petulant child, brother…" she drawled, "Didn't you want to know what's the current status of the Arc family?"

"..." Qrow pretended to be thoughtful. "I don't think the knowledge worth revealing the brat's power, to be honest…"

Raven's eyes narrowed even more. "You're bluffing."

"Nope." he replied, putting his empty glass on the table and making a show of fumbling for the bottle. "Try me."

"Fine." Raven said, equally stubborn. "I have other ways of finding out."

"I'd advise against it." Qrow warned her. "You're planning on using your bird form… we know how to recognize it. You wouldn't survive the full wrath of Beacon at once, in our chosen battlefield and without your tribe to back you up- no matter how strong you are individually."

"Oh, I wonder… I was merely going to offer him an option. Perhaps he is wise enough to take my advice and put our past… conflicts behind us." Raven picked up her white Grimm-styled helmed from the table and put it on her head. "Well, do remember to tell him of my offer. Whether he takes it or not is up to him… and remember, if you try to push him against me, to pump him full of your agenda..."

She rose up and swung her sword behind her to create a red-shimmering portal. "...It won't be only him who suffers."

Qrow sighed as he reached for the whiskey bottle after the portal closed behind the unpredictable bandit chief. ' _Well… that went about as well as it could have.'_

He admitted to himself that he felt a pang of guilt as he thought about giving the recording he'd taken to the Arc kid, but he steeled himself against it.

' _We can't afford to be soft… there's too much at stake. If we have to sacrifice him to save us all…'_ He ditched the glass, and brough the bottle to his lips. The fiery liquid hit him _hard_ , and let him harden himself against the morality of what he'd done. ' _If we have to sacrifice him so no-one else has to sacrifice themselves… So Ruby or Yang don't have to do it... Then so be it…'_

He tried his best to ignore the mental image of Summer Rose, brought forward by his drunken state, glaring down at him disapprovingly.

* * *

"So uh… what's this about?" Jaune Arc asked Weiss, and got a shrug as a response as the students of Beacon gathered to the initiation hall where the headmaster of Beacon was testing his microphone in preparation for his speech, and Glynda Goodwitch was standing beside the man, flicking rapidly between screens in her Scroll.

Weekend was approaching, and the students had been instructed to attend the headmaster's speech before they would be released for their two-day break.

"Good evening, future Hunters and Huntresses. You might wonder why you've been summoned here- and since we're all eagerly waiting to be released into the wilds of Vale's streets and attractions, I'll keep this short. Tonight a new team joins us in our quest to safeguard Humanity of the Grimm threat." Ozpin announced to the crowd of students. "Please welcome Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black and Neon Polit." he motioned for the new team to stand on the stage. Jaune clapped politely alongside the other students as he saw Cinder again, and took in the appearances of her other teammates. Mercury seemed somewhat resigned as he walked on the stage while Emerald smiled politely as she walked beside Cinder, and Neon, the small girl with black hair tied to twintails was smiling a sweet, innocent-looking smile as she walked beside Mercury.

"The new team transfers from Haven Academy, and shall now gain a new team name as is tradition- They shall now known as team CEMN, or team 'Seamen'..." Ozpin's speech was interrupted as Glynda not-so-subtly stepped on his toe and pointed at something in her Scroll. "...My apologies, the new team shall now be known as CEMN, or team Cement"

The applaud rang again in the hall, even if a bit awkwardly. Jaune also noticed that Cinder looked positively murderous as she looked at the headmaster, and the act was replicated in full by both Emerald and Neon whereas Mercury seemed to be snickering ever so slightly.

"Regardless, please welcome our new students amongst your ranks." Ozpin continued as the applause died down and the newly named team walked down to join the other students. "Now, while the introduction of new students is important, that wasn't the main reason I wished to speak with you all- and I specifically arranged this little meeting to drive in the importance of the following message."

The headmaster took a small break to allow his words to sink in, and he continued just before any whispers could start to form.

"As you no doubt are aware. the city of Vale is currently suffering from a major crime spree directed towards our Dust shops, suppliers and traders." Ozpin told the assembled students. "The Vale's Police department has identified the mastermind behind the robberies to be Roman Torchwick- a ex-hunter gone rogue." Another pause.

"We remind every student _not_ to engage him should you witness a robbery during your weekends off. While the robberies Torchwick has orchestrated have been largely without casualties, we do not wish to pit you against a trained and dangerous ex-huntsman, specifically since I believe you are strong enough to drive him into corner, but not strong enough to hold him there until help arrives." Ozpin's gaze swept across the students, briefly settling on Ruby before moving on. "There are few things in this world more dangerous than a huntsmen who have run out of options, so I strongly encourage you to leave chasing dangerous criminals to graduated Huntsmen and Huntresses."

Glynda Goodwitch stepped up and Ozpin stepped back to allow the Beacon's assisting headmistress and combat instructor to speak.

"Now, the first month of your training is about to reach its end." Glynda begun her speech. "Beacon is supplied Lien-wise by the city of Vale and its inhabitants, and while majority of it goes to maintaining Beacon's grounds, teacher's salary, studying materials and other costs we do our best to allow our students a monthly salary- an act of repaying you for what you sacrifice for the sake of mankind. The amount of Lien forwarded to your accounts monthly depends on few factors- the success of your assignments, grades and practical missions. Those of you that are second-year or higher know of this, and now the first years know this as well." She paused for effect, and continued as the wide display screen behind her lit up to show numbers and teams, displaying the amount of money distributed to each team and ranking them accordingly. Jaune noticed a pang of disappointment on Weiss's face as she saw that team SABR was nowhere near the top of the list, likely as a result of his failure.

"Second, third and fourth years are dismissed, first years please stay behind." Ozpin announced, and the older students left the hall with varying degrees of haste.

"Now, the first year students will be sent on their first missions after the next month's tests, and you will be assigned a overseer for the mission you choose from a pool of available missions that the city of Vale and its neighbours have forwarded to us." Glynda continued her speech to the crowd of first-year students. "The Lien you receive from your first mission will be reduced by twenty percent, which goes to the huntsman overseeing your mission, and the rest goes towards your monthly budget- and any missions you partake afterwards will have their Lien rewards deposited to your team account after two percent cut to administrative costs and one and half percent to…"

Jaune felt his eyelids starting to droop ever so slightly as Glynda went deeper into the numbers, cuts, taxes and other economical mathematics involved- and his act was replicated by many students with the exception of some like Weiss who lapped the numbers up with calculating, wary and eager looks in their faces.

"...And the deposit goes towards your potential medical bills." Glynda finished her speech. "Any questions?"

Before anyone could wake up properly to ask something Glynda snapped her Scroll shut. "Good. First years, dismissed."

"Have a nice weekend." Headmaster Ozpin added his two cents before walking off stage with Glynda in tow.

.

..

…

"Is this going to be okay?" Emerald asked somewhat worriedly as she sat on her bed in team CEMN's dorm. The dorm was largely undecorated and would likely remain so as its inhabitants felt no need to make the room feel like theirs.

"Relax, Emerald… Ozpin might have pushed our transfer forwards because of Roman's little spree, but this, in the end, serves our plans." Cinder told her as she looked through the Beacon's forums on her Scroll. She had led the search for hidden mics and other recording equipment in their room, and to their surprise had found none- even with the advanced searching tech their other allies had provided.

Either Ozpin was getting soft, or someone had stopped him from wiring up the student's dorms.

"The students have reported few curious sightings, and we might as well investigate them while we're here... and I trust Roman to be professional enough to succeed in his Dust heists even without me looking over his back." Cinder continued. "The White Fang will continue their Grimm-gathering tasks through Mountain Glenn since it seems that Ozpin has withdrawn Beacon's license to import Grimm… a mere delay for us, nothing more..."

"So what should we do?" Emerald asked, ever eager to please her mistress.

"It seems that there's been quite few rumours starting to spread about a certain girl being able to control Grimm" Cinder told her, turning her Scroll to show Emerald a picture of one Weiss Schnee. "While I doubt these rumors have any basis, I'd like you to get closer to her, and find out if there's a hint of truth to those rumors- and if there are, find out justs _how_ she does it."

"And if she gets suspicious?" Emerald asked, taking in the white-haired girl's features.

"Then pretend that you're just a Schnee fangirl or something" Cinder said, ignoring how Emerald's face scrunched up in disdain for the thought.

"While you're at it, I'd like you to see if you can get close to a student of her team, Jaune Arc. He has interrupted two of our operations, and I'd like you to keep an eye out for him" Cinder instructed. "As for Mercury, I'd like you to see if you can find the ones who are spreading those rumors about miss Schnee's unique ability and see what they know about it."

"So we're hunting rumors now?" Mercury scoffed and Emerald sent him a dirty look.

"Yes, since we're trying to merge into the student populace for now and we might as well be proactive about our objectives while we do it." Cinder told the steel-gray haired man, not offended by his tone- although her eyes took a dangerous glint as she continued. "Do remember that our true objective requires us to stay in Beacon until it is finalized. I hope you can keep yourself on leash and not maim any students until then..."

"Don't worry, I can control myself." Mercury said, feeling the threat underlying on her tone. "I am not my father."

"Good." Cinder nodded lightly before turning towards Neon- who had turned from a black-haired girl with emerald green eyes into a short girl with pink and brown hair and mismatched brown and pink eyes. "Neo."

The girl called Neo tilted her head and blinked, her eyes swapping colours, and she mouthed a wordless 'what?'.

"I'd like you to stay with Roman as much as you can. He needs your help more than we do." Cinder told her. "We can hold a image of you being a delinquent who skips classes if need be."

Neo blinked few times in rapid pace as she considered the order, and she lifted her eyebrow in question while pretending to write on invisible paper.

"Yes, do show up for tests… we don't want to get you kicked out of Beacon before our objective is complete." Cinder told her, and sighed as the small girl seemed to shatter into shards of glass as soon as she finished talking.

"You know, her teleportation could be useful in here." Mercury told no-one in particular as the shards of glass evaporated into nothingness and Emerald reached to swat him on his shoulder for his cheek. "What?"

"You just want an convenient reason to sleep in and have her teleport you to class." Emerald huffed.

"Nevertheless her ability to disguise herself and teleport with her 'mirror' Semblance is far more useful with Roman and his robberies… even more so now since Vale's police department is starting to properly mobilize against him." Cinder told them with a tone that gave no space for arguments.

"What should we do about the Red?" Emerald asked. "She's part of the same team as my targets…"

"She will be dealt with in time. We can't raise suspicion by moving against her just yet since Ozpin is no doubt keeping very close eye on her… however, try to get close to her while you work on miss Schnee." Cinder said, and turned towards her desk. "You have your assignments. Go."

…

Cinder felt her lips curl to a smile as she heard the last of her teammates leaving the dorm, allowing her some time to think about the recent events while she looked through a report Roman Torchwick had sent to her.

' _Ozpin's push to accept transfer students early tells me that he's getting more and more paranoid- he wants the new students close and under his monitor… which means something must have set him on edge… No, there's more than that. There's something that he is unable to control or understand, and his paranoia is on overdrive because of it… I wonder if it's connected to the Schnee girl somehow?'_ She thought back to the time when she'd been instructed of the Headmaster's motives, strategies and psychology, back when she had been mere child.

She closed her eyes...

'" _The wise wizard of the Vale is old and cunning… yet he is more paranoid than he is old, and is more hesitant than he is cunning." Cinder heard the soft words that her mother-figure told her as she sat in her lap with her head resting against the woman's considerable bosom._

 _She enjoyed how the woman's pale hands stroked her hair, and Cinder wanted to hear more of her soft, seductive voice._

" _How do I defeat him?" she asked, eager to please her._

" _You must distract him. Present him a puzzle, a mystery to which he doesn't know the answer, and he will focus all of his attention it. His cunning will work against him, and his paranoia will become his cage." Cinder looked up to the woman's pale face, black veins framing her lovely features and her red-shining eyes looking fondly and calculatingly down at Cinder. "He will hesitate, and he will allow you to complete your strike at your own leisure… And in the end, he will be powerless, trapped by his own wisdom, betrayed by his own plans and ready for your killing blow."_

" _What about the others?" Cinder asked, leaning back on the woman's bosom and closing her eyes so she could hear the woman's lovely voice clearer._

" _The tin man of Atlas is heartless and cruel, and will only care about victory no matter the cost." she heard her mother-figure tell her. "Give him an enemy that is stronger than him, and he will throw all his might against it- sacrificing his allies, his friends, and even himself to win a meaningless victory..."_

 _Cinder shivered in delight as the pale hand caressed her back. "The Lion of Mistral is strong and mighty, but has no courage… separate him from his allies, and he will beg for mercy. Show him your power, and he will join you."_

" _What about the Vacuo?" Cinder asked, enjoying the caress._

" _The straw man of Vacuo has no mind- you need to merely do nothing to him. His own machinations will be his doom. In his madness he will step on his own trap, and gnaw his own flesh from bone. His cadre of advisors is your true foe- fell them, and he will follow."_

 _Cinder felt her consciousness start to fade as her mistress began to sing her lullaby to her protegee…_

...And Cinder blinked as she came off her daydream, still grasping her Scroll in team CEMN's empty dorm room.

She sighed as she returned to her work ' _I can't keep dozing off… there's too much work to be done.'_

A thought that terrified her more than it should have passed her head a minute later. ' _Daydreaming, dozing off… Have I grown old?'_

Cinder shook her head, and pulled another screen on her Scroll, deciding to take a break from his work to check the student forums for information about the 'dreaded' Schnee girl. '... _And according to this, she's holding… What? Orgies? Carnivals of sinful flesh? Hold on, that can't be right…'_

She blinked as she thought about the underling she had sent to spy on the white-haired girl, and felt a miniscule pang of worry. ' _...I hope Emerald will be alright…'_

* * *

"Aaaaand... it is done?" Ruby half-guessed as she looked at Blake's new weapon while Weiss sneezed on her handkerchief, and sent a reprimanding glare at Jaune just to be on the safe side. Team SABR had gathered to witness the sort-of grand unveiling of Blake's new weapon, or rather witness Blake screwing few last parts on the weapon before the team could depar for their weekend activities.

Ruby had wanted to have a hand in customizing parts to better fit the weapon, and Blake had, albeit begrudgingly. allowed her to help- which had both served to make the weapon stronger, but also take more time to complete as Ruby had wanted to make sure every part worked seamlessly with another

"It is done." Blake nodded. "I will still call her Gambol Shroud… in form, she is the much same, but also different to Gambol Shroud of old. I created the old Gambol Shroud when I was part of the White Fang- when I still believed that they were what they masqueraded as being- the defenders of equality between Faunus and Man. But what they revealed to be was nothing more than brigands and terrorists. The White Fang broke my old Gambol Shroud, and broke my trust in them. The name of Gambol Shroud will now bear my distrust towards them, and anyone who would use the name of something good, something just, to further their own agenda."

She picked the pistol-like weapon up, and Jaune took a closer look at it. The pistol was much like the old Gambol Shroud, with the exception that the weapon had far longer barrel, and had its blade folded under the barrel, sharp edge upwards and ready to be flipped up to form a massive bayonet just below the gun's barrel . The butt-end of her weapon had a slider which would spring the blade out, and when fully turned would split the weapon's handle off the barrel and firing mechanism while keeping the weapon's magazine attached to the main weapon. A reinforced ribbon connected the handle to the main weapon, and a thin wire inside the ribbon allowed Blake to fire the weapon through the ribbon- transforming the pistol between regular firearm and a chain-scythe that could also fire Dust rounds. Ruby had also incorporated Blake's new segmented blade into the weapon's folding blade, and added another slider into the weapon's side that would spit the weapon's blade into multiple razor-like blades connected by internal wire, and allowing it to be used like a deadly whip when the handle was connected to the weapon.

It had taken Ruby multiple nights to get the switching between the three forms to work fluidly- something that Jaune knew Blake appreciated even if she hadn't said so.

Blake sighed as she put the weapon to its holster, which Ruby had modified to accept the weapon so the holster could be used as a machete and gunblade whenever Gambol Shroud was holstered within it.

"You really went all out on Blake's weapon, huh?" Jaune turned towards Ruby who practically shined with barely contained pride as she observed the black-haired girl's new hybrid weapon.

"Yeah, Blake's our teammate, and I'm not going to allow her to go to the battlefield with a subpar weapon!" Ruby announced, and pointed her finger at Jaune. "I'd do the same for you if you could actually use a proper weapon."

"After you suggested that I'd lug around what equates to a naval artillery battery I'll pass, thanks" Jaune snarked back playfully and Ruby poked her tongue back at him. He snatched it up between his forefinger and thumb, which caused Ruby to panic slightly and her silver eyes widened comically as she tried to look down on her captured tongue before he let her go.

"Euwoh, meanie…" Ruby huffed slightly as she patted her lips. "I'm going to get you for that!"

"Oh no, please spare me your ire!" Jaune pleaded, and Ruby giggled slightly at his theatherics… until Weiss's irritated sigh broke them off their games.

"Aww, don't be so grumpy Weiss" Ruby moved to hover beside the white-clad girl. "I mean we didn't get to the top in the rankings, but we will- eventually."

"Wha- no, that's not why I was…" Weiss started, but fell quiet mid-speech- mainly because the over-eager red-clad girl had grabbed her hand, and was dragging Weiss towards the exit in an attempt to cheer the white-clad leader of team SABR.

"Hey, Weiss? Can we go read Dust cataloguesin the library? I saw an advert for new kind of explosive Dust round and I want your opinion on it and…"

' _Well… it's good that Ruby and Weiss are getting along…'_ he sighed internally as the pair disappeared out of the workshop. ' _I just… I don't know what to do about the Weiss situation- should I just try to propose to her? Do I really like her, or was that just some sort of uh… instinct back at the spa? Dad did always tell me that all I needed in life was courage and determination… although neither helped him to win, nor stopped the blade.'_

"Jaune?" Blake's voice drew Jaune back to the real world, and he quickly replaced the snarl his face had contorted into with an embarrassed frown. Blake had holstered and cased her new weapon, and prepared it to be slotted into her armory locker on the way out. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh… My thoughts just kind of started to drift to some uncomfortable things." Jaune confessed, embarrassed as he realized how easily he had drifted off. "Everything's alright, but thanks for asking."

"Hm." Blake nodded lightly and lifted her filled weapon case. She headed to the workshop's exit, and Jaune followed behind her, making sure to turn the lights off and shut the door behind him as the pair exited the workshop.

The walk through the hallway that connected the Workshop to the Armory was largely spent in comfortable silence, although Jaune somehow got a feeling that Blake was expecting him to say something.

' _...And what is that going to be?'_ he sighed internally. ' _I swear, sometimes I wonder how other men get along with women without being able to sniff out emotions…'_ Jaune kept ransacking his brain for a solution to the unspoken dilemma while Blake was depositing her weapon into her locker, until it hit him. ' _...Oh yeah, I promised to take her out to Vale this weekend like how I went to hang out with Ruby…'_

Jaune let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd held and started to think about where he could take Blake since the weapons expo had ended and he felt that going to the same place twice would be both bad idea, and that the whole expo was not quite Blake's style for leisure time activity... ' _Vale's main library perhaps? Or some bookshop, and then we could go back to my home to read… hm, that might be pretty good, actually, since Blake hasn't been in contact with her parents for a long time, so maybe meeting my sisters might help her get used to the idea of having a family again… and if nothing else, I'm fairly sure she's looking forwards to visiting our library…'_

"Blake?" he asked, and the girl turned to face him after closing the door of her weapons locker. "Would you like to go out to Vale today?"

"I'd like that." she replied, and Jaune saw her lips turn upwards into a small smile.

.

..

…

Jaune saw that team RYNN's door as slightly open as he walked back to the dorms with Blake to prepare for their trip to Vale- and to his surprise he saw Pyrrha stumbling out of her dorm almost as if someone had pushed her out. He saw a flash of ginger hair before the door closed and his attention was taken by Pyrrha who crashed against him.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, curious and slightly concerned about the red-headed girl's exile from her dorm after he recovered and helped Pyrrha back on her feet. "Did something happen?"

"Uh- no. Nothing. Everything's alright." Pyrrha stammered, and Jaune focused his attention on the emotions the girl radiated- or more specifically, he tried to seek for negative emotions that would imply something being wrong. While he was doing so he noticed that the girl had a small, black earpiece and he faintly heard Nora's voice coming through it although he couldn't tell what the pink-clad girl was telling Pyrrha.

' _Odd- didn't Nora just push her out of their dorm? Couldn't she just speak to Pyrrha inside the dorm without needing the earpiece?'_ Jaune thought and he opened his mouth to ask the girl about the puzzling contradiction but Pyrrha spoke over him.

"Uh- Hi, Jaune!" she exclaimed and he tilted his head at the girl.

' _Didn't we just greet a second ago?'_ "Um… hi?" Jaune was quite confused over the girl's behaviour- even more so since Pyrrha didn't seem to radiate any emotions that would imply distress. He glanced to the side to see Blake looking suspiciously at Pyrrha, and he focused his attention back to the red-haired champion.

"So uh… Weekend is here." Pyrrha started somewhat shakily. "And um… can we perhaps go and train together, maybe? And uh..." she seemed to pause to listen to her earpiece before continuing. "...And if you're feeling too tired from the studying to train we could also go to Vale together instead of training, right?"

"Huh, she could come with us, right Blake?" Jaune turned towards Blake to see the disguised faunus. "I mean, we're going to Vale so…"

"No." Blake's answer was both instant and adamant.

"...We could go together and visit a- no?" Jaune's speech came to a halt. "But…"

"But… you promised that you'd train with me?" Pyrrha's voice was somewhat muffled and he detected a definite pang of sadness and frustration from her as he focused his attention on the red-haired champion "You've delayed it so far…"

' _That's true... '_ Jaune sighed. ' _And I did promise that I'd train with her…'_

"Yeah..." he turned back towards Blake to convince her. "I did promise that I'd hang out with Pyrrha a long time ago, and I don't think that Pyrrha is going to be a problem if she comes with us."

"But you asked to go out with me!" Blake told him quietly, and he felt a definite emotion of annoyance from her. "Are you going to go back on your word?"

"No" Jaune was equally resolute. "The Arcs never breaks their promises… and didn't you come with me and Ruby when we went to the gunshow? Surely it won't matter if Pyrrha comes to hang out with us like how you hung out with me and Ruby..."

"Erk!" Blake retreated to her shell as the gunshow was mentioned, and Pyrrha looked rapidly between the two as she wasn't aware of the last weekend's events. "F-fine. Just… gah, you're infuriating…"

"So yeah, would you like to come with us to visit Vale?" Jaune turned towards Pyrrha, although he didn't miss the feelings of betrayal and irritation that Blake radiated.

"I'd love to." Pyrrha replied with a smile, and Jaune faintly heard Nora's voice instruct something to her through the girl's earpiece. "Just give me a moment to prepare, please?"

"Sure."

* * *

"That in-development Dust round just _cannot_ meet the specifications it proposes."

"Huh? Why?"

"The Dust payload is not sufficient to deliver the amount of force it promises to deliver- it would require the bullet to be almost twice the caliber. It is promising high yield to attract investors during development, but will later announce failure to meet expectations..." Weiss lectured Ruby as the pair had gone to the Beacon's library to read and study- the latter part having been something Weiss had insisted, and Ruby had insisted against. Ruby had, however, relented after discovering that Weiss wanted to learn about weapons and ammo as it was a major hole in her battlefield knowledge.

Ruby had quickly found a stash of weapon, armor and Dust catalogues and was currently showing them to Weiss, and Weiss was happily pointing out flaws, weaknesses, strengths and usages of the Dust crystals and Dust ammo displayed within the pages- and Ruby was more than happy to teach the white-haired girl about the weapons, armor and vehicles displayed in the weapon catalogues.

"That thing looks like it'd be fairly useful, do you think Beacon's students could buy one?" Weiss asked, pointing her finger at a picture.

"Weiss, that's a hybrid close air support gunship and paratroop transport… I don't think our student salary is enough to get one anytime soon, and we'd need to hire a pilot..."

"Oh." Weiss tilted her head. "But it doesn't even cost that much?"

"Its sixty eight million Lien, Weiss. We're only getting around 800 Lien every month before mission payments…"

"Do you think they'd do discounts? I have some Lien in my account…" Weiss's reply came to a halt as something crashed behind them, and both of them turned to see a tanned, green-haired girl picking up a pile of books that she had accidentally dropped.

"Ah, sorry!" she muttered. "I dropped these…"

"Hey, aren't you one of the new transfers?" Ruby asked as she hopped down from her chair and started to help the green-haired girl gather up her books.

"Yeah… I'm Emerald Sustrai, nice to mee you" the girl said. "Thanks for the help. Would you mind if I sat with you two? I'm still trying to get used to Beacon…"

"Sure, we don't mind, right Weiss?" Ruby nodded happily. "Oh yeah, I haven't introduced us yet, I'm Ruby Rose and the grumpy one is Weiss!"

"Weiss _Schnee_." the white-haired girl grumbled, but extended her hand nonetheless. "A pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine." Emerald smiled. "I think we're going to have a long and profitable relationship…"

 **Next chapter- 20-21.1**

 **Omake:**

Raven Branwen opened the door to her and Taiyang's house in Patch with a weak push.

She walked to the dining room to put a struggling piece of what had once been her flesh down into a elevated chair in front of the dining table and flicked a light switch to illuminate the small dining room.

A sudden sound from behind her caused her to jump and she moved her hand to the hilt of her blade...

"Congratulations on giving a successful childbirth and returning home!" Summer Rose announced from beside the doorway to the dining room where she had been hiding and waiting for Raven to come home, and she pulling a string on a confetti launcher held on her other hand. "Whoo!" she added with a bright smile as Raven looked at the enthusiastic woman through the falling confetti.

"Summer, I have no patience for your _games_. Taiyang just got pulled over by my idiot brother and he dragged him to a bar to 'congratulate Taiyang again for becoming a father'" Raven snarled while picking confetti from her hair. "I'll have to remember to reprimand those two later"

"Aaww, she's so cute!" Summer ignored Raven's snarling in order to lean over month-old Yang, cooing at the baby that Raven had sat on the elevated baby-chair. "Who's a good girl? Yes you are!"

"Summer, stop it." Raven said from beside her, and as soon as the baby girl heard her voice she started to cry.

Raven felt a vein pop in her head as the baby's crying invaded her ears. It had become a familiar feeling over the past few weeks in the hospital, although luckily the hospital nurses had taken the baby off to her crib whenever she had gotten too annoying.

"Aww, don't listen to mommy Raven, she's grumpy" Summer cooed at the baby who gradually stopped crying as she listened to Summer's voice, and instead started to squirm in her seat. "I think she's hungry. Raven, wanna feed her?"

"Haah, sure I'll feed the kid" Raven sighed and rose up from her chair and walked to a fridge. She pulled a refrigerated steak meal from the fridge and placed it in front of the baby

"Eat up so you become strong" she said to the baby before walking back to the chair and collapsing on it with a heavy sigh.

Summer felt sweat dripping down her brow as she looked at the steak dinner in front of the four weeks old baby.

"Uhhhh Raven? Rav? Babies don't eat steak…" Summer said weakly, which caused the black-haired woman in the cushy chair to lift her eyebrow.

"What are they supposed to eat then?" she asked, puzzled.

' _This is going to take a while...'_ Summer thought as Raven's face scrunched up in confusion...


	22. Outside Escalation

**Warning, small limes in chapter - I think. Read at your own risk.**

 **Edit: There seems to be some problems with the next chapter being invisible for some people. I am trying to get it visible, apologies for the inconvinience.**

"Hm… _hurgh_ … hmm" Jaune pondered as he simultaneously tried to wonder what was upsetting Blake and keep his dinner inside him as the airbus that ferried people between Beacon and Vale glided into Vale's airdock.

The departure from Beacon had been somewhat quiet, although he kept catching conflicting emotions from Blake's direction while the pair had briefly prepared for the trip to Vale, and which had only intensified as they had grabbed Pyrrha from her dorm where she had been receiving a quick pep talk from Nora.

Jaune had tried his best to ignore how Nora seemed somewhat wary of him as he had appeared on their doorway, or how Ren's eyes had followed his movements very carefully although the green-clad boy's posture had not radiated any hostile intent, and neither had his emotional state.

He found it quite curious how elusive the green-clad boy's presence seemed as all humans he regularly interacted with radiated various emotions yet Ren was… empty. It was almost as if the boy either didn't feel any emotions, or had developed some sort of ability that made him almost invisible to Jaune's 'sight'.

"Um… Jaune? Are you feeling Ill?" Pyrrha's voice shook Jaune out of his thoughts, and he looked beside him where the red-haired girl was hovering somewhat nervously, still clad in her usual set of armor and red sash. "I- If you are not feeling well we could still return to Beacon…"

"Perhaps _you_ could still return to Beacon…" Blake muttered quietly beside him which caused him to sigh internally. The black-haired girl had chosen to go with thigh-high leather boots over a pair of white pants and a violet-black top that revealed a sliver of midriff- She had her black cloak on her shoulders with the hood drawn over her head to elude recognition just like the weekend prior.

Jaune wore his usual jeans and hoodie, and had foregone his utility twin-belt in favor of a thin leather belt that only had one pouch containing few protein bars as an emergency fallback and his wallet.

' _I didn't know Blake disliked Pyrrha so much… She wasn't this hostile before, did something happen?'_ he thought while assuring Pyrrha that he was alright. His air-sickness was well documented after all…

"So… Where should we go?" Pyrrha asked as she fiddled with her hands after the trio had descended from the docks to Vale proper.

"We could go visit the…" Jaune started, but was interrupted as a muffled scream from nearby caught his attention. He turned to see a young, approximately 15-year old girl staring at them… or more specifically staring at Pyrrha.

"You're Pyrrha Nikos!" the young girl half-screamed before running to the trio. "Oh my god, can I get your autograph? I'm your biggest fan!"

"I… uh... Of course." Pyrrha's smile became fragile and she took a pen that the girl offered, and wrote her name on the back of the girl's Scroll after she pointed out where to write it. Just as she managed to return the pen, another one was thrust in her direction and Jaune took a quick look around to see more and more people, mostly teenagers and young adults, starting to flock towards the trio… or more specifically, towards Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked as the crowd rapidly grew to a concerning size. "Should we uh… relocate to somewhere else?"

His words caused few of the fans give him an evil eye, and he winced as he sensed the hostility the crowd started to direct towards him.

"Hey, aren't you the one who is abusing Champion Nikos? After you somehow cheated and beat her in Beacon's combat arena?" A voice called, and Jaune looked over to see the person responsible… and failed as another voice added itself to the mix "Yeah, I read on the forums that he's blackmailing her!"

Jaunce felt sweat starting to gather on his brow as the hostile intent of the crowd started to wax over him, even more so as the crowd started to push themselves between him and Pyrrha.

"Jaune…" Blake whispered with clear warning in her tone. "We should go…"

"Right." Jaune nodded, and twitched slightly as his insane head-companion voiced its own solution to the problem.

 _C̛͟o̡͏n͝sum̀͞é ̴̕t̵͢ḩ҉͞e͢͜m͘ ͘͝a̴͝ļ̸҉l̢̛.͠͞͝.̛.͏ ̕l̴͠e̕ą͟͠v͢͝e̸ ̷҉͠n̛ơ͝n͢e̛͞͞ ̴̡alį͞v̷e̡͟.̧̢.̧͝.̶_

' _Shut it, shut it, shut it up…'_ Jaune grind his teeth as the buzzing of the Shadow intensified with the negativity around him.

He decided to take a more direct approach on the matter as the negative emotions from the crowd threatened to slip him into a more feral mindset- which meant he had to either get out, or risk doing something that would reveal his other nature.

Jaune reached through the crowd to grab Pyrrha's hand, and he pulled the red-headed girl off the crowd into his hug, and reinforced his arms with sheets of white bone and black sinewy flesh under the cover of his hoodie.

He gave off a threatening growl before he squared his shoulders and bulldozed his way through the crowd, shoulder-tackling few of the more aggressive fans aside while aiming towards a alleyway between the shops to shake off the rabid crowd.

Jaune faintly heard Pyrrha say something as he pulled a fat fanboy into the crowd's way and dashed into the alleyway and out of the mob's sight. He felt more than he saw Blake following in his shadow and he was pretty sure that the black-hooded girl had managed to elude the crowd's attention entirely.

He heard the crowd cry for his blood from the street so he reinforced his legs and jumped, aiming for a emergency ladder that led up to nearby shop's roof. He caught the ladder and heaved himself up on the tiled roof. Jaune heard a 'thunk' as Blake's new Gambol Shroud was thrown into the corner of the roof and the black-clad girl climbed up behind him by using the chain-scythe's ribbon as a rope.

"Mbffffh" a somewhat muffled sound caused Jaune to look down and he let Pyrrha go as he realized that he had been holding the girl against his chest with enough force to nearly suffocate the unfortunate champion.

"Sorry!" both Jaune and Pyrrha apologized at the same time before looking away from eachother, embarrassed over the whole ordeal. Blake gave a tortured sigh behind him and started to tap the roof with her boot.

"What was that all about?" the disguised faunus asked, pointing towards the street where the rabid fan crowd still lingered, out of sight. "Who were those people?"

"Um… those were my fans." Pyrrha confessed while twirling her long red hair in her hands nervously. "They are… an enthusiastic bunch."

"I can tell." Jaune sighed as he rubbed his arm after transforming it back to normal. "Sheesh that was awful…"

His words caused Pyrrha to look down. "I'm sorry… This happened the last time I was in Vale as well, but I guess I just got too excited and forgot."

"Why are those guys so persistent?" Jaune asked. "I mean, you're a person like any other, yet those guys seemed to treat you like you were some sort of goddess descended upon earth or something…"

"Well…" Pyrrha gulped nervously. "You know I'm pretty famous, right? Well, it turns out that championship fighting is _the_ most popular 'sport' in Remnant… and I was fairly high in Mistral's tournament rankings for my age."

"Yeah but…"

"My fanbase literally dubbed me as 'goddess of victory' after my track record…" Pyrrha looked away. "I'm sorry."

Jaune sighed as Pyrrha once again apologized for something that was not her fault. "It's not your fault that your fans don't know when to quit, you know."

"Right..." Pyrrha seemed to channel strength from his words. "Still… what should we do now? I can't really just go out there and walk the street without this happening again."

"Hm…" Jaune rubbed his temple for a while as he tried to come up with a solution for the dilemma, and he glanced towards Blake to see the girl having turned around and was looking over the buildings towards the Beacon's tower which was still visible in the distance. ' _Come to think of it, didn't Blake have similar problem with needing to not be recognized?'_

"Hey Blake?" Jaune asked and Blake turned around to lift her eyebrow at him. "Can you help Pyrrha go unnoticed? You're really good at stealth and staying under the radar, so you would help Pyrrha a lot if you taught her how to remain unseen."

"What makes you think that I'd _want_ to teach her that?" Blake countered with slightly bitter tone.

"We can go to the seafood noodle stall again?" Jaune offered, and Blake's hood twitched slightly, most likely as a result of her cat-ears perking upright. "And I'll buy you the tuna-and-shrimp special?"

"I-I won't be bribed that easily!" Blake resisted, although her eyes practically gleamed at the thought of digging into the huge bowl of fried fish, shrimps and noodles.

"Please?" Jaune pleaded. "I'll try to get Yang to take care of Zwei for a week?"

"Deal" Blake's decision was made instantly, and she turned towards Pyrrha who had been looking back and forth between the pair. "Now, listen closely…"

* * *

"So… How are you liking Beacon so far?" Ruby tried to strike conversation with the new transfer student as she walked through Beacon's grounds with Weiss and Emerald.

They had gone through some the Remnant's weapon and armor systems with Ruby performing as teacher. Eventually Emerald had expressed her wish to tour around Beacon and Weiss had agreed as the white-haired girl had wanted to take a break from studying- something that had taken Ruby by surprise but she figured that Weiss's interest in weapons wasn't strong enough to justify two hours of constant studying, and Ruby had to admit that she might be _a bit_ too enthusiastic when teaching about them.

"Beacon is far more beautiful than Haven." Emerald smiled. "I also like that the people around are friendly and trusting as well… the people in Haven Academy can be brutish and secretive."

"Yeah, we're all against a common threat afterall!" Ruby said proudly. "It wouldn't make sense to be really closed and secretive when lives could depend on it!"

Weiss nodded to add her opinion on it. "We do try to keep a air of cooperation, helpfulness and openness within Beacon."

"Hm." Emerald hummed her response. "Want to talk about combat tactics? Perhaps we can learn from each other? What does your team excel in?"

"Er…" Ruby hesitated for a while ' _What if she asks about Jaune's… thingy? Should we just lie?'_ "Well…"

"I mean, just to keep up with the air of openness and cooperation…" Emerald added with a smile as the trio walked past a decorative pond, and Ruby focused her attention momentarily to the white marble pillars that held up the decorative marble arcs around the Beacon. The sun had started to set slowly, and the white marble was starting to get coloured in yellow hues…

"Certainly." Weiss's words shook Ruby out of her thoughts. "Perhaps we can compare notes and…"

"I was thinking about more practical tactical analysis" Emerald spoke over Weiss. "I mean no offense, but I've found out that purely theoretical learning translates poorly to real-life situations. I'm sure that someone as distinguished as you, miss Schnee, can teach me true prowess in the realm of battlefield tactics."

' _Whoa, way to stroke Weiss's ego…'_ Ruby thought as she saw how the Schnee heiress preened from the praise.

"Hm." Weiss took a second to pause as she thought about the offer with a pleased smile on her lips. "We certainly could do that… Perhaps we could meet in the training arena tomorrow? It is getting slightly too late for training…"

"Sounds good." Emerald agreed happily. "I'll see you two tomorrow then?"

Both Ruby and Weiss voiced their agreements and Emerald gave them one last polite nod before departing towards her dorm.

"Soo… what do you want to do for the rest of the evening? And uh… do you know where Jaune and Blake are?" Ruby asked after she and Weiss had sat down on a bench to watch the sunset.

"I don't know where those two are, actually" Weiss checked her Scroll. "They haven't sent a message either so I figure they are either still in Beacon, or will send a message later… or they are in trouble."

"What if they are in trouble?" Ruby felt a surge of panic start to rise inside of her until Weiss grabbed her hand.

"Ruby, calm down." Weiss sighed as she brought up Jaune's contact in her Scroll. "Let's panic _after_ we've made sure that they need help…"

"Right" Ruby calmed herself down with a visible effort. "Hah, I guess Blake's earlier capture is still affecting me…"

"It is affecting all of us." Weiss muttered quietly as she held her Scroll against her ear...

* * *

"Hm? No, we're in Vale… yeah, Blake is with me, and so is Pyrrha… yeah, we decided to just go hang out in Vale for the evening…" Jaune answered to his Scroll. "We are probably going to come back for the night, or if we miss the last buss we'll sleep in Vale and come back tomorrow… yeah… You have training planned for tomorrow? Okay, we'll try to be there"

He turned in his seat to see Blake inspecting Pyrrha's new clothes while stuffing herself full of fried shrimp, smoked salmon and spiced noodles (which Pyrrha had helped to fund) in a small three-seat table front of a series of food stalls advertising different foods.

Blake had gone to convenience store after their escape from the crowd to grab a simple raincoat for Pyrrha under the cover of which the trio had managed to infiltrate into a cloth and apparel store undetected by the crowd, where Blake had started to work on Pyrrha's clothes while Jaune tried his best to look busy and ward off any fans that might have wandered towards their direction.

The disguised cat faunus was not a fashion designer by any stretch of the imagination, but fashion was very far on her priorities as she had removed Pyrrha's armor and her signature sash in favor of grabbing something less conspicuous that would allow the champion to meld into crowd better. She had picked a pair of dark brown thigh-high socks and a thigh-length black skirt to replace the bronze greaves and sash, and she had picked a cream-coloured sweater worn under a dark red cloth jacket to replace her leather and bronze armor. Blake had also fashioned a cloak from bronze-hemmed dark crimson cloth and scarf from bright red cloth. The cloak also had a hood that would help to hide Pyrrha's face from sight in public areas while the light scarf could be lifted to hide her features from closer scrutiny. Blake had also tied Pyrrha's long red hair into a bun that would fit into the cloaks hood, having researched the technique after her own struggle with her own cloak.

While cloaks were unusual, they weren't completely unheard of since quite few Hunters and travelers used them to ward off elements on the road and often still wore them even inside Vale. Jaune offered to carry Pyrrha's discarded armor in a canvas bag while the girls went to pay for the clothes, and afterwards Jaune had taken the trio to a nearby bookshop he had spotted on the way. Blake had bought few of their more interesting titles that fit her taste of literature while Jaune and Pyrrha had idled around the store. Jaune hadn't quite managed to prevent Pyrrha from taking a look inside one of the more 'adult' books though, and its contents had caused the red-haired girl to sprout a blush that matched her hair in its intensity. By the time they had exited the bookshop they had been in Vale for few hours and while Blake hadn't said anything, the feeling of hunger that she had started to radiate was something he was intimately familiar with, which had meant that the noodle stall had been their next objective.

"Yeah… see you soon then. Say hi to Ruby." Jaune finished his call with Weiss, and he turned towards Blake who had lifted her eyebrow at him while picking up a thumb-sized shrimp between her pair of chopsticks.

"Weiss called, she just wanted to check up on us." Jaune answered to her wordless question while the shrimp disappeared between the girl's lips. "She's got some training planned tomorrow, but other than that she just wanted to know where we were."

"Right…" Blake downed the rest of her drink and gulped down the last of her fried shrimps. "Thanks for the food."

"You're welcome" Pyrrha smiled through her hood, having already finished eating her noodles with beef broth which both she and Jaune had ordered. "It is the least I could do to repay you for the clothes and your advice on how to stay unnoticed by the crowd."

"Hmh." Blake's reply was neutral, although Jaune could tell that the black-clad girl had enjoyed lecturing the champion in art of stealth. And if the feelings of satisfaction radiating from her were any indication, the meal had helped with her earlier feelings of bitterness greatly. The feelings weren't gone entirely but a lot progress had been made… "Jaune?"

"Hmm?" Jaune turned back towards Blake as Pyrrha took the empty bowls and walked off to return them to the stall. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering… what else did you have planned for this evening? If Pyrrha hadn't come along, I mean." Blake asked quietly.

"Eh, I planned to go visit the bookstore, perhaps hit Vale's library and go eat something…" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck "I figured out that by the time we'd be done from that we could see if we had time to go see the sunset since I heard it's quite pretty since it sets behind Beacon so it supposedly makes the lake between Vale and Beacon light up really nicely- although its a bit late for that, seeing how the sun has set by now..."

"I see…" Blake's tone was quiet. "Did you perhaps… plan anything else?"

"Um… I planned to either go back to Beacon or have us go back to my home if you wanted to visit our library with more time to spare, and then perhaps spend the night in there together." Jaune said. He tilted his head as he saw Blake starting to sport a faint blush after hearing his words. "We could still go there if you wanted?"

"R- Right." Blake's tone grew more uncertain. "I'm… not sure I'm ready for that yet…"

Jaune lifted his eyebrow at Blake. "But didn't you come over the last time we went to Vale to er… hang out I guess? I mean it was more like a pep talk but I guess it's the same in the end..."

"I… I see." Blake breathed out nervously. "What about now? When we have Pyrrha with us?"

"I don't see why she couldn't come with us?" Jaune asked, and saw as Blake's expression darkened slightly.

"B-but… Ah, I see… so you want _her_ to come along…" she muttered sullenly before turning her gaze back towards the scarlet-clad champion who had returned the bowls to the noodle stall and was currently receiving something from an adjacent stall. Jaune glanced upwards to notice that the stall advertised ice cream, before Pyrrha was already on her way back to the table with three ice-cream cones in her hands.

"Hi, sorry that getting these took a while." Pyrrha smiled as she handed Jaune and Blake an ice cream cone. Jaune thanked the girl and Blake managed to give a hiss that might have sounded like 'thanks' if someone wished very hard.

"You sound cheerful, did something happen?" Jaune asked Pyrrha as he licked his ice cream. He really wasn't fan of pear ice cream but it was sweet and worked wonders after the meal.

"It's just that I don't usually get to walk around the city without being recognized." Pyrrha hummed happily. "It is a refreshing experience."

"I can see why you'd be recognized everywhere." Blake commented somewhat sarcastically. "If you strut around in armor and your signature headband you're going to be pretty much noticed by everyone… not to mention how you pretty much radiated aura of 'I'm here, look at me'."

"Ah…" Pyrrha blushed slightly and lifted her scarf to partially cover her face. "I… might have panicked slightly when picking an apparel for today and I went with my default set, and my managers told me that the more visible I was, the better it was for my um… career."

Blake rolled her eyes while licking her blueberry ice cream but didn't press the issue further.

"Well… it's good that you can walk more freely now." Jaune nodded, feeling happy for the girl. ' _If she's been held on pedestal for the most of her life, getting a chance to just walk the streets as a regular person might be a welcome change…'_

The ice-cream disappeared soon afterwards and Pyrrha reached to check her Scroll after wiping her mouth on a napkin.

"It is getting pretty late… if we hurry, we can catch the last airbus to back to Beacon." Pyrrha said while pocketing her Scroll and rising up from her chair.

"Yeah, you can make it if you hurry." Blake said after getting up herself and grabbing Jaune's hand. "We'll probably stay in Vale overnight…"

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed dangerously as she looked at the black-clad girl's hand that was holding Jaune's. "On second thought, I think I might just look a bit silly if I run through Vale… I wonder where you two were planning on staying overnight?"

"I was actually planning on taking you two home." Jaune offered, causing Blake to send a betrayed glare at him while Pyrrha's glare turned to an embarrassed blush. "I think Blake liked our library and we have spare rooms after er… some things that happened… so I don't think it will be a problem. Plus I'm sure my sisters would like to meet you two."

"Meeting the family already…" Blake muttered quietly and Jaune could feel waves of uncertainty starting to radiate from the girl.

"Unless you want to go do something else?" Jaune offered, and Blake gulped nervously before nodding.

"I'm ready." she whispered and narrowed her eyes as Pyrrha walked next to Jaune.

The crimson-clad girl grabbed the sleeve of his hoodie lightly after a brief moment of hesitation. "Let's go then?"

"Sure." Jaune agreed while trying to ignore the conflicting feelings Blake was sending his way and the suspiciousness and wary eagerness that Pyrrha radiated.

.

..

…

"And that's my home." Jaune said as he stopped in front of the old building. He noted somewhat sadly that the big, old crow that usually sat on a branch in the dead tree that still sat in the house's small front lawn was unusually absent. He admitted that he had grown somewhat fond of the big bird, if he ignored his first encounter with it. And the time it had almost hit him with an avian aerial bombardment attack when he had offered Ruby some snacks when the red-clad girl had been feeling down.

"Your home looks… um…" Pyrrha struggled to find words to describe the run-down house. "...Interesting?"

"Yeah… it needs a bit of cleaning and maintenance." Jaune agreed, trying his hardest to not feel embarrassed about it as he unlocked the door. "My sisters are not earning nearly enough Lien to upkeep the house to its prime condition in addition to running all of the other costs, although it looks nicer on the inside."

"Right…" Pyrrha said slowly as she entered the two-story house with somewhat wary steps.

Blake had no such reservation although Jaune felt that the black-clad girl was somewhat nervous nevertheless, and he took both of the girl's capes and Pyrrha's scarf and put them to a coat hanger alongside his hoodie, leaving him in his T-shirt. Pyrrha's new jacket soon followed, leaving the girls with their indoor clothes and Pyrrha let her hair down from the bun and tied it into her usual ponytail. Blake left her Gambol Shroud to the coat hanger after a moment of indecision.

' _Odd… Blake's been here before so she shouldn't be this nervous…'_ Jaune thought as he led the pair towards the family's living room "We could read or watch television. I'm sorry that there aren't many other attractions here, most of us were civilians and we largely shared hobbies."

"I'm fine with a bit of watching television." Pyrrha nodded, and Jaune turned towards Blake to see the girl disappearing upstairs and into the family's library.

He focused on the trail of emotions Blake had left and felt… fear? No, more like anxiety. Was Blake fleeing from something? Surely there wasn't any cause for her to be anxious in his home? ' _Well… at least he's feeling at home if she's taking initiative…'_

A faint sound of someone speaking nearby caused Jaune to pause and he turned his head towards the living room while tuning his ears to the speech and the emotions radiating from something human-like in the room ahead.

"Ah, it seems that my sisters are home. Would you like to go meet them?" Jaune asked Pyrrha, and got a very faint nod as a response.

He led the girl forward and pushed the living room's door open after knocking it twice to let them know they were coming. "Hi?"

"Hi…" "..Jaune" Amber and Ember greeted in synch as was usual for the twins. It seemed that the rest of his sisters were not present though. "Welcome…" "...Home!"

He nodded happily to the girls and stepped into the room with Pyrrha in tow, which caused both of the twins to gasp in unison. A hint of foreboding pierced Jaune's good mood as he saw the twins turning their full attention to the champion fighter, and it seemed that Pyrrha felt it as well as the girl's smile turned slightly fragile.

"You're Pyrrha Nikos!" the twins said in unison. "Oh…""...my…""...gosh!"

' _Oh boy…'_ Jaune sighed internally as his fear came true.

"Girls?" he stepped in front of Pyrrha. "She just wants to be a normal person just like any oth…" he was cut off as Ember literally climbed on top of him so she could thrust a pen and piece of paper to Pyrrha, and the girl took the offered items automatically. "Ember!"

"Can we get…" "...An autograph?"

"Um… sure..." Pyrrha agreed somewhat sullenly.

"Girls!" Jaune came to Pyrrha's rescue. "Stop fangirling over her!"

The twins tilted their heads at him.

"But… she's Pyrrha Nikos!" They echoed in unison.

"...Thanks." Ember added as Pyrrha handed the signed piece of paper back to her.

"Yeah." Jaune confirmed.

"She's _the_ Pyrrha Nikos…" "...Right?"

"Yeah." he nodded. "We met before Beacon, like you know, and she's a huntress-in-training in a team that's in friendly terms with mine… Amber!" Jaune added as the girl tried to crawl under his arm to see the red-haired girl better.

"Stop fangirling over her!" Jaune scolded, and the twins had enough decency to look ashamed. "Pyrrha gets enough of it from everyone around her, including in the school… give her some rest."

"Uhhh….""...but…" the twins started to complain in unison before they took a look at Pyrrha's somewhat fragile smile. "Okay…"

"Right, so let's restart, Pyrrha, these two are my sisters…" Jaune introduced the three girls to each other, noticing how Pyrrha had started to smile more relaxedly as the twins had stopped fussing over her fame.

"But what is…" "...she doing in here?" The twins asked. "Don't tell me you…" "...seduced her?" a short pause, before the twins gasped at once. "Are you actually popular with girls?"

"I wish you didn't quite put it like that… and I mean the latter part." Jaune sighed, adding the afternote as Pyrrha grew a slight blush. "Pyrrha just wanted to come hang out in Vale, and we kinda stayed too long so instead of returning to Beacon we decided to come sleep in here. Plus I wanted to see you girls again."

"It's nice to see you too..." Amber nodded happily, and Ember continued where she left off. "...And it's nice to meet you, miss Nikos."

"Ah, just call me Pyrrha, please." Pyrrha smiled.

"Yeah, so do you mind if she stays over?" Jaune wanted to confirm. "Blake's here too… actually, you two haven't met her yet, right? I think Ruby and I told you about her when we were here last weekend."

Ember's smile turned a bit forced as Ruby ws mentioned, and Amber blinked once before leaning past Jaune to look for the elusive black-clad girl but found nothing in the hallway. "Is she hiding?"

"No, She beelined straight to the library. She likes reading, you see, and I think our library is to her liking…" Jaune explained. ' _Although, I wonder what drove Blake to basically sprint into the library?'_

...

' _I'm not ready, I'm not ready, I'm not ready!'_ Blake's heart hammered in her chest as she thought about the situation she was in. She had agreed to go with Jaune out of sheer surprise when he had proposed to her a week ago, and if she was perfectly honest with herself, she also did it out of curiosity. Blake wasn't entirely sure if he liked Jaune in _that_ way… although she might have thought about the boy in less-than-altruistic ways once or twice after she had seen him naked, or after he had saved her from a certain doom… or after he had wrapped her in his tenta-

' _Brain, that is not a place you want to go right now…'_ Blake hissed a warning to his own imagination. ' _What am I going to do? Pyrrha's here, and he wanted to introduce me to his family already…. and then… he wanted to spend the night with me… But why did he bring Pyrrha along?'_

She walked to the solitary reading table in the Arc family's small library and slumped down on one of the more cushy chairs around it, making sure to not step on Beryl's toes while doing so…

"...Eeeek!" a surprised yelp left her mouth as she noticed that the library was already occupied by the youngest of the surviving Arc sisters. "Um… hi?" Blake attempted to salvage the situation- she had met the small and somewhat quiet girl once before when Jaune had taken Blake to his home, but she was far from being in close terms with her.

"Hello." Beryl greeted back and resumed her reading, unfazed by the sudden appearance of the disguised faunus. "Did Jaune come home with you by any chance?"

"Y-yes." Blake confirmed before focusing her attention on the book the girl was reading. "Is that the collector's edition of Ninj…" her speech trailed off as she realized that she was going off-tangent. "You know what, nevermind."

Beryl lifted her eyebrow at the black-clad girl's panic. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes. I mean no." Blake breathed out in quick succession. "Maybe?"

"Well… I found that re-reading books I've already read through helps me relax." Beryl hummed quietly. "While pushing the problem to later date isn't good, distancing yourself from it can help you find new ways to approach it…"

"I… see." Blake sighed before letting the tenseness that had settled over her body disperse alongside the air from her lungs. "I'm just… conflicted."

"About what?" Beryl turned her eyes towards Blake. "Let me guess, is it about Jaune?"

"We- ye- maybe." Blake stopped herself mid-speech twice in a row. "How did you er, guess? Not that you were right or uh, wrong?"

"You were not this nervous before." the small girl pointed out. "Also, you're wearing a bow to cover your cat-ears… is that a fashion choice?"

Blake sighed as she reached for her bow and pulled it off to let her ears free. The smaller girl knew of them already so it was useless to keep it on any longer. Plus the bow made her second pair of ears feel itchy. "I just don't want to be recognized as a faunus…"

"Is it the discrimination thing?"

"Yes."

"You don't need to fear that in here." Beryl pointed it out. "I find them interesting, and to my knowledge none of us dislike faunus… and in the case of the twins, it may be actually the exact opposite of disliking."

"..." Blake didn't comment, although she felt a miniscule pang of some pleasant feeling arise around her stomach from the instant acceptance.

"I'm guessing that wasn't the only reason why you were feeling so… conflicted?"

"It's just that… I don't really know what to do." Blake admitted. "I'm at a crossroad, so to speak."

"Being at crossroad at least means you have somewhere to go, right?" Beryl noted. "Better than a dead end at any rate. What are the choices?"

"I… I guess I could go on one and I'd end up doing something I might not be ready for." Blake confessed and Beryl lifted her eyebrow knowingly but chose not to comment. "The other… I'm not sure what lies in there. Either everything works out well, or… I think I might lose something I'm not sure I want, but I know I'll miss if I do end up wanting it."

"Sounds complicated." Beryl sighed. "You're talking about dating with Jaune, right?"

"W- how did you know? I mean, no!" Blake corrected her. Or she hoped she did.

"Weren't you two an item the first time we met a week ago?" the smaller girl tilted her head. "I thought it was obvious?"

"No!" Blake tried to argue weakly. "Why does everyone keep assuming that… I was only together with him in the shower once… and slept in the same bed as him twice..."

"..." Beryl lifted her eyebrow.

"Okay maybe it sounds a bit uh… suggestive." Blake defended valiantly. "But we just started dating few days ago."

"You two took showers together and slept together before starting to date eachother." Beryl noted. "A curious approach to things."

"In my defence I had very little say in the matter."

"Did Jaune try to forcibly sleep with you?" the smaller girl's eyebrows shot up to her hairline and she lifted her book to cover her mouth.

"No!" Blake denied the allegation heatedly. "It's just… complicated. And we didn't do anything beside sleeping in the same bed."

"I see… I'm glad." Beryl sighed with clear relief in her tone. "For a moment I assumed the worst. While I don't believe big brother would do that, it's harrowing to hear nevertheless…"

"Hm." Blake let herself sink deeper into the soft, comfortable chair. She took a deep breath, enjoying the musky scent of old paper and books that lingered in the library.

"Enjoying yourself?"

"Yeah… I like the atmosphere of this library." Blake clarified before blinking. "I'm not usually this talkative… this place must be affecting my judgement."

"Hm." Beryl mimicked Blake's earlier noncommittal response. "Well, nevertheless, if you delay… whatever you were planning on doing, then as long as you let Jaune know why, it's most likely going to be oka-"

"It's not going to be okay." Blake rubbed one of her cat-ears. Damn bow... "I'm not the only one."

"Huh?"

"I know Ruby's going for him too… and Pyrrha's too…"

"Pyrrha?" Beryl tilted her head. "Pyrrha as in Pyrrha Nikos?"

"Yeah… she's here with me and Jaune." Blake sighed. "And… well. You get the idea."

"Tough competition."

"I know right?"

A knock on the door interrupted whatever reply Beryl might have had, and both of the girls turned towards the door just in time to see it open and Jaune appeared on the doorway.

"Hi," Jaune greeted. "Uh… Am I interrupting something?" he added as he saw Beryl and Blake sitting in front of the reading table.

"Not really" Beryl hummed. "Welcome home, brother…"

"Thanks." he smiled. "I was just wondering if Blake wanted to be introduced to Ember and Amber, my twin sisters."

"S-sure." Blake agreed somewhat quietly, before taking a deep breath. "Yes." she nodded more confidently. and Jaune smiled back at him.

.

..

…

"I didn't know you were a faunus, Blake." Pyrrha conversed quietly as Blake, Pyrrha and the Arc twins sat in the living room. Blake and Pyrrha were sitting on a couch while the twins had sat down on a big bean-bag chair together and the four of them had gathered around the living room's coffee table.

Jaune had introduced Blake to the twins who had greeted the cat faunus with enthusiasm- and to the black-clad girl's delight the twins hadn't seemed to mind her faunus nature just like how the youngest sister had described.

Beryl had descended from the library alongside her brother and Blake, and had had headed straight to the kitchen to prepare snacks for the group, and Jaune had gone to help her- giving the girls ample time to talk between themselves.

"I tried to keep it hidden from everyone. My faunus nature, I mean." Blake replied to Pyrrha. "There are people in Vale, and even in Beacon, who are less than friendly towards the faunus."

"You're talking about team CRDL and those that mimic their behaviour." Pyrrha realized.

"Yes, and at the start I was worried that should my true nature be revealed, my own team would shun me for it."

"Did…""...they?" The twins asked after they had finished rummaging through a small drawer that the coffee table had, and had offered the two huntresses-in-training a pair of filled glasses.

"No, they did not." Blake told them while she inspected the golden liquid inside her glass. "Jaune was nothing less than completely supportive of me… perhaps because it is his nature to be like that, or perhaps it was because he is in similar situation thanks to his ability… and I admit that our initial reaction to learning of his ability might have been less than supportive."

"What about the others?" Pyrrha asked before drinking from her glass, and coughing slightly as the fiery liquid hit her throat. " _Cough…_ Um… I'm sorry, but what is this?"

"Scotch." the twins echoed. "From dad's old storage…" "...And we figured that we'd offer it to you two since he was a Hunter as well." "So perhaps you'd like it?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I should be drinking yet." Pyrrha tried to find a way to politely refuse the drink. "Uh, I mean, technically all Hunters-in-training are legally adults from the day when they sign to attend the academy, but…"

"Dad used to like that brand…" "...But his stock hasn't been touched for a long while as we dont drink, and..." "...Dad died in Shion two years ago…" the twins echoed with downcast eyes. "...We thought that It'd be fitting for another Hunter to drink it in his honor."

"Um… I see." Pyrrha smiled weakly as she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. "Well, uh, for his honor then?" she said faintly before taking a wary look at her glass, and downing the rest of the liquid in one go.

"..." Blake narrowed her eyes at the redhead who had started to sprout a faint blush after she had finished coughing.

"The rest of my team accepted my nature as well, although we did have some… arguments." Blake sipped her own drink carefully and tried not to gag at the strong taste of the alcohol.

"Well… I think they're cute. The ears I mean." Pyrrha told her. "I've always liked cats."

"I'm not a cat!" Blake bristled. "I'm a faunus!"

"Um… sorry." Pyrrha blushed slightly more, and she took a new glass that the twins offered her way. "But… I don't think that being faunus is bad, although back in Mistral a lot of people were well… not very trusting towards faunus."

"Thanks, I guess." Blake sighed and put her empty glass on the table. ' _Hold on… when did I drink all of that?'_

She shook her head slightly and tried to ignore the heat that had started to radiate from her cheeks. ' _Nevermind… I'm sure it's not important.'_

"What are your plans…" "...Towards Jaune, by the way?" The twins echoed, and Blake paused for a moment to wonder just how the Arc sisters managed to consistently complete eachother's sentences so perfectly.

"I'm just… trying to get closer to him. Er, I meant friendlier with him." Pyrrha told them and Blake detected a miniscule slur in the girl's voice. "I met him before Beacon and… thanks." The red-head paused her speech to take her refilled glass that was offered to her by the twins. ' _Hold on, did she drink her old one already?'_ "But yeah. He's really nice. Most people just want to get to know me because I'm famous or because they want to get their hands on me… He treats me like if I'm a normal girl, and he seems like he really cares about people around him."

Pyrrha paused to sip her drink. "I mean, he has an odd ability but I don't think I really mind… he's in control of it, I think, and I know he wouldn't hurt me- even if it was pretty scary the first time I saw his tentacles…"

"His…" "...What now?"

"I mean the first time I saw his ability." Pyrrha corrected herself. "I was waiting in a locker room with a bottle of water reserved for him… and he just walks in, takes the bottle, thanks me and before I realize it, he's got his tentacles all over my thighs and my waist and…"

"Pyrrha." Blake reprimanded. ' _Am I slurring as well? Hold on, that can't be good... '_ "I'm sure he didn't do it because he harbored err… hidden feelings towards you. but I, on the other hand, was saved by him, intentionally, when I got captured by White Fang... he fought through the White Fang, and rescued me…"

"He rescued me from my crowd of fangirls and fanboys... twice!" Pyrrha protested.

"Uhm…" "...ehm."

"You just want him to wrap you in his tentacles again!" Blake accused, and Pyrrha sent an evil eye at her over her glass.

"Thanks" Blake added as the twins filled her glass as well. ' _Okay, maybe that wasn't exactly a perfect argument… hold on, wait, how many of these have I drank already? Three? Four?'_

"But... " …You two.." The twins echoed before finishing in synch. "...both like Jaune, right?"

"Yes!" Pyrrha and Blake agreed before sending a glare at eachother. The twins took the chance and put away the empty bottle of scotch and brought in a new one from the coffee table's drawer.

"Huh." The twins tilted their heads at the two huntresses-in-training. "And do you two…" "...Like eachother?"

"What?" "Excuse me?" Pyrrha and Blake shared the confusion caused by the twin's words.

"I... guess?" Pyrrha said after putting her glass on the table to make sure it wouldn't slip past her fingers as her eyes had started to lose focus. "I don't have anything against Blake specifically, I guess… And she has cute ears too…"

Blake felt a slight blush growing in her cheeks. ' _Oh come on, don't blush from just that… Sheesh, the alcohol must be affecting me more than I thought, this might be bad…'_

"Blake?"

"Well... " Blake sighed and hiccupped a little. "I haven't really inte... intrea… intereact... fine, _known_ Pyrrha long enough to really get to er, know her… but I guess I don't really hate her… specifically if she likes cats. I mean faunus." She sent a glare at the red-headed girl just to be on the safe side. "Cats are not faunus… I mean faunus are not cats! Or... something... I think."

"Yeah!" Pyrrha agreed eagerly and leaned back on the couch. "This is so comfy…"

"So why not…" "...Just share him?" the twins asked while Blake tried to get her thoughts in order.

"Huh?" Pyrrha blinked. "Share?"

"What?" Blake reared back as if slapped. "No way. Nuh uh."

The twins latched onto eachother's hands and pressed their chests together. "But it's so much more fun!" they declared at the somewhat shocked pair of huntresses-in-training.

"Wha…" Blake tried to comprehend what the twins were implying but her thoughts were somehow slow and sluggish. "Are you saying you two are err... 'together'? But you're sisters!"

"No! We mean…" "...That we have the same boyfriend!" the twins huffed.

"But… but…" Pyrrha tried to come to Blake's defence. "That's inappropriate!"

"Who cares…"Amber started, and Ember finished "...about that?" before they echoed in unison "Not us!"

"A-are you saying that we should... " Blake tried to formulate a coherent thought. She really did. "That Jaune, Pyrrha and I should uh… get together?" ' _Just… What are those girls thinking!'_

"Maybe?" Ember pressed her finger on her lips as if in deep thought.

"That way you won't have to fight..." "...Over him…" "...and everyone gets to be happy!"

"But…" Blake's protest was halted as the kitchen's door opened and Jaune walked to the room with a tray full of snacks and fruits, and Beryl followed after him with few bottles of soft drinks and juices.

"Sorry that it took a while to prepare these." Jaune said while placing the tray on the coffee table, and Blake blinked as she noticed that the bottle of scotch and their glasses had mysteriously disappeared from the table.

…

' _Odd… What happened to you two?'_ Jaune wondered as he sat down between Blake and Pyrrha, and reached to grab few bits of jerky from the snack tray. Pyrrha was leaning heavily on the couch with a blush on her cheeks, and was pulling the collar of her sweater almost as if the girl was feeling extremely hot for some reason. Blake had a similar blush on her cheeks and she seemed to sway slightly on her seat, and her golden-amber eyes were slightly hazy. Neither of the girls radiated strong negative emotions that would imply distress though, and all he managed to pick up was traces of confusion and… nervousness? Indecision? '... _And the emotions are somehow… I don't know, muffled? No, distorted… There's also scent of alcohol in the air…'_

"Amber? Did you by any chance…" Jaune started, and gave a wary sigh as the girl in question flashed an empty bottle of scotch under the coffee table before putting it back. ' _Oh boy… I hope that bottle wasn't full a few minutes ago…'_

He thanked Beryl as she poured soft drinks for everyone and the twins picked a TV channel to watch, and he focused his attention on the television for a while.

" _On the latest news: The crime spree of Roman Torchwick is continuing. Vale Police has made multiple pre-emptive strikes against the criminals and the denizens of Vale's underground movements, but Police warns that the criminal mastermind is still on the loose."_ The news anchor displayed a video of police officers manhandling someone in black and red dress. " _Civilians are advised to not frequent near Dust stores and suppliers as all of the robberies so far have been directed at Dust trade specifically- Curiously Lien and other valuables have been left alone."_

"Wasn't that guy the one you fought when you managed to get back to Vale?" Beryl asked quietly and Jaune nodded.

"Yeah…He almost killed Ruby." he told her, and winced as his bloodlust spiked to combat levels as the thought of Ruby getting hurt by the criminal's hand passed by his head. ' _Sheesh… Instincts, down, shut it in… Ruby's safe, she's in Beacon…'_

"How did you two have a run-in with mister Torchwick earlier?" Pyrrha asked after Jaune got his thoughts under control, and Jaune lifted his eyebrow at the small slur the redhead had in her speech. It was curious as Jaune could have sworn that drinking a bit had caused the girl to become far more bold than how she usually was.

"Yeah, It was when I returned to civilization and I ran to a crime scene…" he told the story of his return to Vale and his meeting of Ruby to Pyrrha while Blake watched the television, deep in thought.

Time passed as the small group ate snacks and drank the drinks while watching television.

"It's getting pretty late, even if it's friday." he noted as he looked at a old mechanical clock on the wall which showed that it was well past midnight already. "Should start to think about settling down for the night?"

"Um… perhaps." Pyrrha said while adjusting her black skirt and pulling her thigh-high socks up nervously. If Jaune didn't know better, he could have sworn that the girl was trying to avoid looking into his eyes as she fidgeted in her seat- Not that Blake was any better as the girl seemed to be somewhat distant, and her swaying had only intensified as the night had gone on. ' _Just how much did the twins make you two drink?'_

"We'll go…" "...And prepare the beds…" "...for the night!" the twins echoed playfully before practically sprinting off upstairs, and Jaune could only shake his head in amazement for the enthusiasm that the twins exhibited even so late at night.

"I'll help you clean up." Beryl offered and Jaune nodded as he picked up the tray.

' _Huh, I wonder if the twins are having trouble preparing the beds for Blake and Pyrrha…'_ he thought idly as he heard screeching and thumping from upstairs, almost as if something heavy was being moved around…

.

..

…

"W-watch out!" Blake held onto Jaune's arm tightly as the trio walked upstairs- or more accurately stumbled upstairs as it seemed that both Blake's and Pyrrha's sense of balance had degraded over the hour or so they had spent watching TV to the point where they had to cling onto Jaune in order to stay upright.

"Sheesh, Why'd you have to drink what the twins offered?" Jaune grumbled aloud as he stopped Pyrrha from stumbling onto the wall by tying his arm around her waist and helping her walk towards the guest rooms. He tried his best not to notice how Pyrrha's hips occasionally brushed against his as he guided her movement, or how Blake had hugged his arm against her chest as she clung to him so she wouldn't fall over.

"This place is so hot…" Pyrrha complained as she leaned against him, and he had to focus on keeping his balance as Blake tugged him towards her at the same time.

"Let's see, the guest rooms… huh?" Jaune looked at a small slip of paper that was taped to the door of the guest room. "'Out of service'? What does that mean?"

"It means…""...that the guest room is under…" "Renovations!" Amber and Ember burst out of Jaune's bedroom. "Fear not! We found…" "...Alternative accommodations!" they echoed together to Jaune and winked to Blake and Pyrrha in unison, causing both of the girls to blush bright red for some reason that Jaune missed completely.

"Okay." he tried to get on top of the situation. "Where are Blake and Pyrrha going to sleep if the guest room is…" he stopped as the twins pointed at his bedroom in unison. "Oh."

"Blake told us that…" "...you are used to sleeping..." "...in the same room." Amber and Ember echoed happily- although Jaune didn't quite trust the overly innocent smiles the twins had on their faces. It usually meant that they had something mischievous planned, and it usually ended with him both embarrassed and in trouble. He shook himself out of his thoughts ' _That was a long time ago… It feels like it was another life entirely, and this isn't the time to get melancholic…'_

"Right…" Jaune sighed. "Well, Thanks for preparing the beds... Goodnight you two." he bid the twins farewells and the twins said the same before disappearing to their own bedroom- which they shared, to no-one's surprise.

"Um…" Blake froze slightly as she stared at Jaune's bedroom door as if it could come alive and eat her at the slightest provocation. "I-is this a good idea?"

"Is it cool in there?" Pyrrha asked before pushing the door open and stepping into the room (Jaune made sure to steer her so she wouldn't walk straight to the doorframe), and she let out a pleased sigh as cool midnight air hit her. Jaune looked into the room and saw that the twins had opened the room's window to let some air in- before his attention was taken by the arrangement of beds in the room. Or more specifically that there was only one bed, and it was made out of a expandable couch that usually fit two people.

' _Hold on, where's my bed?'_ Jaune thought as he scanned the room. ' _I had a regular bed in here last time… did someone… hold on. Did the twins move the beds around?'_

He sighed as he realized the prank the twins had pulled on him. "Right, I can sleep on the floor so you two can sle-"

His speech came to a halt as Pyrrha grabbed his hand and pulled him to the bed.

"It's so soft!" she giggled as she lied on her back in the bed after pulling Jaune beside her. "And it's so cool…"

"Yeafh." Jaune acknowledged with a face full of bedcloth as Pyrrha had pulled him halfway onto the bed, leaving his legs dangling over the edge of the bed from knee down. His attempt to get up failed miserably as he felt a weight landing on his back, and he knew without looking who it was.

"No, don't do it!" Blake cried out her warning while tying her arms around his chest from behind. "She's trying to seduce you!"

"Uh…" ' _What?'_

"Am not!" Pyrrha protested while grabbing Jaune's arm and pulling him deeper into the bed- which was a small feat of strength by itself since, while he wasn't in his combat-mass, he still weighed easily more than both of the girls combined.

"You are trying to claim him! Stop it!" Blake countered Pyrrha while pulling Jaune back towards her, and Jaune detected a noticeable slur in the black-haired girl's words. Before he managed to say anything or do anything other than lift himself to a sitting position, Blake had tied her legs around his waist and pressed her body against his back. "He's mine!"

' _I'm who's now?'_

"No, mine!" Pyrrha countered and lifted herself up from the bed to hazily crawl in front of Jaune, and she pressed herself against his chest after tying her arms around his back and sitting down on his lap. "I won't give up. I can't give up, Nora told me not to!"

' _What does Nora have to do with all this?'_ Jaune thought as the girls practically glued themselves onto him. "Um… Blake? Pyrrha? What are you two doing-"

"Shush." Pyrrha interrupted him by pressing her finger against his lips and gulping loudly. "I'm sorry, but... um… I think I- I may like you." and before he managed to reply anything to that, Pyrrha leaned closer and pressed her lips against his.

' _W-what?'_

"No!" Blake shrieked before yanking the two apart, and she grabbed his jaw to turn his head to the side- towards the black-haired cat faunus behind him. He briefly saw as Blake's hazy amber eyes flashed before she leaned over him to kiss him, yet unlike Pyrrha's polite kiss, Blake pushed herself against him fully and even began caressing his chest with her free hand.

"Pwhah… Stop giving her attention!" Blake complained as she pulled off the kiss to breathe. "You're supposed to be my… H-hey! Hands off!"

As soon as Blake had pulled back, Pyrrha had leaned forwards and had claimed Jaune's lips again. She had moved one of her hands to grasp Jaune's hair while her other hand had started to roam down his side and towards his...

"I said stop!" Blake slid herself between Pyrrha and Jaune, and pushed him down on the bed before climbing on top of him.

"Blaakee, I don't wanna fight…" Pyrrha complained as she pushed past Blake to trail kisses down his neck and collarbone while Blake claimed his lips once again, and Pyrrha tied her legs around his. "This is more fun…"

Jaune was speechless. The attention that was directed at him completely locked up his ability to think, even to the point that he could barely respond to the soft pair of lips pressed against his- and it seemed that Blake noticed it as well.

"J-Jaune?" she asked uncertainty after pulling back ever so slightly, enough to allow her to talk but not so much that Pyrrha could interrupt her by claiming his lips again. "W-why aren't you... Doing anything?"

"..." He barely managed to blink in confusion before he saw the pair of amber eyes starting to moisten.

"A-am I not good enough? I- Is it because I'm a faunus?" Blake stammered.

"B-Blake?" ' _Why are you doing this?'_ he wanted to add, but his words didn't quite manage to form themselves in his mouth, and he saw as Pyrrha pulled back to sitting position so she could take a look at the shaking and nearly crying faunus girl.

"I- I'm sorry... This was a mistake." Blake mumbled as a single tear fell down her cheek, and Jaune felt an eerie sense of déjà vu as he saw the girl starting to pull away from him. "I- I'll go away… I'm sorry. I won't bother you ever again."

' _She's going to run away again… and somehow I get a feeling that she's not going to come back this time…'_ Jaune realized. ' _It's got to be the alcohol talking… but I can't just leave her like that…'_

He stopped her from escaping by reaching to tie his arm around her back, and he drew her closer, intending on just hugging her close and telling her that it was going to be okay… yet before he realized it, his lips had found hers. He felt as Blake's body stopped shaking and she melted into the kiss.

"T… Thank you." Blake whispered as he pulled back slightly to let her take breath. "I… I thought that… you didn't like me..."

"Hey, me too!" Pyrrha complained and Jaune looked to the side to see the redhead pouting cutely, having pulled her sweater up so the collar of it hid her mouth and Jaune saw raw emotion in her hazy emerald eyes as she sat on the bed with her legs drawn under her. "Don't spoil just her!"

' _Okay, at this point I'm officially beyond caring...'_ Jaune thought as he felt his hormones assuming direct control and he reached to kiss Pyrrha as well, and he trailed his kisses down from her mouth to her cheek, to her jawline, and down her neck to her collarbone. Each kiss elicited a small gasp from the girl until he reached the nape of her neck and heard a far stronger moan escape Pyrrha's lips in response.

"No, it's my turn!" Blake grabbed his hand and led it to her hips before leaning closer, and Jaune gave her a soft kiss… and felt as Pyrrha pushed past him to kiss Blake's neck, and trail upwards until she had Blake's cat-ear between her lips.

"Ah- ah! N-no, S-sthop! They're too sensitive!" Blake slurred as her eyes grew half-lidded from the touch, and she gave a soft moan as Pyrrha continued to kiss and play with Blake's cat-ears. Jaune took the chance and slid her hand down to Blake's thigh and attacked Blake's neck and throat with kisses until the girl could barely respond to all the caress. "..It feels… too good…"

"I'm glad…" Pyrrha murmured as slid her hand under Blake's shirt and Jaune pulled away from the faunus to kiss Pyrrha while holding her close to him.

"It feels so good… like the twins said…" Pyrrha mumbled to the kiss.

' _Twins?'_ Jaune wondered, until it hit him ' _Amber and Ember… figures that they'd be behind this…'_

His thoughts about his sister's plan came to an end as one of Blake's hands disappeared under his shirt, and other disappeared below Pyrrha's skirt while the two girls shared a quick kiss that deepened quickly as both of them seemed to get more into it the more they did it.

"...Haah... Ah!" Pyrrha breathed out past Blake's lips as Blake's hand caressed the redhead's inner thigh, and she moaned slightly as Jaune added his own touch to Blake's, marvelling the softness of the girl's flesh and the contrast in feeling between the girl's thigh-high sock and her skin- and it seemed that Pyrrha didn't mind as she pushed herself against the touch and broke off from her kiss with Blake to guide Jaune's hand deeper under her skirt.

"Yeah, this is nice…" Pyrrha mumbled with half-lidded eyes as Jaune caressed her and Blake took the chance to share a deep kiss with Jaune. A sharp gasp exited Pyrrha's mouth after Jaune placed a kiss between her breasts, and Blake used the chance to attack Pyrrha's neck and lips. His and Blake's ministrations were soon rewarded with a small shudder going down Pyrrha's spine and a soft moan escaping the girl's lips before she slumped down on the bed with her eyes closed and a happy, almost victorious expression on her face.

' _Did… did Pyrrha just pass out?'_ Jaune wondered briefly before he was forced to redirect his attention to Blake who took the chance to climb on top of him and cup his face on her hands so she could start kissing him with ever increasing passion and fervor. He responded in kind while caressing her back, and letting his hands trail down to her shapely butt and thighs. She responded to the touch by starting to grind her body against his, which almost caused all of his remaining self-restraint to fly out of the window...

"I like you." Blake mumbled happily after she pulled off the kiss to take breath, and started to rub her cheek against his, before pulling back from his body so she could curl up into his hug. She let a soft purr as sleep took her as well.

'... _Wait, What just happened? Is it over?'_ Jaune blinked, confused, as the alcohol finally took their toll on both of the girls and left him with a pair of unconscious huntresses-in-training breathing softly against his body and a severely unfulfilled need in his pants. ' _Come to think of it, we're all still in our outdoor clothes… Dammit, that's the least of my concerns right now… What is going to happen to us after this?'_

He pulled the blanket over Blake and Pyrrha, trying his best to ignore how seductive the redhead looked as her skirt had slid up slightly to reveal more of her thighs and how the girl had unconsciously clung so close to his leg that she was basically dry-humping it. ' _Sheesh… The twins planned this from the start… If this backfires, it's not going to be pretty… and they most likely just wanted to help us get closer.'_

' _I still haven't decided what to do about my feelings towards Weiss…'_ Jaune sighed as he thought about his whole situation. ' _I may have been too hasty. Should I have refused Blake and Pyrrha? Perhaps, but… I let my instincts get better of me. Again.'_

He sighed once more before letting his head fall down on the pillow and looking out of the window at the broken white moon above Remnant.

' _What's done is done.'_

 **Next chapter- 27-28.1**

 **A bit touchy feely chapter. Next one will have more action and plot developement.**


	23. Decisions and Dust

"Nnnnhh…." Blake whined as she woke up to a pounding headache. "Ow…"

Her tongue felt too large and too rough in her mouth, and she could have sworn that she had eaten sand as he throat was parched and sore, which did _not_ help her headache.

She squirmed uncomfortably as the heat that radiated from her bed made her sweat, and somehow her cat-ears felt far more sensitive to sound than usual.

' _Wh… what happened last night?'_ she thought groggily as she tried to lift herself up and look around, but failed as her hand landed on something soft and squishy that let a groan from her touch. Blake looked down to see that her hand had landed on a odd, cream-white and somehow soft object, and she squeezed it again out of pure curiosity.

She blinked few times in attempt to clear the hazy mist that made everything blurry, and focused her attention on… Pyrrha?

Why was Pyrrha sleeping in her bed?

A split second later she realized what the odd soft object had been, and that that she was currently groping the unconscious champion's breasts- although luckily the girl was wearing her soft cream-white sweater that Blake remembered having picked for her.

The memory of her teaching the red-haired girl in the art of stealth triggered an avalanche of memories from previous night, and Blake felt her cheeks go from somewhat pale to bright red. She pulled her hand off Pyrrha's breasts slowly and carefully, trying her best to not wake the champion up.

Blake looked around the room and saw sunlight shining into the bedroom through an open window, and she suppressed her desire to hiss at the strong light that hurt her eyes.

' _Wait, this is Jaune's bedroom in Arc family's home, right? Where is he?'_ she thought through the headache as she scanned the room, yet found no trace of Jaune anywhere within her immediate line of sight. The room was fairly empty with just a small bookshelf, a study desk and pair of tall dressers- and the room was clean enough to suggest that it didn't see much use, yet had been maintained and cleaned regularly- likely a result of his sisters cleaning the room when Jaune had been in Beacon.

Blake sighed as she wanted to just grab the blanket that covered Pyrrha and just go hide under it, partially because of the embarrassment brought forth by the memory she had of yesterday's events and partly from the headache that kept pounding her head like a hundred tiny hammers against an anvil that was her forehead. However, the luxury of rest was denied her as she heard Pyrrha starting to wake up.

"My head…" Pyrrha complained as she lifted her hand to rub her temple. "...Where am I?"

She blinked few times before her eyes focused on Blake's. "Why are you in my bed?"

"Um…" Blake started. "Well…"

Pyrrha blinked few times more and she lifted her free hand to rub her breasts through her sweater. "Why does my chest feel… odd?"

"I can explain?"

It seemed that Blake didn't have to explain her accidental groping as Pyrrha's attention was drawn away from her breasts and into more immediate matters- or more specifically to the room the pair was in. "Where are we?"

"This is Jaune's room, I think." Blake tried to explain the situation through her headache with hoarse voice. "Do you remember what happened last night?"

"What happened…" Pyrrha tried to ask slowly, but stopped midway through her question. Blake watched as the champion's pale face turned as red as her hair, and the girl turned around and buried her face in Jaune's pillow. "Oh gods…"

"Yeah." Blake confirmed her statement, and she slumped down beside the red-haired girl so she could bury her face in the bedsheets since the sunlight had started to _really_ get on her nerves. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know." Pyrrha mumbled to the pillow. "This is so embarrassing, I can't believe I did that…"

"Yeah…" Blake murmured to the sheets. She felt an object pressing against her hip as she lied down, and she reached to pull her Scroll from her pocket. "Was it your first time doing… um, that?"

' _It's 3pm…'_ Blake felt too tired to care that she had overslept as she tossed her Scroll out of the bed and she heard a thunk as it landed on the room's solitary desk.

"Um… yes." Pyrrha confirmed with a weak voice.

"Mine too." Blake sighed.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha turned around to face the disguised faunus who lifted her head slightly from the bedsheet. "I don't know what came over me."

"It was the alcohol." Blake tried to hiss. Her hiss came out more like a cough, and she paused slightly to let her throat recover. "The twins… They are more dangerous than they look. They planned this from the start..."

"…I can see it now." Pyrrha sighed warily. "What does this mean for us? I mean all three of us?"

Blake dodged the question by turning over on the bed while she kept her eyes closed. Damn sunlight… ' _I could try to get up and close the curtains but… I'd have to get up…'_

She could have sworn that the mere thought caused her headache to worsen.

"I… We..." Pyrrha's tone became more and more uncertain as she tried to get words out of her equally parched throat. "Um… Does this mean that all three of us are um… together-together?"

"No." Blake snapped as she rubbed her eyes. "I don't know." she amended as Pyrrha flinched from her harsh tone. "I… I just can't think right now."

"I know what you mean." Pyrrha muttered to the pillow. "My head is killing me."

Silence descended between the two as the girls tried to struggle through their hangovers, to not much success.

A door creaking open broke Blake off from her attempt to try to force the headache away by thinking about it very hard, and she opened her eyes slightly to see Jaune stepping into the bedroom with a tray in hand that had…

"Water." she croaked out with a hoarse voice. "Give." she added just to make sure that her command got through his thick skull.

"Sure." Jaune said as he placed the tray containing a water can, few glasses, three plates and few bowls on his desk and filled a glass with water.

Pyrrha didn't turn to see the teenager but froze still as she heard Jaune's voice, and froze even further as Blake reached over her to grab the offered glass.

"Do you want some as well, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, and Pyrrha nodded against the pillow. "Also, if you two have a headache I brought aspirin for it."

He only barely managed to finish his sentence before Blake had already thrust her hand towards him, and he placed few pills on it obediently.

' _Good boy…'_ Blake thought as she drank the water and swallowed the pills. She knew that it would take a while for the aspirin to work and ease her headache, but she could live with that as long as…

"Jaune, can you pull the curtains? The sunlight is too strong…" she sighed and let herself slump back on the bed as Jaune closed the curtains, giving her aching eyes some much-needed rest.

"Um… Thank you." Pyrrha muttered weakly as she took the water and aspirin that Jaune had offered her. Blake glanced to the side and saw that the red-haired champion was just about to suffer a nervous breakdown if her eyes were anything to go by.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah, sorry." Pyrrha apologized automatically. "I was just wondering… Do you happen to um… Remember what happened yesterday?"

"Yes." Jaune confirmed, and Blake saw as the shapeshifter blushed from head to toe. "But I think we should talk about that _after_ we've filled ourselves…" he gestured towards the plates and bowls he had brought with him, before picking one of the plates up and offering it to Blake.

She took it after climbing very, very carefully back to sitting position. ' _Huh… Sausages, beans, waffles and jam? I can live with that...'_

…

' _Sheesh… what to do, what to do…'_ Jaune thought as he fiddled with his porridge as he sat in a chair while the two girls ate their foods in his bed. Pyrrha was pointedly looking at anywhere that wasn't him, and Blake was eating her food quietly. He could feel the waves of annoyance, hunger and pain that radiated from the girls, likely as a result of their headaches caused by the hangover from yesterday's drinking.

' _Well… at least my control over the Shadow is improving…'_ he thought with an internal sigh. ' _Last month I was barely able to stay around other people without triggering the urge to devour them… I should be able to start working on more complex forms next if the progress keeps up.'_

Jaune had learned from his earlier losses of control, and was taking very careful steps when it came to furthering his understanding of his ability- Training with other students in the combat ring had helped him hone his close combat abilities, but more importantly it had helped him understand the thought processes and tactics that hunters used. ' _Come to think of it… I'm not training to hunt the Grimm, but to hunt a Hunter… Ironic.'_

A clink of utensils against plate drew him back from his thoughts, and he looked up from his empty plate to see the girls putting their empty plates away. Jaune concentrated his attention on the emotions once again, and noticed that the feelings of hunger had practically disappeared and the pain and annoyance had been reduced greatly… and embarrassment, anxiety and to a degree, fear had taken their place. '... _And I slipped off to thoughts about future when I should have thought about what's in front of me…'_

' _Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I suppose… are least they aren't hungry anymore.'_ Jaune thought as he put his empty bowl away. "So…"

"Well…" Pyrrha started at the same time, and the two paused to wait for either to continue.

Blake sighed in frustration and rubbed her temple before she spoke over both of them. "So, what was… that thing that happened last night all about?"

"I… I think I should be the one asking that." Jaune felt his face starting to radiate heat again. "It just... "

"I'm so sorry." Pyrrha apologized, her eyes downcast and hair somewhat disheveled from sleeping with her hair tied. She fiddled with the hem of her black skirt as she tried her hardest to not look at him. "I… I drank too much, and it affected me more than I thought."

"It's alright." Jaune sighed. "I'll have to have a word or two with the twins about proper etiquette with guests."

"But…" Pyrrha continued. "What I said… Um... " she took a deep breath, but it seemed that her nerves failed her and she fell quiet before she could complete her sentence.

"Jaune." Blake picked up where Pyrrha left off. "Just what do you think about us? About what happened yesterday?"

' _I… I don't know.'_ Jaune thought. ' _My… other, more primal side calls for Weiss… but… I can't just leave Blake and Pyrrha hanging, can I?'_

"I don't know what to think." He breathed out as Blake's patience started to wane. "This whole situation came so quickly, and I think none of us was ready for what happened yesterday."

"Yeah… I think we just got caught in the moment." Blake murmured and reached to rub her temple. "But we can't just ignore what happened."

"Speaking of which, just _what_ came over you?" Jaune asked. "I didn't know you and Pyrrha were close enough to do um… all that."

"We aren't." Blake said. "The twins… they had a few outrageous ideas and I guess we got a bit too into them because we uh… drank too much."

"Yeah… Pyrrha said something about that last night." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, and Pyrrha blushed bright red.

"It's just that… the twins suggested that all three of us should um… well…" Pyrrha stammered. "Well, that all three of us should get together."

"Together?"

"Erm, as l-lovers, I think." Pyrrha said while blushing as red as her har. "They… um… said that it had worked well for them and t-that we should try it."

"..." Jaune was speechless as he stared at the redhead who had started to fidget even more. "A-and what do you think about it, Blake?"

"Wha- Don't tell me you're seriously considering it, Jaune!" Blake hissed at him. "No!"

"Um…" Jaune tried to voice his opinion.

"I don't like it either." Pyrrha said, ignoring Blake's outburst. "But… the alternative leaves us with one with only one option."

"He's already mine." Blake glared at Pyrrha. "There's no competition."

"Um... Girls?" Jaune tried to get into the conversation, but was promptly ignored.

"I'd like for him to tell me that, If that's the case." Pyrrha told the black-haired faunus, and Jaune could have sworn that he saw something dangerous flash in the redhead's eyes as she spoke.

"Um…"

"He proposed to me earlier this week." Blake told her, before reaching to rub her head again. It seemed that arguing didn't help her hangover- and Blake had noticed the shift in Pyrrha's mood as her response wasn't as sharp as it had been before.

"I did?" Jaune asked Blake. ' _Hold on, what? I proposed to her? Did I lose control of myself to Shadow without realizing it… and it ran around telling girls that I loved them?'_

He wasn't sure he could take it if his head-companion was becoming perverted as well as being insane and feral.

"Yes, you did." Blake hissed at Jaune quietly. "Don't you remember? You asked me out!"

"...Ah." Pyrrha's voice became slightly less certain and she gripped the hem of her skirt with enough force to nearly tear the fabric. "...Jaune? Is she telling the truth? Please?"

"Um… I did ask Blake out." Jaune said before turning towards Blake. "But… I thought we went out as friends, just like how Ruby and I went out?"

"I…" Blake started, but closed her mouth as his words hit her. She went through a myriad of expressions as she processed the words, and Jaune got increasingly worried as the girl's emotional state fluctuated.

"I'm sorry." she finally got out and she rose up from the bed shakily. "I… I need some air. Excuse me."

"Blake…" Jaune rose up from his seat and grabbed the girl's hand before she could stumble out of the room. "Stop. This won't get resolved if we escape it. I want to get to the bottom of this."

"Don't touch me!" Blake hissed and slapped his hand away. "I just… Gah, I just can't believe how, how… thick-headed you are!"

"Blake?"

"I like you, you idiot!" Blake's voice shook a bit before it broke entirely. "But… but it seems that my feelings were one-sided. I thought that when you asked me out we would be together, that you felt something for me… I feel stupid, so stupid that I fell for it, and…. and all the time, you were just… just..."

Pyrrha watched quietly as Blake glared at Jaune with tears in the corners of her eyes. "Jaune?" the red-headed champion muttered quietly. "What about last night? You didn't exactly um, refuse my… our… advances?"

"I just lost control of myself." Jaune confessed. "There's a bit more to it but… you two were so beautiful, and..."

"Jaune, stop humoring her and answer me!" Blake cut him off mid-sentence, and he noticed that her cat-ears had slumped down against her head. "Am I really nothing to you?"

"Blake, it's not that." Jaune told her before grabbing hold of her hands. She tried to pull back from the touch but he held onto her nevertheless. "I care about you, but I don't know… I haven't had a chance to figure out just how deep it goes. It's just that it's the first time I've had anyone feeling that way towards me, so I wasn't sure if… it that…" His words trailed off as a thought popped in his head. ' _Hold on, those feelings… didn't Ruby direct those kinds of emotions towards me last weekend, during our visit to Vale? Could it be that...'_

"And?" Blake asked while still glaring at him, but she didn't try to pull her hands away from his anymore.

Jaune shook his head to get back from the sidetrack he had slipped into. ' _I can think about that later, focus on what's right in front of you, Jaune…'_

"It's just that I thought you liked me as a friend. The thought that either of you would like me as something more than that never occurred to me." Jaune said, addressing his words to both Blake and Pyrrha. "Plus, I've never been good at reading social cues… and that was before my two-year insanity rollercoaster in the wilderness, when Shion was raided and I was forced to go through Mistral's mountains during winter and cross the sea into Vale..."

"...And it shows." Blake muttered darkly to no-one in particular as Jaune's speech went further and further off-tangent.

"Um…" Pyrrha seemed to be somewhat overwhelmed by the whole situation, but tried to push forwards nonetheless. "But, now that you know how I… er, how Blake and I feel towards you, what are we going to do about this? About us?"

"I don't know." Blake repeated Jaune's earlier words, pulled her hands off his and turned her back towards him. "This isn't something I'm familiar with."

"Neither am I." Jaune closed his eyes briefly as he tried to get his thoughts straight.

"This is my fault." Pyrrha sighed. "I shouldn't have approached you so strongly… but I lost control of myself to the alcohol. I'm sorry."

"What do you think we should do now?" Jaune asked. "I want to hear your opinions as well."

"I think…" Pyrrha seemed conflicted as she thought about her answer. "...Could we perhaps you know, try it?"

"Try what?"

"D-dating? For real this time?" Pyrrha asked and her cheeks flared red as words exited her mouth. She looked down to the carpeted floor while rubbing her shoulder to avoid looking into his eyes. "What I said yesterday, I meant that as well. I like you."

"Ah… um…" Jaune attempted to formulate words while trying his hardest to ignore how his own cheeks had flared as red as Pyrrha's.

"You know how I feel towards you… you know what we've gone through, together." Blake turned around to face him again. He looked into her eyes and saw frustration, anger, hurt, and beneath them... fear. "...Even after that, are you going to choose her over me?"

"I…"

"Don't you dare say that 'you don't know'." Blake sent a glare towards him. "You need take responsibility for what you did to us last night."

' _Um… It was you and Pyrrha who came onto me though…'_ Jaune felt sweat dripping down his neck as he thought about the situation. ' _What to do, what to do... I don't want to hurt either of them, but… If I chose to go out with one, I end up upsetting the other.'_

It seemed that Blake sensed his hesitation and she grabbed his hand. "For what it's worth, now that I know what happened… I… I'm still willing to still go out with you. If you still want me."

Jaune felt the fear of rejection that Blake radiated and he opened his mouth to answer her, but was interrupted as Pyrrha grabbed his free hand.

"Please." Pyrrha said while looking into his eyes. He saw a similar fear in her eyes, mixed with some emotion that he couldn't quite figure out, yet it terrified him nevertheless. "Would you like to go out with me?"

"I…" Jaune tried to croak out as his mouth had somehow gotten really dry. '… _What about my feelings towards Weiss?'_ he swallowed as Blake's grip became slightly desperate, and the shadow that had fallen over Pyrrha's face deepened as he hesitated. ' _Blake's right, I went over the line yesterday. I could have pushed them away, yet I chose to embrace them… I need to take responsibility for my actions.'_

He thought briefly about his time with the disguised cat faunus, and how close he'd gotten to her in such short period of time, and sighed as he realized that his decision had been made far before he had even needed to think about it.

"Yeah. I'd like to go out with you, Blake. And not just as friends this time." Jaune told Blake, and saw as the girl's posture relaxed in response. Yet he couldn't afford such luxury as he steeled himself for what he needed to say next.

"Pyrrha…" he turned towards the other girl, and flinched slightly as he felt the jumble of emotions that the the red-headed girl radiated… and none of the emotions she felt were positive ones.

"W-we can still go out, right?" Pyrrha asked with a somewhat shaky tone, and Jaune felt her grip on his hand tightening. "The twins, they said… they suggested, that we'd get together, all three of us? Please?"

"Pyrrha, it's not that I don't think that you're a awesome person, but... "

"No, no, no…" Pyrrha slapped her hand on his mouth before he could finish speaking. "Don't finish that sentence, please… Please don't..."

"He's made his decision." Blake told Pyrrha after grabbing hold of red-headed girl's hand and pulling it away from Jaune's mouth.

"...Jaune?" Pyrrha looked at him, and she had a desperate, caged look in eyes. "Please, you, me, Blake? I can adjust, I don't mind if Blake is with you, just… just… don't leave me alone."

"I won't leave you alone." Jaune promised, and regretted his words immediately afterwards as Pyrrha's face lit up with joy, yet he knew that he had to keep speaking. "I will stay as your friend even if this won't work, if you let me, but… for all of us to be together, we all need to agree to it, so the decision is only partially mine. Blake?"

"..." Pyrrha turned towards her slowly. "Blake? Can we... "

"No." Blake's answer was simple although her tone was quiet and Jaune could tell even without his Semblance that Blake felt bad for Pyrrha even as she spoke. "Despite what happened yesterday, I barely know you. You barely know me, and what the twins implied… it can only work if the people involved know each other, and trust each other immensely, and intimately..."

"…" Pyrrha's grip on Jaune's hand tightened even more to the point where he couldn't even feel his fingers anymore. "...Is there no way?"

"I'm sorry." Blake said to the red-headed girl who had started to shake slightly. "I just… I don't see it happening between us. Yesterday… neither of us were in control of ourselves."

"Can't we try it at least?" Jaune asked Blake as he sensed the avalanche of negative emotions Pyrrha radiated, and got a betrayed look from Blake in response. "I mean, that way if it doesn't work between the tree of us. then we've at least tried, right?"

"Please?" Pyrrha grabbed Blake's hand. "W-we can get to know each other, if we have time. We don't have to rush the um… more intimate parts if you aren't ready, I can wait. Just…"

' _...Just don't leave me alone…'_ the end of Pyrrha's speech wasn't audible, but clearly visible in her expression as she turned to look at Jaune.

"Just… Are you really okay with this?" Blake turned to Jaune. "This is insanity. It can't work. It won't work, and we all will just suffer for it."

"I don't want any of us to be left alone." Jaune told her while holding her hand. "If this means all of us have a chance to be happy, I'm willing to give it a go even if there's a very real chance that it won't work out. If it starts to look like nothing comes from it, if this arrangement doesn't work… well, we can figure out what we'll do if that happens, when that happens. We can take it slow and easy like Pyrrha said, so we'll have time to react if something happens."

"Just… fine." Blake conceded and sat back down on the bed and continued rubbing her head. "Fine, I give up. Just… no more alcohol. I don't want to repeat what happened yesterday."

"I'm okay with that. Pyrrha?"

"T… T-thank you." Pyrrha told both of them with a shaky voice before reaching to hug Jaune. He saw as Blake froze slightly as she looked at them, until Pyrrha pulled away and walked to Blake and hugged her as well.

"Thank you for giving me a chance." Pyrrha told the faunus, and Jaune saw as Blake's eyes widened slightly from the physical contact. She seemed hesitant for a while before hugging Pyrrha back, albeit somewhat awkwardly.

' _Well… It's a start.'_ Jaune sighed. ' _I just hope that this works out.'_

.

..

…

It took more than a hour for Blake and Pyrrha to shake off the remaining effects of their hangovers while Jaune ferried water and light food to his room as neither of the girls wanted to go downstairs while suffering from hangover and headache.

As time went on Blake and Pyrrha managed to overcome their hangover, mainly thanks to their Aura working to undo much of the alcohol's after-effects and the aspirin Jaune had supplied helping to alleviate their headache, although neither helped them with the confusion and wariness all three of them shared towards their new relationship.

Eventually though they couldn't push leaving the room any further, and Jaune had helped them downstairs after both Blake and Pyrrha had taken a quick shower and tidied themselves up.

"Sh-sheesh…" Blake muttered as she collapsed on the living room's couch with her hair still damp from the shower. "I'm never drinking again, mark my words."

"Yeah." Pyrrha confirmed. "So um… what should we do today? It's getting pretty late."

"The house is pretty much empty right now. Beryl is out in Vale and the twins are probably out there as well." Jaune sighed as he fiddled with his Scroll. "I'll doubt we'll see any of them today. Amethyst, my big sis, is still out in her boyfriend's place as well…"

A beep that came from his Scroll interrupted him, and he looked at the scheduled message that he had received from Weiss. ' _Hold on, did I have something scheduled for today?'_

"Oh." he said as he read the message. "Um, We might have to leave soon though. I completely forgot that Weiss had some sort of team training exercise planned for today."

"Training? Today?" Blake sighed tiredly and rubbed her eyes. "Great…"

"Um… do you think I could participate as well?" Pyrrha asked carefully.

"I don't see why not." Jaune replied, and noticed that Pyrrha's eyes became more lively from the thought of training together. ' _She really likes training... I guess that's the champion fighter background showing through. Still, it's nice to see that she's happy again.'_

Blake gave one more tortured sigh before rising up from the couch. "Well... I suppose we have to get moving if we want to get something done today. It's already getting close to evening."

"Yeah." Jaune confirmed. "Do you two want to eat something before we leave?"

"I'm fine." Blake said while walking past him and tying her bow back on her head, and Jaune and Pyrrha followed her out of the living room.

"I don't need anything, thank you." Pyrrha smiled at him as she grabbed her new scarf from the coat hanger by the entry and tied it around her neck.

' _Hm, we have half an hour or so to get back to Beacon, it should be fine if nothing happens on the way there.'_ Jaune thought as he pulled his slightly oversized hoodie back on and opened the front door after the trio had clothed themselves.

.

..

...

The walk through Vale's streets was spent largely in silence, although Pyrrha tried to get a conversation going occasionally. While it wasn't dark yet, the sun was starting to set and it cast the buildings in warm orange light.

"So… um… What do you think about the rumors that have popped up regarding Weiss?" Pyrrha asked as the group walked through the commercial district. Jaune noticed that the district wasn't as busy as it usually was, and the few people who were walking in the streets were doing so with urgency in their steps, and he could feel the nervousness that the populace radiated.

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't catch that." Jaune asked as he had only been partially listening, distracted by the negative emotions that the people around him radiated.

"There's rumors spreading about Weiss?" Blake asked with her eyebrow raised. "What are they saying?"

A sharp crack of glass shattering cut Pyrrha off before she could answer. The crack was soon followed by shouts and screams, and Jaune turned towards the direction where all the commotion was coming from.

"What is that?" he asked as he tried to look over the crowd that was fleeting from… something.

"I don't know. Should we investigate?" Blake asked as she instinctively hid deeper under her black cloak.

"I think we should." Pyrrha said. "If it's something urgent like a fire or some kind of accident we could help before the officials get here."

"Right." Jaune nodded. "I think we should approach carefully though, we don't know what's out there… Or, well, that works too I suppose." by the time he had finished his speech Blake had disappeared into a nearby alleyway, pulled her Gambol Shroud from its holster hidden under her cloak, thrown it over the roof as a hook and had used it's ribbon to scale off the side of the building.

"let's follow her."

.

..

…

"What…" Jaune whispered as he looked over the rooftop at a scene that was unfolding below them. The sharp crack that they had heard had been the window of a Dust store breaking, and through the broken window they saw a group of masked men pulling cartridges of Dust off the display cases inside the shop.

"A Dust robbery." Blake whispered back. "Look, they are loading the Dust to a van."

"Um, should we call the police?" Pyrrha asked somewhat warily as she looked at the armed group.

"No need for that, the shop's alarms have been set off." Blake told her. "See the broken displays? There's a circuit inside it that, when broken, will alert the cops. It's also why they are in just grabbing what they can instead of going systematically through the shop, they know that they are on clock."

"So… should we leave if the police are on the way?" Jaune asked, "Ozpin told us not to interfere if we saw a robbery…"

"...If we saw a robbery involving Torchwick." Blake finished his sentence. "Do you see him there?"

"No…" Jaune told her as he scanned the robbers, looking for the orange-haired man in white suit that easily identified the self-proclaimed master criminal he'd run into when he had returned to Vale. "Should we interrupt the robbery?"

Blake rubbed her chin for a while as she thought about it. "No."

"No?" Pyrrha asked. "But… Isn't that part of our job as Hunters?"

"Yeah, but if we follow the robbers, we can find where they hide." Blake told her. "And we might find out where they have stocked the the Dust they have stolen already."

"I see." Jaune nodded. "It looks like we don't have to wait for long, they are already boarding the van." He blinked as he realized something. "Um… aren't cars like, really fast?"

"Yeah?" Blake looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"How do we keep up with it?"

Blake blinked as well as the hole in their plan came to light.

"I have an idea." Pyrrha said. "Jaune, do you and Blake have tracking enabled in your Scrolls so you can find each other with it if necessary?"

"Yes?"

"Can you mute your Scroll and give it to me?" Pyrrha asked, and she took the Scroll that Jaune offered her. She placed her hand on top of his Scroll for a while, and Jaune watched as the Scroll started to shine black light... before Pyrrha threw his Scroll at the van below. He heard a faint thunk as the Scroll hit and got stuck to the van's roof, and he guessed that the robbers didn't notice the device as no-one stepped out of the van to investigate the sound. "My Semblance should keep the Scroll magnetized and stuck in the van long enough for them to reach their base, and Blake can track your Scroll, right?"

Jaune nodded as as the robbers drove away with his Scroll stuck on top of the van. "Clever."

* * *

Weiss sighed as she checked her Scroll. "I have no words."

Weiss was standing inside one of the Beacon's simulation training rooms- she had reserved the large room for few hours so her team could have a chance to train and interact with the new transfer team like she had promised to the day prior- except that as the time for teams to gathered together had come, neither Jaune nor Blake had showed up.

"It's alright." Emerald assured her. "I'm sure that your other teammates have a good reason for being late."

Team CEMN had gathered with Weiss and Ruby after Weiss had started the simulation program up and had prepared their usual Boreal forest scenario. Curiously the girl with black hair and twintails had not come with her team, and Cinder had assured her that it wouldn't matter- and that their missing teammate, Neon, was a delinquent who often skipped training if it involved more people than her team.

'... _In retrospect I should have asked Jaune first before going ahead with the co-operative training session since I don't know if he's comfortable enough with his ability to engage in large-scale training…'_ Weiss thought as she fiddled with her Scroll. ' _He did seem in control enough during this week's combat classes when professor Goodwitch pit him against other students in one-on-one fights… He didn't use his shapeshifting, but brawled the students with the gauntlets Ruby had made for him… and broke three pairs of gauntlets in four days...'_

"Maybe you could call them?" Cinder asked the Schnee heiress while glancing at the rest of her team. Mercury was idling around the trees while Emerald was hanging around Ruby who seemed slightly over-interested in the green-haired girl's weapons while sending an occasional glare at Cinder. "Perhaps they are merely delayed?"

Weiss wasn't sure if she wanted to know just what had caused the red-clad reaper to become so hostile towards the scarlet-clad woman.

"I did, but it seems that Jaune has his Scroll muted." Weiss huffed. ' _That idiot… Surely he knows better than to drop out of communication… Perhaps Blake has her Scroll active?'_

Before she managed to pull up Blake's contact details her Scroll received a priority message- from Blake.

'" _We found where Roman Torchwick is storing the stolen Dust. We need backup as soon as you can get it. Location…" And just after headmaster warned to steer clear from that criminal...'_ Weiss felt a headache pulsing in her temple as she read through the message.

"Is there something wrong? Perhaps we can help?" Cinder offered as she no doubt saw the wariness that had overtaken Weiss after reading the message.

' _Hm… We could use more people'_ Weiss thought briefly about asking team CEMN for help. ' _...No, they would most likely get in our way since we haven't trained together so our team's abilities may not be compatible.'_

"Weiss?" Ruby asked and grabbed her hand. "Is everything alright? You look really… er, thoughtful?"

"No, Yes. I mean, everything is under control." Weiss smiled and nodded politely at Ruby and Cinder. "It seems that two of my team members got themselves into a… complication. I'm sorry but I must call the training off for today since my presence is urgently required there. My apologies."

"I see." Cinder nodded politely back with a smile on her face. Weiss could tell by a glance that it was as fake as hers. "Well, I do hope that you will be able to resolve whatever… complications… your teammates have gotten themselves into. Perhaps we can reschedule our training to another date?"

"That would be preferable, thank you." Weiss grabbed Ruby's sleeve and practically manhandled her towards the simulation room's exit while hastily deactivating the simulation with her Scroll.

…

Cinder's eyes flashed as she looked at the door that had become visible after the boreal forest simulation had faded into Dust particles, and the Schnee heiress and her teammate had disappeared through the room's solitary exit.

"I believe that further training would be waste of time since our new friends have chosen to pursue their own… hm, affairs." Cinder said to no-one in particular while she turned towards Emerald and tilted her head very slightly towards the exit, and Emerald nodded an equally faint acknowledgement to shadow the two girls.

Cinder had always liked how sharp Emerald was on the uptake.

"Shall we return to the dorms?" the scarlet-clad woman asked her 'team' with a carefully carefree tone. "Or perhaps you two want to do something else? The evening is still young."

"I'll probably see if I can find a gym or something." Mercury shrugged.

"I'd like to take a walk, if you don't mind. See you later?" Emerald asked lightly.

"Certainly, have fun." Cinder smiled, and opened the door so her two 'teammates' could leave the simulation room...

* * *

"Did Weiss receive the message?" Jaune asked as he watched the warehouse where the van had disappeared to with wary eyes from his vantage point on top of another, identical concrete warehouse.

The evening had darkened even further to a point where the sky was nearly black, and the warm orange light had dwindled to mere faint traces of light in the horizon. The trio had followed the signal of Jaune's Scroll to the Vale's warehouse block, near the docks- and had seen a glimpse of Roman Torchwick exchanging few words with driver of a truck that had exited the warehouse before the warehouse's doors closed again.

"Yeah, she did:" Blake told him as she read through the message she had received. "She's on her way here with reinforcements, and she should arrive in few minutes."

"Good." Jaune nodded. "So now we just have to hold here and wait until they arrive."

"Um, should we call the police now?" Pyrrha asked. "The robbers aren't going to go anywhere now, right?"

"Hm…" Blake seemed thoughtful. "It might not be a good idea until we've made sure we have enough people to stop the robbers if they try to flee."

"Why would they try to flee?" Jaune asked. "I mean, I get that they'd try to flee if the police arrives but…"

"Torchwick has to have people inside the police department." Blake said, cutting him off mid-sentence. "There's no way he could have kept his chain of robberies going on for so long if he didn't have someone inside who lets him know when he's being reported to them, or what is being sent against him."

"So you're saying that if we alert the police about the warehouse, his contact tells him about it and he flees with the Dust?" Jaune sighed. "I guess there goes the easy solution."

"Well, it was worth considering at least, I think" Pyrrha said. She had her Scroll in her hand, ready to recall her weapons locker to her if necessary as she was the only one who was unarmed.

Beacon's personal weapon lockers had rocket engines and guidance computers, which allowed students to arm themselves on the field as long as they remained in close proximity to Vale. The students would call for the locker, which would get launched from the armory and fly to a location specified by the student recalling it. The problem with the technology for their current situation was that a rocket-powered locker wasn't exactly subtle, so Pyrrha had to wait until the last possible moment to recall her weapons so they wouldn't reveal their presence to the criminals mere hundred-or-so feet away.

"...We'll just have to wait and see" Blake said and she looked at the warehouse again. "Hold on, that can't be right…"

"What is it?" Jaune asked as he looked at the direction that had captured Blake's attention, and saw a man driving a forklift out of the warehouse. What grabbed his attention however was the uniform the man was wearing, or more specifically the White Fang uniform the driver had.

"What are the White Fang doing in here?" Blake hissed angrily. "Why are they working with Torchwick of all people?"

"I don't know…" Jaune said slowly. "I could find out though?"

"How?"

"I'll go down there and grab one of the Fang?"

The reply Blake might have had to his idea was lost as she glanced at her Scroll, and her eyes widened slightly. "Your Scroll's signal disappeared."

Jaune looked up and saw as the man in White Fang outfit pulled a Scroll from his pocket and answered to it. "Do you think they are onto us?"

The man pocketed his Scroll hastily and picked up a empty container with the forklift and drove back into the warehouse with it, barely avoiding ramming into the side of the warehouse's entrance in his haste.

"They know we tracked them." Blake confirmed as the sleepy warehouse came to life with activity, and Jaune saw as a group of figures in White Fang outfits burst out of the warehouse, carrying variety of boxes and containers.

"Should I call the police now?" Pyrrha asked. "What do we do?"

"Call the police, but… we probably can't straight-up fight those guys." Blake said as she looked at the group below that had started to haul the containers to a odd tarp-covered building behind the warehouse. "Look, there's Torchwick."

"Yeah." Jaune nodded as he saw the man. He looked almost exactly the same as the last time he'd met the man- white suit and expensive pants, smoking a cigar and tapping the ground with a cane that he knew to be a hand-cannon in disguise. "Although I might be able to delay Torchwick enough that the police gets here."

"Really?" Blake lifted her eyebrow. "But you'd need to transform. Can you really risk it? We're in the middle of Vale."

"I think it's worth the risk." Jaune said. "Can you call my locker here?"

"Uh, sure?" Blake said as she pulled Jaune's weapons locker's number and called it to her location. Pyrrha nodded and did the same with hers.

"Speaking of which, since you use your… er, non-conventional weapons, what do you have in your locker?" Blake asked as two streaks of light closed towards their position. His locker landed to a alleyway behind them, and Pyrrha's locker landed on the roof behind them with a massive thunk.

Jaune jumped down from the roof and landed in front of his locker, and pulled it's door open.

"I figured as much." Blake sighed as she looked over the edge of the roof at the teenager who was busy transforming himself to his combat form, using the meat he pulled from inside his locker to feed his transformation.

"Um… Blake?" Pyrrha asked somewhat shakily as she looked down at the rapidly shapeshifting teenager. "Did… Did Jaune really turn his locker into a refrigerator?"

* * *

' _Not good, not good…'_ Luna thought as she lugged yet another box of packaged Dust from a shelf the warehouse and carried it to a forklift that was waiting for it.

She was a fox faunus who had joined White Fang after she had gotten enough of being pushed around for her faunus heritage in her job as a waitress in local restaurant- It wasn't her fault that her tail was so soft and bushy that everyone, human males specifically, had wanted to touch it. She didn't want to suffer from the constant harassment, yet when she'd taken the issue up to her employer they had told her to be grateful that she was allowed to work in the first place, and to just _allow_ people to touch her fluffy tail whenever they wanted.

She had quit her job as a result, and when she'd been approached by the White Fang recruiter, and he had told her that she could be a force for the change towards better future _and_ that she'd be paid for it, she had taken up their uniform. At least she didn't have to suffer from constant harassment amongst the faunus, and many of those she'd spoken to within the Fang had been sympathetic to her, and even more of them had shared with her their own stories of abuse and injustice towards them because of their race.

When their Vale Branch's leader had told them that he needed volunteers, and that they'd be helping 'an important ally in equally important business', she had jumped at the chance to prove herself… until she had met Roman Torchwick.

Luna couldn't understand why White Fang worked with someone like Roman Torchwick, a criminal, a thief, and a particularly anti-faunus human, at least if his opinions about their work efficiency were anything to go by. Yet her objections had fallen to deaf ears, so all she could do was to obey the orders she'd been given- to start packaging Dust chrystals the thief had stolen and ready them for transport out of Vale. She hadn't been told where the Dust would go, nor _why_ they needed so much of the stuff… and because of all that, a seed of doubt had started to spread inside her.

Maybe White Fang wasn't _exactly_ as brave and just as she had initially thought… but she had gone too deep to go back.

Which was why she was currently pulling packaged Dust boxes from the shelves and loading them to the waiting forklift with haste as their sentry had noticed something odd on top of one of the vans that Torchwick used to ferry his group of thieves around Vale, and on closer inspection the oddity stuck on the van had turned out to be a Scroll that was set to track itself and transmit the location somewhere… and all hell had broken loose as a result.

"Alright, scuttle the place. You, burn those papers. You, bird-girl, get moving with those unboxed chrystals. Watch it, that's explosive! Hurry up, we don't have all day." she heard as Roman Torchwick shouted orders to a group of White Fang who were busily stripping down the place and pulling Dust boxes from shelves, just like her.

She traced the suit-clad man's movements as he moved through the warehouse before walking out to bark something at the faunus who had set a perimeter around the building.

The fact that they had suddenly gotten armed guards _didn't_ help Luna's nerves. Wasn't White Fang supposed to be largely peaceful movement?

"It's full, go!" Luna told the forklift driver, and the man nodded to her before driving off with full load of Dust in it's lift. She heard someone outside shout something about incoming missiles or shooting stars landing nearby, but she didn't pay much attention it as she had more important things to do- namely to hurry up and empty the place so she could get in the transport that would leave as soon after the place was empty.

The sound of the Bullhead outside getting de-tarped combined with the loud noises from hard-shell Dust packages hitting each other drowned out a small hiss from near her as she walked deeper into the warehouse to grab whatever Dust was left in the shelves.

Luna pushed open a door leading to one of the warehouse's storage rooms, and took a quick look inside to make sure everything had been taken away.

She noticed a container that someone had missed earlier, and ran towards it so she could grab it and get it out… and fell over as she tripped on something.

"Oww…." Luna complained as she tried to get up from the cold concrete floor, but somehow her attempt to get herself back on her feet dragged her towards a dark corner of the room. She felt her head spinning and she regretted once again that she hadn't gotten her Aura unlocked when she had the chance. ' _...But Aura unlocking and conditioning costs more than what I make in a year, and White Fang only sponsor it for their recruits that go out to wilderness and do Oum-knows-what in there….'_

She wondered if she'd gotten a concussion as she could have sworn that she was somehow getting dragged on the concrete floor by something that had tied itself around her legs.

Luna turned around on the floor to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her…

...And she saw a pair of red-glowing eyes staring at her through a smooth, emotionless Grimm-mask.

She froze completely still as she stared back at the slightly bigger-than-human creature that was armored from head to toe in white bone, much like some kind of corrupted, evil knight straight out of a horror novel. What concerned her next was that the creature had _dozens_ of tentacles flowing down it's shoulders, and some of them had reached out towards her and tied themselves around her legs- and she instantly knew just what had tripped her over.

She opened her mouth, although she wasn't sure what she was planning on using it for- Perhaps she'd try to shout a warning to the White Fang outside? Plead for mercy? Plead for quick death instead of having to go through what she'd seen and read in some of her more private Mistralian comics?

She settled in for a good-old-fashioned panicked scream, but before she managed to get even a whisper out a tentacle had shot forwards and tied itself around her neck, and another had plunged itself into her mouth and down her throat to stop her from screaming.

' _I guess it's settled on the not-so-quick death then… Although I thought the Grimm weren't interested in 'that'? What is this one even doing in Vale?'_ Luna thought with a disturbing degree of internal calm as the surprisingly hot black appendage filled her throat while the creature lifted her up from the floor with its other tentacles. She closed her eyes as she waited for the inevitable tentacle that would thrust itself into...

"Jaune!" a feminine voice called, and she creaked one of her eyes open and saw that a figure hidden under a hooded red cloak had grabbed the Grimm creature's hand, and had pulled it back slightly. "Don't kill her!"

' _It's not the death I'm worried about here, but thanks for the thought anyway'_ Luna thought as he felt the tentacles around her throat loosening its grip. Curiously enough the tentacles had tied themselves around her legs, waist and hands, but had left her tail alone. ' _I'm not sure what to think about the patrons of my old workplace if even tentacle-Grimm know not to touch faunus's animal parts without permission.'_

The creature let a growly hiss that somehow sounded like spoken language yet she couldn't quite understand it, which may have been a result of the lack of oxygen in her brain as the tentacle in her throat was doing a fairly good job of blocking any air from going down. "MMmglh!"

"Stop choking her!" the lady in red said again, and Luna felt as the tentacle started to pull out from her throat until she could breathe again. "Don't scream, and you won't be harmed."

Luna tried to blink the stars out of her eyes that had formed as the result of the asphyxiation. ' _I really hope that… thing… didn't just trigger some kind of fetish.'_

A cold breeze hit her face and she glanced to the side to see a small mesh-wired glass window, broken and bent out of it's frame. ' _So that's how they got in here…'_

She blinked as she thought about her thoughts. ' _I should probably stop worrying about that since I'm probably going to die within next ten minutes or so anyway….'_

A blade that was pushed against her throat reinforced her opinion on the matter.

"How many of you are there?" a different female voice asked, and Luna pulled her eyes from the blade onto the figure holding it. The figure was clad in black cloak and hood, much like the lady in red and Luna could have sworn that the lady in black had yellow eyes that shone through the shadow that concealed her features.

"Please don't kill me?" Luna asked. The calmness of her voice was most likely a result of the bone-chilling terror she felt at the moment going over her scale of fear and looping back to the negative zone.

She _really_ wasn't looking forwards to the mental breakdown she would have later if she somehow lived to see the next day.

The blade pushed against her throat and she felt a trickle of blood flowing from the cut. "I'm not joking here. How many of you are in here, do you have Grimm in store somewhere around, and does Roman Torchwick have more of his associates in here? Where have you been transporting the Dust?"

"I… I think there's like, fifteen of us?" Luna counted. "If you mean uh, White Fang and not fox faunuses, I'm the only one… sorry."

"Good girl." the lady in black said. "Now the Grimm?"

"Uh, there's one." Luna said, moving her eyes to the tentacle-Grimm in front of her. Somehow her thoughts didn't quite seem to flow as well as they used to, which might have been a result of her fear that the Grimm might not only be in front of her, but soon also also inside her. "I think you might want to ask it about any other Grimm though, it's my first time seeing one. Also, who are you?"

"It doesn't matter." the lady in black told her while the lady in red fiddled with her hands nervously. "Now, Roman?"

"Uh, he's outside, probably prepping the Bullhead for a takeoff." Luna said. "As for the Dust… I don't know. It gets taken to a Bullhead and then it flies off somewhere, I just package the Dust into boxes."

The answer seemed to satisfy the lady in black, and Luna sighed internally as the questions stopped and she knew what would be next.

"Um, for the record, I never wanted to be a associate-in-crime. Or die in tentacle-Grimm's well, tentacles. I just wanted to make the discrimination and sexual harassment towards faunus to stop." she sighed. "Ironic considering how I'm about to die, I know."

The yellow eyes blinked few times, almost as if the lady in black was confused, before the blade was pulled from her throat and it disappeared under the black cloak "Thank you for your cooperation. Jaune?"

The creature let a hiss, and Luna steeled herself.

"So this is how it ends." she whispered as the tentacle closed ominously on her throat before tying itself around it.

' _...I'm really going to have a asphyxiation fetish now…'_ was the last thought that passed Luna's head before black stars exploded in her vision and the world went white…

...

"Is she dead?" Pyrrha asked with a slightly high-pitched voice as she stared at the unconscious fox faunus that lied motionless on the cold concrete floor. "D-did you kill her?"

"She's alive." Blake answered before Jaune could, and she turned towards the Grimm-fied boy. "Thanks. I don't want to leave a trail of corpses behind us if we have to be here when the police arrives."

" Y͘o̵u'͢r͘e ͘we͘lc̶om͟è.̷" Jaune hissed as he retracted his tentacles to their usual places behind him. "W̵e ǹeed ͘t҉o ͢hurry"

"Right." Blake nodded. "She said that Torchwick would be outside… Pyrrha and I will take care of the White Fang and you'll try to tie Torchwick down until Weiss arrives with the reinforcements or the police shows up, right?

"Agreed." Pyrrha gulped somewhat nervously. "Let's go."

Jaune nodded at her before reaching for the door and pulling it open, and both Blake and Pyrrha charged through it.

"Some of them don't have Aura, be careful!" Blake shouted as she charged a man in White Fang uniform as the man had been too busy grabbing something from a shelf to notice the black-clad girl's sudden approach, and the man fell on the floor like a sack of bricks as her elbow connected with his face.

"On it!" Pyrrha replied as she had flipped her spear around and was using it's blunt end for her thrusts. She had learned what happened when a spear is thrusted point-first into human being without defensive Aura, and didn't want to repeat it with someone who can't just regenerate out of it. A masked faunus woman tried to flee from Pyrrha's charge, but a thrown shield hit the faunus girl to the back of her head and she fell over.

Jaune had far less reservation than the girls as he advanced, flipping people over and smashing them into the shelfs with his tentacles. A masked man with a pistol took a potshot at him, but the small-caliber Dust round just cratered into his mask before the faunus man had to narrowly dodge getting eviscerated by a forklift blade that he threw at him.

 _T̀͝hr̢é̸̡a̡t͞,,̸ ́̀́De͞s̀̀t͜r̴̸o̸͢y.͜͟.҉͏.́_

"What is going on in here!" A familiar voice exclaimed and Jaune looked up to see a man in a white suit standing in the warehouse's entrance. Roman Torchwick took a look at Jaune, and Jaune lifted his hand to point a finger at him for dramatic effect like how he'd seen in a horror movie that he remembered having seen as a child.

Torchwick took a look at the hand, and the Grimm-creature it was attached to, and the tentacles that were currently choking a masked faunus girl that had small green scales in her skin, and he turned around and fled.

' _What?'_ Jaune thought as he tossed the unconscious girl aside and ran towards the exit as fast as his not-very nimble armor allowed. ' _He's just going to leave his people to… b̀ę ̶ d̷̴͠e̕v̀o̸u̡̕͠r̕ȩ͞d͝... get caught?'_

Jaune burst through the exit door and shoulder tackled a man with a machine pistol that had come to investigate the commotion, and tossed the disoriented faunus man towards the fleeing self-proclaimed master criminal. It seemed that Roman sensed the unfortunate flying object, and stepped aside to allow the White Fang member to become a new hood ornament on the un-tarped and loaded Bullhead.

Roman whipped his cane around and fired a snap-shot at Jaune, and he blocked the projectile with one of his tentacles, losing a sizeable chunk of it as a result.

' _Ow.'_ Jaune swing the wounded tentacle furiously from side the side. The pain wasn't debilitating even though the tentacle was practically cut in two, but was enough to enrage him. ' _I'm going to need something to block shots effectively soon if I'm going to be running against criminals with guns on regular basis…'_

"What the hell are you?" Roman shouted as he fired few more shots at him. One of them hit his shoulder, and he spun around on the spot as the bone-armored plate cracked against the high-explosive Dust shell. The criminal seemed to gather courage from the hit and the fact that Jaune could get hurt, and he regained much of his usual cockiness. "Ah, ah, it seems that even mr. heavy armor can get hurt, no?"

Jaune growled at the thief, which caused the suit-wearing man to sigh and tap the ground with his cane lightly.

"Tsk, tsk, I forgot. Grimm can't speak or have a mind in the first place. Well, It's been fun but I got to go. Bye?" Roman tilted his head as he lifted his cannon again and fired a shot at Jaune.

Jaune dodged, feeling the shell grazing against his arm and he brought his left arm automatically to block the rain of high-explosive shells that the criminal unloaded. Each blocked shot broke shards off his armor, and each shot he failed to block caused explosions of black blood from his tentacles which he had to use as a makeshift shield made of soft flesh. ' _Crap, I'm not prepared to protect myself against ranged attacks like that…'_

He felt his hunger intensifying as he lost shards of his mass to the bullets, and he glanced between the tentacles he had formed as a shield to see the Bullhead starting to lift itself into the air- but more worryingly, the twin-barreled autocannon on the nose of the bullhead came off its resting mount and pointed itself at him. ' _Oh crap.'_

Jaune felt as the first shot from the large-caliber anti-Grimm autocannon broke his tentacle barrier and the second round hit his left forearm that he had raised in his defence, and shattered it apart near the elbow. ' _No, No, no, not good…'_ the third round hit his shoulder and he felt as the bone-armor over his shoulder shattered and broke it off into shrapnel-like shards. ' _Defend, Defend… D̴e͡s҉t̸rơy,'_

He felt as the Shadow returned itself to his mind in full. He extended his left arm into a stance he remembered having seen somewhere, used by someone he had held close to his heart, and he smelled the familiar scent of burning buildings and blood as the bone of his broken arm extended itself to the length of his normal arm, but widened itself more than usual, and widened, and widened itself even more. The fourth autocannon shot hit the widening bone-plate that grew to protect him, and shattered a part of the bone off. He growled and _pushed_ himself into the shield and felt as his blood flowed into the bone, repairing it and strengthening it.

When the fifth autocannon shot hit the shield that had grown out of the stump of his left arm it only left a cratering impact.

When the sixth autocannon shot hit his shield, it ricocheted off harmlessly.

"What…" he heard Roman mumble as the barrage of artillery grew more and more ineffective. "What the hell? That's not what Grimm can do… Unless...'

"Ro͢m͢a͠n...̷" Jaune growled threateningly as he focused all of his, all of the Shadow's aggression towards a singular focus, towards the suit-clad criminal in front of him.

"An Abomination." Roman's eyes widened. "Shit."

As the words left Torchwick's mouth, the Bullhead behind him suffered a direct hit from a ice-lance that hit the vehicle's left engine, and the hovering aircraft crashed back down on the ground almost instantly, accompanied by terrifying sound of shattering metal as the blades within the turbine got stuck and froze while still in motion.

Jaune glanced to the side where the ice-lance had come from, and saw Weiss jumping down from the building he, Blake and Pyrrha had used as vantage point mere moments ago.

The white-haired girl landed next to Jaune, and he flinched slightly as he stopped the Shadow from instinctively… extending the shield over her?

' _Hold on, when was that thing being protective of anything?'_

The movement didn't go unnoticed, and Roman backed away slightly as his attention turned towards the white-clad girl. Jaune noticed as the criminal's mood changed massively, going from almost frightened to business-like in a second, although it didn't hide the turmoil of confusion and fear Jaune felt coming from under the criminal's cocky pretense. "Weiss Schnee. Did you perhaps came to protect your company's assets?"

"Roman Torchwick." Weiss said. "Surrender. The police is almost here.'

Torchwick took a subtle step backwards. "So many alternatives, may I try another one?"

A shot rang from the distance, and a patch of concrete behind Torchwick exploded into splinters, causing the criminal to stumble forwards from the impact.

"A sniper. How undignified." Roman said as he got his bearings straight. "I didn't think you'd hire assassins to watch your back, but I imagine that you got it from your father. Then again, it looks like that you're allying yourself with the Grimm these days, so perhaps you're actually on the lead in that competition. At least old man Schnee never sold his soul to the devil." he glanced at Weiss's expression as he nodded at Grimm-fied Jaune. "Oh, I'm sorry, that sniper was Red, wasn't it? Let's add child soldiers to the mix."

"Put down your weapon." Weiss told Roman before leaning slightly towards Jaune. "Ruby's on overwatch, he's trying to goad us to get closer so Ruby couldn't shoot without risking hitting us" she whispered to Jaune without letting her eyes wander off the criminal for a second. "Don't get goaded into a fight. We just have to hold him in place for a little while longer."

Jaune took a look behind him, and saw Blake and Pyrrha exiting the warehouse with Yang, Nora and Ren- which meant that the 'battle' inside the warehouse had ended with the addition of their reinforcements.

"Soo…" Roman drawled, pulling Jaune's attention back to the man. He didn't like the carefree look that the man had adopted. "It's been fun, but I think I'll take my leave. We'll meet again, miss Schnee." the criminal tapped his hat with his cane- and charged Jaune.

"W̴h́at͠?!̨" Jaune exclaimed as he sensed that the jumble of emotions that radiated from the criminal stayed still, yet saw that the criminal was charging at him at the same time.

' _Ruby? Shoot?'_ he managed to think before he was forced to parry a wild swing from Roman's cane, and he saw that Weiss had pulled behind him and was using him as cover...

...And a high-impact rifle round impacted against his leg from behind, pushing him on his knees.

' _Ruby?! What are you doing!'_ Jaune thought as the sniper-rifle shot had come from same direction as the previous one. He channeled his regeneration to his leg so he could stand back up, and he saw as Roman parried a stab from Weiss. He used Weiss's distraction to his advantage by flinging his remaining tentacles towards Torchwick and he tied them around the criminal's hand, arms, chest and legs.

He lifted the man up so the suit-clad man couldn't struggle against his grasp and turned towards Weiss to ask if she was alright…

...And blinked as he didn't see the white-haired girl where he could have sworn that she had been a mere second ago.

"...ne! Stop! What are you doing!" a familiar voice screamed, and Jaune looked towards the sound to see Weiss tied in his tentacles and lifted off the ground, Myrtenaster lying discarded on the ground.

He turned his head towards the location where he had sensed Roman to be before the brief melee, and both saw and felt that the self-proclaimed master criminal had disappeared.

Jaune opened his mouth to say something to Weiss, and…

"VALE POLICE DEPARTMENT! EVERYONE HANDS UP!" a riot-loudspeaker cut off whatever he had tried to say. Jaune turned towards the headlights that a police Bullhead had pointed right at him as the large aircraft hovered above the warehouse-turned-battlefield. He saw as a group of heavily armed police officers jumped off the Bullhead, landed on the concrete pavement and pointed their guns towards him.

"SCRATCH THAT, CODE RED, GRIMM PRESENCE INSIDE CITY!"

' _Shit.'_ Jaune sighed internally, before turning around and running off towards the canal that ran near the warehouse, intending on jumping down and making his getaway much like how he had done with the White Fang when he had returned to Vale a month ago. He lifted his new shield to cover his back in case the Bullhead opened fire with it's autocannon, but curiously enough no bullets came his way.

Jaune didn't listen to the deafening loudspeaker as he reached the canal's edge and jumped down into the freezing water… and remembered that he still had Weiss tied in his tentacles.

' _Oh, so that's why they didn't shoot me.'_ Jaune thought idly as he heard the white-haired girl scream something just before the pair hit the dark, still water with a massive splash.

* * *

"Thank you for the save." Roman Torchwick thanked Emerald Sustrai as he sat in his temporary hideout and fallback in Vale's commercial district. "The way you made Red shoot the Grimm creature instead of me was a nice touch, as well as when you made that Grimm attack the Schnee girl."

The criminal was sitting in front of the flat's kitchen table which, granted, was made from blue marble with considerable craftsmanship, but to him it was still just a kitchen table. While the flat was furnished luxuriously, to him it was still just a unimpressive flat, and he hated having to use it- but needs must, and so on.

"However, while I believe in miracles just like any other scientifically minded person person, I guess that there was a reason why you were around to help me get away?" Roman continued as he rested his hands on the cold marble.

"..." Emerald sent a glare at Torchwick from where she was standing near the flat's exit. "There was a reason, yes. I would advise you to try not to poke your fingers into it. As for my Semblance… I'd advice the same."

"Ah, so the reason you were around my warehouse is so secret that I can't know about it? How shocking. Perhaps you knew that the brats would be coming to bust my small charity chest and you didn't bother telling me?" Roman looked at his cane "Unless you knew all along what would happen back at the warehouse? That we'd lose the Dust? We don't exactly have a working business partnership if your mistress doesn't tell me these kinds of things in advance."

"..." Emerald's eyes narrowed even further as her lie was called. "It doesn't matter."

"Oh?" Roman wondered. "I'm just wondering, why exactly do we need to steal the Dust if it doesn't matter in the first place?"

"Roman…" a soft, purr-like voice interrupted him. "Please don't try to make it sound like it was Emerald's fault that our little… scheme… was set back a week or so."

Roman looked over and saw Cinder Fall walking through the hideout's front door and sitting down in front of him. "Emerald was after an entirely different target, but happened to be in the area. In fact I'd like you to thank her for her quick wits. After all, she could have just let you get captured by the police if she followed her original orders and ignored your… situation."

The criminal lifted his hat briefly in Emerald's direction. "My thanks for your quick wits. I wouldn't have survived without you."

He felt a measure of vindictive glee as the green-haired girl's glare deepened at his completely dishonest admission.

"So… beside your 'teammate' confusing the Red and the Grimm, what else is new?" Roman asked and Cinder's smile widened.

"If your and Emerald's reports about what happened today are true, then we have a… new person of interest." Cinder purred. "Don't fret about the Dust or the few White Fang workers who got caught. They are both expendable. Confirming what I believe Miss Schnee is capable of was well worth the Dust and the warehouse."

"And what did we find out about the Schnee girl?" Roman asked, unconvinced.

"That she can control the Grimm somehow, and has created at least one Grimm Abomination already." Cinder said. "Say, Roman, Have you ever wanted to be a hero?"

' _Times like these, I wish I hadn't told Neo to go infiltrate the Vale police…'_ Roman thought as he looked at the scarlet-clad woman with a seductive smile on her lips and burning look in her eyes that promised death if he said no.

"What do you have in mind?" Roman asked, and reached for a bottle of well-aged wine he had in store for the occasions like these.

"Oh, you're going to like this." Cinder purred…

 **Next chapter 3-4.2**

 **AN: About organization of White Fang- I personally consider White Fang to work in cell-system where cells are seperated by task and by people involved in it, and the cells only know what happens inside the cell, and are unaware of the other cell's tasks. A cell that would get sent out to wilderness would only do that, a cell that would be sent to throw stones on windows and vandalize would do just that, and a cell that would guard captured Grimm would do just that and none of them knew about the existance of other cells- that way they could maintain the outward image of being a peaceful organization, and if a cell gets revealed to the public in negative light, they could be cut the cell off and declare it a splinter faction.**

 **Side note- woo 1k followers! Well, almost! It's the thought that counts!**

 **Omake:**

Winter Schnee had a very strict morning routine that she adhered to. She enjoyed the stability it brought, and it also helped to keep her informed of the happenings around the world.

Which was why she had subscribed to most if not all news outlets from all around Vale, and she always kept an eye out for articles about her little sister, Weiss, and her success stories in Beacon while she enjoyed her morning water and fruits. After the first month Winter had half-expected there to be at least one article praising Weiss for exceptional tactics, brilliant Dust-engineering, breakthrough market trading or some other feat fitting of a Schnee.

Sadly enough she had been left disappointed, but she figured that it must be because of her team taking a lot of her time and leaving less for groundbreaking revelations in scientific theory.

Winter nodded to herself as she picked up the morning newspaper delivered straight from Vale to Atlas in express delivery drone, and she sipped her water as she unfolded the paper and took a look at the headline…

" _HEIRESS OF THE SCNEE COMPANY ABDUCTED BY A GRIMM TENTACLE MONSTER"_

"Pffffttttt!" the water flew straight out of Winter's mouth.


	24. Shock Journalism

_"A Grimm is created with a singular purpose. A singular command it strives to complete, never straying from its mission for any reason. They are relentless, tireless, and merciless." a soft voice taught her, and Cinder looked up to see her mother-figure extending her hand towards a lake filled with black tar-like substance. The red sky cast a sinister reflection on the murky 'water', and red boulders and stones and violet Dust-crystals rose from the blood-red wasteland to create a intimidating sight- yet it was the optimal place for her lesson. "Observe"_

 _Cinder saw as black figure rose from the tar-filled lake as the woman's black-veined hand beckoned for it, and the tar flowed down from the creature's shoulders until Cinder recognized the creature as a massive Beowolf._

 _The creature took whiff of the rancid air, and it's eyes locked onto the teenage girl and pale woman in a second- and it began running towards the two observers… or more specifically, running towards Cinder._

 _"Mother?" Cinder asked, unsure of the creature's intent._

 _"The purpose of a Beowolf is to Hunt: To destroy the abominations this world knows as Humans until none are left- It will seek out humans, band together into packs to fight more dangerous threats, and flee to strike again if they find their enemy excessively stronger than them." The woman said before turning towards Cinder. "You, my daughter from different womb, are still a human in your imperfect shell, so it will strive to hunt you- it has no mind of its own, and cannot differentiate from humans seeking perfection to those muddling in their own filth."_

 _"What should I…"_

 _"Destroy it." The woman turned towards the approaching Beowolf, and Cinder lifted her hand and called to her Semblance. She felt the fire within her soul roar in response, and she pulled her hand back with a spear made of fire held firmly in her grip, forged from her flame. Cinder focused on her goal and threw the spear which flew straight and true, pinning the Beowolf to the red ground and causing the beast to let a tortured roar before the spear incinerated the creature to ashes._

 _"Your physical form is still flawed, your thoughts still human, so the Grimm will still hunt you." The woman told Cinder as she turned towards the teenage girl who shook slightly from adrenaline after using her recently-found Semblance. "Nevertheless, that is beside my point. You saw the purpose of that Beowolf, now observe:"_

 _She lifted her hand towards the tar again, and Cinder prepared herself to use her Semblance. Another form rose from the tar, and Cinder summoned the flaming spear… but a black-veined hand held her back from throwing it._

 _Cinder looked towards the lake and saw another Beowolf rising from the tar… and lazily walking towards the pair. She saw no hostility in the creature's red eyes, or ferocity in it's movements as it picked up a red stone from the lakeside, and begun carrying it towards the pair._

 _She pulled back slightly as the Beowolf came to within swiping distance of the pair, and placed the rock in front of her mother-figure who watched the creature calmly. "Mother?"_

 _"Shh." the woman placed her finger upon Cinder's lips to stop her from talking. "Your lesson is not over yet."_

 _Cinder wanted to ask what made the Beowolf act so… bizarrely, before the creature in question slumped down in front of the pair, and began sizzling._

 _She blinked and looked at the creature suspiciously. "...Is it dead?"_

 _"Yes, and no. I modified its purpose to be different from the one before him." the woman told her while reaching to stroke Cinder's head. "I merely made his Purpose to be 'Bring your creator a rock.' Nothing more, nothing less. A simple task that can be completed easily."_

 _"But…"_

 _"Once it had completed its mission, it didn't know what to do afterwards." The woman told Cinder. "The Grimm are not mindless in the traditional sense- they have a mind, they will use their senses, they think, they act upon the information they gather… but they cannot understand their existence beyond their given purpose. Their minds are flawed, and after completing the purpose they were born for they will lock down, and begin decaying… and eventually, they will die. It is both a gift of clarity of purpose, and a curse of inevitable end."_

 _"Is… is a there way for them to avoid that?" Cinder asked._

 _"No." the woman said while looking down at the dying creature. "The only Grimm creatures capable of surviving their original orders are those created with a full, unfractured mind- my true, beautiful children, born from my own flesh."_

 _"Abominations?" Cinder asked, and flinched slightly as the woman's face darkened slightly from the name._

 _"I wish you didn't refer to my beautiful children with the horrific name the Humans have given them."_

 _"I'm sorry." Cinder regretted her choice of words immediately. "I just… well, the books referred to them as such, and I just…"_

 _"Never apologize to me." the woman scolded. "Instead, learn from your mistakes and never repeat them."_

 _"I'm s… Yes."_

 _"Now, show this one mercy, and follow me. Your next lesson awaits" the woman turned around and walked off._

 _Cinder took a look at the dying creature, and readied her spear._

 _The creature let a pained whine and clawed the ground weakly as her spear struck it's back, and pierced it's heart…_

.

..

...

Cinder felt herself waking as a nearly inaudible alarm let her know that the morning had arrived, and she grabbed her Scroll to cut off the alarm.

She rose up from her bed in the Beacon's dorms and grabbed a newspaper that Emerald had thoughtfully delivered to the dorm, fresh from the press.

' _Now, let's see how well we succeeded in our little subterfuge after yesterday's events…'_ Cinder smiled internally as she read the newspaper's front page, and skipped to the main article…

 _'A HERO OR A CRIMINAL?_

 _GRIMM INSIDE VALE: FAMOUS 'CRIMINAL' ROMAN TORCHWICK DEFENDS VALE AGAINST A GRIMM INCURSION'_

 _'Yesterday, 7pm, The Vale Police department got an anonymous call stating that Roman Torchwick, the man allegedly responsible for the recent chain of Dust robberies, has been sighted in a warehouse located near Vale's Docks. This call sets off a chain of events that results in a bizarre case no-one was ready for._

 _"I was just taking a walk" 'Forest', a witness to the event who wishes to remain anonymous states. "One moment everything was calm, but then I heard gunshots and shouts. I felt the need to investigate, and if necessary, report it to the police- and doing so I managed to capture something that both horrified and inspired me."_

 _The citizen 'Forest' provided the police with a video of the events that she had managed to record, and within it we see none other than Roman Torchwick squaring off against a Grimm monster that had somehow managed to infiltrate Vale City._

 _"I thought I was going to die right there and then." 'Forest' states. "But luckily Roman Torchwick was able to keep the Grimm at bay with the help of a group of White Fang activists who threw themselves at the harm's way by attempting to kill the beast before it had a chance to attack innocent civilians."_

 _The 'White Fang' faunus activists group has been accused of terrorism and vandalism in the past, yet it seems that they have the good of all people in their heart as they, despite having the interest of Faunus as their driving motivation, chose to ally themselves with a human in order to protect all of Vale- even if said human was accused of criminal acts._

 _"It was really odd- I thought Roman Torchwick was a criminal, but he chose to risk his life in defence of Vale and her people" 'Forest' comments. "I don't know how the Grimm got into the city though. I guess it managed to swim through the canals and sewers?"_

 _But the surprises do not end there. In the recording that has been leaked to the internet we see none other than Weiss Schnee, a heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, joining the battle against the Grimm… or does she?_

 _"At the time I didn't know who the girl was, but Weiss Schnee joined the battle- on the Grimm's side." 'Forest' clarifies to the Vale Press. "It shocked me to the core- that a Schnee would side with the Grimm."_

 _The video evidence points to same conclusions as, bizarrely enough, the Heiress chooses to point her Rapier towards the man responsible for keeping the beast at bay, choosing to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Grimm against the ex-huntsman- and even more worryingly, the Grimm doesn't attack her, marking the first time in recorded history where a Grimm creature has refused to attack a human being when given the chance._

 _Then again, this may not be as shocking as it initially appears._

 _"Yeah, the Schnee girl is corrupted. There's something… evil inside her, that allows her to bend Grimm to her will." a anonymous student of Beacon comments through website medium as we approached Beacon on the matter. "I personally saw her turn a Grimm Alpha Beowolf into a Grimm Abomination, and she's rumored to hold orgies amongst her team, and I wouldn't put it past her if she was… erm, 'into' Grimm as well."_

 _Beacon's officials refused to comment, but the Grimm Abomination the student describes seems to match the one shown on our recording._

 _This brings us a myriad of questions: Why does Beacon harbor such monster? Now that her nature is revealed, what actions does Beacon take against her? And if no actions are taken, can we really trust our lives to an institute that would encourage such… acts?_

 _However back on the Docks, Police finally arrive to the scene where the honorable 'thief' was still holding back the dreaded Schnee girl and the Grimm, alone, as the White Fang had all fallen in combat. The recording shows the Grimm getting shot by a police sniper team as the police response squad descends from their Bullhead aerial assault transport._

 _Wounded and outnumbered, the creature makes it's escape with the Schnee Heiress tied in its... tentacles. The police, unaware of the events that took place before their arrival, chose not to open fire in fear of hitting the girl yet Roman Torchwick, recognizing the threat that the duo would present to Vale, engages the Grimm in hot pursuit._

 _We have no information about the current state of Roman Torchwick, Weiss Schnee or the Grimm, but we wish Roman Torchwick well. Multiple parties have called for him to be cleared of all charges previously leveled against him, and reinstated as a Hunter for his selfless act of bravery in defence of Vale._

 _The White Fang personnel recovered from the scene have been sent to hospital, and miraculously every brave faunus activist has survived without long-lasting injuries._

 _"I thought I was going to die." a fox faunus, one of the White Fang members from the scene, tells us her story after regaining consciousness. "It was pretty bad, the Grimm had his tentacles around and inside of my [redacted]…"_

 _Perhaps even more worryingly, she reports that the Grimm may not have only one collaborator, but two._

 _"There was a woman in red cloak, and a woman in black cloak. No, I don't know if one of them was Weiss Schnee, I've never seen her in person." the fox faunus states. "And I didn't really have an option to ask since I was getting [redacted] pretty hard by the Grimm's tentacles..."_

 _Vale Police reminds everyone to be vigilant and report any sightings of Grimm to the police hotline. No citizen should ever approach the Grimm, either alone or in group- or in search of more 'exotic' experiences._

 _This has been Nee-Ônne Ponilitan, Freelance Reporter and Writer to Vale Central press._

Cinder could see Neo smirking all the way from… wherever the heterochromic girl was as she put the paper down. ' _Good… that should throw quite bit of work on Ozpin's table, and the more occupied he is, less time he has to try to hinder us…'_

* * *

A newspaper was dropped on a clockwork table with the headline visible to the gathered students and Hunters.

"Explain, please." Ozpin asked. The headmaster tried his best to ignore how Qrow was basically semi-unconscious from heavy drinking and was slouched on the ornate clockwork table, and how Glynda was frowning at the scraggly man beside him while team SABR and RYNN stood in attention before the headmaster's desk, clad in their school uniforms.

"We were... " Weiss paused to sneeze. "We were trying to arrest mr. Torchwick, but he got away due to a mistake in the critical moment." she sent a mild glare at Ruby who sunk deeper into her hood, and hugged her folded-up Crescent Rose tighter against her chest.

The red-clad girl had been alternating between nearly crying and apologizing profusely to Jaune, Weiss, and the rest of team SABR and RYNN after the teams had managed to get back to Beacon after the events of previous night.

The police had taken statements from RYNN and from the present members of team SABR, and had let them return to Beacon after Glynda Goodwitch had come to fetch them and deliver a scalding rant about students, criminals and the inability of the former to arrest the latter.

Jaune had surfaced with Weiss near the Beacon's end of the lake that connected Beacon and Vale City after swimming through the canal network, and had scaled the cliff leading to Beacon's facilities with a pair of daggers he had transformed after returning to a human form- and as a result of the watery affair, Weiss had gotten a serious cold.

Which was why Weiss had little to no energy, and Jaune could have sworn that the white-haired girl was wobbling a little as she stood in the headmaster's office with flushed cheeks, pale skin and red-veined eyes.

Teams SABR and RYNN had been called to the headmaster's office soon after sunrise to debrief Ozpin- just before which Jaune had dragged Ruby away from the workshop where the girl had been calibrating and double-checking, triple-checking, too-many-times-checking her Crescent Rose after her accidental miss which had resulted in a bullet in Jaune's leg, and had partially resulted in Torchwick getting away.

Jaune felt bad as he realized that the reason Ruby hadn't come to sleep in the dorm last night had been because that the girl had fortified herself to the workshop to both figure out what had gone wrong with her aim, and to hide away from everyone- which explained the black bags under the girl's bloodshot eyes.

"I believe I told all students _not_ to confront Roman Torchwick because I was confident that while the students could potentially fight him on equal grounds in groups, they couldn't _hold_ him until help arrives." Ozpin said after sighing. "Sometimes I hate being right." he added, muttering just loud enough that everyone heard it clearly.

"I'm sorry, sir." Weiss coughed out. "It won't happen agaa- chu!" she sneezed on her napkin.

"I believe that is beside the point, miss Schnee." Glynda said. "Jaune Arc."

"Yes." Jaune straightened his back. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't going to cut it." Glynda frowned. "You were expressly forbidden from revealing your Semblance to avoid exactly this kind of scenario from happening- you placed Beacon in trouble, you placed miss Schnee in trouble, you placed your team in trouble- and worse."

"Worse?" Weiss asked weakly. "What else is there?"

"Fear is spreading." Ozpin said. "Oddly enough the article slipped past the censors Vale's press has in place to prevent news that could cause mass panic or hysteria- someone must have tampered with the systems. Learning that a live Grimm is loose inside Vale and could be anywhere amongst them is causing paranoia and fear, and the fact that miss Schnee was seen siding with Grimm makes people distrustful towards Schnee company- and even more damagingly, towards Beacon, which is supposed to be a undefeatable beacon of hope to the civilians of Vale, hence the name."

"Couldn't we like, pull the article?" Jaune asked, and Glynda shook her head.

"The news have already spread, so pulling the article at this point would just make the paranoia even worse as people would wonder just what we don't want them to know." The stern woman told them. "Not to mention how the video of your confrontation was released, which contains fairly damming material. We need to approach the matter delicately to avoid a public backlash that would hurt us even more."

"But…" Blake came to Weiss's defence. Blake's face was pale and while she had her ribbon on her head, the piece of cloth was slumped downwards, clearly indicating the girl's sullen mood. "We can't just ignore the crimes, right? Isn't doing what's right the purpose of Hunters in the first place?"

"The purpose of Hunters is to Hunt Grimm. Finding criminals is a job for Police, unless some super-powered criminal is involved, in which case they call trained and competent Hunters to help, and coordinate appropriately." Qrow growled out weakly. "Problem of hunting hunters is that if you make one mistake, the people involved swap places. The Grimm use claws and tooth and thus are predictable, but the Hunters tend to get more creative with their methods. You kids won yourselves a loss, and a spectacular one at that."

"There are more ways to attack someone than just attacking them directly." Ozpin voiced his agreement to Qrow's speech. "You may have done more damage to both yourselves and the people around you than you have hindered Roman Torchwick- if we pretend that the increased positive publicity he got from this doesn't potentially benefit him more than the loss of Lien you caused hurts him. You won a fight, but you lost a battle"

"But the war is still undecided." Ren voiced his opinion for once. "Infighting will only weaken us."

"True." Ozpin said while sipping his coffee. "But I believe that I need to further drive my point home as we cannot afford repeating this scenario- Like how Glynda put it, this situation is too delicate to approach with brute force."

"Right…" Jaune scratched the back of his neck. "So um… what should we do?"

"Nothing." Glynda said, causing eight pairs of confused eyes to stare at the woman. "You will leave resolving this mess to the teachers, to trained Hunters, like you should have at the start. For that, both teams SABR and RYNN are placed on house arrest, effective immediately."

"Sir?" Weiss asked somewhat shakily as she turned towards Ozpin.

"If teams SABR or RYNN leave Beacon's grounds, you will be removed from Beacon's roster." Ozpin continued where Glynda left off.. "I will determine later when the house arrest ends. In addition you all will be receiving extra lessons from professor Qrow."

Jaune tried to ignore how Qrow groaned at the prospect of having to teach someone in his free time.

"I… I see." Weiss shook from head to toe like a leaf. "We… We are sorry."

"We will contact you further regarding to the length and details of your house arrest, but I'd advise you to keep to your dorms for now." Glynda told them, although her tone was far less aggressive as she took in Weiss's shaky and sick appearance. "Stay in groups when you venture out of the dorms, and don't leave Beacon. Most of the hostility in the air is directed towards you, miss Schnee, so I'd encourage you to not give it a chance to vent."

"Y-yes." Weiss muttered with her bloodshot eyes glued to the floor.

"I am not throwing you to the wolves- but Beacon cannot appear to be doing nothing while under this much public scrutiny, and this is the mildest way I can think of to begin resolving it." Ozpin told them while looking at Weiss. "You are dismissed."

…

"You didn't show the kid the recording I got." Qrow pointed out to Ozpin as the teenagers left the room, and Glynda left behind them to both make sure they would go straight to their dorms, and that no-one would try to confront the sick Schnee girl when she was most vulnerable.

"I believe it might not be the best moment for it." Ozpin said. "We want to use it to direct him towards the queen, but the recent events makes me think that setting him off to warpath right now might cause more damage to us than to the Grimm, specifically with the current news and rumors going around."

"And?" Qrow asked. "What do you want to use him for then?"

"To be honest, I am not entirely sure what purpose he fills at this point, and if he truly is a neutral party as he claims." Ozpin sighed. "There's too much happening for even me to keep track of. I'm certain that our enemies have a infiltrator in police, in press, maybe even in Beacon…"

"You are still thinking that the Arc brat is a sleeper agent, or a spy."

"I am not entirely ruling out the possibility, which makes me glad that I found him when I did… Unless that was their plan from the start- to give me something irregular to focus on while our enemies operated under the distraction." the headmaster theorized to his agent while looking through the news article on his desk for the tenth time. "This is just… too convenient. Could it be that the Grimm the White Fang were importing under our nose was for this purpose, to make White Fang look like heroes in the eyes of populace and to attract more people under their flag? No, it..."

"Oz."

"They would have to bring..."

"Oz."

"But why would Roman Torchwick of all people…"

"Oz!" Qrow took the headmaster's hand and pulled it away from the paper. "You're going to your conspiracy theories again."

"...You're right. There's too much at stake for me to start getting sidetracked." Ozpin sighed and reached for his cup of coffee… which was empty. He lifted his eyes from the mug as a metal flask came to the edge of it, and Ozpin turned his mug slightly so Qrow could pour some of the contents of his flask to it. "This situation… there are too many unknowns. Our enemies may be trying to divert our attention outside Beacon so they can attack us from the inside. We need more information."

"You don't say." Qrow huffed as he brought the half-empty flask to his lips and emptied it. "Anyway, I got the recording and info about the kid's family, you decide when to use it. And just so you know as well, Raven wanted to recruit the kid."

"Hm?"

"She seemed interested in him, and I had to tell her off from going to Vale in order to talk with him… I don't like it." Qrow muttered. "That kid's power in Raven's hands… I don't like the idea, and I like even less how Raven showed some… disturbing... feelings towards him,"

Ozpin raised his eyebrow.

"No kidding. Anyway, the kid's sisters and the rest of the people of Shion that she caught are probably alive- she said something about having turned them into workers- Although I'd guess that it's more along the lines of slaves than workers." Qrow continued as a response to the unasked question. "The old tribe leader is dead. Raven did him in, and took his mantle."

"I see." the headmaster leaned on his hands. "Interesting. I suppose the change in treatment of captives stems from the leadership change?"

"Yeah." the scraggly man sighed. "Regardless, I think that it's unlikely that she would actually attempt to infiltrate into Vale to speak with the kid- most likely it was just the alcohol speaking."

"We'll have to wait and see, but keep an eye out for her avian form regardless." Ozpin said after a moment of consideration. "Our enemies are cunning, and a hasty victory may cost us more than we realize in the future, like how yesterday showed us. For now, I'd like you to stay in Vale, and seek out the ring responsible for the recent events."

"Right." Qrow mumbled drunkenly. "No easy jobs for ol'Qrow…"

* * *

"I can't believe this… this… drivel!" Weiss growled weakly as she read through the article about yesterday's battle once again. "I wouldn… dnn... " she sneezed. "Gah, I would never do those… things… the article insinuates!"

"We know, Weiss." Jaune sighed.

"This is a clear smear campai… campih…" Weiss waved her hand vaguely through a spot between her sheets as the girl was basically entombed in a thick layer of blankets. "...Campaign. Against the Schnee's."

"Still, what are we going to do now? About White Fang? About Torchwick?" Blake asked weakly. "We can't just sit on our hands, can we?"

"Unfortunately we don't have all that many options." Ren told her.

Teams SABR and RYNN had gathered in team SABR's dorm after securing plentiful amounts of snacks from the dorm's fridge, and the rest had brought pillows as makeshift chairs to sit on and make themselves comfortable as they thought about their next move. Yang had put Zwei to RYNN's dorm for the time as the corgi and Jaune had developed a nasty habit of growling at each other whenever they were in the same room for extended periods of time.

"I… I'm so sorry." Ruby apologized once again from her spot between Yang and Jaune. The small red-clad girl was barely visible through the blanket she had tied around herself, and Jaune felt the waves of despair and sadness the small sniper radiated. "This… this is all my fault. If I hadn't missed and hit Jaune, Torchwick would have been caught and none of this would have happened."

"It's alright, Ruby. We all make mistakes, and I wasn't hurt that badly in the end. Plus I made the most critical mistake back there." Jaune tried to reassure her while patting the quivering pile of blankets. "I just… got distracted by something, and when your shot hit me I thought Weiss was Torchwick for a moment and I grabbed the wrong person- not to mention how the entire thing is so bad because I had transformed completely."

"No…" Pyrrha muttered brokenly. "It was my fault for suggesting that it would be our duty to pursue the robbers and..."

"Stop. All of you." Yang clapped her hands together. "We are not going to get anywhere if we just turn this meeting into a who-can-sulk-the-hardest contest."

"But… What can we do?" Blake asked. She scratched her bow for a while, and Jaune sighed as he sensed the waves of irritation that radiated from the girl, directed at the bow on top of her head.

"Blake."

"Yeah?" Blake turned her eyes towards Jaune.

"You can take your bow off." he said, and sighed as the girl's eyes widened in response. "We're all friends here. No-one's going to judge you, or treat you differently."

"Huh?" Nora turned her head towards Blake, a gesture which was repeated by both Ren and Yang.

"Fine… I'm trusting you here." Blake told Jaune, before pulling her bow off and letting her cat-ears free. "I… I'm a faunus."

"I see." Ren said simply while Yang grinned as she looked at the ears that were twitching slightly after getting released.

"They're cute." Nora said before reaching to touch the ears… and stopping as Blake flinched slightly and pulled away. "Huh? Blakey? Is something wrong?"

"Touching faunus's um... 'parts' without permission is considered fairly rude." Jaune came to the black-haired girl's defence.

"Huh?" Nora turned towards the boy, before looking back at Blake who was glaring suspiciously at Nora's outstretched hand. "Oh, sorry Blakey… Is something wrong, Pyr-Pyr?" Nora added as she glanced at Pyrrha who had blushed from head to toe for some reason.

"Um… nothing's wrong… but Jaune, how did you know that? I mean the um… faunus 'parts' thing?" Pyrrha dodged the question while nervously fiddling with the hem of her school skirt.

"I read about it in a book." Jaune told her. "Although, err, I'm not sure if everything the book had was completely truthful."

"What do you mean?" Yang asked and he looked slightly away- both from slight embarrassment at the subject and from the slight buzz that the Shadow still caused inside of him whenever he was near her despite him getting more and more used to the busty girl's presence.

 _'I still haven't figured out why it does that… I wonder if it's because her mother was killed by Raven? But there shouldn't be a connection…'_ Jaune thought, but shook himself out of his ponderings as Yang lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Well, the book had something about tentac-"

"Moving on, my faunus nature isn't the only thing I need to reveal to you." Blake cut Jaune off mid-sentence, which was probably for the best. "Before I came to Beacon, I… I was part of the White Fang."

Silence met her words, and Jaune felt more than he saw the waves of foreboding Blake radiated as she retreated to her shell- or would have retreated, were it not for Jaune tying one of his arms around her shoulders reassuringly.

"She's not in White Fang anymore if that wasn't clear already, by the way." Weiss grumbled through her sheets. "She gave up on them a long time ago, and toldd… todd… chu!"

Jaune offered the sick heiress another tissue and she sneezed again. "Thanks. Anyway, Blake is one of us. She has nothing to do with them anymore."

"Right." Yang sighed. "Was that why you three initially went to investigate the warehouse?"

"No, we came across a robbery in progress, and followed them." Blake told her quietly. "We're sorry. If we hadn't done that… none of…" her speech was interrupted as Yang reached to put a finger on the faunus's lips to shut her up.

"Sulking contest. No. Bad kitty." Yang drawled playfully, before her tone took a bit more serious note. "But I won't pretend that getting house arrested into Beacon isn't a bummer."

"I need to contact the chief editor of the press." Weiss grumbled through her sheets as silence descended upon the group. "This… this... Character assassination needs to be cleared."

"I'll doubt that the press will do that if you ask, though." Blake told Weiss while turning her Scroll around to show the leaked video that a passerby had taken of their fight against Torchwick yesterday. "The video is pretty damning, and it's gotten really widespread in short time… Suspiciously widespread."

"I'm sure it will pass eventually." Pyrrha said reassuringly. "If nothing else surfaces, then the scandal will grow stale over time, and if the 'Grimm' doesn't make a reappearance then the people will move onto the next big thing that catches their attention."

"Still, the Schnee Dust company doesn't need the bad press." Weiss grumbled. "The White Fang hates us already, we don't need to add the populace of Vale to it…"

"I hear you." Jaune sighed. "But… what can we do?" he repeated Blake's earlier question.

"Well… For now, I think we should stick close to Weiss until the hostility passes, like how miss Goodwitch said." Pyrrha said after considerable pause in the conversation where Jaune was trying to cheer Ruby up by feeding her snacks through a crack in her blanket fortress. "If the students buy into the rumors, they may attempt to confront Weiss about it…"

"No." A resolute voice came from under the pile of blankets that covered Ruby, and the small reaper poked her head out so she could glare at Pyrrha with resolute look her silver eyes. "We won't let anything bad happen to Weiss."

"Relax, Ruby. Pyrrha's not the enemy here." Yang patted Ruby's head. "Besides, it looks like Weiss-cream isn't going anywhere anytime soon."

Weiss agreed by blowing her nose again.

"So uh… What should the rest of us do? The article didn't mention us, right?" Yang asked as the conversation died down.

"The recording that the passerby took shows RYNN and me by glance, but I think it appears more like as if we had arrived as reinforcements against the 'Grimm'." Blake said as she played the video on her Scroll. "Luckily we both took our cloaks off before the fight so I don't think that anyone will realize that the 'lady in red' and 'lady in black' were Pyrrha and I."

"Speaking of which, what was that bit in the end?" Yang asked as she read through the paper that Weiss had handed her. "You know, er… the statement from the White Fang member?"

"We were interrogating one of them to find out where they are taking the Dust since the warehouse didn't seem to have all that much of it, considering how long the robberies have been going on." Blake told her.

"You have… interesting interrogation methods." Ren pointed out as he leaned over Yang's shoulder to read the article as well. "I can't say I approve of them."

"We did what we had to." Blake sighed and rubbed her eyes. "It's not something I enjoyed doing, but in the end she lived, right?"

"The fox girl from the article?" Yang clarified as she looked at Jaune somewhat warily. "Yeah she lived, I guess… Just… Don't ever do that again." She punctuated her words by tying her arm around Ruby's shoulders protectively and pulling the smaller girl slightly closer to her, and further away from Jaune and Blake.

Ruby just blinked at her big sister's odd behaviour.

"Did you find out where they had taken the Dust?" Ren asked Blake. "Moreover, I find it curious that this article doesn't mention the stolen Dust that the police must have recovered from the scene."

"Maybe it's because the amount of Dust back there was so little compared to the amount already stolen. The worker we interrogated told us that Roman had been using White Fang to package the stolen Dust and a Bullhead had been transporting it off somewhere, although she didn't know where." Blake told the group. "Also, now that you mention it, there's nothing about Dust in the whole article. Suspicious."

"All flights are automatically recorded in Vale's flight control, located within cross-continental transmit system, and transmitted through the CCT network to other kingdoms to let them know of incoming aircraft and prepare escorts accordingly. Atlas developed the system to make it possible for incoming transports to get a fighter escort in case of Grimm attack." Weiss said weakly after drinking some water. "If we wanted to know where Bullhead was going, we'd have to break into CCT's records where a copy of the flight plan is stord… stordd... " she paused to sneeze again. "Stored, and even if the flight plan the Bullhead submitted to the control was a false one, it would at least point us to a vague direction the plane would take since it would have to stay on the plan at least until it left the radar distance."

"Do we really want to get deeper into the whole thing though?" Jaune asked somewhat warily. "After all, getting involved with Torchwick and White Fang got us into this trouble in the first place."

"It would be a good way of proving that we're the good guys though." Ruby said after a moment of silence. "Plus, can we just let the bad guys get whatever they want without a fight, right?"

"I don't like this." Blake said as she leaned back on her pillow-chair. "First the Grimm, now this… just what is White Fang up to? Just what could have caused this radical change in their behaviour?"

"Well, we aren't going to find that out by sitting on our hands, do we?" Yang asked while stretching her arms. "Besides, infiltrating the CCT sounds pretty exciting, no? And it's not like we have much to do beside studying while we're constrained to Beacon."

"I will find out who's behind all this." Weiss declared with sullen tone as she wobbled on the spot. "I will find the one behind both the rumors about my private life, and behind the nonsense about my 'control over the Grimm'... And when I find them I will have my revenge"

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed. "But first, you need to get back on your feet."

"Agfhr… Ahree… Agreed." Weiss sniffed out before blowing her nose again.

.

..

…

The rest of the sunday was spent in a somewhat sullen state as neither of the two teams really wanted to go anywhere, not to mention how the headmaster's orders had been to stick to the dorms for the time being- which meant that Weiss had stayed buried under the blankets as she tried to recover from her illness, Blake had been reading in her bed, and Ruby had been re-reading a ballistics manual while sitting on top of a pillow on the floor after taking a short nap since she had stayed up for the whole night. Yang had decided to stick with team SABR and was sitting next to Ruby with her arm draped protectively over the smaller girl, and she sent a suspicious glare at Jaune every now and then for some season. Pyrrha had decided to stick with the group as well and was fiddling with her skirt nervously while watching a replay of a tournament fight on the holographic television that SABR had set up in front of the room's single window.

Jaune had tried to entertain Weiss while she was bedridden, although to not much success while Nora and Ren had gone to cook something in the dorm's small shared kitchen as it would be unlikely that any of them would go to the cafeteria for dinner.

"Come to think of it, we're going to have to get Jaune a new Scroll." Blake said as she put her book aside. "You didn't recover yours after yesterday's fight, right?"

"Yeah, it got destroyed after the White Fang found it stuck to the robber's escape van." Jaune sighed. "I still have money left over so I should be able to buy a new one though, so it isn't a big deal."

"You sound like you don't have much money left." Weiss lifted her eyebrow at him. "Did you spend your entire salary in just two days?" she added with a slightly dangerous tone.

"No… Well, yes. Kind of." Jaune shrugged. "I gave most of the money I that earned to my sisters back in Vale, they aren't doing all that well in terms of money so I figured I'd help them get by, and I don't really need all that much money myself."

"Ah…" Pyrrha seemed to realize something. "I could have helped with that…".

"I wouldn't want to bother." Jaune scratched the back of his neck. "It's not that they couldn't afford food or anything like that, they just have to cut a lot of corners and the full upkeep of the house is one of them."

"Still, I wish to help." Pyrrha smiled supportively at him. Jaune saw as Blake sent a suspicious look at the red-headed girl but chose not to comment, and instead gestured for Jaune to come closer.

"Jaune… Should we let the others know of our… arrangement?" she whispered to him as he hopped up on the bottom end of her bunk bed. "About you, me and Pyrrha?"

"I…" Jaune begun, unsure what to say in response, but he was interrupted before the answer he might have gotten out was properly realized.

"Turn the volume up!" he heard Weiss order Pyrrha from her bunk bed under Blake's. "The television!"

Jaune and Blake turned in unison to look at the holographic television which showed a news broadcast, in which a man in white suit was giving a speech to a hall full of journalists.

 _"...And due to the recent events and revelations, the Schnee Dust Company is forced to analyze their upcoming strategies. The Schnee Dust Company is built upon ideas of better future with a clean energy source, Dust, and better employment upon…"_ the man told the group, and Jaune glanced down to see Weiss staring at the screen suspiciously.

"Weiss?" Jaune asked. "Who's that?"

"He's… That man is my father. Jacques Schnee. The current head of SDC." Weiss said somewhat shakily, and Jaune could practically see the waves of foreboding that the girl radiated.

Before he managed to ask if the girl was alright a stray word caught his ear and he looked back at the television.

 _"We, The Schnee Dust Company, deny all allegations of harboring Grimm and Grimm sympathizers. The recent events in Vale were not endorsed by the Schnee Company- Weiss Schnee did not act as a representative of SDC with her actions."_ Jacques Schnee finished his speech and motioned for a journalist who had lifted his hand to speak.

" _Weiss Schnee has been declared to be the future heiress of the SDC."_ the journalist asked. _"Multiple parties have expressed concern with the SDC being potentially led by a Grimm sympathizer in the future. What is the official policy of…"_ the journalist was cut off as the man in white suit spoke over him.

 _"That will no longer be the case."_ the head of SDC said, and Jaune saw as Weiss froze still in her bed. _"The SDC will stand by Remnant and her people, and no Grimm sympathizer will ever take her helm while we have the chance to prevent it. Our investors, customers and associates can sleep safe knowing that Schnee Dust Company will not be led by Weiss Schnee in the future. I hereby announce that Weiss Schnee is no longer the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, and her role as a successor to the company will be taken by Whitley Schnee, the youngest member of Schnee family."_

Jaune saw as a teenage boy stepped forwards, clad in similar white suit, and stood next to Jacques Schnee… before the television's holographic screen burst in static as a object was thrown through it, knocking the television off the desk.

Jaune looked down to see Weiss having thrown her box of tissues at the television, and the girl's bloodshot eyes were wide with panic.

"Weiss?" Ruby asked quietly, breaking the complete silence that had overtaken the room. She had put her ballistics manual down in order to look at the shaking and sick white-haired girl. "Are… Are you alright?"

"No. I… I'm..." Weiss's voice shook as she spoke. "I'm not. I'm not alright."

"Weiss…" Jaune started with dry mouth. "I…"

"Shut up." Weiss said before he could finish his sentence.

"I'm sorry." Jaune continued, and flinched as she turned to look up at him.

"This is your fault." Weiss said simply, and he felt the wave of fear inside her turning to anger.

"I didn't mea…"

"You… you caused this to happen." Weiss whispered and he flinched at the venom with which the words were ushered. "I hate you."

"Weiss, I couldn't have…" Jaune tried to say something, anything, to help the white-haired girl calm down but it seemed that every word that exited his mouth just fanned the girl's anger further.

"Get out!" Weiss screeched, and pushed herself up from her bed so she could grab him by his throat as he had been leaning over Blake's bed to look down at the white-haired girl, and she yanked him off the top bed.

"Weiss! Stop!" Ruby came to Jaune's defence as he crashed down on the dorm-room's floor with Pyrrha barely managing to avoid getting body-slammed by the falling teenager. However, before Ruby could come to pull Weiss off Jaune, the sick ex-heiress of the SDC collapsed limply on top of Jaune.

"Weiss?" Jaune tried to croak out warily as he looked at the girl's pale complexion and flushed cheeks as she lied motionless on top of him with her eyes closed, although her grip on his throat was as strong as it had been a moment ago. As the moment stretched he focused his attention on the emotions the girl radiated... and found none. ' _She passed out… The entire situation must have overstressed her and pushed her over her limits… not to mention that she was sick on top of everything else…'_

"Is… Is she alright?" Pyrrha asked warily as she looked at the unconscious girl while Jaune tried his best to pry Weiss's hands off his throat as gently as he could, although to not much success as the girl had his windpipe in a fever-induced death-grip. Blake had poked her head over the edge of her bunk and was watching Weiss warily while Ruby was hovering over the downed pair with a concerned look in her silver eyes.

"She passed out from over-exertion, I think." Jaune croaked out as he struggled to get air through his throat to form words. _'Sheesh, not needing to breath is becoming more handy than I thought…'_

"Well." Yang commented from the side with a bottle of soda in her hand. "That escalated quickly."

"Uh, should we get Weiss back to her bed?" Ruby asked as she kneeled beside the unconscious girl.

Jaune nodded at Ruby and picked Weiss up carefully from the floor after finally managing to remove the girl's fingers from around his throat.

 _'She's really light...'_ he thought as he carried the girl to her bed and put her down on it.

"Right…" Jaune sighed as he turned back towards the others. "I think Weiss is out for the rest of the evening."

"Yeah." Ruby agreed as she came next to him so she could put her hand on Weiss's temple to check her temperature. "She's burning up too…"

"You guys might want to have someone near her when she wakes up though." Yang commented with uncharacteristically serious tone. "I don't think it would be good idea to leave her alone when she's in that kind of mindset and probably also delirious from the fever."

"I can stay for the first watch when the dinner is ready." Ruby said while she pulled a small towel from a clothes drawer and placed it on Weiss's forehead after soaking it in cold water in the bathroom.

 _'Haah…'_ Jaune sighed internally as he looked at the unconscious girl. ' _What a mess…'_

 **Next Chapter- 10-11.2**


	25. Schnee Scandalism

" _...The Schnee's are a proud family, forged in the fires of industry and tempered in the sea of trading… " She turned her pen in her hand as she let the voice of her personal teacher pass by her head. She had more important things to focus on, like the calculation she had on her paper as she sat in the room that had been turned to a study..._

" _...You will be the next owner of the company when the time comes for me to stand aside. Congratulations, my daughter..." a man spoke to her, and she felt elation as she heard the proud tone of her father's voice praising her after she had passed a series of tests and she stood in his office…_

 _...She smelled smoke as fire roared, and heard screeching of tires against asphalt… A woman screamed something but fell quiet…_

" _Is she alright?" A familiar male voice asked as she regained consciousness in a sterile smelling hospital, and she tried to open her eyes and say something as she felt the concern in the man's voice… but before she could get any words out of her throat a foreign female voice spoke to the man. "She's… I'm sorry, sir. She didn't make it."_

 _She felt a wave of something cold pass down her spine as the words registered in her head._

" _What about her child?" the familiar male voice she recognized as her father's asked shakily. "What happened to her?"_

" _She will survive. Your wife, sir, she… she gave her life to shield your daughter from the bomb…" She felt her consciousness slipping and the woman's words became a indistinguishable mumble..._

" _...What do you want?" the familiar male voice asked coldly as she stood in front of him in a somewhat barren office._

" _Father, I wish to become a Huntress…" She told him, and the man leaned forwards on his desk..._

" _...Are you sure this is what you want to do? To become a Huntress? I will help to train you and try to persuade him, but…" A white-haired woman asked her while rubbing circles on her back. She tried to calm herself to answer the woman as she had been crying for what felt like eternity in her room. She didn't want to be weak, to be vulnerable… like how her mother had been..._

" _...What about her current… ambition?" a male voice asked._

" _She has been enrolled to Beacon. I didn't do it, and neither do I approve of it, but I'm sure she will realize the error in her ways when she gets her feet wet… And if not, there are alternatives. I won't stand by her bullheadedness for much longer, she has already cost me... too much." the voice of her father replied, and she shook as she heard the coldness in the man's tone as she listened to the conversation through a office door as she prepared to knock on it..._

" _I hereby announce that Weiss Schnee is no longer the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company…" the familiar male voice announced to a hall full of shadow-like people, and she felt her heart breaking as she saw the cold expression on the face of the man she had called her father while she lied in her sickbed, shaking from the cold and burning up from the fever, and heard the voice of the man she had once admired denounce her._

 _She tried to rise up, to do something, to say something, but the shadow-like people of the crowd in front of her father rose up from their chairs to look at her and block her path, and she felt a swarm of shadow-like tentacles latching onto her from somewhere behind her and pulling her away from her father. She saw as a teenager in white suit walked forwards and stood next to the man…_

" _Weiss." the teenager, her little brother, mocked her as he focused his eyes on the weakly struggling girl, and she tried her best to shake off the tentacles that had tied themselves around her shoulders, around her chest…_

 _She felt tears of frustration falling down her cheeks and she screamed as the appendages tied themselves tighter against her, pulling her away from her life… She screamed as it violated her, taking everything she had from her while the white-clad man and the white-clad teenager just watched with cold eyes..._

" _Weiss!"_

"Weiss!"

Weiss Schnee snapped her eyes open as she woke up to someone calling her name. She coughed as her throat felt dry, like as if she'd screamed for hours, and she felt sweaty and uncomfortably hot from her fever.

She tried to rub her eyes but she discovered that her arms were constrained by something, rendering her helpless. Weiss felt panic rising inside of her and her breath hitched in her throat as she remembered the violation she had experienced in her dreams which it was further amplified by the feeling of helplessness the constraints around her caused…

"Weiss?" the voice asked again, and Weiss hiccupped slightly while trying to disentangle herself from her constraints… until she felt a foreign pair of hands pulling the constraints off from around her.

Weiss breathed easier as she could move her hands again, and she reached to rub her eyes so she could see… and heard a flick of a switch and was subsequently blinded as the room she was in was flooded with light.

"Stop... " Weiss whined weakly. "Too bright..."

"Ah, sorry." A male voice apologized and she head the switch get flicked again to turn off the room's main lights, and another flick brought in soft, warm light from a reading lamp.

"What's happening?" Weiss growled out weakly before taking a tissue someone offered her and she blew her nose on it. She focused her attention on her surroundings and saw that she was in team SABR's room, and her team had gathered in front of her bed… or above it, as it were the case for Blake who was looking down at her from her bed above Weiss's.

"You're awake… thank Oum," Ruby muttered as she put aside the blanket that she had disentangled from around Weiss.

She glanced out of the window and saw that the sky was pitch black, and that the only occupants in the room were her team- which normally wouldn't confuse her yet her last memory was from when the sky was still lit with evening light and both Yang and Pyrrha had been in the room as well..

"What… what happened?" Weiss asked, confused over the change in time as she looked out of the window at the dark sky through which the shattered moon shone brightly. "Was I..."

"You collapsed." Jaune said, and Weiss felt a surge of irritation rising inside of her for some reason as she looked at the blonde boy who looked as clueless as ever. "There was a news broadcast and… well, things happened. You collapsed soon afterwards and we put you back to bed."

"I…" Weiss tried to start, but realized mid-sentence she didn't quite know what to say so she just motioned for the boy to continue.

"It's been six hours or so since then, we took turns watching over you." Jaune recounted. "You started to shake and toss around in the bed after a while so we kept trying to disentangle you whenever we could. You got really entangled in your blankets and started to scream a moment ago, and then you woke up."

"I… I see." Weiss rubbed her eyes tiredly. Her voice sounded shaky and weak even to her own ears "I… I just saw a nightmare. I somehow thought that I had been replaced as the heiress of the SDC or…" she stopped speaking as she noticed the expressions on her team's faces.

"Weiss…" Ruby reached to take Weiss's hand and she squeezed it reassuringly.

"No."

"It's okay, you still have us, right?" Ruby took her hand. "Right, Jaune, Blake?"

"It..." Weiss whispered as all feeling left her fingers. "It… it really happened."

"Yeah…" Ruby said quietly and Jaune sighed before nodding at Weiss to confirm her fears.

"I… I…" Weiss felt an odd, burning sensation in her eyes and she reached to wipe her eyes to find that her fingers came off wet from her cheeks. ' _Am… Am I crying?'_

Before she managed to get her thoughts on track she felt as a warm body pressed against hers, and she looked numbly to the side to discover that Ruby had tied her arms around the sick white-haired girl and was hugging her tightly.

"Ruby… get off…" Weiss said automatically as her head refused to work, and her arms rebelled against her by tying themselves around Ruby's back. "I hate this…" she muttered to the girl's red-tipped hair.

"We stand beside you." Weiss looked up as Jaune patted her shoulder reassuringly. "You're not alone, despite what happened."

"Thank you…" Weiss muttered weakly as she pulled back from the hug so she could blow her nose again. "I'm sorry that you have to see me like this…"

"That's what we're here for." Ruby told her. "Well, I mean, to help each other, not to see eachother weak or…"

"Geez, I get it, you dolt…" Weiss grumbled, and Ruby tightened her hug around the sick ex-heiress.

"Glad to see you're getting back to normal." Ruby muttered happily before pulling back from the hug. "But, I think you need a bath and change of bedsheets."

Weiss agreed as she was still drenched in sweat from the nightmare and from the fever, and she attempted to rise up from the bed to go to shower… and promptly fell over.

Or would have fallen over, were it not for Jaune catching her mid-fall.

"...Haah." Blake sighed, and Weiss heard a small thud as the cat faunus hopped down from her top-bed and landed on the floor. "Give her to me, and I'll help her take a shower."

"Right." Weiss was passed from Jaune to Blake, which caused a slight surge of irritation inside the white-haired girl for the unauthorized manhandling.

"Blake?" She asked warily as the black-haired girl took her to the shower and began undressing her.

"You helped me earlier when I was in similar situation." Blake said simply. "Let me repay the favor."

"...Fine." Weiss sighed as she was too tired to care. "Thank you."

"It's what partners are for."

…

"Do you think Weiss is going to be okay?" Ruby asked Jaune as the pair was changing Weiss's bedsheets while Blake was helping Weiss to take a shower.

"I hope so." Jaune said. "She's at least awake now, but I think we should still keep an eye on her just in case if she tries to do something rash. I don't think she will, but… well, she's not healthy yet, and fever can cause all kinds of bad decisions."

"Yeah…" Ruby muttered. "I don't know how her dad could do that to her over some rumors."

"Me neither." Jaune sighed tiredly while rubbing his eyes. "I can't imagine how strict her life must have been before Beacon or how much stress she had to endure if she could be replaced so easily, because of just one mistake."

"There must be more to it than just that." Ruby looked thoughtful as she spoke, but shook her head afterwards. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that Weiss is one of us, and we will help her get through this"

"Yep." Silence descended over the pair after Jaune voiced his agreement,

' _Right… It's my turn to watch over Weiss.'_ Jaune thought as he sat down on his bed and grabbed a book he had been reading. It was a fairly soapy romance novel, but he figured he'd need all the help he could get if he was going to be trying to date both Pyrrha and Blake at the same time, and he'd hoarded few books on the subject matter in search for pointers to a right direction. He could have tried to ransack his head for the relationship-memories of someone he had devoured, but he didn't want to delve too deep into some dead man's relationship life- and if he did, he was fairly sure that the Shadow's twisting and maddening influence would have made the memories a unclear mess at best, and disastrous at worst.

He just hoped the books would give him at least some pointers to a right direction and make him aware of things that he should avoid doing, beside the obvious pitfalls that he had already stepped into. ' _...Well, there's nothing I can do about those anymore. I need to take responsibility for my actions...'_

"Jaune?" Ruby's voice broke him from his thoughts before he managed to open his book.

"Yeah?" Jaune turned to look at the girl who had hopped onto her bed above his, and was looking down at him upside-down over the edge of her bed.

"What should we do tomorrow? Er, actually I mean what should we do today, I guess?" she asked somewhat nervously.

"Well…" Jaune thought aloud. "I don't think that we'll be attending any lessons today, with Weiss being as sick and the other students being potentially hostile towards us."

"Um… So with that being the case, would you like to hang around together?"

"Sure, but I don't think we'll be able to go anywhere with the whole house arrest going on." Jaune sighed. He ignored a feeling that he was forgetting something as he reached to pat Ruby's head which was still poking over the edge of her bed, and the girl blushed slightly before pulling her head back and disappearing out of his sight.

' _I swear I'm forgetting something... '_ he tried to ransack his head as he turned a page on his book, and heard a creak as the bathroom door opened to let Blake and Weiss exit, both clad in their fresh nightwear and hair damp from shower. Weiss seemed to wobble a little and had a considerable blush in her cheeks, but it seemed that she calmed down after Blake helped her to her bed.

Blake nodded at Jaune, and he nodded back as he picked up the shift to look over Weiss. He lifted an eyebrow at Blake as she seemed to hesitate for a while as she glanced back and forth between his bed and hers before climbing back to her own bed and going back to sleep after sending him a meaningful look that only succeeded in baffling him even further.

' _Yeah, I'm going to need all the relationship advice I can get and then some…'_ Jaune sighed at the black-clad girl's antics as he continued to read his romance novel.

"...What are you doing?" Weiss's words broke him out of his thoughts, and he looked up from his book to see the white-haired girl looking at him suspiciously over her blankets.

"Hm? I'm reading a book." Jaune said. "I did say that we were taking turns watching over you."

"Go to sleep." Weiss told him. "I'm conscious now sho… shoo... " she paused to sneeze and groan. "...So you can rest now."

"Nope." Jaune told her. "We decided to watch over your sleep since you were sleeping really restlessly, and we're going to stick to it. Tomorrow we're going to take the day off school as well, and help you get back in shape."

"..." Weiss glared at him, and he looked back down on his book to underline his point. "Fine. But I will warn you, I can be a very demanding patient."

"I can handle it. I have more than enough experience on that sector." Jaune smirked. "I have… I had seven sisters."

Weiss raised her eyebrow at the correction, but didn't press the issue.

"Well, as long as you are aware of what you're getting into." she huffed instead and turned around on her bed so her back was towards him. "...Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

"I… I may have said something before I collapsed…" Weiss started warily, but was interrupted as Jaune chuckled lightly.

"Don't worry about that. It was just something you said in the heat of the moment, right?" Jaune told her. "Besides, this _is_ my fault after all…"

"Regardless, I'm sorry for lashing out like that." Weiss told him quietly. "I… I just…"

"...Go to sleep." Blake mumbled from her bed, which shut both of them up.

Weiss gave one last wary glance at him before turning around again and pulling her blanket over her, and Jaune leaned his back against one of the sturdy steel-reinforced pillars that held the bunk beds together before going back to reading his book.

.

..

...

With the morning, came the flurry of orders.

"Thanks." Weiss gracefully accepted a fruity drink Jaune had made for her as she sat on a large beanbag chair which Blake had pilfered for her from somewhere. "Acceptable." she added as she sipped the drink.

Blake lifted her eyebrow at Weiss from her bed where she was lying on her stomach while reading some novel she had grabbed from Jaune's bookshelf. The black-haired faunus turned her eyes towards the fruit drink, and Jaune sighed as he got the wordless 'request' and returned to the kitchen to make one for Blake as well.

"Uuhhh…" Ruby whined as she massaged Weiss's feet. "Why did we agree to do this again?"

"Because you wished to atone for your acc… acht…" Weiss paused to sneeze. "For your actions, and you don't have anything better to do while you're grounded, correct?"

"Yeah, but still…"

"Then be quiet, and continue." Weiss decreed while pushing her foot against Ruby's hand, and the girl continued the massage while grumbling something about unfairness.

"...What should we do now?" Ruby asked quietly after a moment as she finished massaging the white-haired girl's feet while she was watching the television. "After what happened, I mean?"

"I am thinking about it." Weiss's answer was simple."I will not just let this pass over. I will get to the bottom of this scandal and find out just _who_ is spreading all these rumors about me, and I will have my revenge. And about my father..." she paused for a while and it seemed that Ruby sensed the hesitation in her voice as she looked away.

"I..." Ruby muttered dejectedly. "I'm sorry for that, for causing you to lose your statu…"

"Stop sulking. It is my father's fault, as he was the one who removed my status as heiress over some stupid rumors." Weiss sent a reprimanding glare at Ruby over her drink before the silver-eyed girl managed to finish her sentence. "We need to focus on future if we are to get over this mess. For that, I'd like to… tohhh…" her speech ended abruptly with her blowing her nose, and Jaune re-entering the room with tray full of drinks further derailed the girl's thoughts from whatever she was about to say.

"Oooh, thanks!." Ruby took a strawberry milkshake that Jaune had brought her, and Blake nodded at the boy as she took the fruit drink Jaune had made for her,

"So, what's the plan? Are you comfortable?" Jaune asked as he sat down next to Weiss and Ruby.

"I am, thank you." Weiss said as she adjusted her position on the beanbag chair while Ruby nodded happily as she drank her treat through a glass straw. "As for the plan, I have a few ideas… Did you know that there is going to be a dance at the end of this month, just before our first actual missions?"

* * *

"Thank you for coming with short notice."

"it was hardly a problem." The man in white uniform shook hands with Ozpin. "We were going to visit Vale soon regardless, and your request to provide assistance just pushed our schedule forwards."

"Good to know." Ozpin said as he sat back down on his clockwork chair in his office, and General James Ironwood of Atlas sat on his seat on the other side of the ornate desk. Glynda was standing beside the headmaster, and Ironwood had his operative, Specialist Winter Schnee, beside him.

' _Good thing that Qrow is out in Vale… If memory serves, he never got along with specialist Schnee for some reason…'_ Ozpin thought as he lifted his ever present mug of coffee on his lips.

"You know that I am not the most patient man in Remnant nor do I have a flair for mysticism, so I'll be brief." Ironwood said as he leaned on the desk."Our primary goal here is to recover some assets that have been stolen from a military research facility in Atlas. Your request for aid is still high on our list, but unless something critical happens, the recovery remains as our main objective."

"I see." Ozpin nodded. "That's all I can ask, I suppose. May I inquire as to what was stolen from you and why do you think it's in Vale?"

Ironwood nodded to his white-haired Specialist who pulled a hologram from her Scroll and displayed it on the projector the headmaster had in the middle of his office.

"Quite impressive." Ozpin lifted his eyebrow at the hologram of a massive robotic war-walker armed from head to toe with cannons, missiles and Oum-knows what other offensive systems.

"Atlesian Paladin model 290." Specialist Winter explained to both Ozpin and Glynda. "A prototype anti-Grimm battlesuit capable of both semi-autonomous operation within Atlesian air-battleship's networked sensor array range and direct-piloted control. It is armed with dual railgun direct-firing artil-"

"It is heavily armed." Ironwood interrupted Winter's explanation. "The exact details of it's specification are not important, but it poses a considerable threat to Vale's security if we allow the robbers to use it against her."

"Is there a reason you believe it could be used against Vale?" Glynda asked and Winter nodded.  
"While the CCT recordings that the research facility had were erased, a intern managed to catch a glimpse of one of the perpetrators, and we used his testimony to identify one of the culprits- Adam Taurus, who has been attributed to be the leader of White Fang's military branch." Ironwood recounted. "While White Fang adamantly refuses that they have a military branch at all, we both know the truth to that. Moreover, we were able to trace the battlesuit's tracking beacon all the way to Vale's border where it cuts off."

"The White Fang must be preparing for something, something that would require heavy artillery…" Glynda muttered thoughtfully. "But what could they be doing that would require something like that?"

"A coup." the group turned towards Ozpin who placed his mug on the desk. "If I'm reading into this correctly, the White Fang have been amassing power to Vale in excessive quantities, while they have been coordinating with criminal elements to orchestrate a series of robberies... "

"While that is concerning, it hardly means that they are planning a coup." Ironwood lifted his eyebrow at Ozpin.

"Not alone, but they have also been importing Grimm into the city." Ozpin commented, which grabbed Ironwood's full attention. "Someone in White Fang managed to get their hands on Beacon's permit to import Grimm for study, and had been using it to smuggle Grimm into the warehouses in the docks. That permit has been revoked, but I was unable to find out just _who_ had authorized the transfer and the police was very evasive to my requests. But there's more."

"I guess that you are referring to the recent news?" Ironwood asked.

"Yes." Ozpin nodded. "The White Fang were displayed as heroes after the recent skirmish- standing beside Roman Torchwick and facing against a Grimm creature to defend the people of Vale. The whole sequence of events made me curious- was the purpose of the imported Grimm to make the White Fang heroes in the eyes of populace, perhaps to set up a stage for a future coup?"

"And the battlesuit could be used to both suppress the dissenters after the coup, and to bolster the morale of the White Fang troops." Ironwood finished Ozpin's thoughts. "This might be bad. And to add to all this, the Grimm that the White Fang faced escaped into Vale and is most likely going to cause casualties amongst the civilians before we manage to slay it… Which brings us to another issue."

"The Grimm situation is under control, we have already made sure that it won't attack the populace…"

"That's good to hear, but I'm more worried about the person controlling it." Ironwood interrupted Ozpin's speech.

"Sir, If I may…" Winter started, but Ironwood motioned for her to stand down.

"I have listened to your hypothesis, miss Schnee, thank you." the general told the specialist. "Your concern about your sister and adamant refusal to admit that Weiss Schnee may be responsible for the recent events have been heeded, but I'd like to hear the headmaster's version of the events."

"I believe that it is exceedingly unlikely that Weiss Schnee is in any shape or form responsible for the events back at Vale's Docks." Ozpin stated to the general, and he saw as the white-haired specialist's shoulders slumped minisculely from relief although her posture remained as professional as it had been ever since the pair entered the office. "Moreover, I have just recently become aware of the rumors that have been circling around miss Schnee, and I can assure you that she isn't, and I quote, 'a evil over-mistress of the Grimm'."

"Although whether or not she is holding orgies amongst teams SABR and RYNN is something I do not know nor do I want to know." Ozpin added, ignoring how Winter's posture became unnaturally still after hearing his words.

"I see. Well, Weiss Schnee's personal… preferences… are not my concern. However, the Grimm back at Docks seemed to be shockingly docile towards her. Do you happen to know anything about that, old friend?" Ironwood asked suspiciously.

"Yes." Ozpin nodded. "However, It is not something that I believe to be ready to be revealed just yet." he added as Ironwood's expression darkened.

"A some sort of experiment gone rogue, then?" Ironwood's suspicious frown deepened. "If you have managed to invent some kind of mean to control the Grimm…"

"That is yet to be seen." Ozpin interrupted Ironwood before he could get too close to the truth. "Let's just say that I have found something that is highly irregular and could potentially either mean a large step forwards in our efforts against the Grimm, or a potential information source about the capabilities of our true enemy."

"I see." Ironwood said. "Specialist Winter."

"Sir?" the woman in question turned her head towards the general.

"I believe that you expressed your desire to go see Weiss after the recent accusations and actions taken against her." Ironwood nodded towards the headmaster's office exit. "You are dismissed. Go see her."

"Sir." Winter snapped her heels together, turned around, and left the office.

"Now, what's really happening in here? Is 'she' safe?" Ironwood turned towards the headmaster and the assisting headmistress.

"I am not certain that she is." Ozpin said simply. "I am not sure what exactly is happening in Vale- what is the motivation behind the White Fang's recent activity? What is the motivation behind the chain of Dust robberies? And more worryingly, the only thing I am certain about is that the internal security of Vale is compromised, although I am not entirely sure to what degree."

"That's… worrying."

"Indeed." Ozpin reached for his mug while offering a silent thanks to the automatic coffee machine refilling his drink. He needed the encouragement that the hot liquid brought. "The Fall Maiden… Amber Fall is safe, for now. Our enemies likely know that she is being held here, in Beacon, but I'm fairly certain that they aren't aware of her exact location yet."

"The power to control seasons… in the hands of someone who is too injured to even wake from her coma." Ironwood sighed. "It was a good thing Qrow managed to recover her before her attackers managed to finish her off- I dread to think what would have happened otherwise. Nevertheless, if you believe that her attackers have traced her to Vale…"

"I believe that they have. This entire situation smells to me like an attempt to divert Beacon's eyes, my eyes, away from our task to safeguard the Maiden so they could strike internally when my focus is somewhere else." Ozpin told the General.

"...Times like these I wish I had an enemy to fight, rather than shadows to chase." Ironwood sighed as he leaned back on the chair. "At least that way I could be sure if I was winning or losing."

"Indeed." the Headmaster said while offering the General a cup of coffee from his machine, and the white-clad man took the offered mug. "And that is why I called you here."

"Elaborate."

"I wish you to take charge of the investigation towards Roman Torchwick's and White Fang's affairs." Ozpin told Ironwood. "I had originally planned on pulling the few strings I have left in Vale's police department to get you in charge of the investigation, but the theft of your battlesuit model's theft gives you plenty of leverage to pressure the police to let Atlesian military official ransack their records and assume control of the investigation."

"That would also make the search for our missing Paladin model considerably easier." Ironwood nodded. "And it allows you to focus more on the internal matters while you leave me to take care of external threats… A sound plan in theory, old friend."

"In theory?" Glynda voiced her opinion and shifted her balance on the other foot. "You sound pessimistic."

"You do realize that this whole solution only buys us time?" Ironwood asked. "Amber Fall is dying, make no mistake of that. No amount of Atlesian medical tech is able to keep her from slipping further and further into her coma…"

"The Maiden's power to control seasons is transferred to the last female person the Maiden thinks whenever they die, and since Qrow reported that her attackers had at least two females in their group, we have no doubt that the power would transfer to her attackers once she dies." Ozpin nodded. "However, the technology you provided has helped us to formulate a potential solution- to drain Amber Fall's power and transfer it to a new host before she dies."

"That... that would indeed solve the problem." Ironwood nodded. "Now we just need a person who is capable of holding that mantle."

"I have found few candidates for it amongst the students of Beacon." Ozpin told the General while pulling a list of names from his Scroll. "I am not yet sure of who would be ready to bear that burden, and for that I have decided to monitor them very closely during the next few months- while we are pressed for time, we can't afford to transfer the power to someone who could turn against us, or do what the Spring Maiden did in Mistral…"

"...And run away." Ironwood finished Ozpin's sentence. "I understand."

"I'm glad that you do." Ozpin nodded to the General. "We must all do our part if we are to fight back the coming darkness. We may only win time by keeping Fall Maiden safe at the moment, but time is all we need right now- time to prepare a replacement for her."

Ironwood sighed as he rose from his chair. "So we should get to it, then."

* * *

"It's pretty crazy out there." Pyrrha said as she sat on Jaune's bed.

"How so?" Weiss asked as she adjusted her position on her beanbag chair.

Team RYNN had come to SABR's dormroom to debrief them of the day's happenings after the classes had ended, and also to give them copies of their notes about the day's lessons.

"Well… The students seem really agitated, and few of them tried to ask professor Goodwitch whether or not Weiss is um… well, the thing that the article claimed she is." Pyrrha recounted. "Professor Goodwitch told them that the rumors were baseless and the reason Weiss wasn't present in the classes was because she was sick, and not because she had umm… 'gone rogue and was having an intercourse with the Grimm' like how the other students had insinuated"

"Right." Weiss sighed. "Of course. What else did I expect from the other students..."

A knock on team SABR's door interrupted the planning session, and Weiss motioned for Jaune to go open the door… and Jaune froze after opening the door and seeing a tall white-haired woman clad in white and gray uniform standing in the doorway.

"I am Winter Schnee, and I demand to see my sister. Step aside." the woman glared at Jaune, and he had to fight back the instinct to back away from the door and sit down after hearing the command in the woman's voice.

"Winter?" Weiss called from inside the room. She tried to get up from her beanbag chair, but her legs failed her and she slumped down on it. "What are y… you… chu!"

"Weiss." Winter pushed her way into the room while Weiss was recovering from her sneeze. "We require privacy- leave." she turned to address the rest of the room's occupants.

"Is this alright, Weiss?" Jaune asked warily, and tried to ignore how the uniform-clad woman sent him a hostile glare for his defiance.

"Yeah, she's my sister…" Weiss said with muffled voice as she blew her nose on a tissue and tossed it into a trashcan. "I'll be alright, so you can leave us…"

"Right… Well, we'll be in team RYNN's dorm so shout if you need anything." Blake said quietly while giving the older of the Schnee sisters a wary look.

"Thanks for the concern, but shoo now…" Weiss motioned for the team to leave.

"Hello sister." Weiss nodded weakly to Winter as the crowd dispersed, leaving just Weiss and Winter in team SABR's dorm, with Weiss still sitting on her chair and Winter standing few feet in front of her. "I… I did not expect you to be here."

"I arrived to Vale today as part of general Ironwood's retinue." Winter told her sister. "I apologize that I was unable to send you a message informing you of my arrival beforehand, but the primary goal of our mission here required a degree of secrecy."

"I see." Weiss told her. "Regardless, thanks for coming to see me…"

"'Thanks'? Your illness must be worse than I thought." Winter narrowed her eyes at the her sister. "Speak properly!"

"Thank you." Weiss corrected herself. "I apologize, the speaking habits of my teammates seem to be growing on me."

"Please do not let it become a habit." Winter sighed. "If you wish to regain your status as Schnee family's heiress you need to distance yourself from the speech patterns of the common folk- the Schnee's speak with dignity and grace."

"I… I understand." Weiss nodded, before her eyes widened ever so slightly as the rest of Winter's words sunk in. "Excuse me dear sister, but did you perhaps suggest that it would be possible for me to regain my status as the heiress of the Schnee family?

"That is very much a possibility if I'm reading into the current situation correctly." the older of the Schnee sisters told the younger. "Father's decision to remove your status is quite likely just a temporary solution to avoid massive backslash from the investors and customers of the Schnee family as a result of your little… 'stunt'"

"...Which means that if I were to clear my dishonor in the eyes of the populace of Remnant, I could be reinstated as the heiress of the Schnee family." Weiss finished Winter's sentence.

"I doubt that our younger brother, Whitley, is capable of shouldering the Schnee family's entire workload." Winter nodded to Weiss. "While he is good at pure mathematics, he lacks the… hmm… balance of open mindedness and scepticism that is required to take on investments. However, he is unburdened by the responsibilities that the Hunters have, which may influence Father's decision to Whitley's favor."

"So you're saying that…"

"If you wish to regain your status as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, he is most likely going to require you to both clear your reputation of your recent dishonor, and to leave Beacon- you cannot shoulder the responsibilities of a Hunter as well as those that come from being the leader of the SDC at the same time." Winter narrowed her eyes at Weiss. "Of course, whether or not you agree to his terms is up to you."

"I… I see." Weiss's voice wavered slightly. "Thank you for letting me know of my options."

"You're welcome." Winter nodded at her little sister. "Now, I need to know what exactly happened back at the Docks? What happened with the Grimm? Were you viola… no, disregard the last one, that was unprofessional of me. Answer my questions."

"I… um…" Weiss fidgeted in her seat, and Winter's glare deepened as a result.

"Please do not tell me that you have allied yourself to the Grimm."

"No! Well… It's actually the other way around." Weiss blurted out.

"The Grimm has allied itself with _you_?" Winter's eyes widened as she looked at her little sister as if she'd seen her for the first time. "Sister, what have you done?"

"I… well... " Weiss stammered. "Uh… It's complicated."

"I have time to listen." Winter sat down on a chair in front of one of the studying desks. "Now, explain your actions to me."

"Um… it might be best if you met the 'Grimm', actually." Weiss told her after a moment of indecision.

"'Meet the Grimm'?" Winter asked, scandalized. "Don't tell me you smuggled the Grimm into Beacon and hid it somewhere? No, even more importantly, just how did you manage to make a deal with a Grimm in the first place?"

"It's complicated." Weiss said while trying to get up from her chair. "Stay here, please. I'll um.. go fetch him."

Winter narrowed her eyes but didn't stop Weiss as she walked out of team SABR's dorm and into RYNN's dorm that was directly opposite to theirs.

...

"Jaune, I'm sorry but I need you to transform." Weiss told Jaune, and he looked at the white haired girl who was positively panicking. "Do it. The knight-form. Now."

"Weiss?" Jaune asked warily while the rest of teams SABR and RYNN watched the exchange with equal amounts of wariness and surprise after the white-haired girl had burst into team RYNN's room, wide-eyed and on the verge of panic. "Is… everything alright?"

"Winter wants to know why I was allied with the Grimm." Weiss told him with fast-paced tone tone. "I… I told her that I'd fetch the Grimm and he could tell her what happened:"

"You told her what?"

"Yes, I know, now transform!" Weiss hissed at him, and grabbed his hand. "The fridge should have enough food for you to make a full transformation, hurry up!"

"Just… Fine." Jaune grumbled as he turned towards the rest of the two teams. "I'll be back soon."

"Take care." Blake told Jaune before he managed to get through the door. "The Schnee woman… she's dangerous. Shout, and we'll come and help if she becomes violent."

"I'll be careful." Jaune nodded. "And thanks."

"She's not a violent brute…" Weiss grumbled weakly as she wobbled out of the room with Jaune in tow.

.

..

…

"..."

"So uh… here he is!" Weiss said as she dragged the armored knight-like Grimm-form into team SABR's dorm by the hand.

"..." Winter was speechless as she stared at the Grimm with her mouth hanging open in uncharacteristic display of shock. She had walked in front of the room's window and had been watcing out of it as Weiss had opened the dorm room's door and dragged the creature in. "I- is that…"

"H̛e͞l͡l͡o̧"

"...It can talk too?"

"Yes, he's ah… umm… a domesticated Grimm!" Weiss said, and Jaune glanced to the side to see that the girl was on the verge of passing out from stress while still suffering from her fever. "He's very well behaved, see?"

"W-Weiss… what did you do?" Winter stammered. "Just how did you tame a Grimm, of all things?"

"W-well, you know how I always wanted a pet dog, but father wouldn't let me have one…"

"...W҉èiss͝.̶." Jaune growled at the younger of the Schnee sisters.

"He doesn't know many words yet, but he's getting better!" Weiss nodded her head frantically.

"I… I see." Winter seemed to suffer a malfunction as she gripped the hilt of her saber tightly and stared at the Grimm-fied Jaune. "So… he's your pet?"

' _W-what is she saying?'_ Jaune thought ' _I'm not a pet… I'm a pr͟e̷d͡ato̧r͞… a student!'_

"Um… well... I… I guess?"

"...W̡ei̷ss̶.̢" Jaune reached to tie few of his tentacles around Weiss's waist to support her as the girl seemed to be on the verge of falling over as she wobbled on the spot.

It seemed to be the wrong move as Winter's sabre was unsheathed in a flash of white steel, and Weiss had to step in front of Jaune to keep the agitated white-haired woman from running him through with the blade.

"Get away from Weiss!" Winter hissed while pointing her saber at Jaune while Weiss had her hands opened wide as she stood in front of Jaune with the pair of tentacles still tied around her waist.

"Winter!" Weiss pleaded. "It's not like that, he's not attacking me!"

"...Do you really trust it that much?" Winter asked and her eyes narrowed as she continued. "Enough to allow it to touch you?"

"I… um…" Weiss glanced down as if she just realized that he had tied the tentacle around her waist. "I.. I guess…"

"...Weiss, just what have you been doing in Beacon?" Winter asked with clear concern in her voice as she lowered her sabre very, very slowly. "Headmaster Ozpin said that you were not controlling the Grimm, but what I see contradicts with that opinion greatly."

"I'm not controlling him!" Weiss denied. "It's well… it's complicated."

Jaune winced as Weiss's grip on his bone-covered hand tightened and he felt the bone-plates pushing into his skin.

' _What does she want me to... de͟s҉t͞roy͟... do…'_ Jaune thought frantically as he looked up at the woman whose saber started to rise threateningly again. He saw as the blade momentarily pointed towards Weiss who was standing in front of him, and Jaune reached to tie his hand over Weiss's shoulder, to cover the girl from any attacks that the uniformed woman could throw at them.

"Sh̶e҉'͡s ̨m͏in҉e.̕." he growled at the uniformed woman, which caused both of the white-haired sisters to freeze still.

"No, she is not." Winter growled back at him and she raised her saber to strike. "Get away from her you b…"

"Winter no!" Weiss exclaimed. Her eyes were wide and full of panic as she tried to frantically think of a way to keep her sister from resorting to violence. "He's uh…. He's telling the truth!"

"Weiss?" Winter choked out and she stumbled slightly as she heard her younger sister's words.

"We're uh… Um…" Weiss tried to stammer something which faded out into a incoherent mumble.

"Weiss? Just what is your relationship with the Grimm?" Winter howled while pointing her saber at Jaune's face. "Speak to me!"

"We're dating!" Weiss exclaimed as Winter's patience came dangerously close to snapping.

"Y-You…" Winter froze still as she processed her younger sister's words.

"W͡e͢iss̶?́"

"I'm going to pass out now." Weiss said weakly before she slumped down against Jaune's armored chest, completely unconscious.

' _She overstressed herself and passed out like last night…'_ He thought as he tried to keep Weiss upright while watching the older of the Schnee sisters warily as the uniform-clad woman seemed to struggle to between either launching an all-out attack, staring at Weiss with open mouth, or to drop her sabre and follow Weiss's example, and faint.

As it were she just slumped down on her knees and her sabre fell from her limp fingers as she stared incredulously at her unconscious sister.

"Weiss! Is everything alright? We heard commotion and..." the door to team SABR's dorm was flung open and both Blake and Ruby charged in, armed from head to toe.

"Oh." Ruby finished her sentence as she took a look at unconscious Weiss who was being held up by Jaune's tentacles, and at the speechless Specialist who was kneeling on the carpeted floor.

"Well… uh… would you like some tea?" Ruby asked Specialist Schnee, which seemed to further derail the woman's thoughts and she nodded weakly from the floor.

' _Great…'_ Jaune thought as he looked back and forth between unconscious Weiss, nearly comatose Winter and Blake who was looking suspiciously at everyone in the room while Ruby departed to brew tea. ' _At least it can't get worse…'_

"...Jaune?" Blake whispered dangerously as she shuffled next to him. "Did Weiss just say that you two are dating?"

' _Right, nevermind…'_

 **Next chapter (hopefully) 17-18.2**


	26. Sisters and plans

"So… how did you two meet?" Winter asked somewhat shakily as she cradled her cup of tea in her hands.

"Well… uh… we met during Initiation test." Weiss stammered. "He… he saved me from a Grimm Abomination!"

"I… see." Winter sighed while keeping an close eye on Jaune's movements. "And how exactly did you… 'tame' him?"

"Uh... "

Team SABR had sat around a table in the dorm's small kitchen after Ruby had prepared tea and snacks, and Winter had recovered enough to stand on her own feet and walk to the kitchen. Weiss had woken up as Jaune had grabbed one of the mugs full of steaming hot and fragrant liquid and waved it under the girl's nose, although the act had gotten him a very suspicious glare from the uniformed Atlas Specialist. Team RYNN had decided to hang back a little, and had retreated to their dorm although they had left their door open and Jaune was fairly certain that they were preparing to come to their aid if things got violent.

Luckily though the dorm only housed teams SABR and RYNN as curiously enough the two other other dorm-rooms in their wing were empty- presumably either there hadn't been enough teams that had succeeded in the Initiation Test and thus got accepted into Beacon, or more likely the Headmaster had decided to not assign any additional teams to their dorm to help Jaune with his struggle to keep his secret safe.

Nevertheless the lack of possible bystanders allowed Jaune to walk around in the dorm's shared kitchen in his Grimm form without needing to worry about being seen, at least as long has he stayed away from the windows.

"Weiss. How did you 'tame' him?" Winter repeated as no answer was forthcoming. "This is important. If you have somehow discovered a way to tame Grimm… to bend them to your will..."

"N-no, I mean..." Weiss stammered, and Ruby reached to start patting Weiss's hand reassuringly.

"It's a secret." Ruby nodded conspiratorially towards Jaune while addressing her words to Winter.

"Even if it's a secret, something like this is too important to…" Winter started, but Blake interrupted her.

"Trust me, you don't want to know what we had to go through to hm… 'tame' him." the disguised faunus said, and Jaune saw how the girl's amber eyes flashed dangerously. "It wasn't pretty… but we got through it, as a team."

Winter choked on her tea as Blake's words registered in, and Jaune lifted his tentacle so he could slap her on the back to help her. It was the wrong move to take as Weiss grabbed the appendage and brought it down while Winter reared back and reached for her sabre.

"Weiss! Did…"

"It's alright, sister!" Weiss waved her hand wildly to persuade Winter that the situation was under control- although the fact that the tentacle was still in Weiss's hand didn't help Winter's mood. "He just uh… got too excited, I guess?"

"We͝i͏ss͘.͢.͞.̴" Jaune wanted to rub his face in frustration, but the full-face bone-mask effectively prevented those actions. ' _...Although I should probably steer clear of any sudden movements towards anyone for a while… Winter is jumpy enough as it is, and I'm fairly sure Weiss's fever is not helping her…'_

"Ex… excited? Headmaster told me that you… no..." Winter stared at the appendage in pure shock. "I… Is _that_ how you tamed it?"

"Well… uh… I guess?" Weiss didn't quite seem to get what Winter was trying to suggest, but decided to go along with it nevertheless. "I mean, Yes. Training him was quite hard at the start, but it got gradually easier, and we decided to... to start dating soon afterwards. I'm fairly sure that our way of taming him wouldn't work on other Grimm though, he's special."

"...You were right, I did not want to know that." Winter's face was about as pale as her hair as she stared at the appendage that Weiss was still gripping tightly while Jaune was squirming in his seat as Weiss was squishing the tentacle in her hand as if it was some sort of organic stress toy. "A-and are you… uh… content with the relationship?"

"Erm… Y-yes. Very." Weiss got out. "My apologies, the fever is making me slightly dizzy... thanks." she interrupted her speech as Jaune pulled a bag of ice from the freezer with his tentacles and offered it to the white-haired girl who immediately pushed it against her temple.

"I… I see." Winter said as she watched the exchange warily. "Are you _sure_ you are in control? That it won't just suddenly turn on you?"

"He's not going to do that." Ruby piped in from the side. "We trust him."

"You trust _it_?" Winter's words dripped scepticism. "It's a Grimm, for Oum's sake!"

"Yeah, we know. We have eyes." Blake quipped sarcastically as she glared at the older of the Schnee sisters. "He's part of our happy little family."

"I see." Winter sighed and attempted to visibly compose herself. "I won't pretend that I approve… but I'll refrain from taking an action, for now."

"Thank you, dear sister." Weiss smiled weakly at her big sister, although even Jaune could see that Weiss's smile was forced. It seemed that Winter noticed it as well, and her eyes narrowed dangerously as a response.

"Nevertheless, General Ironwood's visit to Vale might take anywhere from few weeks to a month, depending on how quickly we complete our objective." Winter told Weiss while keeping an close eye on Jaune. "I'll keep an eye on your… relationship. If I deem that you are… influenced... by the Grimm somehow, I _will_ haul you back to Atlas, Weiss."

"D-dear sister?"

"I won't abandon you to the Grimm's mercies, sister." Winter glared at the tentacles that were twitching slowly behind Jaune. "If I find out that the Grimm is somehow influencing you… controlling _you_ … I will save you."

The look Winter gave to Jaune made it clear that her 'saving' Weiss would also include slaying him.

"He's not controlling…"

"Of course you'd say that if you were being influenced by it somehow." Winter ignored Weiss's words. "You can't argue that this isn't highly unusual, if not one-of-a-kind situation."

"But…"

"My decision stands." Winter sent a reprimanding glare at Weiss. "While your… preferences are yours to decide, I won't have my sister succumbing to some Grimm's will."

"I'm͜.̴..͡ rig͜ht̸ h̛ere.̷.͘.̕" Jaune growled weakly, but a stern glare from Winter let him know that it was not his turn to speak, and it would never be if she had anything to say about it.

"I see… I'm glad that you are worried about my safety, but I assure you that he's completely… er, safe." Weiss reached for the teapot to pour herself more of the hot liquid, but Ruby interrupted her as Weiss's hands were too shaky to handle the pot reliably and she reached to pour Weiss more tea. "But… If making sure that we… l-love... each other makes you feel better about it…"

"It will." Winter nodded. "Thank you for understanding. I wish only the best for you, and I'm not entirely sure if this… thing… fits the criteria. I am worried about you, Weiss."

"I… I see." Weiss's voice was shaky from relief and raw emotion towards her big sister. "Thank you, sister, but I'll be alright."

Jaune reached to tie his arm around the white-haired girl and squeezed her lightly to reassure her while Winter watched the exchange carefully, and Blake's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Regardless, I'm glad to see that you are recovering from your recent misfortunes." Winter sighed as she pushed herself up, and pushed her chair back under the kitchen table while glancing at her Scroll. "I am needed in general Ironwood's presence. Thank you for trusting me with your… private life."

"Of course, dear sister." Weiss lifted herself up weakly. "It's been a pleasure… and thank you for coming to see me."

"I will come to see you again at later date." Winter nodded back at Weiss. "Be well sister… and _you_." she turned to address Jaune. "If I even suspect that your… tentacles... are in Weiss when she's sick…"

Her threat was left unsaid, but Jaune got the gist of it, and he squirmed his tentacles uncomfortably as he struggled to find words that would placate the white-haired Specialist.

"I̴ ̨ẁon't͞." he tried to rasp out. "Do ̷ţha͢t̨...̢"

"See that you don't." Winter nodded once more to the rest of team SABR before heading to the dorm-wing's exit...

.

..

...

"Gaahh…" Weiss gave out an uncharacteristic whine as she slumped back to her bed, completely spent after her meeting with her sister. "That… That couldn't have gone any worse…"

"Agreed." Blake said as she sent a look at Weiss as teams SABR and RYNN had grouped up in SABR's dorm-room once again after Jaune had returned to his human shape. "Did you even realize what you… implied to your sister?"

"That I was dating a Grimm?"

"A _tentacle_ Grimm." Blake's voice was grave as she addressed her words to the white-haired girl.

"What does that have to do with anything…" Weiss grumbled as she adjusted her blankets.

"Uh…" Pyrrha blushed and looked away while Blake gave a tortured sigh, and Ruby blinked innocently at the exchange.

Yang just narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Jaune, and he could have sworn that Ren's face had grown slightly green for some reason during Blake's speech while Nora just hummed happily as she sat beside Ren on the floor.

"Right… You don't know." Blake sighed as she rose from her seat to rummage around her bookshelf. She pulled a book from the shelf, and opened it on a scene which had a somewhat worn bookmark, and offered the book to Weiss.

"What's this?" Weiss's eyes narrowed as she looked at the book which had been given to her. She turned the book around to see the summary… and instantly dropped the book as if the hardback print had burnt her. "W-what are you making me read?!"

"Just… read it and you'll understand." Blake gritted out.

"Wh…" Weiss glared at Blake, and picked the book very carefully back up and began reading as Blake gave a pointed look at the book. "Fine! I don't care anymore."

"What's that about?" Yang asked Pyrrha in the background and Jaune saw as Pyrrha looked pointedly away from everyone in the room with her cheeks red.

"I… I don't know. I've never heard of it." Pyrrha told Yang as the golden-yellow haired girl looked like she would repeat her question. "I'm sure that it's not…"

"...Filth." Weiss finished as she put the book down very carefully. Jaune turned his eyes towards the bedridden girl, and saw how Weiss's face had grown bright red and he could have sworn that wisps of steam rose from her hair as she tried to set herself on fire by power of embarrassment alone. "Y… you… Is this something people _do_? Are people into _this_?!"

' _What was that book?'_ Jaune thought as he peeked at the book the ex-heiress still had in her grip.'' _Huntress in Peril: Tentacles of despair and delight?'... Hold on, why did Blake have that in her shelf?'_

"So what was that about?" Ruby asked as she tried to sneak a peek at the book in Weiss's hands, and the white-haired girl quickly pulled the book back and put it under her blanket.

Blake raised her eyebrow at Weiss. "So, do you now realize what you told your sister you had been doing with Jaune?"

"I... " Weiss sent a glare at Jaune, as if she'd seen him for the first time. "I see."

Jaune tried to ignore the feelings of distress that the girl radiated as she looked at him as if he was responsible for the whole ordeal. ' _...Then again, she'd be right…'_

"...Can I have my book back?" Blake asked, and Weiss sent a reprimanding glare at her.

"No."

"Saw something that you liked, eh?" Yang grinned widely at the embarrassed ex-heiress.

"N-No!" Weiss denied. "I just refuse to allow my team to read such filth! What if Ruby had seen it?"

Yang's grin was wiped straight off her face as Ruby was mentioned, and it was replaced with a horrified look as she snapped her eyes to Jaune.

"No, I haven't done that" Jaune sighed at Yang's unasked question. "Not with anyone."

"But you know about it." Yang narrowed her eyes.

"Yes."

"I can't believe that we're seriously having this conversation." Weiss rubbed her eyes tiredly while Pyrrha fiddled with her skirt nervously.

"Can we please change the subject?" Ren's voice interrupted the group before their thoughts could get derailed even further into dangerous territory.

"Right." Jaune took the straw that was offered, and moved the conversation onwards. "Weiss. What are we going to do about the story you told your sister?"

"I… I need to think about what I'm going to do." Weiss said after a moment, and she groaned as she slid deeper under her blankets. "I'm still sick, if you haven't noticed…"

"Ah." Jaune nodded. "Time, then."

"...Although, I might have an idea. I have to look into it more when I get over my cold." Weiss drawled out after a while. "What if we announced Jaune to be the first domesticated Grimm to the general public?"

"Eh?" Jaune turned his head back towards Weiss. "But didn't Ozpin tell to keep my ability a secret?"

"Yes, so we won't be telling the public that it's _your_ ability." Weiss drawled to him. "We're just going to go out and say that you, in your Grimm form, are the first ever Grimm to be tamed. No-one will say anything about the Grimm being _you._ "

"So to avoid the public scandal you make yourself what the scandal wants you to be?" Blake lifted her eyebrow suspiciously at Weiss.

"Yes, and no." Weiss said as she looked at Jaune calculatingly. "If… If I had found out a way to tame a Grimm somehow… It's like how Winter said it, it would be great discovery! No, more than that, the greatest breakthrough in our struggle against the Grimm... In the entire human history!"

"But… we haven't done that." Jaune poked a carrier-sized hole in Weiss's theory. "I'm just well… odd."

"The public doesn't know that." Weiss waved his concerns off. "They would just see a Grimm, and see it obey me. I could even downplay the incident at Docks to me testing out the theory in action, and accuse the incompetent press responsible for the whole mess for taking advantage of the confusion to spin a baseless rumor."

"I guess?" Jaune scratched the back of his head. "I mean, would people even believe that a Grimm could be tamed?"

"Most of the people don't know anything about Grimm. Or rather, the only thing they know about the Grimm is that they are frightening, deadly, and will attack without provocation." Ren came into the conversation. "It might be hard to get them to believe you."

"They will believe what they see." Weiss dismissed Ren's concerns. "They believed the rumors without a moment's hesitation earlier."

"It may be because Vale's Central Press has a fairly good reputation for being truthful with their publications." Pyrrha came into Ren's defence. "Although, I don't know how they allowed so scandalous article to pass."

"How do you plan to get your voice heard?" Blake questioned Weiss's plan. "I doubt that the press would be willing to give you a fair hearing."

"I'll think of a way." Weiss waved Blake off. "But for now, I'd like to sleep. Can you leave?"

"Right." Jaune nodded to the white-haired girl. "We'll let you recover in peace. Just… say if you need something."

"I will."

.

..

…

"So…. How does she work?" Jaune asked as he tried to get a weapon to unfold.

Ruby had invited him to go to a shooting range located within Beacon after making sure that Weiss was comfortable, and Blake had been picked to stay behind to watch if Weiss needed something- and Ruby had made sure to evacuate the area with sufficient haste before Blake could object to her new assignment.

Unfortunately for Ruby, Pyrrha had decided to tag along the pair, or more rather she had decided to follow Jaune around and had ended up in the shooting range as well.

Rivalry had followed almost immediately as Pyrrha had asked if Jaune wanted to try shooting with her rifle-spear, and Ruby had puffed her cheeks and expressed her desire to show Jaune how to fire a _real_ weapon, namely her Crescent Rose.

Which had meant that Jaune was stuck between rock and a hard place as he tried to assure both girls that their weapons were great while trying to keep peace- all the while trying to learn how to use the pair of unique hybrid weapons the girls had.

"So… I pull this lever, and flick this switch to…" Jaune wanted to make sure he was doing everything right as he aimed through Crescent Rose's scope at a cardboard Beowolf target two hundred feet away.

"...You pull the charging handle back to load a round in, and let it slide forwards. The switch controls the adjustable recoil dampener." Ruby clarified. "Make sure that the recoil dampener is at maximum setting for your first shot, since you don't want to get thrown back by the recoil, right?"

It went without saying that if he managed to lose his grip on the weapon because of recoil and the weapon would get damaged as a result, Ruby would likely end up sad- and Jaune would very likely end up with a fist-sized hole in his face when Yang would discover that he made Ruby upset.

He braced himself and inconspicuously extended a pair of claws from the back of his feet to anchor himself on the concrete floor of the shooting ranges firing point, squeezed the trigger of the Crescent Rose gently… and completely missed the target as the gun kicked violently against his shoulder and face.

"Ow…" Jaune reached to rub his eye as the scope had impacted against his head from the force of the recoil, although he had managed to keep his hold on the weapon.

"Close one." Ruby cheered as she looked through a monocular at the target where dust had started to settle to reveal a sizeable crater in front of the target on the heavy sand. "Adjust three point two degrees up and one point one to left…"

"Uh, how do I do that?" Jaune asked as he looked at the smoking crater that the high-explosive round had left in front of the Beowolf target. The sand that the firing range used to cover the ground in front of the targets had considerable amount of lead so it would resist impacts from Dust rounds and would not allow fires to spread if the cardboard targets would get lit on fire by the volatile shells.

' _Sheesh… To think that Ruby regularly uses this thing without the recoil dampener on to augment her mobility with the recoil…'_ Jaune thought as Ruby put her monocular away. ' _I think it's the Aura and channelling of it into her weapon that allows her to use it so easily... I'm fairly certain that a person without Aura couldn't even fire non-dampened Crescent Rose without breaking bones- although it's nice to see that she trusts me enough to allow me to handle it...'_

"Adjusting fire is easy, just push this and…" Ruby reached to pluck Crescent Rose from his hands and she started to fiddle with some of the buttons on the side of the scope- but before she had managed to finish her calibrations Pyrrha had pushed her rifle-spear to Jaune's hands.

"Would you like to try out Miló?" Pyrrha asked with a smile. "She's slightly smaller than Crescent Rose, but I assure you that what she lacks in size and power she makes up with user friendliness."

"Sure." Jaune agreed while he tried to ignore the betrayed look Ruby sent him as he took the slender rifle, and Ruby hugged her Crescent Rose against her chest.

He could have sworn that Ruby muttered something along the lines of 'you're still cool in my eyes' to her sniper-scythe.

"So, you charge it like this, and…" Pyrrha instructed happily as she adjusted Jaune's stance and grip on her weapon. "...And now you're ready to fire."

"Thanks, Pyrrha." Jaune nodded at the girl, and Pyrrha stepped back slightly to allow him to take the shot.

He fired once, and managed to hit the corner of the cardboard target. "Whoa!"

"Good work." Pyrrha congratulated while Ruby seethed silently beside him.

"I could have taught you that…" Ruby grumbled as Jaune offered the gun back to Pyrrha, and Ruby took the chance to push Crescent Rose against his arms. "My turn!"

"Right." Jaune nodded, and lifted the sniper-scythe again. ' _I could swear I'm forgetting something…'_

The way Ruby sent a look at Pyrrha reminded him of Blake though, and the faunus's behaviour when he had been with Pyrrha in Vale… ' _Oh. Right.'_

He hadn't asked what Ruby felt towards him.

'… _What if she likes me?'_ Jaune tried to think while he focused on his next shot at the cardboard Beowolf target. He pulled his face slightly back from the scope to avoid having it imprint itself on his eye, and squeezed the trigger gently… and the weapon spat fire at the target, obliterating it entirely. However more importantly, the weapon kicked back _hard_ against his shoulder as he had forgotten to adjust the recoil dampener or anchor himself to the concrete in his distracted state, and as a result the weapon was knocked off his hands, and he fell over on the concrete floor…

...Or he would have fallen over, were it not for Pyrrha catching him mid-fall. Unfortunately his weight meant that the pair tumbled to the ground, although thanks to Pyrrha's training the descent was far more controlled than it would have been should he have fallen by himself.

"Thanks." Jaune nodded at the girl gratefully while trying to disentangle himself from her hug. "Are you alright?"

"I am, and you're welcome." Pyrrha smiled happily while stroking his hair, and her grip around his waist tightened the more he tried to get up. "We both caught what we wanted, right?"

Jaune was confused for a moment as to what Pyrrha meant, before he glanced upwards and saw Ruby hugging Crescent Rose against her chest as the red-clad girl had caught her weapon in mid air after it had slipped from his grip.

Ruby blinked once before looking at her weapon in her hug, and looking back at Jaune who was in Pyrrha's hug, and she blushed furiously while sending Pyrrha a hostile glare and puffing her cheeks.

' _Right…'_ Jaune thought as he lifted himself up from the floor as Pyrrha's grip slipped. He turned around and offered the red-haired champion a hand to help her up as well. ' _I'll have to find a moment to ask Ruby about her feelings… but how do I ask her, and what am I going to do if Ruby says yes?'_

"Would you like to go train afterwards?" Pyrrha asked Jaune while Ruby pouted. "We haven't sparred properly since our first, erm, 'fight' during the combat class."

"I… Yeah, we could do that." Jaune answered while still deep in thought.

"I'm coming too!" Ruby decided and she holstered her Crescent Rose after removing the live Dust ammo from it's magazine and pushing few practise rounds in.

"Erm… sure. You're welcome, of course." Pyrrha smiled at Ruby, although Jaune caught a very miniscule whiff of annoyance from Pyrrha.

' _I hope we can all get along with eachother…'_ Jaune sighed internally as he led the small group out of the firing range and towards the simulation rooms. He picked up his pair of training gauntlets from the Armory on the way there and strapped them to his arms and donned his metal chest-plate and shoulderpads.

"You're not going to use your Semblance to train?" Pyrrha asked carefully as he finished attaching the straps.

"Not this time, no." Jaune told her. "I figured that I'd get a bit more hand-to-hand training done. Just a personal preference." ' _...And I figured that Ruby would cheer up a bit if I used the weapons she made for me.'_ he added in his head, and glanced at Ruby who seemed to inspect his gear critically.

"Once again, thanks for making these for me. I appreciate it." Jaune told Ruby, and the girl started to smile a little after hearing his words.

"What arena would you two prefer?" Pyrrha asked as the trio arrived to the simulation room and Pyrrha pulled up her Scroll to prepare the room for activation.

"Come to think of it, both Ruby and I are from around Vale." Jaune mused. "Don't you feel a bit homesick?"

"Me?" Pyrrha's eyes widened slightly. "I… I guess? I haven't really had a chance to think about my family back in Mistral..."

"I was wondering if we could use some Mistralian arena to make you feel a bit more 'at home?'" Jaune followed up with his question, and saw as Pyrrha considered the possibility.

"...What's Mistralian scenery like?" Ruby asked as she had stepped up beside Pyrrha and was looking up at her.

"Well… Mistralian arenas usually had sand as floor. It's a old tradition dating to more violent ages where the championship fights were fought to death, rather than to low Aura level like nowadays, and sand made it harder to slip if… when... either of the combatants stained the ground with blood." Pyrrha told Ruby and Jaune. "The arena's are on level with the crowds which would gather around the arena, making it vastly different from the way Vale does combat arenas where the arena floor is on lower level than the observing crowd. I figured that in the past, the combatants in Vale might not always have erm… consensually agreed to fight, and the arena setup was made to prevent either of the fighters from fleeing to the crowd."

Pyrrha pressed her finger on her Scroll, and the featureless simulation room came to life and scenery started to form around them.

"Mistral's combat circle would allow the fighters to exit the combat ring at any time, although it was quite rare for either party to do so as it would bring dishonor to the combatant, their family and their sponsors. It would be seen as trading your honor and worth for your life." Pyrrha explained as the metal floor was replaced with sand. "Of course, in the days past it was quite dangerous setup for observers since there was no way of restricting stray shots or projectile attacks from veering off course and hitting the crowd- which also meant that quite few projectile weapons were banned from the arena fights until the recent advances in Dust engineering made it possible to generate a energy shield around the arena to block stray shots from hitting the crowd."

"It's pretty." Ruby said as she looked up where the bland room had been replaced with sunny blue sky where Mistralian flags waved in the faint breeze, held high by a series of wooden arcs and poles.

Jaune looked around to see that they were standing on a combat ring made of from sand. The outer edge of the combat ring was decorated with stone tiles, signalling the edge of the arena, and all around them were empty seats made for crowds of people who would come and watch the fight, were it a real location and not just the simulation room. Tall wooden arcs decorated the entrances to the arena, and he saw a large mountain in the distance.

Houses and palaces decorated the mountain's side and top, and he lifted his hand over his eyes to block the sun so he could see the distant mountain-city better.

"That's the city of Mistral." Pyrrha explained as she put her Scroll away. "This arena is set on the outskirt of the city, although there are scenes for various Mistralian environments as well pre-programmed into the simulation room. The room mimics the surrounding scenery quite nicely, although if you tried to leave the boundaries you'd hit a wall. Literally."

"Is this where you lived?" Jaune asked curiously. "I mean the city, not the simulation room."

"Yes. My father and mother were Hunters, and could afford a fairly decent housing in the city because of the high wage they were able to pull from their missions." Pyrrha nodded, and pointed at a relatively large palace on the side of the mountain. "We live in the upper middle class's level- if you don't know, the city of Mistral works by levels, like how city of Vale works by districts. The low levels of the city are closest to the wilderness, and are infested with cut-throats, drug dealers and criminals. The lowest levels also house the poor, and the sick."

She sighed. "Nevertheless, the higher you go, the nicer it gets up until you reach the emperor's place and the Haven Academy."

"That sounds… tough." Ruby said as she looked towards the huts on the lower part of the distant city. "Isn't anyone interested in helping the people in the lower parts?"

"Many have tried, and the city does keep peace in the lower levels with the help of police and the Hunters, but generally the… unpleasant… parts of the populace tend to migrate back soon after the city finishes exterminating the criminal elements."

"So the lower levels have become something that people just accept and move on with their daily lives." Jaune said.

"Well… yes." Pyrrha looked somewhat sad as she said it. "While I don't approve of it, I've heard my father speaking that it is also a mean of controlling the population growth… so that there would never be too much people in the city."

"Too much people?" Ruby asked warily. "What do you mean?"

"A city can only house so much people before you start running out of space and food." Pyrrha said as she turned towards the city. "If you have too many people in too small space… things tend to get ugly eventually. Fights. Riots. Starvation… and all of that attracts the Grimm."

"So the city's government sends people off to the lower levels… to die." Jaune said, and felt a surge of anger inside him. "They are feeding people to the Grimm and the criminals!"

"I… I don't think they have a choice though, and I wouldn't say that they are deliberately sending people to their deaths." Pyrrha said. "It's that they have to do something, or risk a Grimm invasion and civil unrest. Plus, the city of Mistral offers the people who aren't doing all that well monetarily a choice to migrate to the villages and towns outside Mistral, as alternative to getting pushed to the lower level of the city."

"Villages like Shion… where they risk bandits and Grimm." Jaune sighed as he rubbed his temple. "Right... "

"...I don't like it." Ruby said as she looked at the city of Mistral with burning silver eyes. "Stopping this kind of thing is why I wanted to become a Huntress in the first place."

"Yeah." Jaune agreed and he patted Ruby's back reassuringly. "Me too… Well, to stop the bandits _and_ Grimm, to be exact."

"The procedure is largely the same in all four kingdoms as well." Pyrrha's voice broke them off their thoughts. "Vale does the same as well with her frontier villages and towns."

' _Hold on, doesn't that mean that if…'_ "So theoretically if my sisters didn't make enough money in Vale, they could be shipped off into the frontier towns?" Jaune asked.

"I think so, yes." Pyrrha confirmed. "Which is why I wanted to help with their finances as well, if possible. I wouldn't want your sisters to face that kind of a problem."

"Uh…. that sounds pretty bad." Ruby said quietly. "I mean, I can help too!" she added as she seemed to realize what Pyrrha had offered.

"Thanks." Jaune sighed in relief. "But… I wouldn't want to put a drain on your resources…"

A finger pressed against his lips cut him off.

"Shush, I'll decide what I do with my money." Pyrrha smiled at him as she pulled her finger off. "We're not so different after all. My home is in the city of Mistral, in a fairly decent spot and yours is in Vale, in a fairly decent spot- even if your home is a bit run-down. Besides, I'm sure your sisters would like if your family's house was renovated a bit, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so." Jaune reached to grab Pyrrha's hand. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

"So uh… Can we start with the training? Guys?" Ruby asked as she hopped between Pyrrha and Jaune, effectively pulling the two apart.

"Yeah."

* * *

Meanwhile in the Beacon's dorms, or more specifically in team SABR's dorm-room.

"So…" Blake drawled as she pretended to do schoolwork while lying on her bed, and Weiss pretended to do schoolwork while lying in her own bed as well.

Pretend being the keyword as Blake could tell what the ex-heiress was reading without even taking a look- the way Weiss's breathing quickened momentarily from time to time, the way she paused for a moment before changing the pages, and the lack of scratch of a pencil against paper all signalled to Blake that Weiss was doing something else than studying, and she was fairly sure that she knew what the white-haired girl was doing.

"Weiss."

"What?" Weiss's answer was slightly too fast, and Blake nodded knowingly to herself.

"So, how's that book I 'borrowed' to you?" Blake asked without looking over the edge of her bed.

"What!" Blake heard a rumble and swoosh of cloth, and she knew that a certain book had disappeared under the white-haired girl's blanket. "I… I wasn't reading that! I was… studying history!"

"I'm certain you were."

"...I was!"

"...Page 174 has a nice scene…"

"..."

"Let me know if you want to 'borrow' more."

"Shut up!"

"...Just remember to change the sheets afterwards." Blake smirked.' _This is almost too easy…'_

"I am not the one doing indecent things in the dormroom!" Weiss protested.

"I am not!" she repeated as Blake was quiet.

"I didn't say anything…"

"...Grhhhh…"

Blake's smirk grew wider as she heard Weiss's growling… but she wiped her smirk off as she thought about what she needed to say next.

"Weiss."

"...What."

"I am dating Jaune."

"...I thought that was obvious." Weiss's words dripped sarcasm.

"I'm serious." Blake said while moving to look at the ex-heiress over the edge of the bed. Weiss had a sizeable blush on her cheeks and she was looking at her schoolbook with a stubborn expression while the shape of book Blake had shown to the girl was showing through her blanket.

"Did you think your relationship was secret?" Weiss asked icily. "I believe it was fairly obvious from the moment I discovered you two… reproducing… in _our_ dorm-room's shower?"

"It wasn't like that!" Blake's eyes flashed dangerously even as her cheeks grew red. "We started dating just two days ago!"

"So you two had an affair for a full month before even choosing to date each other?"

"Grh, fine." Blake gave an exasperated sigh. ' _Stupid, bullheaded… argh…'_ "Just… I thought that I'd let you know about it. If our relationship causes problems with our team mechanics... If… If my 'thing' with Jaune doesn't work, I don't want to cause a split in our team because of it."

"So… you're telling me to prepare for a possibility that you two would break up and I'm left with the job of picking up the pieces and keeping the team from fracturing?" Weiss's tone could have frozen lava.

"Pretty much." Blake said.

"Fine, let's just add that to the pile on my desk, as if that wasn't reaching sky-high at this point already." Weiss groaned. "Just… what made you think that your relationship with Jaune would change?"

"Erm…"

"Do you suspect that he has an affair or something?" Weiss asked sceptically.

"Uh… Well..."

"Spit it out." Weiss growled at Blake as the faunus's courage failed her momentarily.

"I'm sort of dating Pyrrha and dating Jaune at the same time." Blake sighed finally. "And I'm not sure if it's going to work o..."

"Wait, _you're_ the one having an affair?!" Weiss's screech interrupted Blake's speech.

"And Jaune is dating Pyrrha while he is dating me." Blake added.

"You both have an affair with the same girl?!"

"Well… sort of. We both know about it though."

"Arghhh…" Weiss slumped down on her bed with a tortured groan. "Can we please stop already… I can't take much more of this."

"I wanted to make sure that you knew about it."

"...Fine." Weiss sent a reprimanding look at Blake. "Fine. Thank you for trusting me with the information. I guess that you want to keep it secret from the others since you didn't tell me about this when the rest of our team and RYNN were here?"

"Yeah." Blake nodded seriously. "I'd like to keep our… 'arrangement' private for now- but I felt that I needed to let you to know about it."

" _Why_ are you telling me this though?" Weiss asked. "You've always seemed like a very private person, why the change of heart?"

"It's… Well. I was very private person when I was in White Fang and even after I left them…" Blake acknowledged. "But I've tried to change my way because I saw what could happen if I just kept to myself back when I was captured by the Fang. I'm trying to open up a bit more, to become a part of our team… because I feel that if I don't, then the next time something like that happens we may not be as fortunate and get off with just a scare and few bruises."

"So you're actively trying to change yourself for the better." Weiss nodded. "I can respect that, at least."

"Thank you." Blake murmured and silence descended between the two for a while.

"Sheesh…" Weiss sighed finally. "What a mess this has become… so if I get this right, you and Pyrrha are dating each other and Jaune at the same time. I told Winter that I was dating a Grimm, which is in fact Jaune, and on top of that Ruby is trying to go for Jaune as well..."

"Yeah…" Blake tilted her head at Weiss. "It does sound a bit… unusual, now that you say it."

' _And you 'forgot' to mention the way you keep sending looks at Ruby…'_ Blake added in her head.

"Haah…" Weiss groaned tiredly as she reached for a jug of water Blake had put next to her bed, and the sick white-haired girl filled her glass with citrus-scented water.

"Just how did you manage to convince Pyrrha to go along with that kind of arrangement? I thought she was someone who would be above such depravity." Weiss asked as she sipped her water carefully.

"Well… it was a odd one." Blake sighed as she pulled her head back and lied down on her bed again. The soft sheets felt nice and smooth against her back as she thought about her next words. "I guess it just happened."

She could practically feel Weiss's eyes drilling a hole in her bed and in her back, which prompted her to continue. "We were on a date, and Pyrrha decided to come along. I didn't really want her to be there since… well, I had some plans in place, but in the end I yielded to her presence."

"And?"

"We went to Jaune's home after a small hassle in Vale's trade district, and… we got kind of drunk." Blake sighed. "Just for the record, Jaune's twin sisters are more dangerous than they look. Always be on your guard around them."

"Go on." Weiss huffed. "I am not interested in your revelry with alcohol."

"Well… the twins suggested that Pyrrha, Jaune and I would try and date each other at the same time, and at the time we were too drunk to make rational decisions." Blake curled and uncurled her fingers in front of her face. "And… we got a bit too into it. We woke up the next day in Jaune's bed, and after a bit of hesitation decided to along with the twin's idea for the time being."

"Would I be correct if I assumed that you pushed miss Nikos into accepting such outrageous proposal?" Weiss asked, and Blake felt a surge of irritation towards the white-haired girl from her accusatory tone.

"No, it was actually Pyrrha who decided to go along with the arrangement." Blake hissed, and Weiss fell quiet. "I was against it at first, but Jaune… Jaune wanted to give it a chance, so I went along with it."

"You sound like that you're not happy with it?" Weiss asked, and Blake let her hand fall down on her chest.

"It's… just not something I've ever considered really." Blake sighed. "I would have said no and let that be the end of it if Jaune had tried to brute force his way to a three-way relationship, but I felt that he tried to genuinely find a way for both Pyrrha and me to be happy."

"...I see." Weiss's tone was neutral. "But you didn't answer my question, really. Are you happy with your… arrangement?"

"I'm not sure yet." Blake said while looking up at the white ceiling. "I haven't had time to make my mind about it… but Pyrrha seems like decent enough of a person, if overly polite, although I have feeling that Pyrrha is hiding something behind that smile of hers. Something more terrifying than just loneliness. And Jaune is… well, Jaune. He's basically a knight in shining armour, except his armor is made from the stuff of nightmares, and instead of being cool he's kind of…well, Jaune. But he tries his best to make everyone around him happy."

"That's a fairly apt description of him at least." Weiss's voice was slightly amused, although she paused afterwards to sneeze. "Well, tell me in advance if your relationship is going to fail spectacularly so I can prepare for the inevitable fallout… and please, try to not have it happen during a mission."

"Thanks for listening though. I appreciate it."

"I figured that I'd need to listen to your troubles if I wanted to be a proper leader who at least pretends to care about her underlings." Weiss's voice was sarcastic and Blake nodded internally as she recognized the friendly banter for what it was.

"I'm so grateful to have so thoughtful leader." Blake snarked back as she turned around in her bed. "Also, in case If you're interested, that book I 'lent' you has a sequel as well…"

"I take back all I said…" Weiss grumbled to her tissue, and Blake smirked as she picked her book up again, and heard a shuffle as Weiss pulled 'her' book from under her blanket as well.

She even tried to be sneaky about it.

Blake found it incredibly adorable.

 **Next Chapter- around 25th.**

 **Slightly slow chapter mainly because of work exhaustion which left a bit less energy for the writing so I kept the pace a bit slower instead of jumping to things that were hinted in the chapter.**

 **Omake:**

It was a disaster.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry!"

"Ew! I mean watch out!" Ruby dashed forwards, and her hands slipped, sending an object flying. "Gross!"

"I'll grab it!" Pyrrha said, but her grip failed on the slippery and wet object, and it flew off again. "Ah, sorry, that was my fault!"

It was a complete disaster.

They, Pyrrha, Ruby and Jaune, had been training in the simulation room for a while until Jaune had suggested that they could try training with bladed weapons, and Ruby had agreed as hand-to-hand really wasn't her strong point. It had gone well enough for a while, until Jaune's guard had slipped slightly and Pyrrha had exploited the opening to slash her sword at Jaune… and she remembered too late that Jaune's Aura didn't offer any protection.

Which was why they were playing dodgeball with Jaune's severed head as the attack had effectively launched the boy('s head) into the air and was currently in state where Ruby and Pyrrha were trying to chase after the slippery object of their more-or-less hidden affection.

The chase of the identified flying object turned out to be slightly harder than it seemed as the blood from the wound made the head quite slippery, and both of the girls tended to have a habit of instinctively throwing the head away when it twitched or moved, or whenever they actually managed to catch it.

' _I'll seriously need to do something about this soon…'_ Jaune thought while he flew in the air as a severed head for what had felt like minutes. ' _Then again, without lungs I can't scream… Or can I?'_

"I've got an idea!" Jaune glanced the best he could towards Ruby who had unfolded her Crescent Rose to rifle configuration and was waving it around like a baseball bat. "Get ready to catch him, Pyrrha!"

Jaune really didn't like the maniacal look Ruby had in her eyes, nor the shadow that had fallen over Pyrrha's face.

…

"Right." Emerald Sustrai whispered to herself as she closed the door to the simulation room very, very quietly. She had planned to go visit the simulation room and set up a beach resort scene, grab a bit of cold juice and have herself a vacation-in-disguise. A quick glance at a pair of red-headed girls playing dodgeball inside the deactivated simulation room quickly put an end to those thoughts. Specifically when the severed head the girls had used as a ball had somehow started to scream mid-air, and the headless body lying on its own blood on the steel floor had started to twitch.

"Oookay, I didn't see that, I didn't see that…" Emerald muttered to herself as she walked away from the simulation room, intending on finding the nearest source of hard liquors to wipe away what she had seen just now.


	27. Setting the stage

"Shut your mouth."

"Didn't think I'd find you here, of all places." a man drawled as he wobbled on his barstool.

"Shut it, or I'll shut your mouth for you." Winter growled as she cradled her glass of wine.

Winter had decided to go and have a single glass of wine to calm herself after learning of her adorable little sister's… preferences and her chosen partner(s). Unfortunately for her, a certain man hand stumbled into the Crow Bar where she was having her drink, and had promptly tried to annoy her into a fight.

Normally Winter would have risen to defend General Ironwood's, Atlas's, and the Schnee's honour with blades, but she was far too distracted by her thoughts to really rise into Qrow Branwen's baits, and instead just gave them as much credit as they deserved by throwing them back at the man's face.

"Problems in paradise?" Qrow asked as he grabbed Winter's wine bottle before the woman could stop him, and poured himself some of the liquid. "Jimmy softcock not giving you enough 'attention'?"

"For the hundredth time, I am General Ironwood's personal assistant, not his lover." Winter drawled as she grabbed her wine bottle back from the man. She had a considerable amount of Lien on her account so one high-quality bottle of wine didn't even register on her balance, but she'd be damned if she allowed the man to have anything what was her without a fight. "My relationship with him is completely professional."

"So what's the matter?" Qrow growled. "Your robots refusing to shower you with affection?"

"Gr…" Winter growled as she cradled her drink. "Fine. What would you do if you found that your nieces were into… tentacles?"

Qrow spat his drink out all over the bartender who had come to hover nearby to intervene in case a fight broke out, and the wine stained the bartender's expensive suit.

"I'll pay for that… goddammit." Qrow growled as the bartender sent a glare at the drunken Huntsman.

"How… chivalrous... of you." Winter drawled as Qrow forked over some Lien for the bartender.

"This is my favorite place in Vale and I'll be damned if I allow you to get me kicked out of it." Qrow glared at her.

"Me? Your undignified behaviour is entirely your own fault!" Winter glared back at the man.

"I wasn't implying that my nieces were into tentacles!"

"Yeah, so keep that image in your head for a while." Winter growled at the man. "That's what I'm trying to come to terms with!"

"Wh- wait, wait, wait. Are my nieces are into…. Hold on, hold on." Qrow waved his hands in universal time-out gesture. "You're saying that your lil' sis is into tentacles?"

"I didn't say that!" Winter denied. "She's… She's just got a unique taste!"

"Unique taste, huh. I've read the 'news' too, you know. Dinna know your sis would be into Grimm." the drunken Huntsman's face broke into a massive grin, clearly intended to irritate her. "Uh oh, oh my. Guess it must run in the family."

"How dare you!" Winter growled at Qrow. "What do you mean by that, you mongrel?!"

"Isn't your, well, all Schnee's Semblance the ability to summon the foes you've defeated and bend them to your will? Make them obey your every command like willing slaves?" Qrow asked, and his eyes gleamed with barely restrained glee. "Don't tell me you haven't done eh, _questionable_ things with some summoned Beowolves or something when you were younger?"

"Wha- how- No! Of course not!" Winter exclaimed, shocked over the accusations.

"You're a bad liar, ice queen…"

"Shut up! You can't prove anything!"

"You just proved it yourself…" Qrow pointed out with a smirk as wide as a highway lane. "Oh my, the prude and proud Specialist of the honorary Atlas institution, pleasuring herself with a…"

The man's words were lost as Winter pulled her bottle of wine back and smashed it against the man's face.

The man responded by grabbing her outstretched hand and pulling her off her barstool, and throwing her over his shoulder.

"I'll take those words of yours and shove them back down your throat!" Winter howled as she landed on her feet and pulled her saber. Qrow pulled his hair back and wiped the glass shards from his face as the man's Aura had tanked the hit, and he pulled his sword-scythe…

...And a stream of water hitting them both broke them off their imminent melee.

"Wha...?" Winter spurted out as she dripped water on the floor, and in front of her Qrow looked as confused as she was, equally drenched in water.

They turned in unison towards the bartender who was holding up a water hose.

"Out." the bartender said as he a glared at the two.

.

..

…

"Great." Qrow growled as he walked aimlessly on the Vale's streets, looking like a wet dog. "That was my favorite place in this city, and I had to pay for the bartender's suit to boot… thanks, Ice Queen."

"It was not I who resorted to juvenile accusations about my private life!" Winter growled at Qrow. She had used her glyphs to heat her clothes so most of the water had vaporized, and she even had managed to get her hair to an acceptable state.

"Accusations? You mean truths!" Qrow stumbled slightly as he picked up a trail, and his aimless walking gained a measure of determination.

"How dare you claim such things, you… you… swine!" Winter glared at the man as she walked beside him. "You do not know what I am going through right now!"

"Trust me, I do." Qrow mumbled nearly inaudibly, although Winter managed to hear it and her glare deepened.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Here we are." Qrow ignored her question in order to stop in front of a… bar?

"I'm going to kill you if you get me kicked out of this one too." Qrow growled at her as he stepped into the bar called 'Crow's nest'.

"I'm going to gut you if you disgrace my appearance again like in the last place!" Winter growled back at Qrow as she walked into the bar as well.

.

..

…

"And… And… then she just says 'yeah I'm dating a… a… tentacle monster'" Winter said with a considerable slur in her voice as she sat in a small two-person alcove in the 'Crow's Nest' bar. "I've always thought that she was my… I mean their pretty, adorable, innocent, but very capable and purpose-driven sister… but… to think that she'd have that kind of side as well…"

"That's… that's... awful." Qrow grumbled as he finished his twelfth beer. "Are you sure that happened to your cousin's sister?"

"Ye- yesh. My cousin's sister. Not my sister." Winter sent a glare at the man, and rubbed her eyes as her vision was getting somewhat blurry. "Didn't you say that your… your…"

"My grandparent's sister's dog's owners cousin's niece…"

"Yeh, those people… weren't they into… some disturbing stuff as well?" Winter drawled.

"No, it's just my… I mean their youngest niece who's far too innocent for their own goosh… I mean for their own good." Qrow grumbled. "She's eyeing some boy-thing that I don't… I mean they don't approve. He's like, the worst."

"What did he do to justifh… justoh… justify that kind of hate?" Winter slurred as she rubbed her eye with the back of her hand. _'Damn fog, get out of my eyes or I'll have you arrested…'_

"He has tentacles, and I don't… I mean they don't want their niece to find out what they could be used for… and he's dangerous, and unstable to boot." Qrow slurred at her. "She deserves better, and I… I mean they don't want to risk that she goes to sleep one night and next only thing that's left of her is few bits of meat and a head!"

"I want to find this… tentacle Grimm everyone's been talking about. I mean not the one that my s… I mean my cousin's sister is into." Winter drawled as Qrow's rant dwindled into murmur while the man kept sending violent looks at his row of beer glasses. "I looked for a tentacle Grimm when I last visited Mistral, but I haven't managed to find one to add into my… 'collection'"

"You mean your… Semblr… Selbehe… Semblance thing?"

"Yeah, that's the one." Winter drawled. "Are you really that slow?"

"Hey! At least I'm not into Grimm!" Qrow pointed a accusing finger at her. "Unlike someone!"

"I'm… not into those the things. I'm not!" Winter poked Qrow's forehead with her finger aggressively, missed, and ended up accidentally poking her finger knuckle-deep up the man's nostril. "Ew! Cease your vile assault against my finger at once!"

"Arggh!" Qrow pulled her finger out and rubbed his nose. "Goddammit."

"Serves you right!" Winter growled at the man. "Besides, even if I was, hypothetically speaking, 'into' my own collection then it wouldn't even matter since it's my Semblance, which an extension of my own soul."

"So you're pleasuring your cold ass with a Grimm made from your own soul, got it." Qrow drawled, and barely dodged Winter's furious slap that came as a result of the man's words. The miss caused Winter's already degraded balance to almost fail her, and she came close to toppling out of her chair.

Luckily Qrow grabbed her wrist and stopped her from falling off her chair.

"Release me at once!" Winter growled at the man and sent a severe glare at him as he let go of her arm. "Why do you even care about my private life? Feeling inadh… inadequate?"

She glared at the man as she rubbed her wrist protectively. "Then again, you haven't even been in a proper relationship. How does it feel when even a ghost made from Semblance is doing far better than you?"

Winter noticed as Qrow flinched from her words, and she went for the jugular as she saw weakness. "Oh, you flaunt that you're a bachelor to everyone but I'm sure that when it comes down to the real deal, you're all blank instead of bang."

"Grrr…" Qrow growled into his fifteenth beer glass. "Just… how do you know about my love life? Have you been stalking me?"

"I was asked by Generhs… generul… General Ironwood to investigate the Beacon's staff for inconshsist… inconsistensies and suspicious backgrounds." Winter tried to puff her chest forwards proudly, yet to her annoyance her words came out with a slur. "I must say I'm somewhat disappointed in your… performances? Not a single proper relash… relationship since Beacon… I wonder if you're a eunuch, or are just simply all bark and no bite."

Qrow glanced at Winter's smug expression and his growl grew louder.

"Oh yeah?" Qrow challenged. "Why don't you come find out for yourself whether the rumors are true or not, huh? Although, if you have done the deed with some summoned Grimm I'm pretty sure I'd be wasting my time with you since I could probably fit my whole arm inside without touching the walls."

"You- You mongrel! You will regret those words!" Winter howled with rage and pulled her saber, and Qrow pulled his sword-scythe while knocking over the table they had been sitting around.

The empty wine and beer glasses shattered against the bar's floor as the two exchanged blows, and Winter created fire Glyph that set the man's stained cape on fire… until a fire extinguisher went off and engulfed the pair in white fire-retardant foam.

Winter spluttered as she tried to wipe the foam off her face so she could see, and doing so she stumbled, slipped on the foam and fell on the floor. She felt as Qrow stumbled and fell as the man had tried to swing around to face their unknown attacker, and she barely managed to avoid becoming a cushion for the man's fall by rolling to the side- and doing so, she hit her head on the toppled over table.

She glanced upwards as she heard someone speaking nearby, and focused her hazy eyes on the vaguely human-shaped creature...

"...Miss, mister, please leave this establishment." The bartender of the Crow's Nest told the pair calmly through his hefty moustache, and Winter glanced to the side to see a somewhat pale-looking waitress holding up a fire extinguisher with shaky hands. "And before you leave, please pay your bill. The cleaning and repair costs have been added to the total sum. Thank you and have a pleasant day."

"Goddammit, this is the second time this day…" Qrow grumbled through the firefoam as he took the bill from the bartender with surprisingly accurate movements. "You're paying up this time, Ice Queen." he added while thrusting the bill towards Winter.

"Wha-"

"You started the fight, and you set my cape on fire!"

"Fine, but you'll owe me a favour for this..." Winter grumbled as she took the bill while wiping firefoam from her face, checked the sum, and paid it out with her credit card. _'Sheesh, I didn't expect the costs of this night to go to six digits just yet…_ '

"Now, pl…"

"'Please leave', got it." Qrow spoke over the bartender and wobbled out towards the exit in Winter's wake.

.

..

...

"This entire ordeal is entirely your own fault." Winter accused as she stumbled out of the taxi that had stopped in front of a hotel.

"You're the one to talk when you threw the first blow both times." Qrow accused back as he stepped out of the taxi as well. "Also, stop following me around!"

"I'm not following you, you're following me!" Winter glared at the drunk man as she stumbled through the hotel's door, through the lobby and into the elevator. "General Ironweed… I mean General Ironwood reserved this hotel for his retinue's use, and this is my hotel!"

"Your hotel?" Qrow lifted his eyebrow sarcastically.

"The Schnee's own hotels in all four kingdoms so we have always a lodging whenever we are out of Atlas…" Winter shook her head and blinked as she opened her hotel room's door. "Why am I telling you this?"

"I don't know and I don't care." Qrow grumbled as he walked into the hotel room behind her. "Pretty utilitarian room you got there, Ice Queen."

The hotel room, while it was incredibly clean, had only few shelves and tables for personal items, a pair of clothes drawers and wardrobes, a sturdy-looking bed and a heavily armored weapons locker.

"I didn't take you for a comfort-seeker, Qrow. How… disappointing, although in retrospect I should have guessed as much." Winter nodded condescendingly, and Qrow's scowl deepened.

"Yeah at least I realize that I won't be able to take my Lien beyond the grave…" Qrow growled as he made towards the room's bathroom. "I need to wash this foam out of my hair so make way…"

"Excuse me! The first shower is mine!" Winter kicked Qrow's knee from behind and drove the man on the floor as he attempted to go to the shower. "Also, get out of my room!"

"Hey, at least I didn't start a bar fight two times in a row! Take some responsibility!" Qrow glared at her from the floor. "Plus, you're not the only one who's covered in that damn firefoam…"

"Shees, fine, you can use the shower but _only_ after I'm done!" Winter put her foot on the man's back to drive her point home. "And if I catch you doing anything inappropriate while I am in the shower…"

"Yeah, yeah, as if I'd want to see your wrinkly cold ass anyway… Ow!" Qrow's grumble ended with a yelp as Winter stomped on the man's back furiously, and she stepped on the man's head just to be on the safe side as she walked into the shower.

.

..

…

"Hrr… Did you deliberately sabotage the temperature control?" Qrow shivered visibly as he stumbled out of the shower after washing most of the firefoam off, although there wasn't much he could have done to his soiled clothes. "The water was freezing!"

Winter had changed out of her soiled clothes and was standing guard just outside the hotel room's bathroom, ready to push the man out of her hotel room as soon as he walked out of the shower, although she tried to make it look as nonchalant as possible as she leaned on the hotel room's wall to stop herself from wobbling slightly from the dizzying mist that clouded her mind.

"No, the water is just the way I prefer it." Winter glared at Qrow while making sure that her bathrobe covered her entirely as she had finished her shower before letting the man clean himself. "Warm water is for the weak."

"Grh… no wonder you're so cold all the time, must be because of osmosis or something."

"That's not even remotely scientifically accurate!" Winter glared at the man and she crossed her hands to emphasize her words. "Now, please remove yourself from my presence at once!"

"What, you want to get back to moping over how your sis got a tentacle monster and you didn't?" Qrow ignored Winter to leered at her, and her glare deepened. "Although there isn't a bar for you to wreck in here so I suppose you'll have to make do with just drinking yourself unconscious."

"I'm not drunk, and I didn't want a tentacle monster into my collection anyway!" Winter growled at the man while she tried her best to keep her balance. She didn't quite manage to hide her wobbling though, and Qrow's smirk widened as the man no doubt noticed it.

"Oh my, going back on your words already?" Qrow leered. "You were so enthusiastic to catch one back in Crow's Nest. Getting cold feet?"

"No." Winter bristled. "Shut up you… you… degenerate!"

"I bet you'd love to have one 'accompany' you while you drink your troubles away, eh? Just like your lil' sis? It does go in the family I see."

"That does it, you're dead meat!" Winter howled as she lunged at the man and grabbed him by his throat. Qrow reached to pry her off and threw a wild punch at her, but she managed to dodge it and counter by headbutting the man. A wild swing at the man's chest was parried, and he retaliated by sweeping her legs from under her but she managed to grab a hold of Qrow's hair as she collapsed on the wooden floor.

She kicked against Qrow's knee to topple the drunken huntsman down, and rolled to avoid getting crushed by the falling man. Qrow collapsed heavily on the wooden floor and Winter used the chance to climb up as the drunken Huntsman cradled his head after somehow managing to hit it against her bed's leg while falling.

She drove her knee into the man's stomach, and leaned to leer victoriously at the man who was struggling to breathe as she knelt on top of him. Qrow coughed, grabbed her by her bathrobe and tried to pull her off his chest. Winter tried to rear back while keeping her balance, and failed at both as her sense of balance betrayed her-

-And before she realized it, her lips had touched the man's as she slumped down on top of him.

"Mmpfh!" Winter's eyes widened as she realized what she was doing, and she tried to pull herself up, except her arms had somehow gotten tangled into the man's hair. She managed to get one of her hands off the man and under her control, and she promptly slapped Qrow to disconnect the pair's lips from eachother. "H-hands off, you cretin! I'll have you castrated for this!"

"Gh- W-what the hell, Ice Queen?" Qrow's red eyes were wide as he stared at the white-haired woman incredulously while wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "You're the one who came onto me!"

"A likely story!"

"You're really hot and bothered ain't you?" Qrow growled at her, and Winter glared back while still sitting on the man's chest. "I bet you were about to summon that Semblance-made toy of yours as soon as I got outta here anyway."

"What, feeling disappointed that I'm going to be sleeping content tonight, and you're going back with a pair of blue balls?" Winter pointed her finger at Qrow's head, and ended up poking it into the man's eye.

"Ow!" Qrow rubbed his stinging eye furiously while sending a glare at him with his good eye. "As if that goddamn toy of yours could do anything properly. You haven't even had sex with a real man before, am I right?"

Winter felt as her cheeks reddened from rage as she looked down at the infuriating man. "So what? As if you'd have something that it doesn't hav- I mean I'm not using my Semblance inappropriately, you pervert!"

"It's not the size or the shape, Ice Queen, it's how you use it." Qrow growled at her while reaching to poke his finger towards her, and Winter deftly dodged the finger… or at least tried to, and somehow the finger ended up between her lips despite her best attempts to avoid it. "Oi! Quit licking me, you horny pretend-secretary!"

"Mbh!" Winter tried to object, but was foiled as the finger effectively dampered her ability to speak. She slapped the man's hand off, and sent a furious glare at the man. "Pft, as if you'd be able to satisfy a woman, pretend-bachelor. Your relationship history is as empty as your credibility."

"Why don't you find out for yourself?" Qrow challenged while wiping his finger on her bathrobe. "Afraid that you'll lose face when you're up against the real deal?"

"Hah, as if I'd waste even a minute watching you trying to get our game on and then tap out a second later…"

"Oh that's it, Ice Queen, you're on!" Qrow reached to put one of his hands on her waist.

Winter slapped the hand away and crossed her arms.

"I'll prepare myself to be adequately disappointed." Winter said while looking at Qrow concescendely which seemed to push the man over the edge.

His hand returned to her hip- except when she reached to slap it off, Qrow grabbed her hand and pulled her closer.

"Quit it you mong… Mpffh!" Winter's drawl became a ferocious muffle as Qrow pressed his lips against hers, and his hand ran along her side to pull her bathrobe off. She responded by pulling her head back and swinging it down to headbutt the man to the floor for the second time.

"You brute! Did you expect for 'that' to happen on the floor? No wonder you're incapable of getting yourself a respectable woman if you're so barbaric!" Winter accused while grabbing Qrow's jacket by the chest and heaving the man up on her shoulder, and she threw the man into her bed. She ignored the pained yelp Qrow gave as his face collided with the bed-end, and instead she walked to the bed as well, turned the man around and sat down on top of his waist and tore the man's jacket off him. "Now, let's begin properly…"

.

..

…

"Gaahh…" Winter woke up to the beep of missed messages ringing from her Scroll, and she waved her hand aimlessly towards the device through her blanket. She managed to hit the Scroll and push the message alert sound off to give some much-needed rest to her ears.

"Slept well, Ice Queen?" the raspy voice that replaced the Scroll's beeping made her wish that the beep still went on as even the annoying beep was preferable to the infuriating man's growl during her hangover.

"Qrow. Be quiet."

"Oh? That's not what you were doing last night." Qrow's voice grinded against her nerves like rough sandpaper grinding against ice, and the fact that the man didn't seem any worse for wear despite drinking nearly twice as much as her irked her to no end. "Follow the example and so on, or are you making others do what you can't?"

"I don't have the patience for your games…" Winter mumbled to her pillow as she lied face-down on the bed, completely ignoring how her blanket had slid down slightly to expose the white skin of her upper back to cold air of her room and the red-eyed Huntsman's perverted gaze. Which of those was worse she couldn't tell. "Arrghh…"

"Well, I got to be going. Responsibilities and so on." Qrow said as he very sensibly got out of the bed after sensing that she was dangerously short on patience and very likely to take what the man considered witty responses and shove them up his ass.

Her mood was not helped how hers was still somewhat tingling and sore after the last night, nor how practically every part of her still felt the after-effects of the last night's… 'activities', and she smelled of sweat, alcohol and sex.

"Eh, that was a alright night out, anyway." Qrow said cheerily, and had to dodge a thrown Scroll aimed at his head.

Winter turned to send a glare at the man from the bed as he was hastily pulling his torn pants on and throwing his shredded jacket and shirt on his shoulders.

"Let's do this again sometime?" Qrow asked over his shoulder as he opened the door.

"...Maybe."

"That wasn't a 'no', Ice Queen."

"I hate you." Winter ground out.

"I hate you too." Qrow replied with a smirk and evacuated the hotel room, half-clothed and with clear haste... which was definitely a point to the man's favor, all things considered.

Winter groaned to her pillow.

* * *

"So, that outlines my plan." Weiss Schnee finished her speech to her small audience composed of the Headmaster of Beacon and the assisting Combat Instructor in the Headmaster's Office in Beacon.

"Please allow me to make sure that I heard this correctly." Ozpin said as he leaned on his desk. "You wish to remove the recent… dishonor… from your record by using mr. Arc's Semblance, which I expressly desired to be kept secret, to display a Grimm obeying your orders in public setting so that you could claim that you have managed to tame a Grimm."

"Yes." Weiss's smile grew slightly faint, and she briefly glanced at the ragged man who was sitting beside the headmaster. Professor Qrow looked like he had come back from a vicious mission against quite considerably powerful foe as his clothes were torn and the man had scratches and marks all over his face and neck, and the man was holding his head like as if he was suffering from major headache as a result of some sort of injury.

 _'While I don't quite approve of mr. Qrow's methods, at least he tries his best... '_ Weiss thought as she observed the man's battle-worn appearance. _'The life of a professional Huntsman must be hard…'_

"Interesting. Were you planning on revealing that the Grimm you 'command' is indeed mr. Arc?" Ozpin's words shook Weiss out of her thoughts, and she turned her full attention towards the headmaster.

"No, sir. Ja- mr. Arc's Semblance will stay as a secret." Weiss clarified. "I also wish to bring hope to the people of Vale, since surely learning that one of the beasts could be tamed would be seen as a major victory in our eternal war against the Grimm?"

"And which of mr. Arc's forms were you planning on using to demonstrate your 'newfound breakthrough'?" Ozpin questioned further.

"I was planning on having him use his um… four-armed, armored f-"

"Tyrant." Qrow interrupted Weiss's words. "The staff have decided to call the four-armed armored thing a 'Tyrant' and it has been recorded as such."

"I… I see." Weiss nodded. "Good to know, we will be identifying him in that form as such in the future… but was it really necessary to give him a name that's so… imposing?"

"Well, as I'm sure you can agree, it is quite imposing creature indeed." Ozpin nodded.

"He."

"Hm?"

"He is quite imposing." Weiss corrected, before she realized who she was addressing and back-talking to. "Ah, my apologies. My thoughts seem to be still catching up from my recent sickness."

"Please don't worry about that." the Headmaster waved her concerns off. "And I'm glad to see that you are recovering from your illness."

"Thank you." Weiss nodded politely. "Speaking of recovering, have you decided to the terms and conditions of team SABR's and RYNN's house arrest?"

"I was planning on having it continue until the end of the month or until the public outrage dies down, which would mean that if you managed to gain the public's trust with your announcement I may allow you to visit Vale during weekends at least." Ozpin mused. "Of course, on the promise that if you see, hm, illegal actions being taken you alert the proper authorities instead of charging head-long into them."

"A reasonable demand, I'm sure." Weiss nodded politely. "However I believe I didn't get a clear answer to whether or not I can use mr. Arc's Semblance to prove myself to the public…"

"Sure."

"...So I could… eh?"

"You have my permission to reveal a possibility of a breakthrough in ability to train and control Grimm to the general public using mr. Arc as a 'fake test subject', as long as you don't risk the knowledge of mr. Arc's Semblance from spreading while doing so." Ozpin told her. "You can take mr. Arc and teams RYNN and SABR to accompany you when you reveal your 'breakthrough' to the public as well. Moreover, please don't use mr. Arc's Tyrant form to demonstrate your theory"

"Thank you, sir." Weiss sighed in relief as the permission was given. "...But if I may, why not use his… Tyrant form? Surely controlling a large and imposing creature would cause people's morale to rally more than controlling say, a Beowolf?"

"It would be so, if we could guarantee that nothing goes wrong." Qrow grumbled. "Problem is, reality is rarely as we plain it to be… if the kid goes berserk in middle of a crowd, in that form, there's gonna be a lot of dead people reporting to the morgue in the next morning."

"Ja- mr. Arc wouldn't…"

"'Plan for the best, prepare for the worst' is the best way of approaching these things, miss Schnee." Ozpin spoke over Weiss. "A Beowolf or another, less imposing and more importantly, easier to subdue form will still turn the people's opinion yet runs less risk of collateral damage should something unpleasant and unpredictable happen."

"I… I see."

"Please don't take this as a offense, but I doubt your ability to confront and contain mr. Arc's largest recorded form before the situation escalates."

"...I'm never going to hear the end about my Initiation, am I…" Weiss grumbled quietly, but she bowed to the Headmaster nevertheless. "I see, thank you for your advice."

"Was there anything else concerning you?"

"...No sir."

"Thank you, dismissed."

…

"..." Qrow sent a glare at Ozpin as Weiss walked out of the Headmaster's Office,

"I think this will fit nicely to our attempts to find potential infiltrators." Ozpin nodded at his coffee.

"You realize that the news of her being able to control Grimm will undoubtedly paint a target the size of a Atlesian battleship on the Schnee girl's back."

"Yes." Ozpin admitted. "Which is why I'd rather have her taking the potential attack than mr. Arc… after all, miss Schnee is unable to control the Grimm. Mr. Arc, however…"

"You believe that he could actually do that?" Qrow raised an sceptical eyebrow at the man.

"Well, there's a possibility- and if I were to bet money on it, I'd rather put it on mr. Arc than miss Schnee."

"So you think she's expendable."

"Everyone is expendable in our war against the darkness." Ozpin lifted his eyebrow at his agent. "Even myself. There are no kings in our chessboard, and only one queen..."

"You can spare me the rethorics, I've heard them before."

"Very well." Ozpin acknowledged. "Using miss Schnee to draw out the infiltrators in Vale, however, is preferable to say, using mr. Arc, or young miss Rose to do so. Both of them have something that we can't replace… unfortunately miss Schnee, while she is a capable student, she doesn't quite hold such value in the grand scale."

"Goddamn war…" Qrow grumbled as he reached for his flask.

"Speaking of which, what happened to you?" Ozpin lifted his eyebrow as he took a look at his agent's worn and battle-damaged appearance.

"'Got into a fistfight with a Ursa whilst dead drunk. Neither got out without a few scratches."

"...I see." Ozpin sipped from his mug and turned back towards his desk. "I'll have to contact Ironwood to let him know of miss Schee's plan."

"What do you plan on telling him?"

"I think it's wiser to keep him from knowing that the 'Grimm' is going to be mr. Arc, as I have no doubt that our general would do something hasty if he learned of mr. Arc's Semblance, and I'm sure Specialist Schnee is capable of talking him out of any hasty actions towards her sister..." Ozpin trailed off as he picked up his Scroll.

Qrow emptied his flask in one go.

* * *

"So, how did it turn out?" Jaune asked as soon as Weiss exited the Headmaster's Office elevator.

"He gave us his permission." Weiss told them, and Jaune reached to pat Weiss reassuringly on the shoulder. He tried to ignore how the girl avoided his hand deftly and started walking towards the dorms.

"We'll get your reputation cleared up soon, then!" he said happily as he moved to walk beside the white-haired girl, and Pyrrha took her place on Weiss's other side. Jaune and Pyrrha had been picked to escort Weiss around for the day as neither of their allied teams had wanted to let the girl out of their sight when the student body's aggression was directed at her- and they all knew from their training that while Weiss was no slouch in combat, she didn't last all that long when alone and outnumbered.

Luckily enough Jaune's and Pyrrha's presence had been enough to deter violence so far.

Pyrrha had done her best to keep the small talk between the trio going as Jaune was somewhat distracted by the feelings of hostility the students had radiated towards Weiss, which was a milder way of saying that his animalistic side wanted to transform and rip their throats off for threatening what it considered to be his.

 _'Haah, I hope the hostility starts to dwindle down soon, I'm not sure I can hold myself back from doing something I'd regret if this goes on for much longer…'_ Jaune thought as he opened team SABR's dorm-room where the two allied teams sat and waited for the news.

"So?" Yang waved her hand impatiently in the air from her pillow-seat next to Ruby's. "How'd it go?"

"We have the Headmaster's permission." Weiss said simply, and Ruby shot off from her seat to hug Weiss and Jaune.

"Awesome! So we can clear your rep!" Ruby said happily as Weiss attempted to weakly dislodge the small red-clad girl by pushing the back of her hand against Ruby's face, and Jaune briefly hugged Ruby back before a omnious wave of emotions from Pyrrha's direction and a wary wave of emotions from Blake's direction caused him to let go of the small girl.

"But how did you plan on revealing your 'ability'?" Ruby asked as she pulled away from Weiss. "The press…"

"I plan on doing a public reveal in Vale." Weiss told Ruby. "I looked for a good spot to do it, and I discovered that Atlas Robotics is doing a public reveal of their new series of combat bots, so I was planning on requesting permission to use that stand afterwards..."

A knock on the dorm's door interrupted Weiss's speech, and the group turned towards the room's entryway. Jaune lifted his eyebrow at Weiss, and Weiss nodded.

Jaune reached to open the door, curious as he hadn't detected anyone approaching the dorms.

"Salutations!" a lightly freckled ginger-haired and neon-green eyed girl greeted enthusiastically from the doorway, and promptly pushed past Jaune to stand in front of Weiss while striking a military salute. "I am Penny Polendina, and I have been detached from General Ironwood's retinue to accompany Weiss Schnee during her operation to re-reveal her existence as a Grimm controller to the people of Vale!"

"Y-Wha- how?" Weiss stammered at the cheerful girl who was less than a feet away from her.

It seemed that her stammer was translated to a permission to continue and Penny promptly took Weiss's hand and shook it vigorously. "I hope we will be able to co-exist peacefully during our intercourse."

"O-our what?"

"Ah! And General Ironwood has requested me to find out everything I can about you, so please tell me your three sizes, height, weight, blood type, preferred reproductory position and…"

"Who- what?"

"Your cooperation is appreciated, recorded, and transmitted to Atlesian Military with all due confidence." Penny nodded seriously, and her disturbingly happy smile returned in full force. "Also, General Ironwood has specifically requested me to find out how you are capable of controlling Grimm, if you are able to do so. He, and I quote, 'find it interesting how Specialist Winter's sister is capable of controlling Grimm despite Ozpin's assurances otherwise'"

"Um… and why do you need to know about Weiss's physical details?" Jaune asked weakly as Weiss seemed to be too busy staring at the ginger-haired girl who was still shaking Weiss's hand.

Jaune wasn't sure what the odd girl was as his ability to detect emotions was going haywire around her- or more specifically the emotions he felt from the girl were… distorted, faint, and he had no idea what any of them meant. It was like as if she wasn't present at all, yet something existed in her place...

"My crea- my father doctor Polendina gave me a list of details that I should know about people whom I seek to interact with!" Penny nodded enthusiastically at him, before tilting her head and blinking few times at Jaune. "Um… are you alright?"

"Yes?"

"Your vital signs are… off."

"Excuse me?" Jaune blinked in confusion at the odd girl.

"Please seek medical aid at once, your breathing rhythm is irregular, and your eyes seem to be off focus. Have you experienced heart attacks before?"

"I can assure you that he is alright." Weiss moved in front of Jaune. "His um… health condition is known to us."

"My health condition?" Jaune asked, and winced as Weiss stomped on his feet. "Oh, that one. yeah, I'm coping, everything is fine don't worry about it."

"Very well." Penny bowed politely at Jaune. "Regardless, I will be following team SABR for the time being. The transfer has been approved by General Ironwood."

"Uh… sure, I guess?" Weiss eyed the odd ginger girl warily. "Where are you lodging during your time here?"

"I intend to sleep in Weiss Schnee's bed, both to provide additional security and deepen our bond." Penny nodded happily

"Y- No! Out of the question!" Weiss denied heatedly, while both Ruby and Jaune stepped protectively in front of Weiss.

"I'm sorry, but don't you have your own quarters?" Weiss asked warily as she looked at the odd girl.

"Yes, I do have those." Penny acknowledged. "I use them to recha- I mean to rest and recuperate like how normal human persons do!"

"So… you don't have to sleep with Weiss, right?" Jaune asked, picking up Weiss's line of thoughts.

"Well, technically, I do not require sleep… with miss Weiss, I mean." Penny nodded although she looked curiously at Jaune.

"So if I get this right, General Ironwood of Atlas sent you as a additional layer of security when Weiss reveals her uh… ability to control Grimm to the public, right?" Jaune clarified. "So technically we could just call you when we head out, and you could join us then? That means you don't have to sleep with us, right?"

"General Ironwood told me to stay in Weiss Schnee's close proximity at all times, although I assume that the order is not absolute, seeing how human beings tend to become distressed whenever they are in direct physical contact with someone for extended periods of time." Penny nodded. "This compromise is acceptable."

"Great, then let's just exchange numbers and…" Jaune started, but the suddenly bashful look Penny sent him took him by surprise and caused his speech to dwindle into nothingness.

"Ah… excuse me? Can you please repeat that?" Penny asked very carefully.

"Let's exchange numbers?" Jaune repeated, confused over the girl's sudden change in behaviour.

"I… I must confess that didn't think people in Vale were so straightforward." Penny said while her cheeks turned bright red. "I'm… I'm sorry, but I am not ready to commit that act. Doctor Polendina told me to only do that with people I trust explicitly and have known for longer than seventy-two hours…"

"What's wrong with exchanging numbers?" Ruby piped up. "Here, I can give you my number as well!"

"Ah!" Penny retreated away from Ruby as she thrust her Scroll towards the girl. "B-but… My database suggest that people are required to at least buy eachother a dinner first before committing to the act!"

"Your database?" Jaune asked, confused. "Dinner before exchanging numbers?"

"Ah, I'm sorry, but it seems General Ironwood is requiring my immediate presence!" Penny said hastily while retreating towards the dorm's exit. "It has been pleasure to meet you, fellow human beings, and I hope to see you again!"

"...What just happened?" Weiss asked as Penny basically flew out of the door.

"She was… odd." Jaune acknowledged.

"Something was off about her." Blake commented quietly, and Jaune nodded as well.

"It's like… she was there and wasn't, at the same time." Jaune confessed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, we're going to have to solve that mystery when the time comes." Weiss sighed. "For now I'd like to concentrate on our plan…"

 **Next chapter: Around 4th. A bit more action that time around.**


	28. Pre-show

"...And that's my speech in full." Weiss finished to a somewhat drooping audience, composed of SABR and RYNN. The small group was sitting in SABR's dorm as it had far more space thanks to their bunk bed arrangement.

Weiss patted her stack of papers against a improvised speaker's platform, which had been made from a pair of studying desk, to make some noise and wake up the 'audience'. "So… you're welcome to clap now."

Yang waved her hands around in the air sleepily and managed to hit them together few times to make a sound that perhaps the most generous person in the world could call a clap.

"It was… very entertaining." Pyrrha managed to get out through a forced smile, although she couldn't quite stop herself from letting her eyelids droop slightly. "I… Haaaaahhh… I'm sure the people of Vale will find it very interesting." she continued while trying and failing to hold back a yawn.

Weiss sent a somewhat desperate look at Jaune and Ruby as Nora and Ren seemed to have fallen asleep, and Blake was entertaining herself by reading her book in Jaune's bed and whispering some of the scenes to furiously blushing blonde boy while Pyrrha tried to look like she wasn't listening, although she was leaning slightly against Jaune's shoulder with a somewhat sleepy expression in her face.

Ruby took the cue and hopped up from her seat beside now-sleeping and loudly snoring Yang to clap her hands together enthusiastically.

"Well, I thought it was interesting." Ruby said, although the fact she was wobbling slightly made her words slightly suspect.

"Thank you, thank you… No, please, this is too much." Weiss's words dripped sarcasm. "Anyway, the show is tomorrow, and I'd like for us to be ready for it. I'll assume that you all will be attending as well, right?"

"Yes, of course." Pyrrha told Weiss as she seemed to wake up more and more as Weiss's droning speech had ended. "It's the least we can do to help you."

"Thank you." Weiss nodded gratefully to Pyrrha and spared her a rare smile. "Now, I got a message from Glynda Goodwitch saying that she reserved the stage for us after the Atlesian products demo ends, so there shouldn't be any problems on that end, even if I had to pay a sum of Lien to get the stage time since miss Goodwitch wasn't willing to cover the entire cost."

"Speaking of which, how is your financial situation now that you're um…" Pyrrha started, but seemed to struggle to find appropriately polite word to describe Weiss's situation.

"...Now that I am no longer a official member of the Schnee company?" Weiss filled Pyrrha's sentence with a sigh. "My Schnee account is frozen, and all Lien has been pulled from it since it is technically part of Schnee company's property and I am no longer directly associated with them. However my private savings have not been touched. My father _could_ have emptied them as well out of spite, had I not been in Beacon and therefore been recognized as an adult and thus being a completely independent person in the eyes of law."

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head at Weiss. "Your dad could have emptied your private account?"

"Atlesian banks allow both mothers and fathers to access all bank accounts owned by their children until the children are recognized as independent adults by either emancipation or the children becoming eighteen years old." Weiss lifted her eyebrow at Ruby. "Becoming a student of Beacon means you are recognized as an independent adult for all legal purposes, or did you not look at that part of the papers when you applied into Beacon?"

"Uh… Headmaster Ozpin filled my papers, I just put my name on it…" Ruby confessed.

Weiss slapped her hand against her forehead so hard she might have given herself a concussion. "Ruby, we're going to have to talk about you signing official papers without reading through them…"

"Uh, sorry…" Ruby looked so sad that Weiss rolled her eyes and reached to pat Ruby's head reassuringly. Ruby seemed to cheer up from it, and she looked up with a puzzled expression in her face. "So um… technically, I'm an adult now, right?"

"Well… technically, yes, like we all are. But only technically!" Weiss gave Ruby a stern glare. "So no going off and drinking or doing something you shouldn't, am I understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." Ruby nodded seriously while striking a military salute, although Weiss sighed as she took in Ruby's completely unrepentant expression.

"Well… I guess the rest of the evening is free time, then?" Jaune asked as conversation died down. Yang snapped out of her nap as Ruby pulled Zwei from under Weiss's bed and put it on top of Yang's head, where the dog started to lick her temple. Blake traced the dog's movements warily from Jaune's bed and he could have sworn that she was expecting the dog to jump at her at any second or at slightest provocation.

' _Not that she needs to worry about that…'_ Jaune thought as he looked up at Blake. '… _That m҉ut́t pup would never get a chance to harm her, although I don't think Zwei is as aggressive as Blake thinks he is. I wonder if it's got to do with her being a cat faunus?'_

"Ah, and I almost forgot. Jaune." Weiss turned towards the boy as Yang fought valiantly and lost completely against Zwei's adorable assault. "I need to speak to you about the upcoming demonstration, preferably alone, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind." Jaune said, although Blake lifted her eyebrow suspiciously at Weiss. He lifted himself carefully up from the floor in front of his bed, and helped Pyrrha stand up as well as she had been leaning against him.

"Let's talk in the kitchen." Weiss said as she grabbed Jaune's arm and led him out of the dorm.

.

..

...

"What's this about?" Jaune asked as Weiss stopped in dorm's small kitchen.

"I… well…" Weiss seemed a bit hesitant as she she was facing away from him. "It is slightly embarrassing, but…"

' _Hold up, hold up, is she going to…'_ Jaune reared back in his mind as he looked at the ex-heiress who had a slight blush creeping up her neck. ' _But… but I haven't prepared myself, is she going to confe…'_

"I sort of... forgot to ask if you were okay with showing your Grimm form in front of entiere Vale and potentially entire Remnant." Weiss turned to face him and she had a slight blush on her cheeks.

' _Oh. Figures.'_ Jaune wasn't sure if he was feeling relieved or slightly disappointed. His head told him that he should be relieved, but the incessant buzzing in the back of his head told him to be disappointed. "Ah… Well, I'm..."

"I apologize, but we must do this, and I am willing to do what's necessary to make this happen- I _need_ to do this. I need to regain what I lost. I'm willing to do _anything_ to make it happen." Weiss's eyes were determined as she looked at him and her hands seemed to shake a bit as she grabbed his hand in hers. "Can I trust you to help me here?"

"Um… Yes, of course. I'll do it. That's what friends and teammates are for, right?" Jaune told Weiss honestly, although he got sort of confused as the reply caused the white-haired girl to sigh in clear disappointment and let go of his hands. ' _Was she expecting that I'd refuse? Or ask something in return?'_ "I mean, I'll try to do it, if it helps you clear your reputation… I just haven't done that in front of so many people before."

"Are you saying that you might lose your self-control in front of the crowd?" Weiss narrowed her eyes. "I… I suspected that it might pose a problem, but…"

"I'll do my best to stop that from happening, but you might need to keep the event brief." Jaune said seriously. "I… I may not be entirely in control during it, but I'll do my best to keep myself in line."

"Hm… I see. I'm just thinking aloud, but would a cage work to contain you?" Weiss asked. "I mean, if we locked you into a cage, and I showed that you were 'tame' by entering it? That way if something happened you'd be contained?"

"Eh… Maybe? Actually, that might be good." Jaune confirmed. ' _And since the Shadow seems to accept Weiss somehow, I guess that would be alright? I doubt it would attack her anyway…'_ "Just… make it spacey. I was locked into a small, encased cage and starved before Beacon, so doing that again might cause some bad memories to pop up."

Before she managed to say anything they both heard someone knocking the door of their dorm-wing.

Weiss lifted her eyebrow at Jaune. He shrugged, and walked towards the door.

He opened it carefully, and saw a tanned, green-haired girl standing in the hallway.

"Hello?" He greeted the girl carefully and she blinked once before bowing slightly.

"Greetings. I am…"

"Good evening, Emerald." Weiss popped in front of Jaune and promptly drove him out of the doorway with enough force to almost knock him over. "How are you?"

"I am well, and so is the rest of my team... However, I was concerned about your health so I decided to come to visit." Emerald said. "Am I… interrupting something?" She added carefully as she looked past Weiss at Jaune who had barely regained his balance.

"No, no. Everything is fine." Weiss waved Emerald's concerns off. "Please come inside. Jaune, brew tea for her."

"Who is she?" Jaune asked as he pulled Weiss aside while Emerald walked into the dorm's kitchen and sat in front of the table.

"She's Emerald Sustrai, one of the new transfer students." Weiss whispered to him. "We met before, and I had scheduled team training with her team… which had to be cancelled because you and Blake wanted to chase criminals."

"Oh."

"Just… be on your best behaviour, okay?" Weiss asked while sending a glare at him, and he nodded somewhat nervously.

"So, what brings you here?" Weiss asked Emerald as she walked into the kitchen as well and sat down opposite to the girl, and Jaune started to work on brewing tea for the two girls.

"I was worried about you, Weiss." Emerald confessed. "I read that horrible article about you, and I was so worried that something had happened to you."

"Ah… Thank you." Weiss smiled at the girl. "I assure everything is alright…"

' _Odd…'_ Jaune thought as he poured water into a electric kettle. ' _These emotions…'_

He had started to passively sense emotions as part of his self-training to make a sort-of radar that detects humans around him, and he had found out that humans tended to feel emotions when they spoke… but oddly enough, the feelings Emerald radiated were different from what her words should have caused her to radiate.

' _I wonder if she's same as Penny? She radiated odd emotions as well… although it feels like Emerald is feeling regular emotions, just not the ones that match her words…'_ Jaune thought, but a dull spike of pain distracted him from his musings. "Ow?"

"Jaune? Is everything alright?" Weiss turned towards him as he was waving his hand wildly.

"Ah, it's nothing, I just burned myself on the steam." Jaune explained as he had accidentally kept his hand on top of the kettle's steam vent while in his thoughts. ' _Figures that my pain resistance would let me know about the heat only after I've gotten myself burned properly… Being too resistant to pain is both a gift and a curse.'_

"Very well. Anyway, as I was saying, I am doing a reveal event where I um… tell the people of Vale about my breakthrough in ability to control Grimm." Weiss turned back towards Emerald.

"So it was true then? What the article said, I mean?" Emerald asked quietly.

"Well… not exactly true, but it wasn't entirely false either." Weiss confessed and Jaune blinked in confusion in the background. "I have developed a way of controlling the Grimm, but the article just jumped to conclusions and slandered my reputation."

' _Huh? Now even Weiss has started to radiate those conflicting emotions.'_ Jaune sighed as he pushed mentally against the scuttling mess in back of his head to suppress his sort-of sixth sense. ' _I need to try to find out what keeps doing that… I wonder if the accuracy of the sensing starts to degrade if I keep it on for long periods of time?'_

"Interesting. When are you planning on revealing the ability?" Emerald asked curiously.

"Tomorrow evening. Atlas is doing a public display with their newest line of robots, and I intend to use the chance to display my theory in practise there to both clear my reputation and bolster the morale of the people." Weiss replied while taking a cup that Jaune offered her, and Jaune placed a platter full of waffles and cookies on the table after offering a cup of tea to Emerald. It was was a risky move to open one of the many cookie jars, but it wasn't exactly healthy for Ruby to eat so much cookies anyway.

"Fascinating." Emerald said as she sipped her tea carefully. "I take it that mr. Arc is your one of your teammates?"

"How'd you know my surname?" Jaune asked curiously as he sat on the table as well, and Weiss promptly stomped on his feet. "Oh, sorry, nevermind. Yeah I'm Jaune Arc, I'm the A in team SABR. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Emerald Sustrai, E in team… eugh, team CEMN." Emerald sighed out the name of her team with no small amount of exasperation. Jaune lifted his eyebrow at her, and Emerald shrugged. "I just don't like the team name. 'Cement' is boring."

"Although it is far better than what the, hm, 'first iteration' of our team name was." She added after a moment of thought. "I sometimes wonder what the Headmaster was thinking. Perhaps he was tired?"

"Yeah, he's like that normally. He launched us off a cliff into Grimm-infested forest and told us to look each other in the eyes to form partners and fetch him chess pieces to form teams." Jaune told Emerald.

The girl blinked few times in confusion. "He did what?"

"Anyway, weren't you from Mistral?" Weiss not-so-subtly elbowed Jaune to the ribs while smiling at Emerald. "We have one student from Mistral in our dorm as well, although she didn't attend Haven Academy."

"Oh? I wasn't aware that there were other students from Mistral in here." Emerald seemed thoughtful. "But yeah, I am from Mistral, as is the rest of our team. We transferred from Haven to here as part of a Remnant-wide cross-training directive."

"Nice. By the way, I met Cinder before. She's your team leader, right?." Jaune asked. "She seemed like a helpful and earnest person, and I'd like to meet her again to thank her for her help."

"I… I see. I'll let her know." Emerald's smile became slightly fragile for some reason, and her eyes flashed dangerously. "Anyway, the event is after school hours, right?" she said as she turned towards Weiss.

"Yes, and I'd be honored to have you there." Weiss smiled politely.

"I'll be sure to attend." Emerald nodded politely to Weiss, although she sent an evil eye at Jaune for some reason. "Anyway, I need to be going. It was good to find out that you were alright amidst all this chaos."

She lifted herself up from the kitchen table, as did Jaune and Weiss.

"See you tomorrow?" Emerald bowed politely at Weiss, and Weiss nodded back.

.

..

...

"So… She's your friend?" Jaune asked Weiss after Emerald had left the dorm, and the white-haired girl turned towards him.

"Yes."

"She seemed… odd." Jaune told her and Weiss lifted her eyebrow at him. "It was… well... "

"Go on?" Weiss prodded.

"Actually, nevermind. It must be just my imagination." Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "I just thought that something was off with her. Kind of like with that Penny girl, but not exactly."

"I would disagree. Emerald seems to be completely normal and earnest student, unlike that… girl… who barged into our dorm yesterday." Weiss sent a small glare at Jaune, which caused him to drop the issue. "Anyway, you need to get enough rest if we are going to put you on a pedestal tomorrow. I'll ask Ruby and Blake to fetch enough materials for your transformation. You'll do it in Beacon, and we'll fly you to Vale in your Grimm form."

"Right." Jaune nodded while trying to ignore how his stomach started to do flips in preparation for the flight. "Did you decide what form I should take?"

"I was originally planning on having you take your Tyrant form…"

"My what?"

"The four-armed thingy, Ozpin told me that they had named it so and we're going to stick to it." Weiss crossed her arms. "Now, if I can continue, I had planned for you to take that, but Ozpin told me that it could be too dangerous. I figured that having a big and imposing creature under my 'command' I could assure the public that a victory against the Grimm could be possible, but I realize that in retrospect that having so big and imposing Grimm form in front of the crowd may not be a good idea, not to mention that it is fairly… unique… form."

"Agreed."

"Anyway, I thought about having you take your Knight shape, the tentacles and armor 'thing', since the public has seen it via the video that was taken of our fight in the docks, but I figured that since that form is so unique and outlandish the public may not believe that I've 'tamed' a real Grimm, rather they would believe that I've _made_ a Grimm, which doesn't exactly paint me in a good light." Weiss told him. "I was thinking that if you took the shape of a Beowolf, like in Forever Fall, it would be more recognizable to the crowd as most people know what a Beowolf looks like."

"I see." Jaune thought about her words. "Wouldn't it make the people wonder what happened to er… my Knight form?"

"I guess, but I can just tell that it is not completely ready for public reveal just yet, and the docks incident was just me doing a test-run against a group of criminals. That way the public sees me controlling a regular Grimm, and I can tell that the Knight form is some sort of unique Grimm from faraway land, or something" Weiss turned to look out of the kitchen window. "I planned on blaming the Vale's press for making fake news from incomplete data, and discredit the article that caused the issue- They saw something and ran with it without doing proper investigation on the subject. If I play my cards right, I will get a written apology out of them"

"I guess so." Jaune shrugged. "Do you think you could regain your position as the heiress of your company with that?"

He immediately wished that he hadn't asked as Weiss's mood fell visibly although she did her best to maintain her usual composure.

"I hope that it is the case, but ultimately it is up to my father." Weiss said while facing away from him and wringing her hands somewhat nervously. "If he changes his official opinion so quickly after a publicly denouncing me, it could cause his investors to wonder if making hasty decisions based off incomplete data is going to become a habit for him, which hurts his public image… If I were to guess, he would require me to go to Atlas and give him some form of public apology or do something along those lines."

"Why would you need to apologize? He basically disowned you!" Jaune said with no small amount of heat in his voice. "He's your father, and he wronged you!"

"You need to understand that Jacques Schnee is a businessman through and through. If something becomes a hinder to him, he gets rid of it. It doesn't matter if it's a rival company, a disgruntled worker, or a family member. He wasn't always like that, but... something... happened and it changed him. Changed my entire family. It made him colder, and more ruthless." Weiss said while looking out of the kitchen window, although Jaune could tell that she wasn't looking at the scenery. "If… If I went back to Atlas and apologized to him publicly after gaining the people's trust back, he would get off the hook since the blame would get shifted back to me for not informing the public and the Beacon about my 'research' properly and thus being responsible the whole spectacle- he would be seen just as taking appropriate actions instead of rushing to hasty decisions."

"After that he could announce that he accepts me back into the family while appearing as a benign father to the public, and hopefully, eventually, I could regain my spot as the heiress of the company." Weiss finished while breaking off her staring contest with a tree outside the window to walk around the kitchen in circles.

"That's a lot of 'if's and 'could's" Jaune pointed out.

"He could also completely ignore me." Weiss acknowledged. "Although if my 'research' goes through to the public well, he may not have a choice as the investors are likely ask about his decision to exile someone who would be basically leading a research towards a potential victory over Grimm."

"But all of that would be build on a lie." the blonde shapeshifter told her while rubbing his face. "What if people realized that the 'research' doesn't exist in the first place? That it was just me?"

"I was planning on telling that the research didn't yield fruit after few months, and that the ability to control Grimm was too complicated and difficult to replicate in large scale." Weiss turned towards him. "That way I could explain how I had few Grimm 'under my control', but the lie would eventually fade into history as yet another failed attempt to break the deadlock Grimm have on humanity"

"I guess." Jaune wasn't entirely convinced if Weiss's plan would work out, and it seemed to show as Weiss lifted her eyebrow.

"I don't have many options here, if you're thinking what I'm thinking you're thinking." Weiss told him while crossing her arms and sending a glare at him. "It's either this, or I try to plead innocence, and we both know how well that would go. With all the 'evidence' piled against me, no-one would believe me."

"But…"

"This conversation is pointless." Weiss crushed all resistance before her, which equated to Jaune's doubts. "The stage is rented, and key people have been informed. We can't stop now. We have to do this."

"I… I suppose. Yeah." Jaune rubbed his shoulder. "Let's just hope that this works…"

* * *

"So that's what she is planning."

"Yes, mistress. She told me it herself."

"You did good, Emerald, although I remember telling you to not address me as a mistress..."

"Yes, Cinder. I'm sorry"

"Anyway, we can use this."

"I… I am… _ghh..._ I am not a chair… _ghh..._ "

"Quiet, Mercury. You failed your mission to find out who originally started to spread those rumors about the Schnee girl, so you must _shoulder_ the punishment…"

"Heh… serves you right, Mercury. Anyway, please tell me what I need to do."

"Not you, Emerald. Neo?"

"...?"

"The Grimm become enraged from negative emotions. Hate, fear… panic. Schnee girl is showing what she claims to be a tamed Grimm in front of a crowd."

"..."

"Find a way to show the crowd just how 'tame' a Grimm can be."

* * *

"Weiss Schnee."

"General Ironwood, it is pleasure to meet you in person." Weiss shook the tall man's hand politely as she stood in the small backstage-room of the Atlas Robotics reveal stage, just before her announcement was scheduled to start. Weiss was pacing in the backstage while Blake and Ruby were outside guarding a large cage which had a thick cloth on it to prevent its contents from view, and Penny was standing beside Winter while humming happily to some tune that none of them managed to identify.

Jaune had already transformed and entered a Grimm holding cage made from thick iron bars in his Beowolf form by the time Penny had caught up with team SABR, back in Beacon, and the trip from Beacon to Vale had gone somewhat well- except for the Bullhead pilot discovering that Beowolves could apparently throw up, and the stench was… less than pleasant, and equally difficult to remove from interior bulkheads.

Luckily the girls had moved in a different Bullhead as the Jaune-wolf cage had taken the entire cargo hold of the first Bullhead, leaving just the pilot to take the full force of the furious olfactory assault.

The group had disembarked as the flight of air-transports had set them down near the Vale's town square where the event was supposed to take place, and general Ironwood had intercepted Weiss just as they had arrived to the backstage with Winter Schnee following in Ironwood's wake.

"Headmaster Ozpin told me of your… ambitious claims." Ironwood said as he motioned for Weiss to have a seat. "I came personally to witness you displaying your newfound breakthrough to the public… although I wonder just how you managed to accomplish what you claim to have done."

"Well, we tried our best as a team, and trusted each other…" Weiss started, but the look on Ironwood's eyes deterred her from continuing further.

"I am sure that kind of speech will go well with the people of Vale." Ironwood said. "However, I am interested in more practical matters. How did you do it?"

"Sir, you don't want to know." Winter told Ironwood, and Weiss sent a grateful glance towards her older sister. Weiss wasn't entirely sure why Winter's face seemed a bit pale though. "Trust me."

"...I'll be the judge of that, but I can wait." Ironwood conceded as he took a somewhat suspicious look at Winter's expression. "I look forwards to witnessing a live demonstration of your ability, then." He turned towards Weiss and nodded once before walking out of the backstage room.

"General Ironwood is introducing the latest line of Atlesian combat robots." Winter explained to Weiss. "Your demonstration will be after that. Are you ready for it, Weiss?"

"Yes." Weiss said resolutely. "Yes, I am."

"Speaking of your demonstration, where is your… hm… tamed Grimm?"

"He's in the cage." Weiss told her. "We caught a new one for the occasion."

"But didn't you say that your… taming… worked only on the Grimm that you were err… dating?" Winter asked carefully and Weiss blushed slightly.

"We… We managed to archive a breakthrough in the research which made it possible for us to uh... tame multiple types of Grimm." Weiss said. "Are… are you feeling well, Winter?"

"Yes, I was just… processing... the mental image." Winter told her with a gulp. "Regardless, General Ironwood should be done with his part soon, so you should probably get to a position to begin your own presentation."

"I'll be fine. I'll just go check if the Grimm is ready as well"

"Very well." Winter told her with serious voice. "Just remember… if something happens, I'll be there to intervene."

"Thank you, I appreciate your concern." Weiss nodded to Winter before turning and walking out of the backstage-room and changing few words with Blake and Ruby. A growl met her inquiry about 'the Grimm's' state, which let her know that Jaune was ready as well… although the somewhat low tone of the growl let her know that he was definitely feeling pressure from the crowd that was gathered to watch the event.

' _Right… Here we go then.'_ Weiss sighed and steeled herself as she heard general Ironwood finishing his speech, which was her invitation to enter the stage…

…

"...And thus the research bore fruit, yet…" a female's voice droned on. He listened and smelled the air.

 _H͠e͟ wa̴s ͞s͟ưr̨rounde̡d̨ ͏o͟n̸ ̧alļ s̸id͝e͟s, yet͟ sa̵w̕ nơnȩ o͢f ͡h̡i͢s͢ ͢p̶r͜e̴y.͘_

' _Down… Down, now…'_

 _D҉is͏tr̷us̶t, fear̷... ̶S̶eèk͜,͏ ͠Hu̕n̵t̀.̶.͘_

' _You don't_ get _to tell me what to do…'_ Jaune growled audibly as he rubbed his face-plate against the thick iron bars of his cage to quell his growing restlessness. The metal dented visibly as he pushed against it, and he restrained himself before he managed to do anything stupid. '

The thick black cloth blocked his vision, yet he could tell that he was in the town square of Vale and Weiss's speech was mid-swing, judging by the barrage of emotions that the crowd outside his cage emitted. He could have sworn that the fact that he didn't see anything past the cloth further amplified his sensitiveness to the negativity. ' _...Or the sensitivity might be because this form… M͡y ̴͘̕f̧o̵r͜m͠… is so closely attuned to it…'_

"...And to show a proof of my research, we have captured a live, commonly found Grimm form which has been tamed." he heard Weiss finish her speech. Before he had prepared himself mentally he saw as the dark cloth was pulled away, and he reared up on his two feet to look down at the crowd that was gathered to look at _him_ …

' _...!'_

He felt as a saliva fell down from his lipless jaw, and his bone-covered face had drawn itself into a furious snarl as the crowd's emotions waxed over him.

' _Fear… surprise…'_ he realized perhaps too late that it was likely that none of those in the crowd that weren't students of Beacon or Hunters by their own right had seen a Grimm with their own eyes before this- and a picture never did a justice to a real Grimm. ' _This…'_

"We have managed to a tame Beowolf Alpha." He heard Weiss state to the crowd, and he pushed his bone-covered snout as far between the bars of his cage as he could while growling at the crowd, all against his will. ' _Stop…'_

"A-are you sure that it is tame?" a voice called from the now-silent crowd. He focused his red-glowing eyes on the man who had spoken, and the man fell silent instantly while freezing on his tracks.

"It… It doesn't look friendly…" a shaky female voice came from the crowd.

"Rest assured, he is completely tame." Weiss announced, and a small clink alerted Jaune to a lock being undone.

' _M҉̨͘i͢ņ͜҉ȩ̶͢_ ' A thought permeaded his haze as he took in the form that had entered the cage with him, and he lowered his head to take in Weiss's scent. ' _No, down, boy.'_

"I assure that he is tame after the procedure." he heard Weiss tell the crowd, and felt the negative emotions, primarily fear, that the crowd radiated. "The proce… hey!"

Weiss voice ended in a squeak as Jaune felt himself tying his massive arms around the girl's body, and he pushed the side of his head against her chest to shield her from ' _...The th͢r̸e̛át… the crowd… No, they are not the enemy...'_

"Ah… Beowolves um… when tamed tend to become very affectionate and… uh..." Weiss's words became slightly jumbled, and he felt as she reached to scratch him behind his ears to calm him down- yet it had the opposite effect as Shadow took it as a consent to continue.

"Come on, calm down. We can't afford to make a scene here!" Weiss hissed angrily to his ear as he lifted her off the mesh floor and pulled her against his chest...

' _I'm trying!'_ Jaune wanted to howl, but what came out was a primal growl and he tightened his hold around the girl's waist. He felt unnaturally hot as the girl was in his grasp... ' _Stop, stop… ҉̶͜į̷̶t̵.̨̢́.͟͡͞.̢'_

He glanced to the side and saw Winter glaring all sorts of bladed weapons at him from near the stage, and he saw as she gripped her still-sheathed saber's hilt with white knuckles.

Standing out of the view of the crowd, Ruby wrung her hand nervously while watching him with her…

' _Ah…'_ Jaune sighed in relief as he flinched from the wave of sickening frost that sunk to his spine as a result of his glowing red eyes meeting the red-clad girl's silver eyes. ' _Thank you… Ruby...'_

He carefully pulled his arms away from the white-clad girl while setting her down, and tried to make himself appear as non-hostile as possible while Weiss kept stroking his black-furred neck and scratching his ears.

"...And here you can see that tamed Grimm exist, even before your own eyes. While the future applications remain unclear…" Weiss continued her speech, and Jaune did his best to keep an eye contact with Ruby at all times while he curled into a half-ball on the hard metal-mesh that made the cage's floor. He couldn't quite ignore how Weiss sat carefully on his shoulder though, nor how she felt so incredibly soft against his fur…

' _Come on, Weiss… I'm sure you are just trying to calm your nerves after that close call but… think about others as well...'_ he thought as he felt the girl's legs shaking slightly despite her tone being as professional as ever. ' _You're not making this easy…'_

And based off the expression Ruby and Blake had as they watched him from the backstage, and the expression he was fairly sure Pyrrha had as she was in the crowd, the aftermath would not be easy for either of them.

' _Let's just hope that's the worst of it…'_

* * *

A heterochromic girl was sitting on one of the balconies overlooking the Town Square of Vale, eating from her elaborate confectionary masterpiece of ice-cream and more ice-cream in a glass vase. The delightful treat had been made for her by a kindly elderly couple after she had let herself in to their flat, pretending to be a lost little girl.

It was always amusing to her how her height and cute, almost underage appearance made people drop their guards around her, usually leading to their demise- like how it had been the case mere minutes prior.

Still, the balcony had a view to kill for, and she wanted to see every second of the show that was about to start.

Neo Politan hummed soundlessly as she looked down at the pre-show that was happening in front of her in the Square, where a raised presentation stage had a massive cage containing a massive Grimm and a young white-clad girl that had piqued the curiosity of her employer- and the white-clad girl had just entered the cage, alone and unarmed.

A beep from her Scroll caused her to raise her eyebrow at it and break her eyes off the view where the Grimm was busy either trying to eat or copulate with the white-haired girl, if the way the beast rubbed itself on the girl was any indication. She wasn't sure which of the two outcomes she preferred, although she confessed she was curious about the latter possibility.

Neo wanted to see the face the white-clad girl would make if she was violated in front of the crowd by the very same Grimm she thought she had tamed... Neo could tell that the expression on the Schnee girl's face would be positively _exquisite_ , and that picture would be worthy of joining the collection of photos she had in her Scroll- and that was before she remembered that the girl's oh-so-dignified big sister would be literally watching it all happen _._

" _I am ready, Neo. And for the record, this is madness."_ A second, more incessant beep from her Scroll caused her to roll her eyes and turn her attention to the text, and she sighed at her Scroll. Her partner and boss was always a bit high on style and planning, but a bit lacking in bloodlust for her tastes. Luckily he often let her take care of occasions that required the latter.

' _...'_ Neo sighed again in disappointment as she glanced at the Grimm that had seemed to calm down somehow and had become a living armchair for the Schnee girl, and had _not_ started to use the white-clad girl as some sort of living sex-toy like she had hoped.

Neo pulled a app she had made for her Scroll, and pressed a big smiley button on it.

She leaned back as the bombs she had hid under the event stage exploded.

She had to confess that the panicked screams from the crowd were completely worth the hassle of having to disguise herself as one of the Atlesian Robotics construction workers so she could put a few very discreet explosives under the stage where Atlas stored their exhibition robots- even if the payload delivery method meant that the actual effect of the bombs was far less than what she'd normally prefer. However, maximizing the casualties wasn't her priority here, so she paid little attention it.

After all, it was more important to make it look like as if Atlas had neglected safety...

She grinned as the burning stage crashed down around the Grimm and the beast let a blood-chilling howl, no doubt feeding off the fear and panic that the crowd radiated in so vast quantities that even _she_ could feel it.

The howl was followed by a roar, and the beast broke through its weakened cage and charged towards the crowd.

Neo picked up her spoon, leaned back on her chair and continued enjoying her ice-cream and the show.

 **Next chapter: Around 11th.**

 **A bit of a 'forever fall' case in here, or more rather a single chapter being split in two parts because a busy week didn't give me enough time to write.**


	29. Heroes and Villains

Jaune felt as his strenuous control over his body was taken away from him in a explosion of flame and shrapnel as the series of combat-bots stored on the containers inside the event stage in Vale's Town Square exploded, and the stage floor gave way and crashed down as the cage he was in proved to be too much for the weakened structure.

His eye-contact with Ruby was broken as she dodged a piece of burning wood coming down, and he felt as Weiss was thrown off balance as he stood back up, although she managed to grab hold of the fur in his neck to prevent herself from falling off his shoulder...

F̶ear ̵Fe̛ar ҉Fe͟a̵r F͡ear

̡̀P̀́͟a̷̧n̢̨͏į͟ć ̴̡P̨͟ani̡͞c҉ ҉P̕ąǹi҉̡c҉̵ ͜͡P̷a̸n͏͟i̸͘c̶̨

̀͜D҉̸̀̀҉Ȩ̢ś̵̷̵t̴͏̶̡͠ŕ͟͜o̧͞҉Y̴̛͢͠ ̧͟͟Í̡͝͝t͡ ̴̡͟N̶͞o̢̕͠W҉͟!̵͏͝

He felt as his chest tightened and a howl escaped from his maw, echoing through the entire Town Square.

As the panic of the crowd heightened even further from his roar, he lost it completely.

' _Ah… So this is how it was, two years ago…'_ he managed to think as his eyes blurred completely, rendering the vision of his surroundings to mere shapes and sizes.

He moved forwards as if he was in a dream, a visitor in a foreign body. He saw as the body he inhibited charged out of the weakened cage, denting metal and tearing iron bars off their sockets. A wave of worry rose inside both him and the Shadow as a white form was torn off his shoulder by a piece of rubble and flung back to the burning cage, but the wave was crushed by a tsunami of fear and panic coming in front of him, and the white form was instantly forgotten as the panicked cries of hundreds echoed inside of him.

A burning pile of rubble was tossed aside like a toy as he charged towards the source of his prey, and he swung his arm that had started to grow white patches of bone-armor at the human forms…

...And grey steel arm met his blow, gripping its claws around his forearm and breaking his charge.

He heard as a male voice in front of him spoke words that he understood even if he didn't hear them through his own ears.

" _Citizens of Vale! Stand back for I shall protect you, even when Atlas and Beacon have failed you!_ " A voice announced through loudspeaker. "Seriously though this is the dumbest thing I've done since trying to eat Neo's ice cream…" the voice added, although the loudspeaker had been turned off and he barely heard the voice as the speaker was encased in a transparent... cockpit?

Jaune tried to blink the haze out of his eyes, yet even his eyelids seemed to rebel against his control. He saw that a blurry grey figure, roughly the same height as him yet bulkier, was standing between him and his prey.

He growled and swung his free hand at the claw that gripped his arm, and the steel claw tightened its hold on his forearm as his blow wasn't able to break it off him. The half-grown bone-plates of his forearm cracked under the force of the metal claw, and he struggled against its grasp.

Unable to break the hold directly, he reared his head back and slammed it against the transparent glass encasing the pilot of the steel-creature that was holding him.

' _What is this?'_ Jaune thought curiously as he was able to regain a modicum of his consciousness from the pain as the hydraulic claw crushed his forearm. The Shadow pulled the shredded forearm off the steel creature's claw as its grip slipped from the blood, and began regenerating the heavily damaged limb- and He used the temporary lapse in the Shadow's control over him to shape his eyes so that he could actually see through them. ' _But… what is this thing? I've never seen anything like this…'_

" _Now, witness the true power of Torchwick Paladin mk.I, wielded by me, Roman Torchwick... in defence of Vale and her people!_ " the creature shouted with a voice heavily distorted by a loudspeaker. "I wish _she_ had let me pick the name at least, that sounded so lame…" it added afterwards with a barely audible tortured sigh.

Jaune blinked few times as he saw that he was squaring off against a massive mech which was apparently piloted by none other than the criminal he had met twice already. His observations were cut short as the robot extended one of its hands and he saw a barrel that was protruding from the robot's arm pointing towards him. The barrel spat fire, and The Shadow that still fought for control over him in the body took the full brunt of the hit, blowing a sizeable hole in the shoulder of his Beowolf Alpha's form.

A growl escaped his maw as the wound closed with a sickening slurp, and he lunged at the robot, shoulder-slamming into the creature's steel chest and driving it backwards. towards the crowd even when the robot deployed its tether hooks that it had behind its legs.

" _The Paladin will prevail!"_ the Paladin-wick shouted, and he dodged a wild swing aimed at his head. He felt as his claws extended to better counter the Paladin's thick armor, and a great bone-sword started to grow in his arm. He slammed his shoulder against the robot's waist, and the steel beast toppled over.

"...No!" "Save us!" "Help us!" the panicked crowd tried to flee as he pushed past the downed Torchwick-Paladin, and he reached for a fleeing pair of civilians… Except that his eyes were drawn to a charging red-haired form.

' _Charging?'_ he thought before a bronze spear flew true and struck his outstretched hand, and pinned it against his chest before he could reach the civilians.

"...Stop! Please, stop this!" a familiar voice shouted as something landed on his shoulders, and he saw a familiar red and bronze form sitting on top of his neck as the Shadow glanced upwards at it's enemy.

' _Pyrrha?'_ Jaune thought as the Shadow yanked the spear out of his chest, and Pyrrha somehow pulled the spear off its grip and turned the weapon into a sword.

" _Thank you, Champion of Mistral. Now, stand beside me against this Grimm threat!"_ The loudspeaker bellowed as Paladin-Torchwick stood back up, only to be frozen in place by a massive white glyph. " _What? Who dares to stand against the defenders of Vale?"_

"Roman Torchwick! You are under arrest!" A male voice bellowed, and Jaune managed to steal a glance at the conflagration that had once been the event stage. He saw as some nightmarish half-man half-machine walked out, and extended a robotic hand towards the Paladin with a heavy pistol in its grip. "Charges are: Terrorism, Assault, Theft of Atlas property, and Theft of civilian property! Surrender now or face the consequences! Schnee, Control your Grimm!"

Jaune saw as Winter helped a limping, burned and clearly injured Weiss sit down on a pile of rubble while gripping her saber on her free hand with a furious expression on her face, directed at both Jaune and Torchwick. Relief flooded through Jaune as he saw that Weiss was alive even though she was wounded.

' _What about Ruby and Blake?'_

A sharp bang followed by a shower of sparks answered his wordless question as a heavy rifle unloaded it's payload to robo-Torchwick's chest, sending a wide crack up the cockpit canopy and shearing off a chunk of armor. Soon after a black shape appeared close to the frozen robot's leg, and Jaune saw as Blake scaled the robot and started stabbing her new Gambol Shroud at the hydraulic pipes that had been exposed after Ruby's shot.

Jaune watched in horror as one of the Paladin's arms came free and it swung at Blake, squashing her against it's chest with a sickening crunch and a shower of… Ice? ' _Ah… Her Semblance, of course…'_

" _For the safety of the Vale, I refuse your madness, General Ironwood of Atlas!"_ the Paladin bellowed as Blake continued her feints and attacks against the mech's weakspots. " _Fight with me against the true threat, Grimm!"_

"All you say can and will be used against you!" Ironwood continued his speech while firing his large-caliber pistol with pinpoint accuracy at the Paladin's joints and other exposed weakspots.

" _You would sacrifice the citizens of Vale to the Grimm in order to preserve your pride?"_ Torchwick bellowed over the crowd's outraged cries. " _Do the lives of your fellow humans matter so little to you?"_

Jaune would have been confused over the orange-haired criminal's words if he wasn't too busy trying to fight a battle on two fronts- one within, and one without.

Luckily enough the damage dealt to his Beowolf Alpha-body was starting to help him anchor himself back to his own body, and when Ruby burst through the stage's conflagration he felt as he snapped in control of his body with the help of her silver eyes as she stopped in front of Weiss briefly to check up on her while keeping an eye contact with Jaune.

' _...Although, I wonder if this was Torchwick's plan all along? To make Atlas look like the bad guy here?'_ Jaune spared a thought at the criminals odd behaviour before he shook his head, nearly dislocating Pyrrha who was still riding his neck. The red-haired girl stabbed her sword to his shoulder to give herself a handle to hold onto and a roar of pain escaped his mouth as a response.

"Sorry!" the familiar apology came from above him, although he paid it little attention.

' _Right... Hand. down. Drop the sword.'_ Jaune thought as he looked at his right arm that had grown thick bone-vambrace and armor, and he was gripping the familiar blood-colored bone-sword… except that the sword was sized to his Tyrant form, towards which he realized he was shifting gradually.  
He let go of the six-feet long bone-blade, but instead of falling to the ground it just dropped from his grip, and started to dangle from a thick vein-like tube that connected the blade's pommel to a exposed piece of black flesh just below his wrist. ' _...What is this?'_

He twisted his hand carefully and managed to regain his grip on the blade, and pulled it back into a thrust, which he aimed at the Paladin that had managed to drive Blake off and was facing towards him. His attack connected, and he heard Torchwick screaming as the blade bit through the weakened glass canopy and struck the criminal square in the chest. Torchwick's Aura flickered, but managed to prevent the sword from running him through, if barely.

More importantly Jaune felt oddly invigorated as the Aura he hit _drained_ into the blade, and spread down his arm through the vein-like tube that connected him to the weapon.

' _Odd… It feels like the sword is a part of my body… No, a part of my Aura, unlike how it was before…'_ Jaune spared a thought at the odd weapon. ' _It doesn't have any barbs in the grip either… is it feeding itself through the external vein? And feeding me whenever I manage to land a blow on something?'_

A crushing counter-blow to his midsection broke him of his daydreams, and a autocannon that was unloaded into his guts reminded him that the Paladin in front of him was still very much operational and dangerous. And the stomach-wound reminded him that he was getting dangerously hungry with the contents of his stomach getting splattered all over the ground in a shower of black blood and entrails.

Some stray rational though told him that he should be a lot more worried about getting his entire abdomen crushed and shot off than him getting hungry because of it, but he discarded the rational thought quite effectively by biting his jaws down on the Paladin's armored shoulder to not much effect and stabbing his blade into the cockpit again… except this time Torchwick managed to pull a emergency lever and eject himself out of the cockpit before the stab connected.

Jaune turned his attention back to the man that barely reached up to his knee, and paid for it as the Paladin landed a bone-crushing uppercut into his long jaw and sent him toppling down with Pyrrha getting finally knocked off his back.

"Ha haa! Get that, you filthy beast! The Paladin can operate even without a pilot!" Torchwick gloated before the criminal was forced to parry a wild swing of a saber, and barely avoid getting pummeled by a iron fist as Winter and Ironwood charged Torchwick at the same time.

"Students! Destroy the Grimm and the Paladin!" Ironwood shouted at the Hunters-in-training, and Jaune saw as Blake and Pyrrha moved to point their weapons towards the massive robot.

Jaune twitched as a light boot stepped on his back, on his shoulder, and a pair of very clear silver eyes appeared on his vision as Ruby ran up his back and stood on his bone-masked snout, looking down at his eyes intently- and causing him to freeze still from the force of her gaze.

"Are… Are you alright? Jaune?" Ruby asked quietly as she balanced herself on top of his head, using her Crescent Rose as sort-of balancing stick, and coming dangerously close to poking one of his four eyes out with its long curved blade.

' _Hold on, four eyes?'_ Jaune just realized how her eyesight has been so odd recently. His regular pair of red, glowing Beowolf-eyes had grown an extra pair behind their usual slots to accomodate for the myriad of targets the Shadow had identified in the square, from civilians to hunters to the Paladin. ' _Hold on, hold on, how much did I change away from my Beowolf form?'_

He let a faint growl as he focused on the sickening sensation of the silver eyes, clearing the rest of the Shadow from his limbs and body until all that remained was a scuttling sensation in the back of his head, the one part of the Shadow that he had never been able properly exterminate, and the root of the corruption in him.

Jaune then quickly focused his attention on his body to see that he had started to grow plates and patches of white bone-armor, and quickly halted the growth before it could try to exceed what mass his body contained. He still only had two arms and his face was still clearly Beowolf-like, although it had a bone-plate extending over his entire snout and jaw, leaving just his furry ears and neck without armor.

The massive wound in his stomach had started to slowly heal… and the fact that the healing of his wounds had started to slow down was a worrying sign. ' _Great, going berserk from wounds and lack of mass isn't far away… '_

He just had to hope that Ruby could keep him in check while they were still fighting the Paladin and Torchwick. ' _Sheesh… I'm not suited to these kinds of battlefields. The lack of easy sources of replacement mass is really putting me on back foot…''_

A autocannon shot hit his shoulder, pulling him back to the fight at hand where Pyrrha and Blake were circling the Paladin whose attacks had slowed down considerably as its pilot had left, and a quick glance to the side revealed that the crowd that had come to watch the event had mostly managed to flee the Town Square- Mainly likely thanks to Ren, Nora and Yang who had helped to direct the panicking crowd out of the battlefield.

He took the initiative by charging towards the Paladin once more, intending on using his mass and bulk to tie the robot so the rest of the students could deal damage, yet the Paladin saw him coming and immediately pegged him to be the biggest threat on field. A volley of rockets and shells followed, and he had to pause his charge to protect himself and try to block as many of the rockets as he could.

Singed, burnt and scarred, the Paladin took his stumble as a opening and begun its own charge, clearly intending on destroying the biggest threat in the immediate area first.

He responded by tying his arms around the massive robot and driving his sword to the waist of the steel beast as it rammed him, effectively disarming the Paladin for the cost of nearly losing one of his arms as the hydraulic claw snapped at his left arm. The mech crashed on top of him, and he did his best to keep it still as it was trying to reach for his throat with its claws since it had depleted its limited ammunition.

He tried to howl for the rest of the team to attack, although he soon discovered that he did not need to worry as Ruby, Blake and the entire team RYNN were immediately hacking and hammering the robots exposed back and legs, causing massive showers of sparks, gouts of blue fire as the mech's Dust-fuel started to leak and catch fire, and terrible groans of breaking metal until the Paladin's systems failed entirely and force disappeared from its limbs.

Jaune spared a quick red-eyed glance towards where Torchwick was still fighting against Ironwood and Winter, or more specifically losing ground against Ironwood and Winter. The criminal had a noticeable limp on his leg as he leaned heavily on his cane with his normally immaculate suit torn and stained, and his cheek had a deep slash-wound, indicating the poor status of his Aura.

"Surrender! You cannot escape!" General Ironwood howled while pointing his pistol at the criminal. "I will not hesitate to kill you in combat if you continue to resist arrest!"

"Eeehh…" Torchwick drawled. "You don't exactly leave me with many options. Do you lawful-types draw from same book or something? I swear you all sound exactly the same…"

"The book is called the Law!" Winter shouted at the man.

"Oh. I have to confess, I have heard of it." Torchwick adjusted his ruined hat. "…But those I know who have read it told me that the book was complete tosh so I never bothered reading it myself."

"Anyway, it seems that the Grimm situation is a-okay." Torchwick sighed as he looked at the fallen half-Beowolf which was pinned against the ground by the now-wrecked Paladin. "So, it's time for me to go. Ta-ta."

"You won't get awa…" Winter started her charge, but a sudden appearance of a odd girl with brown and pink hair caused her to pause her charge and the attack that would have cut into Torchwick's leg instead bit into the concrete. The new arrival turned around gracefully, grabbed Torchwick by the throat, and the pair shattered into pieces of glass, leaving everyone blinking at the spot where the criminal had suddenly shattered, leaving behind just a pile of broken glass, devastated town square, broken Paladin mech and a burning stage behind all of them.

Jaune gritted his jaws together, causing few of the loosened teeth to crack and break in his mouth as he pushed the mech off his chest and rose up… just to slump down against the concrete while giving a tired and pained whine.

"He got away." General Ironwood sighed as he holstered his pistol into a steel case that was still intact on his side even after most of his clothes had burnt off and he was essentially topless, exposing his mechanical half-torso. "Status report. Penny?"

"Cross Continental Communications tower has been instructed to block all local area networks from connecting to it." a slightly mechanical voice responded to the man, and Jaune saw as a human-shaped creature walked from the blazing stage. He saw the bright orange hair and singed green-gray clothing, which was just about only thing that was recognizable as the flesh of the creature had started to bubble and boil to expose wiring and metal servos. "Communication priority has been set to police, emergency services and rapid response troops. News networks have been taken offline via remote hacking done by me, as outlined in Atlesian doctrine for city combat situations, sir."

"Penny?" Weiss coughed out carefully from the pile of rubble where Winter had left her.

"Yes, Weiss?" the creature turned towards Weiss. Penny took in the girl's expression before she blinked few times with lidless eyes, and she reached to pat her melted face few times. It was difficult to determine emotions from the fire-damaged girl, but Jaune felt a heavily distorted emotion from her that was intimately familiar: Fear.

"Penny Polendina is the newest of the Atlesian combat android models, designed for anti-Grimm combat duties while possessing a artificial 'soul' from a donor." Ironwood's voice broke the group off their staring and they turned to look at the man who was typing something on his Scroll while Winter went to check up on Weiss. "Penny, is the evacuation of the stage workers complete?"

"Yes, all surviving workers have been evacuated. Two casualties, six injured." Penny responded immediately to Ironwood, completely breaking out of her shock as she received a direct order from the General. "Fire department is estimated to arrive within five minutes, and emergency evacuation crew should be here at the same time."

"I see." Ironwood nodded to the disfigured android while returning his Scroll to his pouch and walking to nearest downed civilian on the ground. "Thank you."

Jaune let a soft growl as he felt his strength gradually returning as he rested on the concrete ground while he tried to undo the changes the Shadow had done to his body, and use the freed mass to heal his wounds while the other students went to check up on the civilians that had been injured by the initial explosions and had not managed to evacuate the area because of their injuries. ' _I can worry about Penny situation later… I need to focus on getting up…'_

"Miss Schnee. I expect full explanation to both me and Ozpin why your Grimm went berserk and broke off your control. I also require full report on just _what_ happened that caused the Grimm to change shapes so radically during its rampage." Ironwood's words broke Jaune off his thoughts, and he looked up at the man weakly. "It seems to be dying anyway, so you might as well end it. The last thing we need is that thing going berserk again from its wounds. "

"W- With all due respect sir… I refuse to kill him, or 'put him down'." Weiss coughed out as Winter administered first aid to Weiss's burns and injured leg. "I will, however, submit a report for… _cough…_ _cough…_ "

"Weiss?" Winter asked with clear concern in her voice.

"He's under my control again… It was the crowd's panic that caused him to break off my influence, sir." Weiss clarified. "If… If that explosion had not happened, everything would have been alright." she paused to take breath and cough some of the dust from her throat. Jaune wobbled back on his two feet and started to drag himself slowly towards the two white-haired sisters until he slumped down next to Weiss, shaking the ground as the entire mass of his body connected with the broken concrete.

"You did good, all things considered." Weiss sighed as she reached to scratch the thick black fur of Jaune's neck, and he let a small guttural sound as he wasn't able to communicate with words in his Beowolf Alpha form... Or what was left of it anyway.

"The cage is broken. How do you plan on transporting… that thing... back to Beacon?" Winter asked Weiss while finishing putting a antiseptic bandage on the white-haired girls burns.

Jaune let a small growl and a huff, which Weiss translated to Winter. "I plan on moving in the same Bullhead as him… so he shouldn't need a cage. I'll put him back to the Beacon's Grimm storage afterwards. He wants to go back and recover too."

"You… understood that?"

"No, I did not. I just figured that it is what he wants to do, and I must say I agree." Weiss sighed and pulled her legs under her, and lifted herself up from the pile of rubble carefully as sirens of ambulances and firetrucks approached. "It's time we returned to Beacon..."

.

..

...

A Scroll was put down to a studying desk in a undecorated dorm room belonging to team CEMN.

"So, to recap, we discovered that the Schnee girl's control over Grimm is far from being perfect, and Atlas was painted as a scapegoat while our _heroic_ Roman Torchwick came to save the day from the Grimm threat and Atlas's ineptitude, all the while Atlas did their best to hinder his attempts to save the civilians." Cinder nodded to Neo who had delivered her (written) report to Cinder. "And it seems that the CCT-supported Scroll network is offline, as well as most other civilian web-based services. Good."

"Neo can't make a sham-article about the subject though, with the news network being offline because of hacker attack." Emerald pointed out from where she was sitting. "Doesn't that kind of hurt our efforts?"

"No, General Ironwood's response was predictable. He saw an enemy before him, and he charged, ignoring the consequences…" Cinder practically purred. "The mighty sword of Atlas is useless if it is wielded by someone who dances on my palm."

"Ookay, that might be stretching it a little bit" Mercury muttered under his breath while rolling his eyes and got a slap to the back of his head from Emerald who had heard him.

"Regardless, people will start wondering just how friendly Atlas is when they shut down their communications network, blatantly attack 'rescue efforts' and supply faulty robots to the city." Cinder ignored Mercury's backtalk and turned to lift an elegant eyebrow at Neo. "Do you believe the chief editor of Vale's press is still sympathetic to our cause?"

The heterochromic girl nodded while her mouth curved into a somewhat disturbing grin, which meant that the editor's wife was still alive after Neo had kidnapped her and sent a severed finger to the chief editor in order to 'convince' him to let her articles get published without a proper checks or censorship.

"Good, after the Atlas surveillance and network blockade passes, I want you to publish a article that paints Atlas in ridiculously good light." Cinder smiled at the small girl who blinked few times in confusion. "Now, while large-scale communication is down, people can still call each other and share information conventionally. They will spread what happened here… and when an obvious propaganda piece is released after the Atlas takes out the Scroll network to prevent people from communicating with each other, they will wonder… just how much can they trust the Press? Is Vale's news network just a puppet for Atlas?"

"So people stop believing what the Press tells them since it loses its credibility." Emerald concluded.

"Indeed. General Ironwood is a man of action, unlike Ozpin, so I doubt our little press subterfuge would work for much longer anyway… This way we destroy the weapon we stole from our enemy before they can reclaim it." Cinder chuckled. "Regardless, that leaves us with the threat Weiss Schnee poses."

"How so?" Mercury asked. "Her control over Grimm is still incomplete, like you said."

"Indeed, which is why we must not allow her research to mature." Cinder hummed. "She may just control few Grimm as it is, but if she manages to develop some way of controlling Grimm in large quantities… Our 'endgame' in Vale would be effectively undone by her efforts."

"So she needs to go." Mercury concluded. "Question is, how?"

"Oh? I imagined that you would be a expert in that field, or did your father not teach you?" Cinder asked easily, causing the steel-grey haired boy to grit his teeth. "If I'm right, Miss Schnee is currently bedridden in Beacon's infirmary, alone, wounded and unguarded… It would be a shame if something were to happen to her, hm?"

"I'll see if I can disable the infirmary's cameras somehow." Emerald agreed while Mercury nodded to confirm that he understood his orders.

* * *

"Ozpin, we needed to act." Ironwood slammed his hand on the headmaster's desk with enough force to leave a visible dent on the metal. "I understand your reasoning behind avoiding hasty actions, but if we do not act at all, we might as well open the gates of Vale and allow the Grimm to wipe us out!"

General Ironwood, Winter, Ozpin, Glynda and Qrow had gathered in the headmaster's office once again to go over their after-action reports, which had quite quickly devolved into an argument over the different methods and doctrines the two major parties had.

"You are correct, of course. I was merely suggesting that a slightly less… _drastic_ actions could have also sufficed." Ozpin sighed as he looked at his bruised desk. "Taking down Vale's civilian communication network and directing a hacker attack against the news networks may give off a wrong impression to the people of Vale, not to mention how the battle itself unfolded in a… curious manner."

"Nevertheless, we have managed to recover the stolen Paladin from Torchwick's grasp, and while it was heavily damaged we will be able to repair it to a working condition. The Paladin alone is worth the loss of the exhibition robots and the stall." Ironwood told Ozpin.

"And worth the lives of the stage workers that were lost? And the wounded civilians?" Glynda asked quietly from beside the headmaster, causing Ironwood to look down with an expression that was torn between furious and mournful.

"They will be avenged. For what it's worth, I am willing to cover the medical expenses for the wounded." Ironwood told Glynda, and she sent a severe glare at the man.

"I wasn't talking about the expenses from their treatment! I was asking if the recovery of your Paladin was worth the lost lives!"

"I had no choice! Torchwick attacked us, and someone sabotaged the stage to explode!"

"Enough." Ozpin interrupted the argument before it could start. "What's done is done, and we couldn't have predicted the terrorist attack on the event regardless. What we need to focus on now is picking our next course of action."

"We managed to complete our original objective and recover the stolen Paladin." Winter reminded Ironwood. "Will we stay to assist Vale in their counter-terrorism operation?"

"Yes. For that effect, our mission gains another objective: Apprehend Roman Torchwick, uncover the terrorist elements in Vale, and put an end to them." Ironwood decreed. "We will stay in Vale during this mission, and I will request further reinforcements from Atlas if neccessa…"

"I believe that reinforcing your team from Atlas is counter-productive right now." Ozpin interrupted the General. "The citizens of Vale are already distrustful enough towards Atlas after the recent battle, and bringing further reinforcements in would most likely send a wrong message- We don't want to make it look like if Atlas is invading Vale."

"Hm. True." Ironwood agreed while rubbing his chin. "We may have to postpone reinforcing ourselves until the public outrage diminishes. Speaking of which, I fully intend to get to the bottom of the case with the Central News, and why they decided to paint Torchwick as a hero in the first place."

"Yes, I noticed that since you took the news networks and civilian comms offline to prevent another damaging article from being released after the battle, and to stop the civilians from spreading rumors, correct?" Ozpin sighed.

"Is there a problem?" Winter asked, confused. "Suppressing civilian communication net to stop panic from spreading is a standard doctrine action whenever battles are taking place inside cities."

"That kind of doctrine might fly in Atlas, as you guys are kinda used to having your personalities stifled and voices suppressed, but Vale never agreed to the idea of having your personality and voice taken away." Qrow drawled. "Didn't think you'd forget the Great War so quickly."

"Qrow has a point, even if his delivery isn't exactly relevant." Ozpin came to his agent's defence as Winter and Qrow started to glare at each other. "The execution of the Atlesian doctrine is likely going to cause further chaos once the civilian networks are brought back online and civilians start asking questions."

"We can delay that, and afterwards release statement that the communications grid was taken offline by a fault within CCT, which has now been repaired." Ironwood argued.

"Maybe, but for now I believe we should try mitigating the negativity that is sure to arise from the recent events." Glynda added her opinion as the conversation came to a standstill. "We need to find ways to increase the positivity of the public, or we'll risk stronger and more numerous Grimm detecting the buildup of negativity and moving closer Vale, which will cause damage to the trade routes in and out of the city."

"Please correct me if I am wrong, but is it not the government's responsibility to control the people?" Winter asked. "Is it not their job to decrease the negativity in the city, and not ours?"

"Correct. However it is our responsibility as the Hunters to keep the government aware of the status of the Grimm threat- which, as far as Vale City is concerned, depends largely on the general mood of the people within her walls." Ozpin said while he adjusted his glasses. "The reports I have received from our Hunters tell me that the Grimm are moving closer to the city already, and like how miss Goodwitch said, our land-based trade routes are already at far higher risk than usual. If the negativity continues to build like it has over the past weeks, we may face a shortage of imported food and supplies as the trade convoys face more and stronger Grimm attacks."

"So we need to find a way to increase positivity without risking a similar terrorist attack, while sending our forces out of the city to protect our trade routes." Ironwood concluded. "Which means we must uncover the terrorist element that orchestrated the attack during miss Schnee's speech in order to get to the root of the problem- Someone is deliberately manufacturing events that increase negativity within the city."

"Indeed." Ozpin agreed while turning towards Winter. "You told that you identified one of Torchwick's collaborators, correct?"

"A short woman with brown and pink hair and heterochromic eyes the same colours as her hair." Winter nodded. "She was able to somehow teleport Torchwick away, or camouflage the pair so well that we were unable to find them."

"A Semblance that disguises and camouflages herself and her surroundings, or some sort of teleport-based Semblance, then." Ozpin nodded. "That would also explain how the saboteurs managed to get the explosives under the stage, if we assume that the woman you described infiltrated the explosives into the facility."

"It may be necessary for us to integrate non-visual based identification checks for our staff." Ironwood rubbed his chin. "If the infiltrator managed to get into restricted areas via disguise, so an additional layer of security via blood or saliva check and trip-laser barriers may…"

"...Qrow seems to get along with specialist Schnee quite well." Glynda noted quietly to Ozpin while Ironwood theorized possible ways of reducing the effectiveness of visual disguises to Winter who did her best to support Ironwood while Qrow poked holes into his suggestions and earned hostile glares from Winter as a response. "Did something happen between those two?"

"I'd say that it is a safe thing to assume." Ozpin replied quietly. "If I remember correctly, those two couldn't be in the same room for longer than fifteen minutes without resorting to exchanging blows."

"...Well, it's good to see that Winter and Qrow can work together for now at least." Glynda sighed. "Regardless, I got a report from our medical staff. Weiss Schnee's wounds and burns have been treated, and she is currently resting in the infirmary. She should be cleared to leave within two days if her burns don't infect, although that is unlikely to happen thanks to Winter's first aid."

"Good," Ozpin nodded and reached for his drink once again. "I'll have to ask young miss Schnee to write some sort of report for Ironwood regarding to the 'Grimm' which went berserk."

"Speaking of which… You seem awfully composed about that. You knew that it would happen, didn't you?" Glynda asked quietly and her eyes flashed dangerously.

"I had my suspicions." Ozpin agreed. "The possibility was there, but I trusted that young miss Schnee would be able to take care of our resident 'Grimm'"

"I see." Glynda's voice was clipped, and it was clear that she did not approve of Ozpin's method. "In that case I ask you to exercise proper caution in the future. That was a very close call that could have ended up with a far worse disaster than it already did."

"I am aware." Ozpin said with tone that gave no room for argument, causing Glynda to roll her eyes and turn away from him.

He sighed while he turned towards Ironwood who seemed to have finished his theorycrafting. "Nevertheless, we should focus on increasing our level of alertness towards external matters. Our enemies are making their moves, and we must know more if we are to prevent what they are planning, and strike back…"

* * *

"So… How are you feeling, Weiss?" Jaune asked tiredly as he sat beside the girl's bed in Beacon's hospital alongside the rest of team SABR. Team RYNN had gone to take a shower and rest after making sure that their fellow team was okay, and Jaune told Pyrrha that he'd talk with her later as she had been quite concerned about his state after the battle.

"I'm… fine." Weiss told him while drinking water very carefully. She had cut off the parts of her hair that had been burnt, shortening her hair from knee-length to waist-length, and she had bandages and cooling patches on her hands, body and face to alleviate her burns. "Just… What happened back there?"

"Something exploded under the stage. A bomb probably, since I don't think the Atlas robots just spontaneously self-destructed." Blake said quietly. She and Ruby had gotten off with relatively minor injuries as they had stayed in the backstage and thus further away from the initial explosions, and had not been trapped in a burning cage like Weiss had been. "The bombs were likely a mix of firebombs and shrapnel bombs, which set the entire stage on fire and collapsed Jaune's cage."

"Yeah, I know… I was in the middle of it." Weiss tried to sound sarcastic, but she only managed to sound tired which might have been the result of her painkillers kicking in. "Gah… Thanks for leaving me into the burning cage, by the way."

"I'm sorry." Jaune apologized while wringing his hands. "I… I just completely lost myself when the crowd panicked."

"Haah… Fine. I know." Weiss coughed out. "You told me that it could happen before the event… I guess I was too distracted from the way you _groped_ me in the cage, in front of the spectators…"

"Umm…." Jaune felt his face lighting up red from her words, and Blake sent a glare at both of them. Weiss took a look at Blake's expression, and dropped the issue… although the look on the white-haired girl's face told Jaune that she wasn't done with him just yet.

"Well… We all lived, so I think we should be grateful for that at least." Ruby said quietly as she wrung her hands, and while Jaune tried his best to keep his ability pacified he could still feel Ruby's sadness radiating from the girl. "Even though not everyone did… Three civilians ended up dead from their injuries as well as two stage workers who got caught by the fire and died. And Penny… She got pretty badly hurt as well."

"Yeah." Jaune agreed. "Although I don't think her injuries are going to be permanent, with her being a robot and all."

"...Seriously though, I'm starting to feel like I'm the only human being here." Weiss sighed exasperatedly. "Ruby is some odd magical silver-eyed girl that freezes Jaune's Grimm side whenever she looks at him, Blake is a faunus, Jaune is some sort of human-Grimm hybrid, Penny is a android… What's next, Pyrrha is revealed to be some fabled magical girl that controls the weather, or perhaps Yang is secretly a motorcycle pretending to be a human and waiting to usurp humanity?"

"I… don't think that is going to happen." Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "I think she would have told us if that would be the case."

"Sarcasm." Weiss glared at Jaune, before letting out a tired sigh. "Anyway, I think we should focus on recovering for now… I am not sure what is going to happen next. None of this went according to my plan."

"Well, the news networks are still offline and Scrolls are set to local area only." Ruby told her helpfully. "So at least no-one's published anything bad about you this time. That's a plus, I think."

"We'll have to wait and see how the aftermath shapes out, then." Blake confirmed. "So… should we let you rest, Weiss?"

"I don't mind you being here... _cough_ … And since this is a low-priority patient room it doesn't have specific hours for visitors, so the hospital staff won't mind you being here either." Weiss coughed slightly, and Jaune offered her another glass of water. "Thanks… However, with that being said, I'm sure you three are tired as well so you can return to the dorm when you feel like it."

"...Right." Weiss said after a moment as none of them had left her side. "Anyway, I wonder why exactly someone wanted to attack us. I can understand people being suspicious and hostile towards Grimm… but Torchwick's appearance and the explosion that set Jaune off seemed too convenient."

"Yeah…" Jaune agreed. "It was almost as if the one who set the bombs off knew that I'd go berserk and attack the crowd, and Torchwick would come to defend the civilians… No, even more than that, how did they know that I was there in the first place? You weren't exactly loud about the reveal, and even then wouldn't it make more sense to blow up the bombs during Ironwood's speech when there were more people?"

"Something doesn't add up." Blake added quietly and Weiss nodded to her.

"This whole attack… it was directed specifically against me. But why did Torchwick come to intercept Jaune?" Weiss thought aloud. "He could have just let him charge the crowd… and I don't even want to think what would have been the aftermath from that."

"Bad." Jaune agreed wholeheartedly, and Blake nodded mutely, no doubt remembering her own first encounter with him in his transformed and out of control state, back when she had still been part of White Fang. "Luckily though the damage Torchwick inflicted on me and Ruby's eyes effecting me allowed me to pull myself back in control after the crowd had fled the square… Still, I'm pretty sure that the people are going to put some amount of blame on you, Weiss."

"I figured as much. After all, the 'Grimm' I had in control ran feral and attacked the crowd…" Weiss gave an exasperated sigh and rubbed her eyes. "I just hope that the fact that there was a _terrorist attack_ would draw some blame off me… Unless they somehow peg that on me as well. I wouldn't put it past the press at this point."

"Weiss…" Ruby patted Weiss's hand reassuringly while trying her best to avoid touching her bandages and causing the white-haired girl pain.

"I'm tired." Weiss said simply. "I'm getting tired of this… I'm no stranger to being hated, the Schnee's are universally targeted as villains from time to time and for various reasons. I just… I just want to make a change. To be a force for a better future, for all of us."

"..." Blake looked down as if ashamed from the burnt girl's words. "I'm sorry."

"What for?" Weiss asked tiredly.

"For… doubting you. When we were still getting used to each other's presences… I thought you were just another Schnee- cold, arrogant, cruel… But..."

"I am none of those!"

"Yeah, I know. You're someone that I've grown used to… someone I consider a friend. I just wanted to get that off my chest." Blake said. "Today was too close call for my liking… and I've seen people around me die before. I know what it feels like when you just want to apologize or say something… but the chance is taken away from you, and you can't get it back."

"...Are you talking about the man with the red sword, Adam-something?" Jaune asked Blake quietly as Ruby said something to Weiss. "He's alive. I didn't kill him, I think."

"He's dead to me." Blake's voice was bitter as she whispered her answer, and Jaune was taken back by the hostility she radiated as she spoke although luckily the hostility wasn't directed at him.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"...Maybe one day."

"What are you two whispering?" Ruby popped between Jaune and Blake and looked curiously at him, effectively freaking him out and freezing him still at the same time since he had been completely blind to the small girl's approach as he had focused on the emotions that had radiated from Blake.

"Eh- um, well, things." Jaune told Ruby, which caused the girl to blink few times at him suspiciously, but she pulled back as Blake bristled dangerously at her.

"So in conclusion, someone deliberately attacked me today. If they wanted to attack the Atlas show, they wouldn't have delayed the bombs until my presentation, and there would have been zero reason for Torchwick to be there." Weiss spoke. "I didn't announce the reveal through any public sources as I was intending on riding Atlas's wake, so the only people who knew were the stage workers, but they only knew about the Grimm the same day the presentation took place, the Bullhead pilots were literally made aware of the event hour before it took place…"

"That doesn't leave a lot of suspects." Blake said as Weiss fell silent.

"No… There is one more." Weiss said with a quiet voice. "Emerald…"

"The transfer student?" Ruby asked curiously. "What about her?"

"I… told her about the event. A day before, so she was the only one who knew about it for long enough to have a chance of sabotaging the show." Weiss told them quietly with a hesitant tone in her voice. "Only ones beside her who knew about the event were Ozpin and Ironwood, and our two teams… and I don't think any of us would backstab each other, nor do I believe that Ozpin would deliberately sabotage Vale, or Ironwood sabotage his own show."

"...So Emerald told someone about the show." Jaune concluded. "She either told about the event to someone who had a grudge against you, or orchestrated the sabotage herself."

"Still, I don't _get_ why would anyone do that? What do they gain from it?" Ruby muttered quietly. "Why would anyone want to cause that much despair, panic and fear?"

"...And confusion." Jaune added. "Torchwick was there… And I have a feeling that he's not going to be stopping his career as a criminal to become a hero of Justice or anything. He even mentioned that 'she' was forcing him to do that between his loudspeaker speeches."

"'She'?" Weiss lifted her eyebrow at him. "So there's some unaccounted female who is giving orders to the criminal…"

"Could it be that this Emerald is responsible for that, then" Blake asked, slightly confused as she had not met Emerald in person before. "There's no way Torchwick could have prepared the Paladin and some unknown saboteur placed the explosives unless Emerald had told them about the event pretty much immediately."

"Speaking of which just _how_ did the Paladin get to the square? It is hardly a inconspicuous machine." Jaune asked as he didn't quite remember how the massive mech had appeared.

"It was airdropped." Blake said. "A Bullhead flew over the square and air-dropped it in front of the stage… I'm guessing that the Bullhead was either stolen from police or was one of the fake-ID aircraft that Torchwick use to get the stolen Dust off Vale."

"Couldn't he have just gotten news about my demonstration and taken flight just in case?" Weiss asked, although it was clear that she was grasping straws. "I… don't want to believe that Emerald could be behind all this. She is… She was a polite and well-spoken person."

"It takes more than fifteen minutes to get a Bullhead prepared for a takeoff, and loading something like Paladin on board of one would take far longer." Ruby pointed out. "That is if they don't do any pre-flight checks or make sure its guns and ammo are in working condition… He must have had the Bullhead loaded and ready to fly before the event even started."

"So… Emerald betrayed me." Weiss said blandly. "This… is a worrying development. But that still leaves the motive blank. Why would she do that? Is she working together with Torchwick?"

"We'll have to find that out." Jaune nodded. "Still… How did you meet her?"

"We met her in the library when she…" Weiss's voice fell quiet as she seemed to realize something. "She sought us out. It was not a coincidence that I met her: she deliberately caught our attention, and introduced herself to Ruby and I. She then wanted to exchange combat strategies..."

"Could it be that she had heard that you could 'control Grimm' from the rumors, and tried to find out the truth?" Jaune asked.

"Possible… but why would she go as far as sabotage the event? Innocent people _died_!" Ruby's eyes flashed as she hissed the words out in anger. "Weiss almost died, and Jaune got hurt badly, and…"

"Calm down, Ruby. We get it." Weiss waved her bandaged hand at the agitated silver-eyed girl. "As far as Emerald is concerned, I believe we should take the the event as some sort of weird assassination attempt against me, and Torchwick's appearance as some sort of weird PR stunt."

"I guess so." Jaune agreed, although he was starting to run to the edge of his understanding of the situation.

"I can't find any other explanation to his appearance, nor to the sabotaging of the stage." Weiss theorized. "Perhaps they intended to kill me, either with the bombs or by Jaune, whom they likely assumed to be a regular Grimm that would run rampant and attack me after going wild, and then Torchwick would come and save the day by killing the Grimm?"

"That seems the most plausible explanation." Blake nodded her agreement. "Still… What do they gain from it? I'm sure even Torchwick would realize that mass panic would have far longer-lasting implications, and if someone wanted Weiss dead, then surely there are better ways than staging an attack in the middle of the day, in front of hundreds of witnesses?"

"Yeah… It's odd, but I don't think we're going to find an answer to that here. However, there is more immediate concern." Jaune's voice was serious. "So if Emerald, or whoever she works for, is after Weiss… now would be the best time to strike."

"Huh?" Ruby's posture stiffened from hearing his words, and she turned towards the infirmary room's only exit door, as if expecting someone to burst through and attack them.

"I don't think Jaune means that someone would attack us right now, but it would be optimal to try to assassinate Weiss when she's bedridden." Blake told the red-clad girl. "Weiss is unarmed, alone, if under surveillance, and her Aura is low… so if someone were to attack her, there wouldn't be much she could do to fight back."

"I'm right here you know…" Weiss grumbled, but nodded regardless and Jaune could definitely feel that beneath her indifferent mask the injured white-haired girl was afraid.

"You said that the visitor's hours were indefinite in here, right?" Jaune asked her, and she nodded.

"Correct, as long as the patient doesn't wish for the visitors to leave or the visitors do something that goes against the infirmary's rules." Weiss specified. "It's a seperate infirmary from the main hospital designed for patients that don't require intensive care and are lucid enough to make their own decisions. I'm sure this kind of arrangement wouldn't work for regular civilians but Hunters and students tend to be more composed and more self-aware of their body's state..."

"Erm… yes, of course." Jaune tried to stop Weiss from starting a lecture. "Anyway, we could stay here and guard you until you're healed, right?"

"Well… technically yes." Weiss agreed. "But I'm scheduled to be released from here in two days if my state doesn't worsen. That's a long visit if you intend to be here for the entire time … And the doctors might object if you all are here for so long despite the unlimited visitors hours…"

"So we'll take turns." Ruby's voice was resolute. "We won't let anything happen to you, Weiss."

"Haah… Fine, if it makes you feel better about it." Weiss grumbled, but she didn't manage to hide the relief.

"I'll take first watch." Jaune told Ruby and Blake. "I have my weapons closest if need arises."

"Erm… well, we can call our weapons go grab them, and return so you don't necessarily have to take the first watch." Ruby pointed out. "I'm sure you're tired from the fight, right? You should probably rest too."

"I'm okay. Really." Jaune told them as even Blake sent a somewhat concerned gaze at him. "I… I also want to talk with Weiss. Alone, if you don't mind."

"..." Blake's concerned gaze took in a hint of suspicion, but she sighed. "Do we still have secrets between us?"

"It's not that, I just want to know Weiss's opinion on it first." Jaune placaded Blake while Ruby started to fiddled with her skirt nervously after hearing Blake's words.

"RIght… So Jaune takes the first turn watching over me, followed by Ruby, followed by Blake, and repeat." Weiss told them while eyeing the blonde boy suspiciously. "Jaune, can you tell me what you wanted to say? I really want to sleep soon."

"Uh… right. Well, we'll be off then… stay safe." Ruby muttered as she rose up from her chair and hugged Weiss carefully, which caused the white-haired girl to splutter and blush before pushing Ruby away.

"...I want to talk when you get back." Blake told him while putting his hand on top of his shoulder, and he nodded to her.

' _I don't know what she wants to talk about… but she sounds serious.'_ Jaune sighed internally at the mysterious girl's antics, and sighed again as he felt bubbling nervousness inside her.

"So. Tell me what you wanted to say." Weiss asked as the door closed behind the two girls, leaving just Jaune sitting beside the white-haired girl's bed.

"Well… It's sort of embarrassing."

"Is it about the way you groped me in the middle of the show?" Weiss sent a reprimanding glare at him. "I still haven't heard a proper apology for it. Or did you want to talk to me alone so you could continue where you left off?"

"Weiss, what's wrong?" Jaune asked as the girl was getting increasingly agitated.

"Oh I don't know, maybe all of my plans came crashing down, I almost died, innocent people _died_ , I'm painted as the bad guy to entire Remnant, and now I have to wonder if someone is trying to assassinate me!" Weiss's words grew increasingly hysteric until Jaune grabbed her hand, and Weiss promptly slapped him. He ignored it and hugged her, which caused the girl to struggle weakly before slumping against his shoulder.

"I… I… When I wanted to come to Beacon, I didn't think that it was going to be like this!" Weiss half-sniffed mutely while he rubbed circles on her back, carefully avoiding touching her bandages. "I never wanted any of this…"

"Sh… I won't let anyone hurt you while you recover, and we'll get through this, as a team." Jaune muttered. "Just… what happened? You were alright a moment ago."

"It's just… I don't want to break down in front of Ru- I mean I just felt like it." Weiss quickly corrected herself while still leaning against him. "And do forgive me if I sound sceptical about your ability to protect me when it's your fault I'm in hospital in the first place."

"That's unfair and you know it." Jaune told her. "I wasn't the one responsible for the attack, and there was no way I could have regained myself when the crowd panicked. I did my best, and…"

"Sheesh fine, I get it." Weiss groaned as she pulled back from the hug and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Although she had not teared up her eyes were red-veined and tired. "Just… Answer me this. Why did you grope me back there? Don't tell me it too was something you couldn't control."

"Well… it kind of was exactly like that." Jaune rubbed the back of his head, and mentally prepared for a slap that never came. Instead he looked up and saw Weiss staring at him with open mouth.

"W-what?" Weiss clamped her mouth shut. "Don't tell me your… Grimm side… has some kind of fetish for me?"

"Well… that's pretty accurate actually."

"You... Wait, how…" Weiss stammered at him. "Do you _like_ me?"

"Um… I'm not s… Y͝e̕s̢ " Jaune fought back a growl as he flinched from a surge of something black-veined coming forwards from the hidden corner of his consciousness, and he quickly stomped on the Shadow before it could get any worse.

"I… B-but…"

"Erm… My Grimm side has had some kind of infatuation towards you ever since the Forever Fall incident. No, even before that. I think it started when we first trained together to control my Semblance." Jaune explained to speechless Weiss who forgot her anger and misery for a moment as something far more shocking took her attention. "It… It wants you, Weiss, for some reason. It's also why it has never wanted to hurt you… well, beside our first encounter in the Emerald Forest anyway."

"So… For some reason your Grimm side compelled you to start groping me in front of entire Vale, in your Grimm form, as their fear caused you to lose your self-control." Weiss's voice was bland. "Right."

"I'm telling the truth!" Jaune insisted.

"Very well. I believe you." Weiss told him easily, and Jaune could tell even without his ability that she wasn't truthful with her words. "But, if I were to wake up because _someone_ who already has a _girlfriend_ was groping me in my sleep… I'm not sure what I'd do, but I'm sure it would be violent."

Jaune rubbed his temple exasperatedly. "Why would I do that… But sure. I'm not going to do that."

"And Weiss?" He added as the girl sunk deeper into her bed. "I know you're venting because of the situation, and I'm not going to hold it against you. But this situation isn't only stressful to you,"

"Oh?" Weiss's voice was cynical.

"I know it sounds obvious, but we're under stress as well, and supporting each other needs to work both ways." Jaune told her. "I am thankful that you accepted me for what I am… And accepted Blake with her being a faunus and ex-White Fang as well. But I'd appreciate if you stopped treating me as if I was the root of all your problems. "

"But…"

"Yeah, I know, the entire thing started because someone saw me in my transformed state." Jaune sighed. "But, we can't change the past and I'm talking about the future. If we start infighting we won't be getting out of this."

"Haahh…" Weiss sighed tiredly. "Fine… I get it. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm at fault here as well, but can we just clear the air and work together from here on out?"

"Yes." Weiss's words took a resolute edge despite her tired state. "Heh… I must be quite awful leader. I'm already a public not-really enemy number one, I've been bedridden for what, almost a week in a row, and the first big battle we get into I mess up, back in Forever Fall, then I get set up as a terrorist in the next battle and then I almost die... "

"You are not perfect Weiss. None of us are." Jaune told her. "We're going to make mistakes, and what happens afterwards is what makes us. Each time you fell you rose up, so don't stop."

"Sheesh… I get it." Weiss grumbled, but Jaune could tell that her mood had been lifted up. "Just… Please answer this honestly."

"Yeah?"

"Does… Does your Grimm side really have a fetish about me?"

.

 **Next chapter: Around 18th.**


	30. Silent assassins

"..."

"Umm…"

"..."

Blake had ran into Pyrrha in their shared dorm-wing on the way back from the infirmary where she and Ruby had left Weiss and Jaune, and she had gotten curious about the way Pyrrha was shifting around while sitting on her chair in front of the kitchen table, almost as if she was waiting for someone and was extremely nervous about something at the same time.

It didn't take long for the white-and-black clad faunus to figure out what was troubling the red-haired champion, and she sat down opposite to the nervous girl while Ruby went back to their dorm-room to change to her spare set of combat clothes.

Blake had a feeling Ruby would be sleeping in her combat-wear, as they both were somewhat on edge after the events of the day and the possibility of someone attacking Weiss in the infirmary.

"So… you're waiting for Jaune, right?" Blake clarified as Pyrrha kept fiddling with her short skirt as she still wore the black skirt and cream-white sweater she had worn to disguise herself into the crowd during Weiss's speech, although she had taken off her scarlet cloak and scarf.

"…Yes." Pyrrha confessed and Blake narrowed her eyes at the blushing girl. "Is… Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, nothing at all." Blake said, and smirked a little as Pyrrha relaxed visibly. "I was merely wondering if you were planning on doing something… indescend, with him?"

"We… Erm, no, I mean… maybe?" Pyrrha's stutter returned in full as Blake hit a bullseye on the source red-haired girl's nervous behaviour, and the disguised faunus let out a sigh.

"And why are you so nervous? Is it because of my presence?" Blake asked. "I wonder… is it because you weren't planning on telling anyone, namely me, about your… plan?"

"Err…."

"I was merely curious, since we three are supposed to be in some sort of relationship, so…"

"I'm... sorry. That I didn't tell you about it." Pyrrha slumped against the table. "I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to make sure he was okay."

"And doing… whatever you were planning on doing… would have made sure of that?" Blake nodded. "In that case I'm sure you don't mind if I 'make sure that he's okay' as well?"

"W-well…"

"Or alternatively you could just do what you wanted with him… but I'd do the same, on my own time, and without you ever knowing about it." Blake smirked. "It's pretty cute that you tried to be sneaky about it, but you merely adopted the stealth. I was born in it, molded by it… You'll have to try harder to out-sneak me."

"..." Pyrrha's eyes gained a hint of something menacing, and Blake responded to the look with one of her own, although for some reason the disguised faunus felt a small shiver run through her spine as she looked into the red-head's eyes that had grown quite bit more hostile through the shadow that her hair cast on her face.

The two girls glared at each other for a while until Blake broke off the staring match and Pyrrha rubbed her eyes while blinking few times, effectively cutting off the intimidating miasma that Blake could have sworn had started to radiate from the red-headed girl.

"But… You know, we're supposed to be together, all three of us. Do we have to fight over this?" Pyrrha finally restarted the conversation. "I mean… can't we just… you know, be with him and not try to sabotage each other?"

Blake flinched slightly as she realized that she had just defaulted to her earlier mindset. ' _She's got a point… I agreed to give this arrangement a shot, so of course it would mean we'd both have to make compromises...'_

"I… I guess, Yes." Blake tried to regain her earlier composure. It seemed that Pyrrha saw it, and she sighed while rubbing her forehead lightly.

"I suppose that this… arrangement… is taking time to get used to." the red-headed girl said, and Blake gave her a wary nod. "It's the same for me… I am really not a fan of the idea of sharing him either. but… I don't want to lose."

"Yeah…" Blake agreed quietly. "It's odd though. You were… are… a high-ranking championship fighter. I thought you'd have more competitive spirit, that you'd enjoy the challenge."

"Fighting for the attention of someone who you like and fighting in the sand-rings of Mistral are two entirely different battlefields, with different methods and tactics. I confess that I am not very good at the former." Pyrrha said while drawing circles half-heartedly on the table with her finger. "I can't win over his heart by hitting it with a spear. I tried, and while it worked somewhat alright, I'm not sure I can build a lasting relationship with that method even when Nora says that it could work."

"I… see." Blake tried not to think too deeply about what the red-haired girl said, and tried to ignore how the shadow on Pyrrha's face had grown back to full force for a split second. ' _...And did her irises just dilate a bit?'_ "So you don't know how to erm… 'fight a relationship batte', and don't want to risk losing it so you'd rather compromise?"

"Pretty much…" Pyrrha agreed. "Nora had some alternative suggestions, but I don't think her… ideas… are exactly applicable to our situation or are something I want to try anyway. Some of them were pretty... extreme."

"Uh huh." Blake didn't want to find out what advice Nora had given to Pyrrha. It was most likely something ridiculous or bizzare, like dressing Pyrrha up as a damsel in distress and trying to make Jaune play the role of a knight in shining armor and saving her from some unknown yet convenient threat.

Or Nora's advice could be something outright disturbing, since she had seen the looks Nora tended to give Ren whenever she thought no-one was looking. Blake had seen rutting cats giving less possessive looks at their mates, and she was fairly sure that Nora's sanity wasn't improved by how Ren seemed to be impervious to Nora's admittedly poor attempts to get him to notice her...

"Right… So, what were you planning on doing with him anyway?" Blake shook herself out of her thoughts and turned towards Pyrrha as she seemed to retreat back to her shell as the conversation died down- although her question seemed to cause Pyrrha to blush red again and she looked down at the wooden table, embarrassed.

"Well… I was planning on holding hands with him…"

"And?"

"Um… maybe hugging him a little?"

"..." Blake lifted her eyebrow at Pyrrha. "That's… not exactly what I thought you had in mind."

"W-what did you thought I had in mind, then?"

Blake made a suggestive hand-gesture, and Pyrrha promptly attempted to camouflage herself to fit Forever Fall's landscape by turning her face as red as her hair. "N-No! I didn't mean to do… ' _that'_ with him!"

"Really? You were so flustered that you didn't leave much room for interpretation…" Blake drawled, and Pyrrha sent her a glare while crossing her arms and looking away.

"So… What were you planning on doing with him then?" Pyrrha challenged, and Blake looked away as she had _slightly_ less innocent thoughts In mind. ' _But there's no way I'm going to admit that aloud… No, even more than that, could I really go through with what I had been planning?'_

A bang from the direction of team SABR's dorm drew the pair from their thoughts and Blake looked towards the hallway that connected the dorm together, and saw Ruby walking towards the kitchen with somewhat nervous steps, fully armed and clad In her combat-gear.

"Hello, Ruby." Pyrrha greeted the small girl who took an entire milk carton out of the fridge and sat down with her drink.

"Hi Pyrrha, Blake… What are you two talking about?" Ruby greeted them both tiredly while taking a long gulp from the carton In her hands.

"Oh… Weather, and, umm… " Pyrrha tried to direct Ruby's attention elsewhere, and archived partial success as Ruby didn't seem to pay much attention to the redhead's words, instead opting to focus on her drink while cradling it In her hands.

"Ruby… You learned that from your uncle, didn't you?" Blake sighed as she recognized the posture the eccentric teacher had used occasionally, most often after a team he had 'overseen' had suffered a particularly humiliating defeat. "You're too young to act grizzled…"

"I'm just… a bit frustrated." Ruby sighed while slumping against the table. A small whine escaped between her lips.

"About what?" Blake asked after Ruby gathered her wits and stood back up.

"It's just frustrating that everything that's been happening has been done by some shadowy third-party." Ruby complained. "I kinda wish we were fighting Grimm, since you know, we're being hunters and all, because that way I could at least tell who was friend or foe."

"Er… What about Jaune in his transformed state?" Blake pointed out, and Ruby let out a miserable whine as she slouched down on the table again when even her preferred enemy turned out to be less obviously black and white than how she wished it to be.

"Yeah, it's odd that the recent events have gone so… unnaturally." Pyrrha agreed and Blake sent a meaningful eye at Ruby, which she caught but was completely baffled by.

' _Oh yeah… Ruby's just few levels above Jaune in social cluelessness…'_ Blake sighed internally as she turned towards Pyrrha. She had planned to 'ask' Ruby for her opinion about telling the theory team SABR had come up about the recent events with her meaningful glance, but with Ruby being Ruby, and that being clueless, she'd have to make her own decisions… ' _And I'm monologuing in my head again… '_

"We think it's because someone is leaking information about Weiss to Torchwick and White Fang… " Blake told Pyrrha' _...Haah… I still haven't managed to figure out just why White Fang is working with Torchwick...'_

"Someone's intentionally attacking Weiss?" Pyrrha lifted her eyebrow.

"We didn't find a real reason for it, but that's what we believe." Ruby told her. "Best 'reason' we've gotten is that someone's got something against Weiss and Torchwick and White Fang are trying to pull a publicity stunt by framing her as a villain… or for some other reason, and those two parties are working together against Weiss..."

"I suppose so. Still, I'm sure constant attacks against Weiss are going to tire her out, and eventually something might happen to her if this keeps up." Pyrrha agreed.

"Yeah… Jaune had a feeling someone might want to assassinate her while she's in infirmary." Ruby said tiredly. "We decided to take turns watching over her so if someone tries to assassinate her, she'd have help ready. Jaune's with her right now."

"I see… but did you tell anyone about your suspicions?" the red-headed girl asked while tilting her head. "If you suspect that someone's trying to attack Weiss… Even if he is with her, then surely the assassins would try to hurt Jaune to get him out of the way and then assassinate Weiss afterwards?"

"Yeah, but we decided that Jaune would be enough to raise an alarm in case someone tries to attack them." Blake said. "Even with that being said, I'm somewhat doubtful that someone would try to attack them in the middle of Beacon of all places…"

"But… What if the assassin assassinates Jaune first, before moving to Weiss who is bedridden and probably can't defend herself properly? Aren't assassins supposed to be good at making sure people can't raise alarms once attacked?" Pyrrha asked, and Blake saw a familiar shadow return to the red-headed girl's face.

A tinge of concern for the two of their teammates entered the black-haired girl's head.

"I'm sure Jaune can take care of himself… and I'm not sure we have enough evidence that the recent events have been directed against Weiss specifically for us to be taken seriously if we told someone of our theory." Blake rebutted Pyrrha's concerns despite the thought that had started to nag her heart.

"Yeah... " Ruby's voice echoed the same concerns Blake was starting to have. "But… I'm sure Jaune wouldn't die because of some assassin…" Her voice dwindled to a whisper. "Actually, I'm going to send a message to him and ask if everything is okay. I'm sure Weiss is asleep already so let's not wake her up…"

* * *

Mercury stalked through Beacon's infirmary's hallways. The hallways were normally observed through a series of cameras, but the red dot under each of the cameras were nowhere to be seen, indicating that the cameras had been shut down by Emerald who had likely managed to cut off the power to the infirmary's surveillance system. ' _Heh… It sure paid to get a copy of Beacon's blueprints through Cinder's contact, even if it was just an incomplete forgery…'_

There was no way that someone hadn't detected the cameras going offline, so he had to move quickly in the dimly-lit hallways. He had avoided the night receptionist by entering through a backdoor for which Emerald supplied a key she had taken from a security guard earlier.

He had a black mask on his face that would cover his features just in case someone managed to spot him though.

'" _Calm, and emotionless. Move with purpose, strike without hesitation. You are a weapon, wielded by someone else's hand. Emotions are just a unnecessary burden, so cast them aside before you commit…"'_ the words of his father came back to Mercury as he advanced towards his target whose location Emerald had supplied to him as she had taken the cameras offline, having tapped into the camera feeds just before shutting them off.

' _Cheh, how annoying… I'm recalling that man's guidelines again... '_ Mercury shoved all unnecessary thoughts away. He wasn't foolish enough to disregard the advice from someone who had been far superior to him as a assassin, but the fact that it was advice from his father made him gnash his teeth together. ' _Yet in the end, old age made the man fragile, and decadence made him weak… You sought to send me out as your weapon, father... but forgot that your blade had a sentience, and it turned against you…'_

He paused to shake his head. He couldn't afford to distract himself by recalling how he had met with Cinder's group, just after he had set his old home in flames and killed his father, an old master assassin who had tried to turn him, his son, into his pupped for the sake of his legacy.

Cinder had taken him under her wing after she had recruited him in front of his burning home, and supplied him with mechanical replacements to his ruined legs, broken beyond repair by his old man during the combat. '.. _Then again, I didn't have much choice when it came to joining her cause, did I?'_

Another identical hallway opened before him after he climbed up a series of stairs, and he saw that he was in the right hallway, and his target would be in one of the rooms ahead.

' _Emerald said that there would be one more person in the room, sitting or sleeping in a chair beside the Target… She recognized it as Jaune Arc, one of the Target's teammates… Apparently he has weak Aura but high healing factor, based off the rumors I've heard, so I should probably disregard usual method and just go for the kill, not giving him any time to heal...'_ Mercury thought as he discarded his useless thoughts and emotions. A slight adrenaline surge was all that remained, preparing his body for possibility of combat.

Mercury placed his hand on the handle to the room and a soft breath escaped him as he opened the door without so much as a sound, completely serene.

The second after that he sprung into motion, directing himself towards the two human forms in the otherwise deserted infirmary room.

He loaded a shotgun round into his mechanical leg with a mental command, and directed a crushing hammer kick towards the back of the head of the human-shaped target sitting on a chair. Mercury would only fire the shotgun build into his leg if his attack failed as it would essentially alert the entire facility to his intents, but to his relief the kick connected and he _felt_ as the back of the blonde-haired man's head caved in with a sickening crack.

The white-haired target stirred in the bed as the loud sound seemed to wake her up, and Mercury quickly redirected himself, pulling his foot off the corpse that slumped off the chair and onto the floor. A swift jump brought Mercury on top of the white-haired target's bed, and he kicked down _hard_ on the girl's chest as she tried to rise up, which served to drive the air off her lungs so she couldn't scream for help.

As she was slammed back down against her bed, Mercury stood on her chest and lifted his other leg, and slammed it down on the girl's face like a piston.

While he didn't feel the girl break under his heel, he could instinctively tell that he wouldn't need many subsequent hits to break through her weakened Aura, and she'd follow her teammate.

He lifted his heel off the disoriented girl's face, and he slammed it down again… Except this time a flashing green blade struck his leg and drove it off-target, accompanied by a sound of breaking glass.

' _There are more targets in here?'_ Mercury cursed his carelessness as he spun on the spot, grinding his heel against the wounded girl's chest and drawing a tortured groan from her. A second streak of green forced him to roll off the occupied sickbed, and he followed the roll with another as he saw two more blades seemingly appear from nowhere and embed themselves into the floor.

He dodged a total of ten blades as he tried to get a good look at the unknown attacker through the broken window through which the blades had come. ' _Just who would use swords as projectile weapons? Are they crazy? That's not how swords work!'_

Mercury failed to notice how one of the swords stuck to the floor started to move by itself as he was busy trying to spot the invisible sniper through the window, and paid for it as the floating blade nearly skewered him. Only his prior training saved him from losing yet another considerable chunk of Aura to the suddenly floating blades by making his body react automatically to the unusual threat and dodge.

' _Dammit… I can't get bogged down. I have to finish the target off fast…'_ Mercury thought while he kicked one of the blades towards the disoriented white-haired girl. Predictably, the blade managed to divert its course so it wouldn't stab the girl, and Mercury noticed a faint glimmer of a very thin garrotte-like wire going out of the window- and also noticed a small white sphere with a green iris-like camera shutter, held visible above the window frame by a white-gloved hand. Few wires and cables led from the sphere down and out of his sight, but he realized the importance of the odd item. ' _A camera, perhaps?'_

Mercury realized that with the sounds of the battle he couldn't stay hidden for any longer, and lifted his leg towards the camera and fired his leg-mounted shotgun.

A boom of a gunshot rang in the enclosed space, and he saw as the white sphere exploded into shards, causing the swords that were still flying around the room to veer off their courses and embed themselves into the walls and the floor.

"Good grief... " Mercury lamented as he slammed his leg against the floor to re-chamber the shotgun, and he turned towards the bedridden white-haired girl, intending on finishing her with his no-longer hidden gun before she could recover enough to retaliate.

"...J… Jaune…" A weak, trembling voice greeted him as Mercury saw his target, and he took an instinctive step backwards as he saw that the white-haired girl was reaching futilely towards the corpse of her former comrade that was lying on the floor… except that the corpse wasn't lying still while bleeding onto the floor, but instead was writhing as if in great pain while growing wiry and black tentacle-like appendages, and sharp bones had grown through the corpse's skin in some sort of half-cooked imitation of the spikes Beowolves and Boartusks usually had. The tentacles themselves were malformed and some of them had grown sharp hairs, sharp bone-spearheads and one of them even had an odd shape that vaguely looked like a phallus with nubs made from black flesh running down it's length.

As Mercury tried to regain his earlier calm state after seeing such an unnatural and unnerving sight, the corpse began giving off a bone-chilling roars and wails that caused the hairs on the back of Mercury's neck to stand on edges.

"W͘ei͞şs.͢.̴.̕ ̨Śt͏.̷.̡. ̢Ki͝l̛l̢.̨.̡. ͜E͟at̶...̷ " The monster wailed through a mismatched jaw that had far too many teeth, far too _different_ teeth, and Mercury saw as the white-haired girl fell off her bed as one of the black tentacles tied itself around her waist and pulled the girl towards the corpse-turned-monster.

' _Did… Did she try to create a Grimm from the corpse of her teammate?'_ Mercury thought with a dawning horror as his grasp on his serene state was shattered completely by the horrifying sight of the rapidly growing half-man half-monster. He hoped against hope that the monster would be beyond the girl's mental grasp and that she would fall prey to her own monster as the wiry tentacles drew the wounded girl closer to the creature's body and towards the myriad of spikes that had started to grow from the malformed body's three forearms, with the fourth of its arms having grown too withered and weak-looking to support itself and was lying limp on the ground beside the corpse-turned-monster.

His hopes were crushed as the girl snaked her arm around the creature's neck, ignoring how the veins and muscles below the monster's skin seemed to flow like liquid. "...I'm… I'm here… Jaune... C… Calm… _Cough..._ "

Mercury spring into motion as the monster's movements and mutations slowed down momentarily.

He would not get a better chance to finish the fight.

He drove both of his feet down in a flying kick towards the barely conscious girl's head, intending on unloading both of his boot-shotguns point-blank into her temple…

...And the monster's wiry tentacles struck forwards with surprising speed and agility, wrapping themselves around his leg, and redirecting the attack that would have lobotomized the girl into the monster's body instead.

' _Well… I can kill you too if you are asking for it…'_ Mercury thought as he unloaded his shotguns into the monster's chest, blowing a massive hole into where a human being would have a heart.

The tentacles slackened slightly, allowing him to kick against the hybrid of black flesh and white bone to pull himself free… until the creature let yet another wailing growl and struck a tentacle that had a needle-sharp edge towards his waist while he was still regaining his balance.

Mercury howled in pain as the attack connected, and he felt his weakened Aura giving away slightly… until he felt his Aura _draining_ into the now blood-red tip of the tentacle until it broke through his skin.

' _What… what is that?!'_ Mercury thought as he tried to yank the appendage out of his flesh, yet to his horror he felt as the tentacle slipped through his grip and punctured deeper into his gut, _feeding_ off of him, and sliding deeper into his vulnerable flesh. His mask fell of his face as a result of the struggle against the monstrous appendage. "Shit!"

"M… Mercury? D… Don't kill hi..m... " The white-haired girl pleaded with weak voice through the web of tentacles that now engulfed her, clearly still suffering from her concussion even as she addressed her pet monster. "W… we need to… find out… if he's… Emerald's… underling…"

' _Emerald?'_ Mercury thought as he kicked against the tentacle, and fired his boot-shotgun point-blank to sever the appendage. It seemed to do the thing and he collapsed on his back while pulling the now-limp piece of black flesh and white bone out of his stomach. ' _Shit… I need to get away, the mission's officially shot to hell…'_

The monster let a growl and Mercury turned towards the window, intending on jumping out of it and fleeing. He narrowly dodged a tentacle that struck out of the mass of flesh and bone, and the appendage flipped a hospital bed to its side. Mercury pulled the bed between himself and the monster as it lifted three of its arms towards him, and he dodged as the three arms let a sound not unlike a pressurized can breaking, followed by a swarm of sharp objects flying towards the silver-haired assassin- although luckily the knocked-over bed absorbed most of the projectiles.

' _Darts?'_ Mercury thought as he kicked one of the objects aside before it could hit his chest, and paid for his distraction as one of the smaller, less developed bone-like darts struck his still organic thigh, burying itself few inches deep into his flesh through his now-broken Aura.

He let out a yelp of pain both from the wound and from the impact as he crashed himself into the remains of the wooden window-frame and fell through the third-floor window.

Mercury briefly saw a shadowy form hanging outside the broken window-frame as he fell, and saw a singular bright green eye looking at him from a emotionless face before the form climbed into the hospital room through the same window through which he had fallen.

' _I really screwed up, didn't I?'_ Mercury thought as he flipped himself over in air and prepared to do a hard landing on top of his worn legs.

He grunted of pain as he crashed on the ground, although he managed to stop himself from passing out or dying from the impact, mainly thanks to his training since he was out of Aura. ' _I need to contact Emerald… Let Cinder know what happened…'_

* * *

Black tentacles waved freely in the air, and slithered on the floor, looking for any organic matter they could find. One of them coiled itself around a broken planted pot, pulled the flowers off it and pulled back to feed it into the mass of not-exactly human flesh and black definetely-not human flesh that was _him_.

The piece of vegetation didn't provide much for him, but it was better than nothing. Another tentacle followed the trail of red Aura-rich blood in the floor, greedily sucking in the liquid through the series of small vaguely mouth-like holes that had opened into the appendage.

"J… Jaune… Let me g.. go…" A white-haired form pleaded through the mass of writing tentacles that covered her, but he would not let _her_ go. He'd protect _her_. He'd complete his mission.

' _P̴̨ròt̸͟e̛͡çt҉ ̧͢͏he̵̛͝r̶.̀͠͡.̕. D̵̵͘e͝śtr͏̢҉o͠y̷̸̡ ̢t͏h͝e̷͏m͘͞.͢͡..' ̵͢_

' _I… I can't remember... '_

"L… let me go…"

"Miss Schnee! I will provide assistance at once!"

A foreign voice entered his consciousness, alongside something that radiated _wrong_ emotions. A sharp feeling followed the loss of feeling in one of his searching tentacles, and he felt as the _unnatural_ creature approached.

' _Dí͡e̢.͟͠.͟.̷̶͢ ̴D̡ię̷̷.̡͟.̢͘.̷͏ ̴D̴̶͘i͢è̢.͠͠.͟͢.̢͘'_

' _͟Y͏o͞͡u͘ ̀w͘i̴ll ̧͝͞n̶̡҉o̡̧t҉͘͘.͞.̡͘͏.̴̕ ̴͢Ta҉͞k̶é̸ ̀h͞e͜r.̛'.̧._

"Jau… _cough_ … Jaune! Stop! ...Wait… You are… You're..."

"I am Penny Polendina. We have met already. Please rest assured, I shall separate you from the Grimm."

Another searching tentacle was cut, and he felt a surge of irritation rising inside him as a response.

This creature was preventing him from feeding properly.

It needed to die.

He lifted his arms again to exhale a new swarm of his darts, and he felt their _hunger_ inside him growing. They too wanted to feed.

' _I can't see…'_

A flash of pain surged through his frame, and he felt as all sensation fled one of his arms, yet two of them unloaded their living ammunition towards the source of the odd emotions.

"P… Penny!"

"I am combat ready. Damage suffered is within acceptable parameters."

A searing pain punctured his lungs and throat as various blades stabbed into him.

"Penny… Stop!"

"The creature appears hostile to both of us. Rest assured, I will assist you in disposing it."

 _Á̷n̵̕noy̶̷i̢̡n̴͜͞g͏.̛͡.́͢_

The blades that were stuck to his body tried to pull themselves back, but he grabbed two of them into his hands, stopping them on their tracks. A thin wire led to the odd anomaly, and he pulled the wire to _pull_ the creature towards him.

It didn't budge.

"Ground-anchors deployed to counterbalance a pull attempt by hostile force. Resuming attack."

A lithe, if somewhat weak form struggled in his grasp, and he responded by pulling _her_ body closer to his. No harm could befell _her_.

' _Who? Why? Who is she?'_

"J… Jaune… Stop... " a weak voice pleaded again, and he somehow _wanted_ to do what it said. It was an odd feeling.

' _Why am I doing this?'_

 _S̡h̛҉͞e̸̢'̸̛s͜.̵͏.̴̧.̧ ͡҉͠S̢͘h́e͟'̕͏s̷͡..̕.͢ ̕͢S̶hę҉'̷͢͠s.._..

' _Who am I?'_

' _I can't remember anything…'_

A draining sensation filled him as one of his tentacles struck true at the annoying creature that had immobilized itself against his pull, and the bone-tip drank greedily from the creature's Aura to stabilize his wildly fluctuating life-force.

' _...I… I remember a fire… Blood… someone is shouting… I'm so hungry, my stomach hurts…'_

As a response to the ghastly voice that was not truly his, a phantom pain flared through the spot that might have once been a human digestive system.

"Pen… ny...!"

"...D...Damage is exceeding acceptable limits. U… Uploading a damage report to a mobile control array." the cheerful voice gained a tinge of metallic undertone, and he blinked with all eight of his eyes as a odd picture was drawn in front of his shattered vision.

' _I… I remember this girl… Isn't she… Who is she? Who am I?'_ a odd thought passed by his head as he saw a white-haired girl with blue eyes tied tightly against his chest… his back… her body bound to his by a swarm of appendages.

A flicker of annoyance passed by his head as the white-clad girl shouted something at him while he was fighting against the infuriating voice that had started to speak inside _him_ again, so he reflexively shut her up by shoving one of his tentacles down her throat.

He realized his mistake the second after, and tried to pull it off.

"...Mhff!"

"Miss Schnee!"

Y̸͏̸͢͠ǫ̢͝ư̧̨͝͡ ͠w͝i̴̷̷͘l̕͘l̡͘ ̨͟n̡͟o͢͡t͢͏̴͡ ̶̢̛͟h̶̕͠͏̀a̵̷͟r̛̀́m̴̧͟͡ ͘͜͟͞h͘̕e̸͟͞r̡.̛́.̧́҉̨̛

His flesh twitched as _something_ fought for dominance inside him. He wanted to silence the annoying metal creature.

 _He_ did not.

The white-haired girl was forgotten as the struggle inside him grew, until a sword piercing one of his eyes reminded him that the green-eyed girl still had few floating swords that she could use.

A incessant growl escaped what had once been a throat and the tentacles that had swarmed to attack a green-eyed ginger-haired girl reached her despite how she cut down large part of them with her swirling blades- yet as one of the appendages were cut off, it started to grow new heads and his severed pieces of flesh were picked off the floor and reabsorbed into him.

' _It hurts... It hurts… It hurts like back then… When the black and white creature tried to eat me… but I ate it instead…'_ A flash of something familiar passed by his head. It felt like it was some sort of lucid dream that he had seen once before. Felt once before…

He remembered the searing pain the silver sword had inflicted on him.

' _Who… Who… Who… are you?'_

 _I͏̢҉ ̛a̷̷m̧̕͘ -͏..._

' _I am… I'm… J… Ja…Jaune Arc…'_

…

Jaune took a deep breath as he woke up from his fever-like dream, and felt cold air flowing into what he guessed were his lungs.

'... _What happened? I was napping a bit while guarding Weiss, and… Now I'm here? Where is here?'_ Confusion reigned inside him as he felt the incessant buzzing of the Shadow in the background of his mind, and somehow the back of his head, no, his entire head hurt almost as if it had caved in and then repaired itself, but sloppily.

"...Grhgl…" A throaty rasp came from near him, so Jaune tried to pull himself back to reality so he could take a look at…

...Weiss, who had almost passed out with a vaguely phallus-like tentacle shoved deep down her throat. Her eyes had rolled to the back of her head and white foam escaped the corner of her mouth as she tried to desperately draw breath despite the massive thing obstructing her airways, and her twitching arms and legs were locked against his body by a swarm of constricting tentacles.

' _Huh?'_

A odd draining sensation drew his attention to another girl in the room, and Jaune saw Penny who had anchored herself to the floor with few blades with wires, which had subsequently gotten stuck and immobilized the girl- and as a result she had few of his tentacles coiled around her, and few of them had punctured through her stomach and chest and come out through her back and looped around her throat, and he could see thick, bright green fluid dripping down from her wounds.

The robotic girl didn't seem too worried by the situation she was in, and was trying to disentangle herself while her face did not show any discomfort despite having suffered what a regular human being would consider mortal wounds.

' _Oh yeah… She was a robot or something… Ironwood called her Android, although I might be mistaken since I didn't hear him clearly…'_ he shook his head.

He was getting sidetracked.

He needed to untangle the situation. Literally, and immediately.

With that goal in mind he carefully extracted the phallus-like tentacle from Weiss's throat while doing his best to not think about _why_ the thing was shaped like it was, and _how_ it had managed to go where it had went, or _what_ the girl's response to the act would be, although he felt that he needed to prepare himself to be run through with Myrtenaster the moment she regained her senses.

The appendage exited Weiss's mouth with a wet pop, and the girl took a deep breath while slumping down against the swarm of tentacles that still held onto her arms and legs.

"W..̛.̶ ̸W͘eįss?̴" he tried to speak through a mouth not really designed to facilitate human speech, and he saw as the girl twitched slightly after hearing her name spoken and she started to cough and splutter, spitting out the foam that had gathered in her throat as a result of her struggle to breath.

"U-U͟m.҉.̛. ̨A̢r͏e ͝yo̢u.̡.. ̵Alri͢g͡ht?"

"Miss Schnee? Have you managed to assume control of that Grimm form?" a neutral voice belonging to the impaled android entered his ears, and he remembered that he was still effectively stabbing his tentacles through Penny and choking her- Although he was hesitant to remove them, since he was fairly sure that the green-eyed mecha-girl would resume her attack the moment his grip was lifted.

A faint growl was heard from the white-haired girl in his grasp, and her hand reached to grip the flesh of his neck.

"Let. Her. Go." the voice that came from Weiss's mouth was frigid enough to snap-freeze lava, and it bit through his head like one of her ice spears.

"B͜-͠B͡ut.͠.̴."

"Now."

The tentacles that had impaled Penny were carefully drawn off and out of her, and the mechanical girl took a steadying step as the force that had partially kept her standing was taken away.

"The Grimm form seems to be obeying you. Was that your experimental taming technique at work?"

"Eh…" Weiss's huff was noncommittal and she tried to yank her legs out of the mass of tentacles that had partially engulfed her. "Jaune. Go back to normal. You can do that, can't you?"

"Ę͞͞h̨҉͘h͢?̛"

"Now." the tone of her voice gave no room for arguments.

Jaune nodded what he assumed was his head, and pulled the tentacles off from around Weiss and started to shape himself back to his human form.

"Hm. How curious." Penny's peppy voice broke through the silence that had descended as Jaune rose up from the floor in his human shape, and lifted Weiss up from the floor by her waist and put her back in her bed.

"It's… Well…"

"Jaune… _cough…_ Go after Mercury." Weiss instructed him. "We can't allow him to escape. Penny?"

"Yes. miss Schnee?" Penny asked while recalling her swords and storing them in her backpack. She pulled a tube of some odd thick gray liquid and begun plastering it over her wounds. Jaune took a look at the odd girl, and saw that her face looked unusually clean and squeaky, and the earlier damage from the stage fire seemed to have been completely repaired. ' _She's a machine... so does she have spare parts?'_

A thought of a row of unused, hollow Penny's faces sitting on a shelf flashed by his head, and Jaune quickly discarded the disturbing mental image.

"Are… Will you be alright?" Weiss asked carefully while looking at the puncture holes in the green-eyed girl's chest. "Can I ask something from you?"

"I am repairing the damage I have sustained, but your request is important to me. Please hold."

"Right… Jaune. Go." the white-haired girl turned back to address Jaune, and he fidgeted for a while, concerned for the ex-heiress's safety, before Weiss's glare sent him on his way. "I will be alright. Penny is here to guard me, right?"

"That is correct, miss Schnee."

"See?"

Jaune nodded once more before he charged out of the window where Mercury had escaped mere minutes before.

* * *

"..."

"I swear that's true!" Mercury pleaded as he kept applying fresh bandages on his wounds and stuffed wound packaging on the deep wound in his gut. The painkillers he had injected into his bloodstream kept the pain to the minimum and would allow him to operate in almost regular fashion until the situation would calm down, or he would run out of drugs.

Unfortunately, the situation was far from over as he sat on his bed in team CEMN's dorm, debriefing his two other teammates with Neo being absent as usual.

"So Emerald cut off the cameras, you infiltrated the hospital room, killed the Schnee's teammate… and when you were finishing off the Schnee, you were attacked by an unknown assailant with wire-floating swords, and during that fight the Schnee turned his teammate's corpse into a Grimm that proceeded to try to eat you while the Schnee was... doing what?" Cinder summarized while tapping her foot on the floor, her hands tied over her chest and with a annoyed and slightly concerned expression on her face.

"I didn't stay to look properly, but it looked like she was trying to… get busy… with the Grimm. It had tentacles, one of them inside her mouth and few of them going under her hospital gown, and it looked like a..."

"Thank you." Emerald cut off Mercury before he could finish his sentence, which was probably for the best. "We get it."

"Did you say that the Schnee managed to identify you?" Cinder interrupted the two.

"Yeah, he called me by name, and I think she told the Grimm to capture me alive because she wanted to know... " Mercury drawled through the slight haze that the painkillers caused. "Yeah, she wanted to know if I was Emerald's underling."

"Emerald's… underling?" Cinder paused.

Emerald lifted her eyebrow at the silver-haired assassin.

"So… Somehow she thought that Emerald was behind the assassination. I can use this." Cinder spoke quietly, most likely just thinking aloud rather than addressing either of the two other 'students' in the room.

"How?"

"Did you make sure that the Schnee brat's teammate was dead? Were you absolutely sure?" Cinder ignored Emerald's words and directed her questions at Mercury.

"I.. I think he was dead. I kicked his head in, and his Aura just gave way, like you said it would."

"Cheh… I got too careless since our recent plans have been met with so much success… I should have considered the chance that this one would fail." Cinder grind her teeth together in annoyance at his noncommittal response. "I won't make that mistake again. Fine. This forces us to change our plans. If Mercury was recognized, and Emerald is compromised, I have to assign you two to new tasks, away from Beacon."

"Um…" Emerald's tanned face lost colour as her mistress's words sank in. Her paling face took a confused expression as well when Cinder flicked her hands and summoned a pair of flame-forged swords from her Semblance.

A second later the swords bit into the wooden frame of Emerald's bed, followed by a slash at the clothes drawer. Few books fell off the shelves as Cinder swiped her hand at it, followed by her tearing a sizeable wedge into the hem of her red dress with her her bare hands.

"U… Um… Mistress?"

"How many times have I told you to call me Cinder inside Beacon?" Cinder sighed while continuing her bizarre yet completely calm rampage. "While I make the room look like it had housed a battle, you two gather your items. I will be sending both of you off Vale while the tensions are hot, so prepare yourselves to stay in the wilds for some time."

"I… I see." Emerald sighed out in relief. "In that case, we'll get out of Vale through our usual smuggling routes… but why are you destroying the room, mistr… Cinder?"

"I will be staying behind." Cinder said simply, causing sweat to form on Emerald's forehead. "Mercury. Punch me."

"Huh?"

"Do it." the amber-eyed woman sent a glare at the silver-haired assassin. "I intend to make it look like as if Emerald was the mastermind behind the recent events… or rather, that you two were the driving force behind them. Neo will continue assisting Roman, and the official story will be that 'Neon', her student persona in Beacon, will be part of your crime ring."

"So by having us strike at you, you intend to make it like that you were innocent to the recent events and we tried to tie off any remaining ends by trying to kill you, or that you were betrayed from the inside, right?" Emerald guessed while Cinder toppled her bed over on the floor.

"Correct. However you two will stay in Vale for few days before exiting, and if my 'alibi' doesn't go through flawlessly I expect both of you to get me out of prison. Emerald's ability should make that fairly easy to accomplish." Cinder nodded at the green-haired girl whose eyes hardened and she bowed sharply towards the fiery woman to let her know her orders had been received. "During my absence, Emerald will be taking the mantle of a leader, and I intend to have you two group up with our small White Fang operation outside the city, so you will be assuming the control of that detachment. Are you ready for it, Emerald?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Now, help me get some battle-damage on my person and on my weapons." Cinder said while throwing her weapons aside.

A troubled look crossed Emerald's face before she gulped, nodded and fell upon the black-haired woman with a flurry of blows and cuts from her twin hand- scythes.

As the one-sided melee went on Mercury finished his field dressing and injected new dose of painkillers.

' _Goddammit… The next time I see that Schnee brat I'm not going to just kill her…'_ he thought bitterly. ' _I'm going to make her suffer for this…'_

He rubbed his thigh as he felt it tingling with pinpricks of pain even through his painkillers. He could tell that the assignment out of Vale would be hell for him, since he wasn't sure if he had enough drugs to keep the pain down during his recovery process- and there wouldn't be many chances to restock his medical supplies in the wilds.

' _Not to mention that I have to keep changing the wound packing inside my gut regularly to avoid infection… that damned thing ate part of me…'_ he carefully felt the bandage around his midsection to make sure it would stay in place as he stood up from his bed to grab his wilderness survival kit and prepare for their imminent departure.

Mercury felt pinpricks of pain shoot up from his thigh as he moved, but he wrote it off as the aftereffect of the odd dart that had hit his leg. It might have been poisoned, and he had taken universal antidote dosage to milden the effects it would have, but only time would tell if he needed to use regular doses or if one would be enough.

Fortunately people with strong Auras were more resistant to poisons than regular human beings, so even if the poison was lethal he stood fairly good chance of surviving it.

' _Too bad I didn't recover the dart…'_ he thought as he strapped a somewhat sizeable backpack on his back. ' _If I had the dart, I could see if the poison fits any known criteria with the poison identification color-slip in the antidote pack… But I guess the dart must have fallen off my leg when I ran from the infirmary and climbed up to our dorm since I didn't find it stuck to the wound…'_

A crash interrupted his thoughts as Cinder was knocked off her feet and she collided against Mercury's bed, splintering the wooden frame. A thin trail of blood flowed from a wound in her forehead and from the corner of her splintered lip.

"Good… _cough…_ That should be enough. Thank you." Cinder coughed blood. "Now, escape Beacon and I'll see about dealing with the aftermath."

"..Right." Emerald acknowledged while looking at the blood on her weapon, twin hand-scythes with option of breaking the handle to form two chain-scythes which now had a thin coat of Cinder's blood.

Emerald looked like she wanted to break apart and burn her weapons right there and then as she looked at her mistress with tears forming in the corner of her red eyes. "Is.. Is this really alright?"

"Yes... Now go." Cinder sent a glare at both of her underlings while wiping off the blood on her forehead, and smeared the thick red liquid on her clothes and hair. "You two don't have much time left before someone comes to investigate- Since if the Schnee girl survived, she's going to raise an alarm."

"R… Right. I'm sorry for failing you. Cinder." Emerald muttered before sending a hostile glance at Mercury which practically screamed ' _This is your fault!'_ to him.

"I'll see you around, then." Mercury muttered before going to the window and kicking it open, and jumping out with Emerald following close behind.

He couldn't quite ignore the rashy feeling inside his leg though...

* * *

' _Let's see… I can track this…'_ Jaune thought as he ran through Beacon's grounds.

Darkness restricted his vision as it was long past midnight, and the grounds were not lit with streetlights. The scent of blood was strong, however, and he had reinforced his sense of smell to better track down his target and his red-glowing eyes gave him a degree of night-vision.

Yet he couldn't afford to slack lest he lose the trail of his pr̛e͏҉y..̢̛́.͞

' _...Cut it.'_ He gnashed his teeth together tight enough to draw blood, and he could have sworn that a bit of his teeth broke off and regenerated as he ushered the Shadow back to it's usual spot.

The savage companion inside his head had seemed to get increasingly agitated as he followed the trail of blood that had leaked from the man who had attacked Weiss. She had called him 'Mercury', which he thought was one of the tanned girl's, Emerald's, teammates.

' _...So she must have sent him to finish off Weiss.'_ Jaune squashed the rage inside him as he thought about the close call. ' _If I hadn't thought to guard Weiss… She would have died tonight.'_

A surge of bloodlust that came from the Shadow let him know what _it_ thought about the ordeal. ' _I don't think I can restrain myself if I run into him again… Then again, I can just try to read his mind afterwards if I end up eating him…'_

His thoughts went into more and more insane spirals afterwards until he came out of the grounds to the dormitory he recognized belonging to the second-year students. The trail of blood seemed to have thinned, which suggested to him that the wounded student had applied quick bandages on his way to the dorm which was a considerably feat of skill by itself.

' _Hm?'_ he stopped in front of the wall of the dorm building, and placed his hand on the white concrete. ' _Odd… The trail splits in two. One leads out and off to the grounds… one leads up towards the dorm-rooms…'_

A thought entered his head. ' _Could it be… he had more than one target, and he climbed up to kill another target before escaping?'_

Jaune took a step away from the wall, and fidgetted between the wall and the outgoing trail for a while before making up his mind. A glance upwards revealed a broken window above, which looked like as if it had been broken from the inside. ' _If… If that man killed someone else… I need to know.'_

His decision made, Jaune brought his hands up in front of him. Few seconds later long, curved blade-like hooks had extended from his fingers like some sort of living climbing gear.

Jaune drove his hook-like nails into the dorm's exterior wall and began climbing.

Soon afterwards he reached the broken window and took a careful peek inside-

-And froze still as he saw a somewhat familiar student laying motionless against a splintered bed with subdued emotions radiating from the broken female form he had seen once before.

' _Cinder!'_ Worry surged over him as Jaune leaped over the window-frame and sprinted towards the wounded girl...

…

' _Damn Mercury, that nitwit…'_ Cinder thought mutely as she lied on the floor of her dorm. Her Aura had already healed most of the small nicks and cuts Emerald had inflicted upon her, but few of the more deep wounds still bled and the sensation made her mildly annoyed when combined with the hollow and gnawing feeling she felt whenever she was low on Aura. She also didn't see properly as Emerald had made sure to break the ceiling-light in the room before fleeing.

She squashed the feelings of annoyance, pain and discomfort. She'd need to stay calm in order to properly gauge the situation and work on her plans for the future.

' _My end-game in Beacon is not compromised yet, but it has certainly taken a turn for the worse… Pride does come before the fall… Ironically…'_ Cinder wanted to slap herself for her carelessness, and stomp on Mercury's genitals few times with high-heeled boots to properly display her displeasure at the incompetent assassin. ' _Well… I'm sure that staying out of the city with wounds like his is going to be enough of a punishment… for now.'_

She heard scratching and scrabbling sounds from outside the dorm's window, and Cinder pressed herself against Emerald's ruined bed while taking a pose that practically screamed 'I'm wounded!'. She turned her half-lidded eyes towards the window as well to check the identity of whoever or whatever was outside. ' _Did Emerald forget something? I don't think the Beacon's security personnel or Goodwitch would bother coming through the window… Still, better safe than sorry...'_

Her concern over her disguise was warranted as the form that scaled over the broken window frame was not either of her renegade teammates,

Instead it was a fairly large male form with skin as pale as sheet, red-veined face and glowing red eyes.

' _W… wha? That's… That's like mo… No, that 'thing' is nothing like her...'_

She noticed the color of the man's hair, and connected the somewhat distorted facial features and blonde hair to a certain teenager she had met once before in a gunshow in Vale. ' _Hold on… Isn't that… Wasn't that the Schnee brat's teammate? Jaune Arc?'_

Cinder felt her body preparing itself for battle as she realized that the 'man' in front of her was not the blonde teenager she had met but in fact the corpse of Weiss Schnee's teammate which the white-haired girl had somehow turned into a Grimm- A unnatural being subjugated under her control. ' _Why is it here? Unless… It's after Mercury…'_

She relaxed slightly as she prepared herself for battle. ' _I don't know if it will attack other humans… Or if it's just after Mercury... '_

The creature took a leaping step right towards Cinder, and the faint hope that she could get away just by suppressing her emotions was blown right out of the window.

"C͏inder!̶ ͏A͜re͜ ̨yo͞... ͝O̴w!" The mutated Grimm howled something vaguely speech-like at her, before it yelped in pain as its leap at her was interrupted by a fiery lance that she had conjured and propped up against the bed behind her in a flash- and the Grimm had run itself right into her lance, skewering the flame-forged weapon right through it's chest. "O̶͞w!̢̕͠ ҉͘͡Ơ̷w̢͘͞w͡w̷w! ̸͝O͟w̢!͟͜"

She ignored the beast's howl of pain and gathered her strength on the flame that coursed through her lance. ' _Damn… I had Emerald break my Aura for my alibi and I haven't recovered enough of it to properly fight against this thing… This might be bad…'_

Cinder gulped internally as she thought about possibly having to use her secret weapon, buried deep inside her left arm. ' _That is a last resort only-kind of weapon… If this thing survives it… No, if anyone sees me using it… My entire plan for Beacon would be ruined…'_

The corpse-made Grimm clawed at the lance that still pinned it, and she braced her weapon with both hands to keep it from being knocked off her grip.

"C͝i͠ņd͘èŕ!́" the monster howled, and she picked up her name from the creature's distorted voice.

' _It… It can recognize people? Just how did the Schnee girl make this creature? Does it retain Arc's memories?'_ Cinder thought as she struggled against the monster's weight as it tried to pull itself back and off her weapon. She could not allow it, since the monster would be able to attack again if given enough space.

A wet, somewhat bubbling noise was accompanied by a odd crunch-like sound, and Cinder saw to her surprise a mass of wrist-thick tentacles extend from the corpse-Grimm's back and reach for her.

She kicked against one of the appendages yet another wrapped itself against her ankle. She pulled her hand from her lance to scorch the tentacle, but before she could do that another snaked itself around her forearm, and by that point more and more of the slithering things had reached her and had caught her left thigh, her wrists and wrapped themselves around her lower waist and shoulders.

The fiery lance was pulled from her grip and it crumbled almost instantly after losing the source of it's creation. ' _This… This creature It is adapting, changing it's body… It's more intelligent than a regular Grimm... A regular Grimm would have just tried to claw through the lance instead of bypassing it! Just what did the Schnee girl do to gain this power?!'_

Cinder's mind was resolved as the tentacles pulled her arms apart so she couldn't attack the corpse-turned Grimm anymore while the blonde-haired Grimm's face seemed to contort in some kind of internal struggle- until spikes of bone burst through the man's face and flowed over his face to form a emotionless mask after Cinder managed to get her hand free enough to hit the creature's face.

She focused on the power inside her left arm, the last gift her mother had given her before her departure from her 'home'…

...And the door of her dorm-room was blasted open, causing both her and her assailant to pause their struggle momentarily to shield themselves against flying splinters of wood.

"Freeze! You are under arrest for attempted murder and… What?" A cold, murderous voice shouting from the doorway ended with a disbelieving squeal as a white-haired woman responsible for the assault came to an instant halt as she stood over the remains of the door and saw the corpse-made Grimm and the wounded crimson-clad woman struggling weakly against it.

"H… Help me!" Cinder coughed out while deliberately making herself look weaker than she was. "It… It's trying to…"

"Cease your vile assault at once!" Winter Schnee growled at the Grimm- and to Cinder's shock, the Grimm seemed to obey. Or rather, it ceased its assault against the wounded black-haired woman.

"Down!" The tentacles were drawn off Cinder carefully, and in her stunned state she forgot completely that she was supposed to be trying to fight off the black appendages.

' _Just… How is she doing that? Why is the Grimm obeying her?'_ Cinder managed to think through her shock. ' _Don't tell me… She knows how to bend Grimm to her will as well?'_

Fear gripped her heart. ' _Just how far have the Schnee's developed their research?'_

"Even though I disagree with the entire affair, you're still supposed to be my sister's boyfriend, so act like it! Now, stop assaulting that woman!"

' _W…. Wha... '_ Cinder felt that her heart had started to skip beats as the white-haired woman's words registered in her head while the Grimm backed down and dropped it's tentacles on the floor in some sort of disturbing show of subservience. ' _Did… Did that creature's tentacles have some sort of drug in them? Am I hallucinating?'_

A sting from a cut in her forehead, caused by Emerald's hand-scythe, reminded her that the sight in front of her was truly happening, and that she wasn't dreaming.

She heard few hasty steps from the hallway outside her dorm-room, and the white-haired woman was joined by a stern-looking blonde-haired woman with riding crop and a grey-haired man holding a walking cane in a tight grip despite the somewhat calm expression on his face.

' _Oz… Ozpin? And Glynda?'_ Cinder coughed blood to hide her shocked state.

"Glynda. Please restrain miss Fall." Ozpin said calmly. "And see her through the hospital before you take her to her new temporary abode. Miss Schnee, please accompany her. I will take care of the Grimm. Alone."

' _He's not planning on killing it then?'_ Cinder thought as she spared a glance at the Grimm that was fidgeting on the spot in eerily humanlike manner but made no attempts to flee. ' _...This one is known to Ozpin…. Something doesn't add up…'_

She hid a worried frown as professor Goodwitch flicked her riding crop, and Cinder felt her limp body getting lifted from the floor, and floated out of the room…

…

As soon as Cinder was out of the room, Ozpin turned towards Grimm-fied Jaune.

The green eyes hardened as he looked at the devastated state of the room and the bloodstains on the floor.

"Please explain, mr. Arc."

 **Next chapter: 15.04.**

 **Apologies for the two-weeks late chapter. Well, more like three weeks.**

 **To give some backstory for the pause, let it be said that I work for a company that makes machines, and we install the machines we make to the client's place after it is build and tested in our factory. The client this time happened to be in another country entirely, not all that unusual for our like of work, and we had assembled a team that would be sent there to install the machinery and get it running as we got it tested and ready to be shipped. Unfortunately, one of the guys in that team fell sick before the trip, so I had to step in to replace him with less than a day to prepare. Jolly.**

 **Anyway, hopefully there won't be any more interruptions so I can write in peace.**

 **Hah, fat chance.**

' **Till next time!**


	31. Recovery

_Obligatory Lime warning. Cover your eyes!_

* * *

"It seems that your control over your shapeshifting has improved." Ozpin said as he sat in his office. Jaune nodded, unsure of the older man's intentions.

The two of them had relocated to the headmaster's office after Glynda had floated Cinder away from the wreckage that had once been team CEMN's dorm, and Winter had accompanied the stern woman after taking few pictures of the ruined dorm-room for evidence.

As it was, Jaune was sitting in a somewhat uncomfortable clockwork chair with a cup of coffee in front of him, and the headmaster was sitting in his usual seat, seemingly relaxed but with his cane propped against his desk.

Jaune had a eerie feeling that he was being watched, and that there were more than two people in the otherwise deserted room. His discomfort was not helped by the fact that his clothes had suffered considerable battle-damage during the skirmish against Mercury, which had gone even further beyond repair after Cinder had tried to turn him into a grilled steak and it would be more accurate to call his attire charred, ripped shreds of fabric than actual clothes. Cinder's flames had been quite potent and had burned deep.

' _I guess she got scared when I leaped at her… I got a bit carried away and approached her too hastily. She must have thought I was a Grimm and attacked with her all of remaining strength...'_

"Huh?" Jaune blinked as he had completely missed the question Ozpin had asked while he was deep in thought.

"You displayed quite considerable control over your Semblance by obeying specialist Schnee's orders." Ozpin told him. "Not to mention that you managed to subdue miss Fall. She is a second-year student after all, and based off Glynda's reports she is quite strong for her age."

"Ah, no, it was not like that." Jaune interrupted the headmaster. "She was like that when I found her."

"She was wounded already? What about the room's state?"

"That was the same as well." Jaune told him. "Well, beside few scorch marks that came after her attack… but that's my fault. I approached her in my Grimm form, so she must have thought that I was an enemy."

"I see." Ozpin muttered. "Why would she be wounded before you arrived?"

"I don't know, but I swear that's what happened!" Jaune told him. "Uh, speaking of which, how did you know to go to her dorm?"

"Hm." Ozpin sipped from his mug. "I received a message from general Ironwood who had received a message from specialist Schnee who had received a message from miss Polendina. She told us that miss Schnee had been attacked, and you were pursuing Mercury Black, who was identified as the assailant."

"Yeah, that's what happened in essence." Jaune agreed. "I was guarding Weiss, since we had a hunch that she might be attacked during the night."

"You didn't tell anyone of your suspicions?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow.

"No, well… we didn't think anyone would take us seriously." Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Someone committed a terrorist attack in the middle of miss Schnee's speech and you thought that we wouldn't take your concerns about a potential follow-up attack seriously." the headmaster's tone was dry. "Well, at least general Ironwood appears to take security seriously since he sent miss Polendina to guard miss Schnee."

"Ah… So that's why she was there." Jaune realized.

"Indeed. However in the future I'd appreciate if you let me know if you suspect that someone might be planning on attacking one of our students." Ozpin pressed on. "I checked the camera recordings from before the attack happened, and found out that someone had cut off the power to the security systems, which had also alerted miss Polendina to the incoming attack since she was passively observing you via the cameras. Her… unique nature made that the optimal way of observing miss Schnee's health."

"So why did you go to team CE…"

"I decided to check team CEMN's dorm to see if mr. Black would have retreated there." Ozpin spoke over Jaune. "I had fairly good hunch that the attackers would have retreated there, and it appears that I was correct."

"...Right." Jaune sighed. "So what happens to Cinder now? No, even more than that, what happens to her entire team?"

"I have miss Fall in custody. However, if she was wounded when you arrived…"

"She was."

"Interesting." Ozpin was deep in thought and Jaune didn't want to interrupt the man. "Mr. Arc. Have you met miss Fall before?"

"Yeah, once. I met her in the recent gun show that was staged in Vale a while ago." Jaune told the man honestly. "She seemed like a good person, and told me that she had come before her team to familiarize herself to Vale."

"I believe miss Fall's entire team entered Vale at the same date." Ozpin told him while he seemed to skim through travel data on his holographic computer. "Did she tell you what she was planning on doing in Vale? What kind of person she seemed to be?"

"Well… She was helpful and earnest. I think I got along with her quite well." Jaune shrugged. "I don't think she told me anything about her plans… Do you think she's after this?"

"I am not ruling out the possibility." Ozpin sipped his drink. "However, what baffles me is why she was wounded. She was the leader of her team, so perhaps…"

"Could it have been Emerald?" Jaune asked. "We... Weiss and I started to think that Emerald could be after the recent attacks against Weiss since she said that Emerald had started to seek her out instantly after transferring, and the attacks followed soon after."

"Hm… I believe that Cinder Fall has been in Beacon for most of her stay… I wonder… Hold that thought, please." Ozpin hummed while he scrolled through his computer screen, which now showed a roster of numbers with the name 'Cinder Fall' on top of the file. "Allow me a moment while I am going through the Beacon's entry and exit log. As you know every time someone enters or exits Beacon, a automated system makes an entry for it into our system."

"So you are… looking for something?" Jaune asked, confused.

"I am curious as to where miss Sustrai has been during the recent... 'events'." Ozpin hummed as he read the files. "Curiously, miss Sustrai has been absent from Beacon during every major incident involving miss Schnee, whereas miss Fall has been in Beacon during each of those."

"So there's a chance that Cinder might be innocent? That her team was behind all this, and was planning on using her as a scapegoat?" Jaune asked. "Perhaps Emerald tried to kill her to cut loose ends?"

"That is certainly a possibility. It would be also quite cunning move from miss Sustrai to put miss Fall as the leader of the team while staying behind on the shadows herself, making us draw our eyes into miss Fall instead of miss Sustrai. I'm guessing that miss Fall became aware of miss Sustrai's and mr. Black's plans during the aftermath of their assassination attempt, thus making her a liability which would explain her current state." Ozpin agreed while pulling down the holographic screen of his computer, leaving his desk empty. "Other alternative is that miss Sustrai is attempting to plant miss Fall into our midst as a victim, and is planning on using miss Fall to spy on Beacon."

"So… what does that mean for us?" Jaune asked. "I'd like to think that Cinder is innocent… She didn't seem like a bad person."

"We'll have to observe her. She was exposed to your Semblance, so I would ask you to reveal it to her to prevent further confusion- and since her current dorm is in state of disrepair, I am placing her into one of the empty dorm-rooms in your dorm-wing."

"Huh?"

"In addition, miss Fall is now without a team, so I would like for you to take care of her as if she was one of your own- as an auxiliary member of team SABR. This also means that she'll have to repeat a year since she's going to be placed into the first-year class so you can properly support her. Normally we would require first and second-year students who have lost the rest of their teams to retake their initiation test to gain a new team and restart from the first year, but I believe we can do an exemption on her case."

"Wha...?"

"Do you have objections, mr. Arc?" Ozpin finished his speech.

"Shouldn't Weiss be here to decide about this?" Jaune asked while pointing at his chest, bewildered. "She's the leader of the team, right? Why are you making me decide?"

"Unfortunately miss Schnee is not in a state where she can make unbiased decisions. After all, we're talking about someone who _might_ have had a hand on the attack on her person." the headmaster sighed. "I imagine she's under quite considerable stress after the recent attacks, so I fear her opinion might be flawed. I would rather hear your opinion."

"Uh…" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… It's not like I hate Cinder or anything. I'm just worried that if she's actually part of Emerald's ring, she'd have a straight shot at Weiss at all times."

"And you'd be there to protect her at all times, correct?" The headmaster asked. "I believe you could subdue her should she attempt something against miss Schnee."

"I guess… Although I'm not sure if…"

"Good. In that case, her being with your group would be an excellent test of character for miss Fall." Ozpin nodded. "After all, the old saying goes 'keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.' If you notice her behaving suspiciously, report it to me immediately."

"When is the transfer happening?"

"I am planning on seeing miss Fall as soon as she regains consciousness since she collapsed soon after reaching the hospital, and I will be informing her of her current situation there, as well as her response to the proposal. I will send you a message after I have received her answer, but you should inform of your teammates and your team leader about miss Fall's potential change of team at your earliest convenience even should she not accept it."

"...Right." Jaune sighed tiredly while adjusting a piece of scrap cloth that had been his shirt. "I… I get that this isn't the best time for it, but I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"Have you discovered new information about my sisters?" Jaune asked. "I get that it takes time to gather information, but…"

"I had sent Qrow to gather up his old contacts in Mistral and have them start asking questions. This happened few weeks ago, so it is likely that they haven't managed to get far yet." Ozpin told him. "I am not sure if you are aware of this, but professor Branwen is related to your parent's murderer."

"I…"

"He is no longer affiliated with her group, however. He saw the brutality _she_ exerted over the tribe and into her victims, and he chose to leave their darkness behind in order to pursue a life as a proper Huntsman- protecting the weak and innocent instead of preying on them." Ozpin cut off Jaune before he could say anything. "Do not direct your ire at him. You have my word that he is on our side."

"..." Jaune glared at the headmaster. "I would pref…"

"Nevertheless, Qrow has taken quite considerable risk by seeking contact with her. In the coming months, when one of his contacts finds a trace of Raven Branwen, he will attempt to infiltrate into their midst and seek conference with the bandit leader." Ozpin told him with air of finality. "He is placing his own life on the line to get you the information you want. I'd advise you to show proper gratefulness towards him for it."

"Is it not his duty as a Huntsman to do so, to protect the innocent and the weak, even without me asking him to do so?" Jaune asked, feeling annoyed by the way the headmaster kept speaking over him.

"Quite. However, you'll find that there are far more people that he could save should he act more directly- by hunting down the Grimm near villages and towns, by responding to distress calls, by training next generation of Huntsmen to be stronger so they can help even more people in their time." Ozpin reminded him. "By employing his considerable network of contacts and his own time, we are forced to indirectly sacrifice innocent people in order to get information about few people that very well might already be beyond saving."

"I… I understand." Jaune said, feeling the flickering flame of his ire extinguishing in front of the headmaster's cold reasoning. "Thank you, for doing it anyway." he added with a somewhat resigned tone.

"It is alright. It is your family we're talking about anyway, anyone would be more concerned about them and theirs than about nameless, faceless, yet innocent civilians who have families and friends of their own." Ozpin nodded. "I will do my best to help you, however I won't sacrifice the innocent masses for it."

"Thank you." The words were bitter in Jaune's mouth, and he rose up from the chair and turned his back on the headmaster...

.

..

…

"Do you really think that the Fall-girl is innocent?" Qrow asked as soon as Jaune left, and the crow shapeshifter exited his hidey hole in the office.

"I find it possible, but unlikely." Ozpin said as he filled his cup. "However, this provides us with an opportunity."

"How so?"

"If miss Fall is part of miss Sustrai's crime ring, she will no doubt attempt to relay the information mr. Arc will reveal to her back to her master- You will follow miss Fall, and get to the bottom of the conspiracy. With luck, we may find a trace that leads us on trail towards the Queen, should she be working with her."

"You don't think that if she's Queen's agent, she'd be able to see through that plan? It's pretty obvious if you consider about it. Her teammate just tried to off lil' miss Schnee, and now she's in same team as her." Qrow sounded sceptical.

"Exactly. If she's Queen's agent, she believes that my plan has a plan behind it, and that I planned around their plan that they plan to plan against my original plan and make a secondary plan which is the real plan that is made against the plan that I plan against their plan in response to my plan's plan." Ozpin nodded happily as his agent saw through his plan, just as he planned. "However, because the Queen no doubt knows of my usual plans, I plan to surprise her by not planning around the plan that she plans around my plan which she expects me to plan against the plan she plans against my original plan, thus making her agent fall to my plan she didn't expect me to plan against."

Qrow gripped his head with both of his hands as he tried to wrap it around what it had just heard, and Ozpin took a sip of coffee before continuing. " However- not only this allows us to observe miss Fall, it allows us to observe mr. Arc's and miss Fall's relationship."

"Huh? Are those two...?"

"He was defensive about her, despite miss Fall attacking him, not to mention that the two have met before… and suspiciously, mr. Arc has been on the forefront of all the recent events that have shaken the city's peace, which curiously enough started to occur right after the two met in Vale." Ozpin rubbed his cheek thoughtfully as he spoke. "Having all of our persons of interest on same area makes it easier to observe them."

"You think that Arc and Fall are both serving _her_ , aren't you?" Qrow asked tiredly. "Yeah, I get it, constant vigilance, but you've been seeing demons everywhere lately." he added as Ozpin lifted an eyebrow at his agent.

"Correct. However, it is not paranoia if the enemy is out to get you. And our enemies are no doubt preparing to attack us, if the recent events are anything to go by."

The headmaster paused to take a hefty gulp of coffee. "I sent a message to Haven Academy's headmaster, and headmaster Lionheart should get back to me in few hours- I requested information about miss Fall's records and behaviour with her fellow teammates. His statement should help us find any irregularities in miss Fall's background, and her other ex-teammate's behaviour."

"Should we tell Jimmy about this?" Qrow asked. "He is going to be looking into this as well, that guy's not the kind of person who would let an attack on Atlesian property slide without vengeance."

"No. General Ironwood would imprison miss Fall without a second thought should our suspicions reach him. He's not the kind of person who considers his actions more than one move ahead." Ozpin disagreed. "His speciality lies in action, not in consideration. We need miss Fall to lead us to her co-conspirators, or reveal the true nature between her and mr. Arc."

"If you say so." Qrow shrugged. "However, do you realize that you placed the girl, who might be the Queen's agent, with another potential Queen's agent, and both of them are now in the same team as Ruby?"

"Yes. If we want to catch the biggest fish in the sea, we must use the tastiest baits." Ozpin agreed. "I would advise you to be more vigilant than ever before. After all…"

"You promised me that you wouldn't use Ruby as a bait." Qrow growled while leaning forwards and placing his hands on the headmaster's desk.

"The situation changed, and I believe that the risk is worth it. Uncovering the…"

"What we could learn from the enemy wouldn't get Ruby back if something were to happen to her as a result." Qrow's voice clearly conveyed the unease he felt. "Summer didn't come back from her mission either."

"Indeed. So I would hope that you take more care with Ruby than with Sum…"

"Oz. You don't want to finish that sentence."

"Hm." The headmaster nodded as his agent's face contorted in a mixture of anger, sadness... and guilt. "Then, we both have our works cut out for us."

* * *

"Haah…" Weiss sighed tiredly as she started to wake up in her new infirmary bed the next day after the attack.

She had been moved from the previous infirmary room to a new one as the battle had effectively wrecked the room, not to mention done a number on her pajamas for which Ruby had helpfully brought a replacement.

The small reaper had been in a brink of nervous breakdown after learning about the attack, and it had taken full effort from Penny, Yang, Weiss and Blake to convince the red-clad girl to go and sleep in the team's dorm, as opposed to Ruby's suggestion of sleeping next to Weiss.

She wasn't sure if Ruby had meant that in literal sense, or if Ruby had meant that she'd sleep in one of the many empty beds in the infirmary. While it might be obvious which one of the options Ruby had meant, Weiss hadn't been thinking rationally after the attack, and moreover… Her heart wasn't quite prepared to hear the answer if Ruby had meant the former.

Not after all that had happened the night prior. Weiss _didn't_ want to think about her maybe-sort-of feelings that she _definitely did not_ have towards the team's small, adorable and fairly dorky but loyal red-clad member after Weiss had been subjected to an assassination attempt twice during the same day.

Weiss had collapsed soon after Jaune had left the infirmary to pursue Mercury, although not before asking Penny if she could keep what had happened to Jaune a secret… to not much success.

'" _I am sorry, but the entire record of the events that have taken place in the Beacon's infirmary room 319 between 9 pm and 3 am has been sent to Atlesian private air-cruiser 'Iron Within' belonging to General Ironwood, and the recording will been reviewed and archived by General Ironwood and Specialist Schnee."'_ Weiss could recall Penny's words with crystal clarity as it had been one of her last memories before losing consciousness.

The fact that her beloved sister had, by now anyway, seen the… gruesome act that had happened between Weiss and Jaune had been enough to push her past her limit, although the hospital staff had managed to coerce her back to the land of the living so she could change her clothes and persuade Ruby to leave her alone before falling to dreamless coma-like sleep in her new bed.

' _Still… The nerve of that man...To attack me in my sleep, and to hurt Jaune… If my guard had been anyone else, they would have died...'_ Weiss seethed internally as she now had a clear enemy to hate. She quickly pushed aside the thought of what could have happened if Ruby had picked the first shift of guarding her as the thought caused her stomach to wrench painfully. ' _He would have killed Ruby to get to me…'_

Weiss gnashed her teeth together under her blankets. ' _When I next meet Mercury Black, I am going to make him regret his actions… and make him confess in front of the Law that Emerald was behind the attacks against my person, my team and against SDC!'_

She shook her head slightly. ' _Perhaps this is what they were planning? That if their assassination failed, then perhaps they thought that I would charge at them if I managed to identify them, unheeding of the dangers, and fall to their trap?'_

It wasn't a unfounded fear as she recognized the trap that had been laid for her the day before- Her enemies had played masterfully, fanning the flames of rumours to the point it became truth to the masses, and then capitalized on her mistake to the point where she was forced to explain her actions, which had then opened her for an attack.

' _However, the subsequent assassination attempt was hastily planned and lacked the questionable subtlety the previous ones had… Either the enemy was careless, or was taken off guard how their previous attack failed… '_ Weiss signed as she rolled around in her bed and reached for her Scroll. After waving her hand futilely for a moment she felt someone pushing her Scroll against her hand, and she took the device so she could check the time. ' _It's morning… Anyway, if they are so sure of their success… what else have they planned, and how far-stretching are those plans? Their actions have affected the entirety of Vale… Also…'_

Her train of thoughts suddenly derailed as she realized that there was someone else in the room, and she didn't hear anyone breathing. ' _Jaune? No wait… It's…'_

"Good morning, Miss Schnee. Do you require anything?" A cheerful voice greeted from beside her bed, and Weiss promptly rolled on her back and sat up on her bed to send a suspicious glare at the ginger-haired 'girl' who was sitting on a chair next to her.

"Good morning Penny." Weiss told her cordially while berating herself internally for her suspiciousness. ' _Sheesh… I'm slipping to my old mindset. What does it matter if she's not human? She stood to defend me when I was my weakest, saved my life... Even if she refused to keep Jaune's secret. She was just following her orders...'_

She recounted wordlessly her non-human comrades as she stretched carefully on her bed, doing her best to avoid needlessly stretching the parts of her body that had suffered burns. ' _Blake is not a human, and she's… alright. Jaune is definitely not one, and he's… eh… Well, acceptable, I suppose. If a bit too dim-witted… Although he does have his moments every now and then. His drive to improve himself is certainly praiseworthy, but… he's a pervert. A total, complete pervert.'_

Her face grew slightly darker as she thought about the events that had happened last night. ' _And he's after me.'_

She felt a shiver run down her spine as she remembered the horrifying moments between seeing Jaune lying on pool of his own blood with his head smashed in to seeing him come alive but realizing that it wasn't _him_ who was in control of the body- to the moments she had spent tied in the boy's... tentacles. ' _I realize that he couldn't control himself since his Semblance is so… erratic… and he even admitted beforehand that his '_ other side' _has some infatuation with me for some reason. Still… I did not enjoy that.'_

A slight blush entered her cheeks as she thought about how she had been tied against boy's shapeshifting body and how he had 'attacked' her with an… unusually shaped… tentacle. ' _Damn Blake and damn her books… and damn twice the fact that she made me read one… I am_ not _going to turn into a pervert like her... She would have enjoyed that, the deviant...'_

She was somewhat grateful for passing out last night, as it had stopped her from thinking about the… suspicious… means Jaune had employed to save her from Mercury. Weiss knew that it was likely that Penny wouldn't have been enough to guard her against the sudden assassination attempt, so she couldn't criticism Jaune too much, but still… ' _Was it really necessary to try to recreate a scene from one of Blake's novels to protect me?'_

Weiss felt another shiver run down her spine as she remembered something odd. ' _Didn't Jaune have his uh… tentacles out in our dorm-room when he slept in the same bed as Ruby and Blake a while ago?'_

The fact that Blake was into those things did not surprise her, but she felt her head spinning as she thought about Ruby being 'into' those vile things. ' _No… She couldn't be. I must be just jumping into conclusions…'_ She paused her disturbing line of thinking before it could get any worse.

Her resolution lasted about two seconds as she recalled a scene from the book Blake had made her read, and replaced the main 'heroine' with Ruby in her head… and promptly wanted to hop up from her bed, search for the red-clad reaper and tackle-hug Ruby as far away from Jaune as humanly possible. ' _I need to ask her… I need to make sure. I must know… If she's into that kind of thing. I… I just have to hope not. I know she's got a crush on Jaune, so if she's into_ those _kinds of things… he's going to have an advantage…''_

"Is everything alright, miss Schnee?" Penny's concerned voice shook Weiss out of her thoughts, which was most likely for the best.

"Ah, I am fine… I was merely considering my future plans after I have recovered." Weiss dismissed Penny's concerns. "Can you tell me what has happened during my rest?"

"Specialist Winter Schnee requested a chance to visit you twice, and both requests have been approved by your guard, which would be me. She first visited you forty-seven minutes ago, where she held to your right hand for seventy-one seconds and wished you swift recovery. Her second visit was requested to be when you had regained consciousness, which you now have, and a notifier has been sent to Specialist Winter's Scroll…" Penny kept talking with a neutral, matter-of-fact tone and Weiss opened her mouth to ask her about Winter's visit, feeling somewhat warm inside her chest at the concern her elder sister had shown for her wellbeing...

However, her next words were lost as the infirmary's door opened and to Weiss's shock, Ruby burst into the room with the force of a enraged Beowolf and with equal amount of subtlety.

"Weiss! I heard your voice! You're awake!" the small girl exclaimed before taking a look at the shocked ex-heiress. She couldn't get a word out before Ruby had said something between "Yay!" and "Thank Oum!", and a split second later Weiss felt as a surprisingly warm body impacted against hers.

"I was so worried!" Ruby muttered to Weiss's hair while hugging her close to her chest, and the bewildered white-haired girl took a look at Ruby, although secretly she was somewhat scared of turning her head towards Ruby when she was close enough for a kiss-

' _No! Get your head straight, Weiss!'_ she reprimanded herself for her dirty mind. ' _Damn Blake and damn her books and damn Jaune's perverted tentacles straight to hell and back…'_

She tried to push away a nagging thought in the back of her head that told her that the recent close calls were most likely causing her self-control slip and make her do things that she would be normally more opposed towards, which was further exemplified by how the white-haired girl unconsciously tied her hands around Ruby's back and returned her crushing hug with equal fervor. ' _She's so soft… and smells of roses…'_

Weiss sneezed immediately after thinking about the roses as one of the stray rose petals landed on her nose, reminding her that rose petals accompanied Ruby whenever she used her Semblance. ' _Gah, now the bed has petals all over... '_

"I guarded the door. Outside the door. Outside your room's door I mean. For assassins." Ruby told Weiss with somewhat odd tone while Weiss was still trying to get her mind under her own control. "I know you told me to go to sleep last night but I just couldn't…"

Her words caused Weiss to shake off the remains of her less-than-decent thoughts. She looked at the red-clad reaper in concern and noticed that Ruby had black bags under her eyes, and she wobbled ever so slightly, likely as a result of her lack of sleep and constant adrenaline rush which also explained her odd, broken speech.

"Ruby... " Weiss started before she paused to sniff Ruby quickly. ' _Is that…'_ "...Did you by any chance drink coffee during your watch?"

"Seventeen cups."

"...You don't even like coffee."

"I had to stay awake! What if someone had come and tried to attack y…"

"Shush." Weiss shut Ruby down by placing her hand on the young girl's mouth. "You need to take care of yourself as well. I appreciate your gesture though." She added the last part as Ruby drooped miserably.

"Ehehe…" Ruby nodded wobbly with a smile on her face, and Weiss failed to resist her sudden urge to pet Ruby's head as the red-clad girl had looked just like an adorable but tired puppy who had received praise from her master.

"W... Weiss?" Ruby was somewhat off-taken by Weiss's overly unusual behaviour. "Are you alright?"

"Y… Yes!" Weiss blurted out as she realized what she had been doing, and her breathing quickened as Ruby turned to look at her, her lips mere inches away from Weiss's.

' _Ruby you're too close!'_ Weiss screamed internally while one of her hands snaked traitorously up Ruby's back until it pulled her closer. Her silver eyes were as wide as saucers as the distance between the two shortened…

"Weiss! I received an update that you had awakene- What!" a somewhat familiar voice entered Weiss's head and she pulled her eyes briefly away from Ruby's surprised, wide saucer-like silver eyes, and she took a look at… Winter Schnee, who had burst into the room with grace of a swan and the force of a thunderstorm, which was evident from the door that really looked like it had seen better days.

However what concerned Weiss more than the state of the door was the way the scene must have looked to the white-haired Atlesian Specialist- with Weiss's hands tied around Ruby's back, rose petals littered all over the bed with the blanket partially covering Ruby as well, their lips mere inch or so apart from each other's.

"..."

"..."

"...Penny, report."

"I am observing human copulation in action, Specialist Winter. I however have several questions. I thought copulation was only successful between male and female specimens?" Penny's chippery voice broke the stupor that Ruby and Weiss had fallen into.

Winter's eyebrow twitched at the same time as Weiss's.

Ruby looked completely lost, with a considerable blush taking over her cheeks as Penny's words registered in her head.

"I have downloaded data which suggested that human beings enter a state where their reproductive urges are strengthened after undergoing a life-threatening scenario. It is simply _sensational_ to witness it in action!" Penny smiled innocently while looking at the two girls in the bed and making a hand-gesture as if to tell 'do go on, don't mind me'.

Weiss shook her head in despair at the ginger-haired automation.

Ruby goggled at Penny with wide-open eyes.

Winter let out a small, half-muted scream before twitching slightly, turning around and walking out of the room with shaky footsteps.

"Kill me now." Weiss uttered with a broken tone as the door clicked shut very, very quietly.

She ignored how Penny said something along the lines of 'killing her going against her orders so she couldn't comply'.

"Oh my." A voice came from the direction of the door as it reopened, and Weiss tempted fate by taking one last look at the person peeking into the room.

"Called it." Yang Xiao-Long had a wide, cheshire-cat grin on her face as she looked at Weiss and Ruby, the former still struggling to regain her senses and the latter looking about as confused as Weiss felt embarrassed.

"I was guarding Ruby while she was 'guarding' you. Didn't think you'd try to lewd poor Rubes as soon as you woke up though." The yellow-haired devil winked at Weiss's shocked expression before her grin returned in full. "...And it looks like your big sis doesn't approve."

' _I'm never going to hear the end of this…'_ Weiss despaired internally as Ruby spluttered something and waved her hands wildly towards Yang.

* * *

"Ghng."

"..."

"..."

"Gh." Jaune tried to get a word out of his throat but failed miserably. The momentary lack of communication capability stemmed from the fact that he was currently sandwiched between two girls, Blake and Pyrrha to be specific, in team SABR's dorm-room.

And to be even more specific, in his bed.

As soon as Jaune had returned to the dorm from his debriefing with the headmaster to inform Ruby, Blake and team RYNN about the assassination attempt (verbally, since he had managed to destroy his _second_ Scroll in a month during his rampant transformation, mental note 'buy an actual Scroll meant for Hunters and not a cheap knock-off'), Blake and Pyrrha had ambushed him on the doorstep to the shared dorm-wing, and things had devolved from there.

Jaune had explained the assassination attempt to his fellow teammates and friends, and Ruby had shot off to safeguard Weiss in a blur of petals after making sure that Jaune was feeling well. Yang had assured him that she'd look after Ruby and the brawler had left the dorm soon after, with Ren and Nora being unsure what to do about the whole case.

Jaune told Ren that Weiss was being guarded and seen to, and told them not to worry. The green and pink pair had not been entirely convinced by his words, although they recognized that there wasn't much they could do, beside extracting Zwei from Jaune's ankle and taking the creature that Jaune had internally named as 'the beast of savage leg-biting' to RYNN's dorm. Jaune had extracted much amusement from the way the beast's short stumpy legs waved wildly in the air as Nora had cuddled the creature against her bosom with her full strength- at least until Ren had stopped the bubbly girl from unintentionally torturing the basically-feral canine animal and led her to their dorm-room with half-conscious and battle-damaged corgi lying limp on her arms.

At that point only Jaune, Blake and Pyrrha had remained in the dorm's kitchen where the group had kept their small conference, and the two girls had taken his hands, although with considerable amount of back-and-forth glaring and frowning between the girls, and sat him in front of the kitchen table where Blake had pulled a sizeable helping of cold cuts and bread for him.

' _You need to eat, and then rest. You were hurt badly, right?'_ Blake had said while looking at him sternly. ' _With Ruby, Yang and Penny, plus whomever Ozpin sends to guard her, I'm sure Weiss is going to be alright so you should concentrate on recovering from the fight yourself…'_

Pyrrha had nodded along, and if Jaune was being fully honest, he felt the same. Not to mention that he hadn't been entirely enthusiastic about withstanding Weiss's ire so soon after he had almost choked the girl with his... tentacle... by accident.

He realized that he needed to apologize for it, but he felt that she needed some time to cool down before he'd do that, or he'd likely risk annihilation by ice Dust. With luck, and considering that he had saved her life, she'd forgive him for it. Perhaps it would even help him get closer to Weiss.

Romance novels had told him that.

' _...Uuhh… they didn't say anything about this though…'_ Jaune thought weakly as he tried to wiggle out of Pyrrha's grip in the bed.

Blake and Pyrrha had changed into their pajamas while he was filling himself in the kitchen, and had pushed him into shower afterwards with a fresh set of pajamas Blake grabbed for him.

Once he had gotten out, the girls had caught his hands again and pushed him into his bed, and to his surprise had climbed in as well.

' _W… Well… We're supposed to be dating, right? This much shouldn't be a problem, right?_ ' Pyrrha had said while blushing from head to toe, clad in a oversized, soft men's dress shirt that she used as pajamas. Blake had sent him a glare as if daring to argue against their decision, and he had recognized the danger as it reared its pretty head with pair of cutely wiggling cat-ears, and he had chosen not to object against their presence. Not that he had really wanted to anyway.

There were worse ways of sleeping than being flanked by two beautiful girls, right? Not to mention that he was still going through the aftershocks from using his Semblance so erratically so having two girls who liked him sleep in the same bed as him should help, like it had before with Ruby and Blake sleeping with him when he was still getting used to his Semblance in the first place, right?

Jaune should have known better than to tempt fate and he realized that soon afterwards as he discovered that when Pyrrha wasn't completely smashed, she was… possessive.

Well, more like when she wasn't held back by her conscious self, she held _very_ tightly to her sleeping partner, whether it was her pillow or in this case, Jaune's neck. She didn't radiate any negative emotions, and he _felt_ that the red-headed girl was more than content with having her arms tied around him and one of his arms tied around her waist.

Even if her strong grip pushed his neck into an odd angle and prevented him from breathing.

All the while Blake had slept in perfect peace, sometimes curling on top of his chest and sometimes rolling over and rubbing her face on the nape of his neck, which caused her hair to wave in front of his nose and making him want to sneeze but unable to do so because of Pyrrha's chokehold.

' _Sheesh, was Blake trying to mark her territory or something?'_ Jaune thought as he had resigned to his role as a living plush toy that had been passed back and forth between the two girls the entire night.

He had managed to catch some sleep after the fatigue from the night caught up with him- although Pyrrha had become content to hug his head against her chest, effectively blocking all of his escape routes and once again made him thank his Semblance that made him immune to death by lack of oxygen, while Blake had crawled down and curled up between his legs and hugged his chest, his blanket covering him up to waist and her up to her shoulders.

' _Don't pop a boner, don't pop a boner... '_ Jaune echoed his mantra as he woke up properly and discovered that his male parts were planning on attacking Blake's breasts since she was unconsciously rubbing her body against his lower parts. He reached to pet her head gently, hoping that it would cause her to move away from her current, dangerous, position but it only caused the girl to purr contently, which sent all kinds of interesting vibrations into the lower part of his body currently pressed against her breasts.

The fact that her breasts felt so incredibly soft and comfortable against his lower body did not help the fact that he was about to pop a raging hard-on.

He couldn't help it.

He couldn't help it.

' _It was an honor to know you.'_ Jaune told his brother-in-arms quietly as the latter stood up in parade salute while the Shadow let him know that it approved of the action, and he _felt_ as Blake woke up to something hard being pressed against her chest, the thin, soft material of his pajama pants doing nothing to soften the feeling.

He looked down with panicked expression on his face, doing his best not to wake up Pyrrha while doing so, and saw Blake's pair of amber eyes staring back at him.

Her expression was unreadable.

He stared at her with wide eyes, wanting to whisper " _I'm sorry, I couldn't help it."_ , but Pyrrha adjusted her grip around his neck and nuzzled the side of his head against her breasts and let out a quiet snore, blocking his speech entirely.

Blake's eye twitched as she saw Pyrrha nuzzling him, and she slid down his waist and under his blanket that covered his waist until he could only see her amber eyes gleaming through the shadow that the blanket cast on her.

Just as Jaune thought that Blake had started to despise him, a odd feeling went through his lower body, which was soon followed by the sensation of his pajama pants being dragged down from his waist to half-thigh.

' _Don't tell me that she's…'_

Soft breath hit his fully erect manhood, and Jaune realized what Blake was planning. ' _Oh no. Not good.'_

Second after he finished his thought he felt as slender fingers started to carefully, fleetingly touch and feel his shaft and play with his 'equipment'. Soft breath hit his painfully erect skin again, and Jaune looked down with despair-filled eyes to see pair of amber eyes looking back at him from behind his fully exposed morning wood.

' _Please don't. I don't know how long my self-control lasts.'_ Jaune tried to plead wordlessly, but Blake either mistook his message or decided to deliberately ignore it as her face closed towards his manhood while constantly keeping an eye contact with him, a heavy blush on her cheeks but a determined and somewhat amused expression on her face. ' _She's toying with me... '_

A small cat-lick up the side of his shaft shut his trail of rational thoughts. The lick was followed by another, fleeting one all the while her fingers ran up and down his length, and touched his tip carefully, as if expecting it to come alive and try to eat her at any time. She touched the tip again, and observed as a thin trail of his excitement stuck to her finger and glistened in the light of the morning sun.

The touch was followed by third, careful lick, almost as if the cat faunus was testing out the taste, and Blake lifted her head above his manhood.

Her mouth opened ever so slightly and she began lowering her lips towards his tip, slowly, seductively, all the while keeping her amber eyes locked on his blue, desperate ones...

...And she was knocked off course as Pyrrha's thigh brained the black-haired girl from the side.

"Mhn… Waffles... " Pyrrha muttered in her sleep as she adjusted her position after accidentally kicking the lewd out of Blake, who was holding her head and hissing like a wild cat. Jaune was allowed no break however as Pyrrha began rubbing her inner thigh against his morning wood, completely oblivious to the effect it had on him, and with a peaceful smile on her face. "...Hnh… Sausages…"

' _This is really not the time, but thanks anyways Pyrrha'_ Jaune thought half-gratefully half-disappointedly… before Pyrrha slid down slightly while mumbling something in her sleep and grabbed his fully erect, excited and prepared morning wood. ' _Oh no. Nono.'_

Yank. Squish.

"Gaaaaah!" his startled death-cry was enough to cause Pyrrha to shudder a little as she woke up to his scream after she had gripped and pulled his manhood with her full strength.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Pyrrha mumbled sleepily as she blinked her brilliant emerald eyes owlishly. "W… What happened? Is everything alright?"

"Nngh." Jaune whined weakly.

"Eh? Jaune! What happened!" Pyrrha panicked as she saw the pain in Jaune's eyes. "No! Stay with me!"

Jaune nodded towards his lower body. The red-headed four-times winner of Mistralian fighting championship turned her eyes downwards… and discovered her own hand squishing his erect parts, with Blake glaring at her while rubbing her head and cat-ears, with considerable blush on her cheeks as she sat on the feet end of the bed.

"Uh." Pyrrha froze completely.

Squish. Squish.

"Gyaaah!"

"I'm sorry!" the red-head pulled her hand off the battle-damaged member and flailed her hands around in full panic as Jaune recoiled from the impact. "Was… what was I doing? I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"

"Argh… Ow. It's alright. It's for the best, I guess." Jaune told her weakly as he rubbed his bruised flesh. The motion caused Pyrrha to freeze completely, again, and she stared at him… or rather, stared at him rubbing his member with her mouth hanging open and with a raging blush on her cheeks. Even Blake stopped her glaring to glance at his hand-motions with an unreadable expression.

"Uh… Jaune?" Blake asked quietly as he rubbed the pain away from his member. Pyrrha's grip had been strong, and the 'squishing' had not helped.

"Yeah?" he replied while looking at her face, causing Blake to blush even more and avert her eyes from his.

"Are… are you trying to tell us something?"

"Huh?"

Blake pointed to his occupied hand… causing Jaune to realize what his rubbing might have looked like to the two girls in his bed, and he stopped immediately. "Erm. For my defence, I was just trying to rub some feeling into it… I mean, not in that way!"

The black-haired faunus looked at him with an unreadable expression for a moment while Pyrrha blushed and looked away, although she kept stealing glances at him.

Jaune tried to plead innocence with his eyes.

Pyrrha glanced nervously between his member, her hand and his face.

Blake's cat-ears twitched slightly.

They twitched again, and the girl lowered her head to the blanket with her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

"Pha…. Ahhaha…" Blake giggled, causing Jaune to look at her with saucer-like wide eyes as the girl succumbed to her mirth. "Ahaha ha ha… You are so cute." Blake finished her fit of giggles and lifter her head to look at him, small tears of amusement in the corners of her eyes.

"I… I did not expect that. I did not expect that at all." she finished as she crawled up his legs and hugged his chest lightly while rubbing her cheek against his, carefully avoiding his still erect member. "I like you. I really do. you adorable dork."

"You're… welcome? I like you too?" Jaune said before Pyrrha, not wanting to lose although not quite sure what the competition was or what the rules were, hugged him as well. ' _Ghuh… A bit too strong grip there, Pyr…'_

He hugged them both back, although a bit awkwardly since he was trying to not repeat what had happened mere minute prior.

"Sheesh… Talk about interesting ways to wake up." he mumbled to Blake's hair, and she squirmed slightly in his hug so she could place a kiss his cheek.

"We need to do that again sometime… although with a bit fewer interruptions." Blake mumbled to his ear with seductive tone, and he blushed furiously.

Pyrrha, who was unaware of the events that had almost taken place before her waking up just looked back and forth between the two, before she crawled on top of him and kissed his other cheek.

"Yeah, we should sl… sleep together again." Pyrrha said while looking at him with her clear emerald eyes. "It was comfortable."

' _Uh… I guess?'_ Jaune thought internally as he recalled the night of less-than-desirable amount of oxygen and instead of voicing his opinion he just kissed Pyrrha's temple, causing the girl to hide her furious blush by burying her face in his chest. ' _I might have to find a way to get her to grab something that isn't my throat or my erm… my 'parts' when we do this again though…'_

"We should get up though." Jaune said after a while of cuddling with the two girls between his bedsheets, although this time the cuddling involved a bit less seductive teasing and genitalia-crushing, and more petting and hugging which he definitely appreciated. "Weiss would have woken up by now, and we should probably go check how she's feeling after the last night's attack."

"Right." Blake said, becoming more serious as the moment passed and the reality came back into their warm and comfortable dorm.

' _Hm… I feel like I forgot to tell them something though.'_ Jaune thought as Blake rose up from the bed and stretched, causing all kinds of interesting bounces and movements in her body while Pyrrha just cuddled against his chest one more time and started to get up as well. ' _Oh yeah, I didn't tell them that Cinder is going to be part of our team for now… Well, I should tell it when we're all gathered so it shouldn't be an issue…'_

He offered a silent plea to whatever gods or more likely, Grimm-shaped devils were listening to his thoughts that Ozpin's idea of having them accomodate for Cinder would work out well.

' _I really hope that she's not with Emerald's bunch... '_

* * *

"And how are you doing, miss Fall?" Ozpin asked politely as he stood beside the bedridden woman that had been the leader of team CEMN until last night.

He was leaning on his cane idly with a ever-present coffee mug occupying his other hand. The woman was clad in a hospital gown, and although she lacked handcuffs or any restrains it was clear that she wasn't allowed to leave the room as the windows had sturdy bars made from Dust-enriched alloys, and while the walls had usual white and light green colours of hospital the construction crews had reinforced interior walls and doors to the point where it would take an entire team of Aura-unlocked construction workers with related Semblances or a full salvo from heavy artillery battery to break through them with any degree of efficiency.

The hospital wing was used to contain rowdy and out-of-control Huntsmen and Huntresses, so it saw use, according to Glynda's words, " _Whenever a student goes into hormone-induced edgy rampage, and needs time to recover their wounds, caused by detaining said student, in a place where they couldn't hurt anyone but themselves_ ".

Granted, the headmistress's statement wasn't entirely true as the hospital usually housed delirious and desperate Hunters who had come back from their missions with serious cases of PTSD, most often after having seen villages overrun by Grimm or having witnessed their teammates getting eaten alive by the Grimm, or dying, or worse, getting captured by the bandits.

' _It feels like as if mere weeks has passed since I helped mr. Xiao-Long recover in this facility after he had lost his second wife, Summer Rose… How time flies.'_ Ozpin mused internally as he waited for Cinder Fall to respond to his inquiry. ' _Then again, while losing one of the Silver-eyed warriors was a definite setback, miss Ruby Rose still remains and is capable of continuing the bloodline… Although I might have to look into getting her a partner soon if she's unable to find one for herself.'_

He took a sip of coffee. _'It_ _is fairly important that she produces an offspring before she is sent to war against the Grimm. Since her father has proven himself to be an ally who trusts me unconditionally after I helped him recover, persuading him of the importance shouldn't pose a problem either. The question remains, who to...'_

"I am… coping. I believe." Cinder Fall's reply shook him out of his thoughts and he focused on her tone which carried a degree of uncertainty.

Ozpin hummed as he mulled over the answer, taking note on how the woman's eyes hardened ever-so slightly while he thought.

Cinder Fall had woken up from her sleep few hours after Weiss, and Ozpin had headed out to interrogate the woman by himself, albeit with Glynda waiting outside the hospital room's door. Just in case.

' _Lionheart sent me an update from Haven Academy a hour ago… According to him, Cinder Fall had been headstrong leader of her team with excellent record, and her teammates had been… insignificant, in comparison at least, so they had not gathered much attention. Thoroughly mediocre performances across the board.'_ Ozpin thought as he observed the wounded woman. Was she really eighteen years old? ' _Nevertheless, it would be convenient for miss Sustrai and mr. Black if they were overshadowed by much more competent leader, allowing them to operate behind her back, in the shadow… Suspiciously convenient, even.'_

"You took part in quite curious chain of events, although if my informant is correct, it wasn't entirely of your own volition. Please explain what happened last night from your point of view, if you are feeling well enough to do so." Ozpin told her calmly. "If you feel uncomfortable talking about it, I will understand and ask again at later date."

"No… It's alright. I'm just really confused…" Cinder said weakly. "One moment I was getting ready to go to bed in our dorm, then my teammate, Mercury, comes through the window, all bloody and mangled…"

"Hm."

"Then he says something to Emerald, and she whispers something back… I didn't really hear what they were saying since I was panicking and looking for first aid supplies. And the next moment Emerald pulls her weapons and attacks me!" Cinder sounded shocked and appalled. "We have been together since Haven, I thought I was her friend… and she _tried to kill me!_ "

"Quite shocking. How did you survive?"

"I… I did my best to fight her off. If Mercury had joined the battle I would have been finished, but he was too wounded to help Emerald kill me." Cinder explained sullenly while rubbing one of the bandages in her arm. "Emerald's always been strong, although quiet… she always let me talk and stayed in the shadows herself. I… I thought she trusted me."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"I broke the lights, and fell over. I think Emerald thought I was dead or at least dying in the darkness, so she stabbed me one last time and then escaped with Mercury. I was effectively out of Aura at that point, so I couldn't stop them even if I wanted to. I was bleeding out and nearly unconscious, but I had to stay there just in case the two of them, or Neon, would have come back… I would have died for real if they saw me moving."

"What role does Neon, your third teammate, play in this? We have been unable to contact her, and she was outside Beacon last night according to the registry."

"I'm not sure. She's been… outsider. A delinquent." Cinder said quietly. "She hasn't really opened up to us… I believed that it might have been a result of her past, of something that had happened to her, so we gave her time… but it's possible that she was working with Emerald the whole time and just chose to ignore me…"

"I see. Before we entered the scene, something else happened. Describe it."

"I… I wanted to ask about that." Cinder said quietly and something else entered her eyes. A emotion Ozpin definitely recognized- fear. "A… A Grimm, one that looked like a human, or human that looked like Grimm came through the window."

"Hm. And what happened next?"

"I was playing dead, trying my best to suppress the fear I felt, hoping that it wouldn't notice me since I wasn't sure if I could defeat it… But I failed." Cinder whispered with wide eyes. "It… It growled out something, I think. I'm not sure if it was trying to speak _somehow_ , but it lunged at me almost immediately afterwards. I had recovered a bit of my Aura at that point so I tried to defend myself. I couldn't stop it and it… it… it had tentacles, and then… and then!"

"Thank you, that's enough." Ozpin sighed. ' _Something in her story doesn't match… and her body language is off. Exaggerated, if only slightly. Something else happened in her dorm before our entry… Good.'_

"Miss Fall. Due to the recent events, I'm sorry to inform you that team CEMN has been disbanded and removed from Beacon's roster." Ozpin told her. "Normally we would require you, as a sole 'surviving' member of the team, to retake your initiation test and start over from the first year since we do not believe that first and second-year students would survive their training without a team to back them up, however I believe that I could make an exception on your case…" Ozpin trailed off, and he smiled internally as he saw that Cinder had started to pay far more attention to his words.

"I… I am grateful for your belief in my ability. I'll try my best to study without a team of my own…"

"Ah, you misunderstand. From this point onwards, you will be attached to team SABR as auxiliary member, and you will be placed into their first-year class. I believe that you are pre-acquaintanced with them, correct?" Ozpin finished his speech by taking a sip from his mug, while offering a wordless praise to whoever had invented Dust-powered porcelain that worked like lidless thermos. "Should miss Neon Polit be found innocent, she would be allowed to join you, however until her involvement has been determined, she will been removed from the Beacon's roster alongside miss Sustrai and mr. Black."

"I… What?" Cinder's speech came to a sudden halt. "What?"

"I trust that there are no issues?"

"Ah... "

"Good, I have already asked a representative of team SABR about the transfer, and they don't have any issues about it either. Glynda Goodwitch has already done the necessary paperwork." Ozpin nodded and put his mug down to pull a flash drive that contained the digital key to Cinder's new dorm-room, and placed the drive on the woman's limp hand. "Then, I wish you speedy recovery and do not hesitate to contact our support staff should you find anything lacking."

"Aha?"

"I wish you swift recovery." Ozpin nodded politely before retreating from the room, leaving the wounded woman gripping the flash drive with a shaky hand, shocked expression on her pale and bandaged face.

He noticed later as he viewed a video recording of the meeting, captured by a hidden camera in the room, that Cinder's expression had grown far colder and far more calculating as he had turned his back at her.

' _Good.'_

 **Next chapter- 12-14.5**

 **AN:**

 **Work work- peon, Warcraft III**

 **With the 'busy' part of the year, aka the summer, coming in I find myself with even less time to write. How shocking, I know. The lack of time isn't affecting my desire to write nor will it cause the story to 'die' as it were, however it will stretch the time between updates as I'd prefer keeping the chapters between 9-11k words each over updating the story every week- short chapters tend to encourage a effect I call 'constant cliffhanger-ism' where every chapter is cliffhanger because the chapters get effectively cut in two. You might have seen that a few times in action when I released a few shorter chapters because weekly schedule cut them up.**

 **So with that being said, I'll have to go with bi-weekly release schedule for now- which means the schedule will be bi-weekly until the end of summer when the usual construction and machining boom ends and companies go back to hibernation.**

 **I feel that my English is improving though, and I've gone through few older chapters and corrected a bunch of typos and messed up sentences, although I've still got a long road ahead of me before I can call myself truly fluent in the language.**


	32. Fusion

_Two hours before Weiss woke up, after the attack._

"Ozpin, what the hell is this?" General Ironwood of Atlas grumbled to himself as he sat on his utilitarian seat in the air-cruiser _Iron Within_ as he viewed a recording that had been sent to him by Penny Polendina. The recording was her point-of-view video from the attack that had been directed to Weiss Schnee in her infirmary room.

"S… Sir, I assure you… that uh…" Winter Schnee stumbled on her words as she stared wide-eyed at the video which showed her beloved little sister deepthroating a Grimm tentacle monster while it fought off Mercury Black.

General Ironwood reached to pat the shaken woman reassuringly.

"T...thank you, sir." Winter seemed to compose herself. After all, they had played back the recording twice already, although she never quite got over the moment where her little sister showed her more… depraved… nature.

"Curiously enough your little sister seemed to be able to turn a dead person into a Grimm-like creature, and somehow… turn that Grimm back into a living person. I wonder if she has discovered a form of resurrecting the dead, or if mr. Arc is just a corpse being puppeteered by your sister." Ironwood continued his speech after Winter had calmed herself. "Have you managed to discover the secret of her craft from your meetings with her?"

"She's f… Eurgh… No, sir. I have not." Winter confessed glumly while keeping her eyes on the screen. She pulled her eyes away from the recording as she saw something white beginning to drip down from the corners of her little sister's mouth as the phallus-like tentacle pushed itself deeper into her sister's mouth's eager embrace, and Weiss's eyes had rolled over in her head while visible shudders of pleasure coursed down her spine, and muffled moans escaped her occupied mouth…

"Specialist Winter?"

"S… Sir?"

"Do you believe that this… display… has something to do with your younger sister's ability?"

"Y… I don't know. Sir." Winter coughed out while her cheeks were bright red.

Ironwood gave her a suspicious glance before he seemed to make up his mind. "Very well. I have a new task for you."

"Sir?"

"I need you to shadow your little sister."

"S-Sir?"

"I am detaching you from my retinue for now. Your new mission as it stands is as follows: Observe and interrogate miss Weiss Schnee and her team. Provide support to miss Polendina who is to continue acting as Weiss Schnee's bodyguard." Ironwood recounted. "Furthermore, you not allowed to tell your sister that you are observing her. I feel that you are far better choice than Penny for this task."

"You're asking me to spy on my little sister."

"Yes. I ask you, since I know that you are her sister, she trusts you, and I know that you won't hurt her... no matter what you discover." Ironwood placed his hand reassuringly on Winter's shoulder and glanced towards the recording that was still playing out the events of the infirmary in grissly detail.

"Wh… What am I looking for?" Winter gulped.

"You are to extract as much information from your younger sister's plans and abilities as possible." Ironwood nodded to her.

"Sir…"

"If her words hold true, then she may be our best chance of survival… no, our best chance to gain victory over the Grimm!"

"Sir…"

"However, on the other hand, she holds the very keys to our ultimate defeat- Fear. The knowledge that any of us could be secretly a Grimm wearing human disguise…" Ironwood mused. "The paranoia that would follow would no doubt cause the Grimm to overrun our cities and wash away whatever defences we might have been able to erect."

"Sir…" Winter was slightly concerned about the coherency of their already limited personnel. "Your retinue grows thin with my departure. Will you be alright by yourself?"

"I have my robots and a handful of soldiers that accompanied us from Atlas. I shall manage- Your sister's continued safety procedes mine, but more than that, I would encourage _you_ to be careful."

"Sir?"

"If your sister was somehow capable of turning a Human into a Grimm… Consider the fact that your sister may not in fact be _your sister_ anymore." Ironwood's voice was grave. "The rumours I have heard from Beacon tell me that your sister has undergone a significant change of personality ever since her enrollment."

"Y- Yes… I have heard those rumours as well. At first I dismissed them as mere rumors…"

"There may be more to them than it meets the eye." Ironwood nodded to send her on her way. "Be careful, Specialist Schnee- there is something lurking underneath the surface of Beacon. I do not want to lose you."

"I will be careful."

.

..

…

 _Five minutes after Weiss Schnee woke up after the attack._

Winter closed the infirmary door very, very quietly and walked away while some yellow-haired girl was grinning at her like buffoon from the doorside.

' _Weiss… Why…'_ Winter's steps carried no small degree of uncertainty ' _...And just after I chastised her… her 'boyfriend'... for adultery…'_

A shaky breath escaped from between her lips. ' _Weiss… Just what has happened to you to change you this radically?'_

Weiss had been a very private person before Beacon, ever since the incident that had killed their mother, and to the point where only one she'd open up for was Winter. Before that she had been quite the charming little lady, and Winter occasionally still thought back on the happy memories the two had shared in their times when she had played with her little sister, back at Atlas.

Their mother, Willow Schnee, had not spared any expenses when it came to letting the two sisters play together, although she had taken great care not to spoil them _too_ much.

Winter was grateful for her mother's actions… and it had hurt her greatly when she had learned that her mother had died in a bombing incident caused by the White Fang. Back then Winter had been training in Atlas's military institute, so she had very little time to dedicate to her family but she made sure to visit Weiss whenever she could since her younger sister had been hospitalized by the very same bomb that had killed their mother.

Their father had, however, proved to be more frugal and demanding of his daughters, and the sisters had cooled down the warmths of their childhood under his demanding glare. And his oppression of the two girls had only grown stronger when their little brother, Whitley, had shown himself to be an ardent follower of their father's ways…

Still, Winter would stand with Weiss, even against their father, but...

' _...Letting Weiss attend Beacon might have been a mistake.'_ Winter felt ice spreading in her chest as she recalled how she had enrolled Weiss into Beacon under her father's nose. ' _If something has happened to her in here… It is my fault… If Weiss is… No, I can't think about that.'_

She took another calming breath as Ironwood's words came back to her. ' _He thinks that her ability might have changed her… or that she has been replaced by someone else…'_

"..."

' _It is no matter. I will protect Weiss. Even if it means that I have to… raise my sword against her.'_

* * *

"Greetings. My name is Cinder Fall, and I look forwards to studying with you." Cinder bowed her head formally as she sat in team SABR and RYNN's shared kitchen soon after both she and Weiss had been released from their respective infirmaries to complete their recoveries in their dorms where they could study while they let their wounds heal.

Cinder had few bandages on her face and body, but she had recovered enough from her 'fight' with Emerald that she was released from the hospital after putting her name on few papers which finished his transfer into team SABR.

As it were, the entire team SABR was sitting around the kitchen table as well, with plenty of refreshments and snacks that someone had prepared for the occasion.

' _...And I look forwards to studying you.'_ she finished her speech internally as she stole a glance at the white-haired Grimm-controller who was looking at her with a haughty and suspicious look.

The clueless blonde-haired corpse of a boy that the Schnee girl had somehow reanimated was looking back and forth between the girl and the woman with a somewhat cowed expression on his face, no doubt looking for orders from the white-haired Enemy of all Grimm.

"We have already met, and know who you are, but thank you for 'introducing' yourself nevertheless." the Schnee girl sighed, clearly resigned and jaded over the whole thing- which was probably not helped how the white-haired girl had her share of antiseptic bandages as well. "While I was not given much to say in your new accommodation, I welcome you to team SABR. I hope you behave better than your teammates."

"I'd prefer if we didn't talk about those… people." Cinder said with slightly raised and bit accusatory tone. "You were not the only one they tried to murder." she added with slightly quieter tone that carried a stern, bitter quality.

Her words caused the Schnee girl to wither slightly, and Cinder pressed her attack. "…And I had called Emerald and Mercury my friends, comrades, people I could trust, for an entire year… until the moment when the blows were struck. I am aware that you are upset, but you were not the only one who suffered from their betrayal."

"What happened back there?" The living dead asked, and Cinder turned her eyes towards Jaune. "I mean, when I found you, you were lying in the floor, motionless, and I thought that you had died."

"I'd like to ask you the same." Cinder congratulated herself for her level, bland tone that completely masked the gut-wrenching worry and burning rage she felt over the fact that the Schnee's had somehow home-brewed an unnatural Grimm-human hybrid. "You were… What are you? I saw you covered in rags, with red eyes and… things growing out of your arms!"

Cinder frowned once more at the boy, although in secret she frowned at herself as well. After all, according to the 'official' statement she didn't know what happened during Mercury's attack in the infirmary, other than that he had attacked Weiss.

She didn't want to think too deeply about how the blonde idiot's resurrection might have happened, although she had read and heard the rumors surrounding the Schnee girl, and how she might have been… violating… Cinder's mother's creations with her vile charms.

"Eh?" Jaune's voice broke Cinder out of her resentment. "I… Well, I was…"

"Miss Fall, it would be appreciated if you answered our question first." Weiss's voice cut Jaune's answer off. "I hope you understand that, while we are aware of your circumstances, your teammates _did_ try to kill me."

"I managed to shake Emerald off my person by cutting off the lights and playing dead, pretending that her last attack had been fatal while the two escaped. Imagine my surprise when mere minutes later what I perceived to be some sort of Grimm-human hybrid climbs through the window, screams something and then lunges at me." Cinder sent a glare at the moving corpse. "Please excuse my confusion, but can you tell me what happened?"

"Err, about that…" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "It's sort of long story."

"I have time."

"The headmaster sort of told me that I shouldn't tell it to anyone but my teammates."

"Am I not one?"

"Uh… I guess you are since you transferred over. Right." Jaune broke before her reasoning, which quite honestly surprised Cinder. She sent a quick glance at the Schnee girl, checking her expression which was somewhere between resigned and frustrated and she had thrown her hands up in annoyance. ' _Curious… Either the Schnee brat is pretending, or she doesn't quite have full control over her corpse-creature…'_

"So uh… this might come off as a bit of an surprise, but I have kind of an weird Semblance." Jaune started speaking, and Cinder returned her focus on the blonde boy.

"Is that so?" Cinder tilted her head slightly. "Can you elaborate?"

"I can turn into a Grimm."

"I see."

"...I thought you might be a bit more surprised." Jaune confessed as he heard Cinder's bland answer.

"I was molested in my dorm by a tentacled Grimm-like creature which looked somewhat like you mere hours ago, while I was wounded and couldn't defend myself, after my team had suddenly turned on me and tried to kill me." Cinder replied with bland tone. "Believe me, it takes a bit more to surprise me at this point."

Her words caused the black-haired girl, Blake, and the silver-eyed girl, Ruby, to snap their heads towards the blonde boy while the Schnee girl merely buried her face in her hands. The movement didn't go unnoticed by Cinder, although she wasn't quite sure what significancies they held so she just filed them under one of her mental folders for later study.

"Yeah… Sorry."

"Uh huh."

"I mean it."

"Aha."

"In my defence, I thought you were dying so I wanted to check if you were alright." Jaune tried to explain his actions and Cinder sighed.

"And you decided to do that by tying me in your tentacles, and lifting me up off the ground, and then trying to push o…"

"Graaaaahhh!" Weiss let out a frustrated groan-slash-scream and Cinder lifted an eyebrow at the girl. "Can we stop talking about tentacles?!"

"Sorry." Jaune apologized once more while Cinder nodded gracefully.

Ruby just scowled at Cinder, which caused no small amount of amusement in the older woman as she saw the spawn of _that woman_ growling at her like an adorable but toothless puppy.

"Right… So uh, would you like to see it in action?" Jaune asked. "My Semblance I mean. It's pretty harrowing to witness it in action for the first time, so if you're going to be fighting alongside us, I'd rather get it out of the way in the safety of Beacon rather than in the field."

"Does your… 'showing' of your Semblance include molesting me, again?" Cinder asked with a fake sweetness and she leaned her chin on her fingers. "If so, I politely refuse. Or is that a mandatory requirement for your Semblance?" ' _Then again, I wouldn't be too surprised if the Schnee orders her pet to molest whoever it comes across... It would fit her modus operandi...'_

Cinder wasn't looking forwards to seeing the rag-covered, disgusting form that was mocking her mother's beautiful creatures, a perversion of her mother's unblemished beauty and purpose. ' _I wonder if I could find an excuse to kill that miserable creature? Although… I need to lay low for now. Killing the Schnee's pet monster would likely go to far...'_

"It really wasn't like that." Jaune objected weakly, although he dropped the issue soon afterwards. "But anyway, my Semblance doesn't require me to molest anyone."

"Could have fooled me." Weiss muttered to herself, causing Cinder's eyebrow to lift slightly but the white-haired girl didn't comment further.

"I'll go and shapeshift. One moment." Jaune lifted himself up from his chair and headed towards the team's dorm-room.

"He can't use his 'Semblance' when someone is looking?" Cinder asked, which curiously enough caused the three girls to blush.

"Er, no, he can, but it tends to destroy his clothes." Ruby muttered quietly with a odd, almost dreamy look in her face. ' _Huh…'_

"So mr. Arc flashes you whenever he uses his abilities." the scarlet-clad woman sighed tiredly. "I must confess that I am not looking forwards to witnessing that part of his 'ability'."

"You tell us…" Weiss muttered darkly and Ruby reached to pat the girl's head reassuringly, which caused the girl to splutter and blush.

' _Hm?'_ Cinder took another mental note as she saw the two girl's interact. ' _So little miss perfect has hots for the silver-eyes? Although curiously enough the Rose girl doesn't seem all that interested back…'_

"Regardless, I must ask about your Semblance…" Weiss gathered herself and turned her attention back to Cinder.

"Flame." Cinder answered simply and lifted her hand in front of her face. Embers bloomed on her fingertips for a moment before a gently crackling fire sprouted from them and danced between her fingers. "My Semblance, in its entirety, is the ability to control fire, and to a degree, shape it to form weapons."

"Huh." Ruby tilted her head curiously. "So we have ice-caster and flame-caster in the same team... "

"I can only dread the amount of accidental explosions we are going to set off…" Weiss muttered to her hands, no doubt aware of the explosive effects of injecting Dust-born fire into Dust-born ice, which causes an explosion as the interior ice turns to gas while still trying to maintain its exterior crystalline structure. "We are going to have to train together in the simulation room before our first missions if we want to _not_ blow ourselves up accidentally."

"If you say so." Cinder nodded politely, effectively bringing an end to the conversation.

The three women sipped their drinks and sampled the snacks for a while as they waited for Jaune to return.

Cinder used the time to check the news for what would be Neo's last article for Vale Press. ' _Hm.. "Atlas officials raids Vale Press's headquarters, seven imprisoned, six wounded, two in critical." A shame, but not a major setback. It seems that Neo didn't quite get the last article off in time before Ironwood counter-attacked, although I doubt that Ironwood managed to capture her… Still, having Atlas directly interfere with Press so soon after they 'turned their backs on the people' will damage their public image in Vale so it isn't a complete loss... '_

"Out of curiosity, is mr. Arc's ability going to be always this… time-consuming to use?" Cinder asked politely as few minutes passed in silence. ' _Or are you planning something…'_ she added suspiciously in her head as Weiss groaned slightly.

"Yes." Weiss said. "It is always this slow. It is the sort of thing that gets gradually stronger as the fight goes on, but it takes time for him to build up mass."

"Aha." Cinder hummed while she mulled over the answer. ' _Mass?'_

A somewhat muted growl came from the direction of the SABR's dorm-room and Cinder turned her eyes towards the sound. "Would that be…"

"I guess he's ready." Ruby said, although by the tone of her voice Cinder guessed that the small red-clad girl wasn't too thrilled about it.

Her reply was lost as clinking and clanking of what sounded like bones approached the kitchen, and Cinder turned her eyes towards the doorway…

' _...Ah?'_ And she froze completely still.

What was standing in the doorway was a knight in shining armor.

No, not exactly a 'knight', but a definitely male form, clad from head to toe in heavy-looking white bone-plates eerily reminiscent of the plate armor of the knights of old. Black flesh covered in short black fur peeked from few of the cracks in the armor, giving the form somewhat feral look that was counterbalanced by the kingly crown of bone that had _grown_ out of the knight's head.

A sheet of white bone covered it's features, but as she looked, the mask seemed to crack, and then flow like thick liquid until it revealed pale, human features framed by reddish-black veins and black fur-like hair.

And the Knight looked at _her_ with a pair of burning, baleful red eyes, causing a sudden surge of heat spread inside Cinder's left arm and go into her body _._

 _Ba-dum. Ba-dum._ Cinder felt as her heart beat wildly and erratically in her chest as she stared at the majestic creature that walked deeper into the room.

She had seen the Knight-like creature once before in a CCTV footage that had been sent to her by White Fang during the Belladonna girl's capture, and once more in the recording that Emerald had captured in its fight against Roman in the Dust warehouse, but the grainy footage had not done justice to the majestic creature's might, nor had it projected the sheer aura of strength that washed out from it's presence, and the rags it had worn during her first encounter with it had concealed it's true might from her eyes.

' _There's no way that the Schnee's have created this.'_ the thought echoed in her strangely vacant mind. ' _It is… magnificent… It must be one of Mother's creations...'_

The creature walked closer to her and stood still in front of Cinder. It's burning eyes looked into hers, full of primal fury… _caged_ , wanting to be set free… ' _They must have captured it and bent it to their will with their vile methods…'_

She breathed out laboriously, feeling something hot going down her spine as she stood in front of the creature's chained might. ' _Stood?'_

Cinder realized that she had stood up from her seat, and that she was looking upwards at the beautiful creature that was almost feet taller than she was, yet far more bulkier than her, within the reach of the arms that rippled with bound strength. She shivered as the creature lifted it's arm and reached for _her_ , causing her feet to go weak.

She lifted her own left hand, feeling goosebumps forming all over her otherwise cream-smooth skin.

 _Ba-dum. Ba-dum._

The two hands touched, and she breathed out as her heart was about to burst out of her chest. The beautiful beast's hand was hot, almost as hot as the fire inside her, and for a fleeting moment she could have sworn that it spread through her left hand, almost as if trying to make the two a single entity.

In response to her unheard desire the Knight's cape came alive, and she saw that it was made from a mass of...

"Miss Fall?" the annoying voice of the Schnee girl entered Cinder's thoughts and for a moment she wanted nothing more than to turn around, grab the white-haired girl's scrawny, weak neck and snap it so the majestic creature in front of her would be free. Free to be _hers._

"Uh… Is everything alright?" the silver-eyed girl asked as well, and Cinder, to her horror, saw as the Knight flinched from the soul-frost that the silver eyes inflicted upon it. The gaze needed to stop. Permanently. The Knight was suffering. _Her_ Knight was suffering.

The two girls were tormenting the Knight for their own sick pleasure.

She couldn't have that.

A small voice inside Cinder's head that she recognized as her rational self kicked her in the metaphorical butt and reminded her that it was very likely that she was being watched by Ozpin's agents at the very moment. ' _Was… Is this why Ozpin attached me to this team? To gauge my reaction to this… Knight?'_

"Ah… It's alright. I'm alright." Cinder muttered with all the conviction and friendliness she could muster while she attempted, and failed, to pull her eyes away from the majestic beast in front of her. Was she blushing?

She touched her cheek carefully to discover that she could probably crack an egg open and use her cheek to fry it.

Without her using her Semblance to archive the result. ' _Damn Emerald and her suggestion of using my thighs as a stovetop in the wilds...'_

"I'm… I was just surprised. Yes. Surprised." Cinder congratulated her voice for trembling only slightly. The creature squeezed her hand reassuringly, and she drew strength from it. ' _It… It wants me. No, that can't be it... It wants me to help it escape…'_

She breathed out laboriously to calm herself properly and she pulled her hand away from the Knight's, sending a miniscule wave of longing down her spine. Cinder quickly crushed those emotions while promising to herself that the creature would be free soon. ' _...I need to think about this. Something is off. How did that blonde idiot turn into this majestic creature? Unless… Unless the Schnee girl somehow_ turned _a Grimm into a_ Human _, and somehow made it change itself back to its original form!'_

' _Could it be?'_ Cinder felt faint as the true scale of the white-haired girl's evil was revealed to her and her world shook to the very core. ' _Could this be… Could this be what Ozpin is planning? To use the Schnee's power on mother and make her his slave?! To turn her into a Human! No!'_

It seemed that her state did not go unnoticed by the Knight, as observant as it was, and it reached to tie few of it's tentacles around her waist to support her.

 _Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum._

Cinder was grateful for the Knight's support as her legs had grown slightly weak, just like her heart.

"Miss Fall?" Weiss's somewhat annoyed voice entered her head, and Cinder felt as the icy tone chipped into the beast's warm embrace. "Jaune. Hands off. What have I told you about indulging in your perverted wa…"

"I'm alright. It's alright." Cinder growled at the aggravating girl as the Knight bowed his head in front of the white-haired girl's abuse. "I just… I just need some time to recover."

She glanced at the room's other occupants and saw that the silver-eyed girl was growling at her, the white-haired mistress of evil was glaring at the Knight and the black-haired terrorist was… hissing at Cinder?

"I understand. Seeing him in his… uh, 'other form' after your previous meeting with it must have caused some bad memories to surface." Weiss bowed her head politely to Cinder. "I'll be sure to punish him appropriately later."

' _You little bitch…'_ Cinder nearly bit on her tongue as she restrained herself from saying her thoughts aloud, and instead smiled politely.

"Oh, I'm sure it won't be necessary. I am not mad, merely surprised." She patted the Knight's chest reassuringly as the handsome creature shivered miserably from the ex-heiress's icy tone. "I'm sorry, but I think it would be best if I were to think over this alone. Please excuse me."

"I see. Very well, let us postpone our meeting until you have recovered properly." Weiss nodded politely. "I need to change my bandages as well… would you like for one of our teammates to help you with yours?"

"Yes, the Kn… I mean I am alright." Cinder corrected herself mid-sentence. ' _Damn, this is affecting me more than I thought… I need to get away from this, I need to think…'_

…

Outside the team's kitchen, a certain red-eyed crow cawed quietly while sitting on top of a somewhat strange-feeling branch, looking at the assembled team SABR and their new auxilliary member through the kitchen window.

The crow tilted it's head few times at the window as it saw that the Grimm-brat carried the red-clad woman away, and it tilted it's head once more, thinking about his next action as the pair disappeared completely from his sight.

The crow shrugged it's feathered shoulders before it flew off to the other side of the building so it could look into the woman's dorm-room, although not before turning around and relieving some of the pressure that had built in its gut, and the liquid smeared itself all over the odd branch.

…

On the air-cruiser _Iron Within_ a certain white-haired specialist cursed as the video feed of team SABR's kitchen was cut off, and a certain green-eyed girl rubbed her eyes while blinking owlishly as her branch-mounted camera lens-eye-device was completely covered by white bird-dropping.

…

"Haah... " Weiss sighed tiredly while she rubbed her temple as Jaune's armored form disappeared around the corner, and she reached to grab Blake by her wrist as the cat faunus looked like she wanted to pursue them.

"..." Blake sent her a glare as she pulled her hand, and Weiss let go of it theathretically.

The black-haired girl huffed as she got Weiss's point, and gave up on her chase.

"So… What do you think of her?" Weiss asked.

Ruby huffed while she kept her eyes on the entrance to the corridor that connected the dorm-rooms and the shared kitchen. "I don't like her. She's off."

"...I agree. She's…" Blake nodded.

"Before I ask for your reasons, are you letting her… physical appearance and Jaune's friendly actions towards her affect your judgement?" Weiss interrupted the two tiredly, which caused the two girls to look away from her, with Ruby growling quietly and Blake scowling towards the hallway.

' _Ha… Sometimes I hate being right…'_ Weiss groaned in her head. ' _Cinder looked at Jaune like how a starving beast would look at a pound of meat… But that was only after he appeared in his transformed state. Odd. I wonder if she's actually into the kind of thing that Blake is into? She's from Mistral after all... Actually, didn't Blake grow up in Mistral well when she was part of White Fang? Is that… tentacle fascination a common Mistralian thing? Is Pyrrha into 'that' as well?'_

"I'm not sure what to think about her." Weiss told her two present teammates to break herself from her thoughts, causing both of them to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Are… are you concerned that she might still be in league with her old teammates?" Ruby asked quietly while reaching to grab Weiss's hand and she squeezed it reassuringly, which sent all kinds of butterflies to flutter inside Weiss's stomach. "Don't worry, we'll be with you at all times. She won't get a chance to attack you."

"Speaking of being with you at all times… where's Penny? Wasn't she supposed to be your bodyguard?" Blake asked as Weiss proved to be unable to respond to Ruby's questions.

"She told me that she'd continue observing my surroundings from a safe distance." Weiss sighed. "I'm not sure if this is applicable to someone like her, but I think she's feeling somewhat self-conscious of the fact that she's not a human."

"Really now?"

"Uuh…." Ruby tilted her head at Weiss. "Didn't you also tell her that you wanted her to shut up and get out after she um… mistook my hug in the infirmary?"

"I may have done that." Weiss confessed. "I mean, she insinuated that we were d… dating to Winter and to Yang." she shut herself up as she noticed that her voice was quivering just slightly.

"Yeah…" Ruby nodded, and she sighed. "Although I'm dating J..."

A stomping sound cut off Ruby mid-sentence, and the trio turned to see Jaune walking back from team SABR's dorm-room after dropping Cinder off to her room and changing back to his human shape, fully clothed his school clothes.

"Right, sit down." Weiss commanded the boy, and he sat down obediently in front of the kitchen table.

"Sorry." Jaune scratched the back of his head somewhat guiltily.

"What is it now?" Weiss sighed. "Don't tell me you molested Cinder _again_ before you left her dorm-room?"

"Er…"

"Or perhaps you couldn't just help it and you decided to go into one of your perverted rampages and shoved…"

"Weiss. Stop." Blake came into the conversation while Ruby blushed and covered her ears. "You're being unfair."

"Oh I'm sorry, I am just a bit frustrated over the whole thing." Weiss groaned. "Try to think of this from my point of view: I came to help my teammate and his friend who have, against orders, pursued a dangerous criminal on their own… and in response I lose most of my future plans because of the bad press, plus my role in my family, plus my public appearance and after all that I get subjected to an attempted assassination twice in the same day, after which I am forced to take in an additional team member, who might be an enemy, against my will."

"It sounds a lot… but none of that was _just_ Jaune's fault." Ruby pointed out. "But yeah, we get it, you're tired and scared. Don't worry, we won't let it happen again."

"I'm not scared!" Weiss squeaked in somewhat undignified manner. "I am just concerned!"

"Right..."

" Also, Jaune, what do you think of Cinder? Didnt you have some sort of angst-radar so could you detect if she's up to no good?" Weiss turned her attention away from Ruby's pout with herculean effort.

"She seems… alright." Jaune shrugged, taking Weiss's description of his ability in a stride. "I don't think she lied. She just seemed really… surprised by my form. Positively, I think."

"She… liked your Grimm form?" Ruby asked while scrunching her nose in a manner which might have been unsightly on anyone else's face, but came off just adorable on Ruby's young features.

"I guess."

"Odd." Blake voiced her opinion. "Did she somehow think that your… other form 'saved' her when she was down? No, that can't be it… she attacked you after all."

"Yeah… It's pretty odd." Ruby piped up. "Weiss? Do you have any theories?"

"Er…" Weiss blushed slightly as her earlier thoughts came back to her. "Well… I may be just overthinking this, but… Blake?"

"...?"

"Do you remember the book you erm… 'loaned' to me?"

"...!" Blake's eyes widened in realization. "Don't tell me that she's into... "

"Not when Ruby's listening!" Weiss hissed at the black-haired pervert, which caused the girl to raise her eyebrow at her while Ruby just tilted her head and looked at Blake with clear curiosity in her face.

"Why shouldn't I say 'that'?" Blake glared at Weiss. "Ruby's not a chi…"

"Think about Yang."

"Point taken."

"Grr..." Ruby drummed the table angrily while glaring at both of the girls. "I'm right here, you know…"

Jaune pat Ruby's head reassuringly, which seemed to calm the girl down and make her blush a bit, although the movement earned him a glare from both Weiss and Blake.

"Anyway, I'm not ready to trust Cinder yet." Weiss concluded. "Keep your guards up around her, and don't reveal Jaune's… thing to her just yet."

"How can we _not_ tell her? She's going to find that out eventually." Blake pointed out.

"That's a concern for another time." Weiss's words carried a hint of finality, and she was starting to visibly tire out from the argument, which prompted Jaune to action and he grabbed Weiss's hand to calm her down.

...

Jaune tried to not feel self-conscious at the way the white-haired girl looked at him in return, which was not far from how a elegant lady would look at a disgusting bug, making him realize that taking hold of her hand maybe wasn't the best idea.

' _I guess she took a bit more offense to my actions than I thought…'_ Jaune thought sadly as he let go of the girl's hand, and she pulled her hand out of his reach with an annoyed huff.

"Soo…" Ruby tried to strike conversation as the chatter around the table died down. "What should we do?"

"I'm going to rest for a day or two and let my wounds heal properly before continuing to attend to lessons, and I think the same might go for Cinder." Weiss nodded her head towards their auxiliary team member's private dorm-room. "I'd… prefer… if you three did the same, even though you weren't hurt as badly"

Weiss glanced at Ruby. "I'm getting tired. I'll go and rest for a while… Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you take the next shift of guarding me?"

"Uh… sure?" Ruby tilted her head in question. "Do you think someone is going to attack you now? In our dorms?"

Weiss rubbed her face for a moment in exasperation. "Just because I'm in our dorm, it doesn't mean that the danger has passed. Just think about what happened to Cinder."

"The main suspects behind the attack have been identified and the general readiness level of Beacon has been lifted…" Blake eyed the white-haired girl with clear concern in her eyes. "I doubt anyone is going to attack you now, outside Cinder anyway, but it might be better to have someone with you at all times."

"Yes, I figured as much. Ruby?" Weiss agreed and turned back towards the confused red-clad girl. "Please?"

"Sure… But wouldn't it make more sense for Jaune to guard you then? After all, didn't he sort of subdue Cinder once already?" Ruby mused aloud, and Weiss fought back a groan with visible effort. "So if she attacks again, Jaune can just steamroll over her and then capture her!"

"No, I mean, I guess, but…"

"I don't mind. I'll take the first shift." Jaune agreed to Ruby's suggestion, which caused Weiss to let out a muffled scream before she stood up and stormed to the team's dorm room while grumbling something about clueless girls and idiotic blondes.

Jaune looked at Ruby and both shrugged at the same time while Blake looked like her emotion of the minute was stuck somewhere between hesitant, frustrated and amused.

* * *

"Sheesh… I can't believe I did that." Cinder sighed, clearly annoyed as she walked out of her personal room's shower after changing her bandages.

The room was originally designed to house a team of four, but it was now assigned wholely to her, which gave her plenty of room to stretch and pace around without risking tripping over Mercury who had been always lying on the ground while reading comics or playing games, and without Emerald starting to steal glances at her legs whenever their pale flesh peeked from between the cut in her dress.

She had to confess that some peace and quiet felt nice after being in a various states of team housing for few years in row.

' _I guess I was too shocked to control myself back in the kitchen… Yes, that must have been it.'_ Cinder thought while she closed and opened her left hand reflexively. Her secret weapon had begun to itch slightly after the encounter with the Schnee's slave, and she scratched her hand absent-mindedly to lessen the sensation. ' _I need to think about this… Did Ozpin deliberately place me in this team so I'd fall into his trap? His ploy is obvious… Either he is trying to bait me to press my attack on the Schnee girl, but with her so guarded and watched I'd get caught in the act and imprisoned… No, that can't be it. It is too obvious.'_

Cinder stopped her pacing momentarily as something else came to her. ' _...Or he is suspecting me of my true allegiances… in which case he's putting me in the same team as the Grimm controller, perhaps so that I'd get tempted to try to relay the Schnee's techniques back to mother so she could prepare herself to resist them… and by doing that I'd lead him to her, and then he'd use the Schnee's craft to turn my mother into his slave before she could do anything about it...'_

' _I can't afford to risk it.'_ She began pacing around the room in the other direction while she stole a glance towards the window. ' _That very same crow has been sitting outside my window ever since my stay in the infirmary... It has to be Ozpin's agent.'_

She blinked as the more rational part of her mind processed the thought. ' _Am I seeing enemies everywhere now? Can a bird even be a spy?'_

She blinked once more as she realized that she was going off tangent, and instead walked to her desk where she had her stash of nutrition bars, leftovers from the long weeks she had been forced to spend in the wilderness before coming to Beacon, and grabbed one before crumbling it.

She moved towards the window and offered the crumbs to the bird.

The bird looked at her while tilting it's head, almost as if it was confused, before it turned around on the branch it was sitting on and flew off to another tree.

Cinder furrowed her brow as she could have sworn that the crow had cawed something to a black earpiece before it disappeared from her sight. ' _So Ozpin employs crows as spies these days? What next, rats?'_

She bit her lip as her paranoia went into overdrive alongside her thoughts. ' _No, I can't afford to act now. My earlier mistake was to seize what I perceived as an opportunity... but it was revealed to be a trap. A clever trap at that… He must have arranged the lax guard of the infirmary on purpose so that I'd get tempted to attack the girl... I will not fall to Ozpin's ploys again'_

' _Good thing that we were somehow successful in 'framing' Emerald as the mastermind behind the plan, although how effective that subterfuge will be in the end is up to debate…'_ Cinder sighed internally as she thought about her two other teammates who she had sent to the wilderness, with Neo being already in her usual position beside the criminal-turned-hero-of-Vale. ' _Good thing I already contacted Roman for his future orders so even if I drop off contact it won't affect the roles that he will play…'_

' _However there is no doubt that Ozpin hasn't anticipated the possibility of my plan, and most likely has a backup plan in place…'_ Cinder thought after a moment of indecision. ' _Therefore, I need to find out what he's planned for me… I have been on the offense since I have entered Beacon, so in order to catch him off guard I need to do something that he doesn't expect nor has planned for…'_

The wooden floor creaked ever so slightly as she stopped. ' _The Knight. I'll try to learn the Schnee's technique, and unchain him so he can work in my stead… No, he must be expecting that I'd do so if I was mother's subordinate. There needs to be another way…'_

She kept pacing in her room until a thought came to her. ' _He's expecting me to do_ something _, to go on the offensive, so the best way to undo his plan is to… do nothing.'_

' _Yes, that makes sense, I suppose… Although...'_ Cinder doubted herself for a moment. ' _I can still work towards my original goals at later date… the original plan has been postponed once already, so another delay won't matter as much right now- and I can use the time to get to the bottom of the Schnee's craft.'_

' _So in essence, I must become a regular student in Ozpin's eyes and a valuable team member to team SABR, someone they trust... '_ Cinder felt bile rise in her throat as she thought about having to impress the petty little girls in her new team, and felt shiver run down her spine as she thought about the Knight… and felt a stab of concern for the creature. ' _I need to get back out there. Who knows what they are doing to it when I'm not around to dampen their… urges?'_

With her road now clear, Cinder breathed out once more, slapped her cheeks lightly to bring some colour back onto them and walked out of her dorm…

* * *

Blake was worried.

She was not sure if she was supposed to be as worried as she was, which worried her even more. It was not a new state to her, not since she had sort-of-developed feelings for a certain boy.

' _He's surrounded by girls… although he's pretty blind to some of their advances, I can see them clearly…'_ Blake bit her lip as she read her book while sitting on a patch of grass just outside the dorms. Jaune was guarding Weiss, and Ruby was trying to catch up to her studies while lying on a picnic blanket near where Blake was reading her book.

While Blake's eyes saw words none of them processed to her mind as she was occupied by other thoughts. ' _Okay, Jaune and I are dating, and there's Pyrrha, and we've already had some skinship… but… what if he loses interest in me?'_

Blake knew deep inside her that Jaune was not the sort of person that would cheat on her, but the worry that she would be inadequate had been rooted deep inside her ever since Cinder had transferred over.

She confessed she was slightly jealous of Cinder's looks, and if the way Cinder had looking at Jaune was any indication, she might have a passing interest towards the boy as well. ' _Well… towards his Grimm form anyway. Why was she so interested in it?'_

Weiss's words came back to her, and she shuddered slightly. ' _Don't tell me that she's really into tentacles? No matter where they come from? Even from… err...Grimm?'_

As the thought passed by her head, Blake had to admit to herself that she was slightly curious as well. ' _Could it be really possible? To recreate the scenes from those books… but… with Jaune as...'_

She slapped herself to stop her line of thoughts going to places she didn't want them to go... at least not in a public place. ' _Sheesh, just when did I become this perverted?'_

A glance to the 'book' she had been reading, _Big Guns and Large Magazines_ , caused her to blink in confusion. ' _Have I always been this perverted, but never realized it…'_

"Oooh! Hey Blake, that looks interesting! Can I borrow that book when you're done with it?" a energetic voice of a young girl sent a chill down Blake's spine, and she looked down on her lap where Ruby was looking at her with her wide, saucer-like silver eyes that she used whenever she tried to hussle something out of someone, which usually was snacks out of Jaune.

"No."

"But whyyyyy…."

"..." Blake sent a glare at Ruby, and she pouted for a moment before retreating to her spot on the grass where she had her schoolbooks laid out on a piece of cloth to keep them from getting stained, and returned to her studies… which, by the looks of it, weren't exactly going well.

Blake pressed her hand on her heart for a moment to calm it's panicked beating. ' _That was a close call…'_

She glanced once more towards her 'book' where two very heavily muscled, handsome men were 'polishing their guns', 'sheathing their swords' and 'charging their weapons', and she paled slightly as the thought about having to withstand Yang's ire should Ruby discover the world of adult books and comics because of her. ' _No, more than that… what if Ruby gets ideas?'_

Blake let out a groan as she realized just how paranoid she sounded. ' _Why am I this jealous, this paranoid that Jaune would leave me for some new, stupid, bint of a tall scarlet woman with great thighs that looks almost exactly exactly like me, without the faunus features that I'm pretty sure most humans dislike, and who wants him so bad that she almost fainted by the sight of him?'_

She blinked once more as she realized that her fear might be more justified than she assumed at the start.

' _No… This cannot continue. I have to 'seal the deal'... soon.'_

* * *

' _Nuuhh…'_ Ruby whined internally as she pounded her head metaphorically against a equally metaphorical wall.

It made sense in her head, which might not account to much, given how she had completely fallen out of the wagon when it came to their studies, and out of her 'routine' with maybe-sort-of-relationship she had with a certain boy, mainly thanks to the fighting and fuss that had been going on recently. ' _Then again, we sort of saved Weiss, I guess, so the pros definitely outweigh the cons…'_

She huffed as she laid on top of her blanket in team SABR's dorm-room... or was it SABR.. F? SABRC? BARCS? ' _Gah… I hope that Ozpin finds a way to integrate Cinder into our team name without butchering it too much… 'saber' is a cool name…'_

She rolled around in her bed and took a quick look around the dark room as the night had fallen already, seeing that her other teammates were sleeping, and dived under her blanket. A quick swipe brought out a book from inside her pillow, and she put her Scroll's light to faint so she could read in secrecy.

Yeah, Blake had expressly forbade her from touching the girl's books, but she hadn't anticipated that she occasionally put those books into wrong shelves, which meant that when Ruby had borrowed books from Jaune's bookshelf she had stumbled upon a 'adult' book that no doubt belonged to Blake.

However it had been in Jaune's shelf. That meant they were Jaune's books, right? And Jaune hadn't forbade her from reading his books, right? Right?

Ruby nodded proudly to herself as she managed to find a hole in Blake's adamant defence, and went on the offense, guided by her insatiable curiosity.

Few minutes later she found herself disappointed.

' _This is just some story about some lady getting exiled and then spending the rest of her life catching fish… I mean, the book advertised that there was supposed to be some big huge squid monster, but a, how is she going to fight it when she's not even a hunter, and b, the biggest monster so far has been the town mayor who exiled her... '_ Ruby scrunched her face as she kept flipping pages over in search for a kick-ass fighting scene. ' _Don't tell me that 'adult' books are 'adult' because they are lame? Come to think of it, that might be true, if we take dad as an example adult.'_

She turned another page while starting to get more and more bored, until she spotted a odd word that caught her attention. ' _Tentacles grabbing a boat?'_

Her interest piqued, and she kept reading. ' _Bingo! The big ruddy monster makes its entry!'_

Few more lines later she felt blush creeping up her cheeks.

Few more lines after that she felt like if she had entered a oven.

Few more pages later she felt like as if she had entered a furnace.

Few more chapters later her thighs had started to rub together incessantly, and she felt oddly sluggish.

' _Oh. Oh. Right. Now I get it. 'Adult' means uh…'_ Ruby's head felt oddly muddled and her thoughts were somehow slower than usual as she closed the now-finished book very slowly while her cheeks radiated enough heat to make her sweat under her blanket.

Sleep did not come easily to her that night, and she _really_ did not want to go down to Jaune's bed to calm herself down like she had done previously.

Partly because of the incessant rubbing of her thighs, and partly because of the subject of the book.

' _Oh… Come to think of it… I wonder if he can use those tentacles like in the book… No, wait, no. Grimm Semblance. Bad. But... No. Brain, signing off.'_

While she was struggling to contain her limitless imagination Ruby didn't notice how there was a startlingly similar blanket fortress on the other side of the room, except this time it was on the bottom bed with a sliver of white hair peeking from under it...

* * *

"So… what should we do about our plans for the dance and the mission after that?" Blake asked quietly as the team started to slowly wake up the next morning, although for some reason both Ruby and Weiss seemed a bit stiff, and Blake could have sworn that the two girls were acting somewhat dodgy. "It's still few weeks away… but should we still go with the plan you suggested, Weiss?"

"You mean the one to get the flight plan that Roman used when transporting the Dust out of Vale?" Weiss replied tiredly as she turned over on her bed, although she didn't get up. "I… I don't know. We should probably reconsider that plan after the recent events"

"I suppose…"

"Weiss?" Ruby peeked her head very carefully over the edge of her bed to peer at the white-haired girl on the bottom bunk bed on the other side of the room. "What plan are you talking about?"

"You diz... " Weiss grumbled slightly as she glanced towards Jaune who was sleeping like a log, and she lifted her finger and conjured a small glyph that sent a freezing wind towards Jaune's face, causing his eyebrows to freeze.

"I was talking about the one where we extract data from CCT which tells us where the Bullhead was carrying the Dust that Roman stole." Weiss explained to Ruby while Jaune spluttered as he woke up. "While I'm sure we agree that getting to the bottom of the White Fang conspiracy is important, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to break into the CCT records to get that… at least in this sort of environment anyway."

"Yeah…" Ruby agreed quietly while Blake looked conflicted.

"But.. What should we do? We can't just do nothing!" Blake reminded them while she hopped down from her bed and walked over to Jaune and started to help Jaune in his attempt to pry the thin sheet of ice off his face. "Come on, hold still for a while, would you…"

"Well… we could tell Ozpin, right?" Ruby asked. "I mean, why didn't we do that in the first place?"

"Because at the time we were having slightly bigger problems, mainly us getting put on what equates to house arrest and then the whole 'I'm controlling the Grimm! Rawr!' thing happened." Weiss sighed while making air-quotes. "In retrospect I _could_ have handled the whole situation better, but hindsight is…"

"Yeah, we got it." Jaune came into the conversation with annoyed tone while drying up his face. "Did you _have_ to try to freeze me up the first thing in the morning?"

"No, but it felt good." Weiss huffed to make her point go across.

...

' _Right, she's still annoyed…'_ Jaune sighed. He had tried to make amends for his actions towards the frigid white-haired girl, but it seemed that she was just simply put, in a bad mood. ' _You'd think that I killed her puppy or something... '_

Thinking of puppies, a glance downwards told him that Zwei was currently sleeping happily under Weiss's bed, and he sighed in irritation as he thought about the love and care that the heiress lavished on the mutt. ' _I want that kind of attention too…'_

In response to his words he felt as a small crowd of miniature Jaune's, which for some odd reason had red-glowing eyes, agreed in unison inside his head.

Jaune sighed heavily as he thought about his predicament, and he came to the conclusion that he should just let Weiss cool down for a while, no pun intended, and try to re-open communications once she's calmer, uninjured and optimally once the whole 'Schnee corruption' thing had rolled over.

"So… What should we start doing about the White Fang?" he asked after a small moment which he spent getting his bearings straight after the freezing wake-up call. "I mean, I'm not sure if the Fang is still importing Grimm into the city- or at least I haven't felt Grimm from Vale's direction. I can sense Grimm from pretty far away these days if I concentrate hard enough, but I wouldn't trust it explicitly. Plus there's a lot of people in Vale so that throws off my senses a lot, even if Grimm emotions have pretty distinctive patterns."

"More than that, the crime spree Torchwick has been doing has… stopped. Completely." Blake added her two cents. "Ever since the fight in the warehouse, the press hasn't reported a single robbery that would fit Torchwick's old style… well, after the CCT network coverage in Vale came back online anyway."

"So they have enough Dust for whatever purpose they might want it for, which is… is… something." Ruby tried to enter the conversation.

"Or they are keeping a low profile with their more militant wing as the organization is in the public spotlight." Blake agreed. "It would be bad for White Fang's and Torchwick's PR to appear as thieves right after they were displayed as heroes."

"And there's no way that they are selling the Dust for Lien. Selling that amount of Dust anywhere would instantly make a lot of people suspicious." Weiss said. "Not to mention that if they wanted Lien, they wouldn't have left the Lien to the shops when they committed the robberies."

"I guess?"

"They are planning on doing something with the Dust… So it's either to fuel industrial effort, to fuel mass transportation or to make a really, really big bomb." Weiss finished her speech. "I wouldn't put it past the Fang scum to do something as cliche like trying blow up Vale, but since they have been transporting the Dust out of the city I doubt it's the case."

Blake looked like she wanted to argue on the 'Fang scum' part, but fell quiet after a moment. "Yeah… I suppose so."

Weiss raised her eyebrow at the girl as she sensed the hesitation.

"I've learned my lesson. You can stop." Blake told her quietly but with a clear hint of warning in her tone, and Weiss moved on.

"Should we tell Cinder about this?" Jaune asked carefully.

"No." came from three mouths at once, and Jaune raised his eyebrow at the three girls.

"We haven't known her for long enough, and there's still the chance that she's with Emerald and her gang." Weiss reminded him while glaring at him. "Why are you so eager on taking Cinder's side, anyway?"

"Er… I'm not sure. I just somehow get a odd feeling when I'm around her."

Weiss's glare turned flat. "Really?"

"I mean it!" Jaune defended his statement."It's… odd. I feel like I can trust her… that she's sort of like me."

"She's… like you?" Blake asked carefully. "W- what do you mean?"

"It's… I don't know how to put it. It's just a weird feeling of familiarity I got when I approached her in my other form yesterday." Jaune scratched the back of his neck. "I didn't get it when I met her the first time, I think my er… 'radar' wasn't advanced enough to pick it up back then, and when I went to her room to check for Mercury I didn't really have time to concentrate on the feeling."

"And… what do you think about her?" Blake asked very, very carefully.

"It's… I feel like I could trust her." Jaune said. "It's odd. I realize that there's no guarantee that she's one of the good guys… but she feels somehow familiar. Comforting… Blake?"

"..." Blake glared at him, and he looked to the side to see Ruby glaring at him as well.

"Uh… is everything alright?"

"Yes!" Both Blake and Ruby chorused, while Weiss just looked back and forth between Ruby and Jaune, and she sighed exasperatedly.

"Okay... In that case let's just try to treat her as a team member, but not tell her everything, alright?" Jaune suggested. "I mean, that way even if she's with Emerald's gang she won't get blackmail material on us, or chance to ambush us… and we'll keep our guards up around her until we've made sure of her true motives?"

"Hmph… Very well. Your suggestion is acceptable." Weiss harrumphed as she crossed her arms and looked away while Blake nodded her opinion to the pile and Ruby just shrugged.

"I guess it's decided then... " Jaune said as he looked around the room.

.

..

...

"Weiss." Blake pulled the white-haired girl aside as Jaune and Ruby left the dorm-room to go and fetch food for the rest of the team from the dining hall and to check if Cinder was feeling well while they were at it.

Weiss had started to go through their next examination's materials while Blake had opted to do so as well, although she had an ulterior motive behind her actions.

While Blake was somewhat concerned about the fiery woman making a move on the clueless knight, Ruby was with Jaune so chances were that if Cinder managed to somehow worm her way into Jaune's arms then Ruby would pout at him until he regained his senses, which gave Blake at least some peace of mind.

However, she braced herself as she prepared for an argument to break out. "Weiss."

"Hmh?"

"What. Is. Wrong?" Blake made sure to punctuate each word.

"Huh?" Weiss seemed to be taken off-guard by her tone.

"You've been lashing out at Jaune for… I don't know, a bit more than a week? And you're doing that completely randomly as well." Blake sent a glare at the girl. "Just what happened to make you this… infuriating… to live with?"

"Y…"

"I mean I get it, you weren't the easiest person to get along with before this whole spectacle, but…"

"Just..."

"What has Jaune done to earn _that_ much of your ire?" Blake pressed on despite Weiss's attempts to interrupt her. "Yeah I get it, bad things happened, but while Jaune played a part in it, _it wasn't his fault_!"

"It… It's not that." Weiss defended herself. "Well, not entirely."

"Explain." Blake glared at the girl, and received a equal glare in return.

The two girls spent the next minute in a state of mental stalemate as all-piercing glare met impervious stubbornness… Until Weiss sighed heavily, signalling her defeat.

"Just… Fine." Weiss lifted her hands up in surrender. "There's more to my bad mood than just the recent events."

"Is it your 'crush' on Ruby then?"

"It.. A… wait- WHAT?" Weiss's words devolved into a choked shriek. "No! I do not have a crush on R… Ruby!"

"I have no idea where it might have come from, but I have seen the way you look at Ruby." Blake reminded her. "Jaune isn't the most socially aware person, and neither is Ruby, so neither of them know about it, I believe, but to me it's clear as day. And don't take offense for this, but… relationships are not your strongest suit either."

"W- but…"

"I mean, if you were negotiating a deal or something I'm fairly sure I couldn't tell if you were bluffing or not, and you are pretty good at putting on faces..." Blake waved her hand vaguely. "...But I'm guessing that you were so secluded princess when it came to dating that you didn't really get to experience crushes normally, right?"

"..." Weiss just glared at her, which might as well been a confession for the black-haired faunus.

Blake just sighed as she connected the two obvious things. "You're feeling threatened by Jaune… That he's going to take Ruby away. Or more likely, that Ruby is going to pick Jaune over you. Is that why you're being so obnoxious towards him? Do you think that if you _abuse_ him enough he'll just leave Ruby alone and let you come to swoop her to your waiting embrace or something?"

"N.. I'm n… not..." Weiss tried to deny, but Blake was having none of it.

"You already know that I'm dating him. And Pyrrha is too." Blake reminded her. "If Ruby wanted to snatch Jaune he'd have to go through us…" ' _...And same applies to that scarlet woman too…'_

"It's just… It hurts." Weiss confessed. "I'm not the best leader. I get it. But Ruby's never complained. She's always believed in me... always helped when felt down."

"So when you felt distressed you went to Ruby and let her almost constantly happy mood chip away the negativity." Blake summed up with bland tone. "Are you sure that what you feel towards Ruby is really lov…"

"No, I'm not." Weiss confessed. "But… It just feels right."

"...Do you feel the same way towards men?" Blake pressed her attack.

"I haven't met any good ones." Weiss scowled.

"What about Jaune, then? He's pretty good one, at least in my books. A bit of a dork, and as dense as rock, but with good intentions at heart." Blake lifted her eyebrow, and she couldn't quite keep the suspicious undertone from climbing into her voice. ' _Well, tell me what you really think of him... is that act of yours just an act or are you interested in him in some way, just to be sure...'_

"He's okay, I suppose." Weiss sighed with clear irritation. "He's just got… I… Nevermind."

"..." Blake narrowed her eyes at the white-haired girl who had started to sweat slightly. "Weiss."

"..."

"...Weiss. What is it?"

"His Semblance likes me!"

 **Next chapter: 3.6, hopefully.**

 **Putting a follow on the story (registering an account to FF is two clicks or so if you have twitter or google+ account) is probably the best way of making sure you know when a chapter is released though.**

 **Side note, No, the whole past 'Roman is hero' or 'Weissdice' arc is not going to be just a 'filler' arc kind of thing, it will have ~quite~ long lasting impacts... ones that are pretty unique to the stories in this site. Or at least to the ones I've seen. I originally planned to have it after the dance, and the mission, but I realized that the timeline probably wouldn't make sense if that happened so it got shuffled around a bit, which might explain bridging some topics over few chapters.**


	33. Shifting Frontiers

"His what does what?" Blake was completely taken off-guard by Weiss's sudden announcement, and she took a step back as the pair stood in team SABR's dorm-room.

"Jaune's Semblance likes me." Weiss repeated her earlier words and Blake, to her horror, saw that a faint blush spread on the ex-heiress's cheeks after the announcement.

"Wait, wait wait." Blake held her hand up to stall the girl. "Isn't that his… er, 'Shadow' you're talking about?"

"Yes."

"Isn't it… well… completely mad, according to Jaune anyway?"

"Y… Yes."

"And it likes you. And just to make sure that I'm not overthinking this, he means that in romantic sense, right?"

"Yes. He does." Weiss said an with eerie calm. "Please help me."

Blake raised her eyebrow at Weiss. "You want me, knowing that I'm his girlfriend, to help you hitch up with him?"

"No, the other way around! I want you to help me get away from him!" Weiss gave Blake a pleading look. "Or shoo him away somehow!"

Blake opened her mouth once, and closed it.

Weiss put her hands together, almost as if she was praying.

"You're not interested in him, are you?" Blake asked suspiciously.

"The perverted molester that fondles and gropes just about every woman he comes across and his insane alter-ego that he blames for everything?"

"Well, if you put it like that it sounds bad." Blake bristled. "But he's not really like that!"

"Prove me wrong!" Weiss harrumphed back. "My entire history with him has been him trying to either grope, molest or otherwise _hump_ every woman he sees, starting with you, and now he's declared that I'm his next target! He's practically _claimed_ me!"

"Uh… Weiss?"

"It is horrifying! How can I sleep soundly when I know that he's always just standing there, sleeping there, looking at me, _undressing_ me with his eyes… It's only a matter of time before he snaps and he's going to just _take_ _me_ wherever he wants!"

"Weiss?" Blake's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she detected a miniscule hint of something other than disgust in the white-haired girl's tone, and the way Weiss unconsciously focused on few words cause Blake to start wondering whether the girl was being truthful or not with her disgust.

"And when the attack happened he… He just…" Weiss's words died off and an angry blush spread across her cheeks, soon followed by a few small tears that gathered in the corners of her eyes. "He just gets up and v… violates me!"

"Aeuh?" Blake did a double-take, then triple-take on Weiss's words, and finished her mental gymnastics with a wide-eyed stare. "He… He did what?"

"He took his… gross 'thing' and shoved it in my mouth without my consent! Then he…"

"Wait, wait…"

"And I couldn't breathe… and... "

"Stop! Halt!" Blake interrupted Weiss as she was starting to shake and shiver by placing both of her hands on the smaller girl's shoulders. "Take a deep breath."

Weiss did as she instructed, and the pair sat down on the ex-heiress's bed. "Just… Tell me everything. Jaune said nothing about doing any of that…"

"Right. It started as Mercury kicked Jaune…" Weiss mumbled while a shiver of disgust coursed down her spine...

.

..

...

"...And then he j… just… gets up, and pulls the tentacles out of my gown after he was finished with me!." Weiss finished her distressed speech. "Blake?"

"Er… Uh... I mean, how could he!" Blake jumbled on her words. "I… I uh… I'll have to have a word with him about that!"

Weiss gave her an unconvinced stare.

Blake blushed slightly.

"Pervert."

Blake's blush deepened.

"You absolute pervert. Don't tell me that you have _actually_ surrendered yourself to his desire and he… and he… and he shoved his _things_ into you!" Weiss accused, and Blake looked away.

"W… Well, the thought of it may have passed by me once, twice or thrice..."

"Somehow I am not surprised." Weiss whispered bitterly. "I don't even know why I bothered speaking to you. After all, you're the kind of person who has the gall to have sex with their significant other in a shower when other people are just outside, or when they are _literally sleeping in the bed below you!_ "

"H-hey!" Blake bristled at the girl's tone. "That's not true! I haven't…"

"Oh excuse me, I must have mistaken the rustling and bumping around in your bed for something else after we rescued you from the Fang terrorists, and then waking up the next morning and seeing you sleeping with the guy must have been just my imagination! You even had your arms around him!"

"Grah! No! It's… No. Fine. Believe what you will." Blake glared at Weiss. "I trust him!"

"...And after all that, you're still okay with him _violating_ me?!" Weiss glared back at Blake with equal if not exceeding fiercity. "Some girlfriend you are. No, some _partner_ you are!"

"I swore that I would ask for his side of the story before jumping to conclusions." the black-haired faunus defended herself, and to an extension, Jaune's reputation as well. "You're just having a phobia of men and thinking that Jaune is the source of evil!"

"Well, he _is_ a Grimm…"

"Okay, point, but that's not the whole story and you know it." Blake huffed. "He's a good guy in the inside. Just try him."

"He's a 'good guy' somewhere amidst all the Grimm-angst, finger-pointing and raging desire to molest anything with two same chromosomes?"

"That's not it! And didn't you say that you liked how he keeps trying to distance himself from his more violent side?" Blake lifted her arms up in exasperation. "Just… Give him a chance. Seriously. I'm sure you'd see that he's not that bad. Go to him, try him out."

"T...Try... . And how do you propose that I do _that_? Just smile and nod when he approaches me _again_?" Weiss scowled, although blush began to spread on her cheeks.

"It wouldn't hurt to do that regularly anyway, you know." Blake said, which for some reason caused Weiss's blush to spread even further. "You're going to get wrinkles as a teenager if you keep scowling constantly."

"Oh, you meant scowling… I mean, what are you, my mother?" the ex-heiress scowled, although her blush intensified even further. "Aren't you supposed to be his girlfriend? Doesn't this bother you? At all?"

"I'm your friend and teammate, I hope." Blake sent a flat stare at Weiss. "And yeah, I'm his girlfriend, and I _want_ you to realize that Jaune is not the kind of monster you paint him as."

The words seemed to destabilize Weiss, and the black-haired faunus pressed her attack. "Weiss? Can you at least promise that you give him a shot? Can you do that for me?"

"N… I... " Weiss's thoughts came to a halt as Blake's quiet words echoed visibly inside the girl's head. "I… Fine."

"Hm?"

"Fine." Weiss huffed and turned around. "I'll give him a chance."

"Thank you." Blake nodded.

"… One chance. If he doesn't meet my expectations, and my expectations are very, _very_ _high_..." Weiss drawled off to let her threat hang in the air alongside her blush and shiver.

"Just… remember that his Semblance is less of a power, and more of a curse, and temper your expectations accordingly." Blake sighed as she turned her back towards the white-haired girl, and Weiss shrugged her shoulders coldly while remaining facing away from the black-haired faunus. "He isn't fully accountable for his actions if it goes berserk… I have come to terms with it already. Well, sort of. "

If Blake had looked at the icy ex-heiress when her words registered in her, she could have seen that a raging blush had started to creep up the white-haired girl's neck.

"...A… Are you really alright with it?" Weiss turned around to glare at Blake's back. "That I'll… he'll…"

"Weiss?" Blake asked, puzzled, as the tired ex-heiress paused to gulp. She turned to face the ex-heiress in white, and lifted her eyebrow in confusion as Weiss's blush had creeped over her cheeks and the girl's entire face was so red that Blake could have sworn that it had been dipped into boiling water.

"...No. Nevermind. I'll do... it... for the sake of our team." Weiss muttered while a visible shiver ran down her back and her blush creeped up her face. "Yes… Yes, that's right. I don't have a choice… "

"Weiss? Is everything alright?"

"Shut up. You made me do this." Weiss shot a tear-eyed glare at the confused faunus girl, before she turned towards the door- and ran off.

"...What?" Blake asked as she stood in the now-empty dorm, completely baffled by Weiss's odd behaviour. "...Don't tell me that she thought I meant something else… No! Weiss! Wait!"

* * *

"Say… do you want to play together?" Ruby asked cheerfully as she hauled her share of the food that she and Jaune had grabbed from the dining hall after they had eaten their fill and were currently moving towards their dorm through the nearly empty corridors.

Jaune had stopped to ask Cinder what she would like to eat before the pair had departed to the dining hall, and he was carrying the flame-girl's food carefully on a tray while Ruby was carrying Blake's and Weiss's foods on a tray.

"Play?" Jaune asked. "Play what?"

"Er, maybe we could play some console games or something?" Ruby clarified with slightly guilty look on her face. "I mean, we could… er, we _should_ study but it's boring…"

"Are you having troubles with your studies?" Jaune asked, divining the correct reason for Ruby's mood. "I can help, you know."

"Uh… Excuse me, but weren't you as far behind on your studies as I was with mine? You know, since you never attended any of the Beacon's preschools…" Ruby drawled out, although she didn't have any real heat in her tone.

"Er, I caught up." Jaune shrugged nonchalantly while he was sweating on the inside. ' _Crap… I haven't told her that I can, to some extent, remember the memories of those that I've… eaten…'_

He had lived, or more specifically slept, through quite few of the memories that had come from the people he had eaten and drained during his rampage across the Mistralian countryside, and there had been a few Hunter-students amongst the casualties- which meant that he _really_ wanted to keep that part of his ability secret from his fellow teammates. ' _I somehow doubt that they would trust me anymore after learning that I had done that…'_

"Eh… Are you actually good at studying?" Ruby scrunched her face cutely and pouted at him which broke him out of his musings. "You sound like Weiss sometimes… I wish I was good at learning things like you two but the books are so boring..."

"Well… perhaps we can go to Weiss and ask if we could study together, all three of us? This would be the optimal time for it since Weiss isn't exactly in a condition where she can attend classes, at the moment anyway, so that way we wouldn't get left behind the other students in the studies."

"I guess…"

"On that note, we should also invite Blake and Cinder so we could study with a full group!" Jaune tried to cheer Ruby up. "It would also help us grow closer as a team, right?"

"Right… Do we _have_ to bring Cinder too?" Ruby complained. "I don't like her."

"Why?" Jaune asked, puzzled. "I mean, she doesn't seem all that bad… and she said that she wasn't with Emerald's gang so…"

"It's just that she's… Er… Actually, nevermind." Ruby looked away and Jaune could have sworn that the girl growled something along the lines of 'man-stealing, long-legged women' and how they should keep their 'grubby hands where she could see them'.

' _Girls…'_ Jaune thought with no small amount of exasperation as Ruby fiddled with the food trays that contained Weiss's and Blake's breakfasts, and the pair exited the Beacon's main building to walk on a marble archway-covered white-tiled road that led to the dorm buildings.

' _Sometimes I could swear that girls are different species entirely…'_ Jaune sighed internally as he marveled the nice scenery that unfolded as morning sun lit the leaves of the trees that surrounded Beacon with bright hues of light.

"Um… Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"We're dating, right?" Ruby asked with a cute blush on her cheeks.

"..."

"Right?"

"Aeuh?" Jaune's thoughts ground to a halt. ' _Wait, what?'_

"So I was wondering… er… This may sound a bit… actually, it might sound _really_ inappropriate, but… I was wondering if we could… well… you know, sleep together again?"

"Eh?" Jaune's brain felt like it had malfunctioned. ' _Wha… Wait, Does Ruby think that we're dating? Since when? No, wait more than that, she wants to sleep with me? If we're dating, does that mean she wants to...?'_

"Uh… Oh, I… er... " Jaune attempted to formulate a response.

"Ah… em... " Ruby stammered her equally coherent reply. "E.. eh, was that too sudden?"

"W… well…"

"Well… I meant that... it's… well… we've slept together once already so I was thinking…" Ruby had blushed up to her eyebrows at this point, and Jaune caught a wide-eyed stare that some passing by student gave the pair before scurrying off.

"R...Ruby?"

"And… well… you told me that you liked me… and I told you that I liked you…" the small reaper was shaking like a leaf in the wind but she valiantly pushed words out of her mouth. "So… So… We're dating now, I asked Yang about it, soo… And I found this book in your shelf, and it had all sorts of… well… things… and…"

"Er… Ruby?"

"And… there were things… er… tentacles... which supposedly felt really, really good so…"

"R...Ruby?!"

"And… And I feel like I need to get more co… comfortable with your ability so…"

"Ruby?"

"So I was wondering if er… if your things... if things could er… perhaps work like that?" Ruby finished her speech with a wide-eyed stare, aimed right at Jaune's face although it felt like as if she shot it right through his heart (and brain, at least if the effects of her eyes were to be questioned).

"Mrblrb."

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head at Jaune as he had frozen completely still, and this time it wasn't because of the girl's silver eyes affecting him.

"Grlbl."

"Burlbl?" The girl tried her hardest to imitate the sound that escaped Jaune's mouth.

"D.. Do… Do you r… really wa… want to do that?" Jaune stammered out, and he could have sworn that his head had simultaneously lit itself on fire and frozen itself into a solid chunk.

"W… Well… I mean… We haven't done many gir…. girlfriend-boyfriend things so… I imagined it would count? I guess?" Ruby stammered out in return.

"Er… Uh…" Jaune tried his best to comprehend his situation.

Ruby thought she was his girlfriend.

Blake and Pyrrha had confessed to him at the same time, and had somehow agreed to date him, _both_ at the same time.

He was _fairly_ sure he had a crush on Weiss.

And now Ruby wanted to sleep with him. And not in a 'sleep' kind of way.

And she wanted… that he tried to emulate the contents of a certain genre of smut. With her as the target. And him as the tentacle monster.

' _Could I even do that?'_ Jaune recalled the vivid scenes from a certain book he had borrowed from the library, and which he was fairly sure he could find in his bookshelf.

Or maybe he could find it in Ruby's bookshelf. He wasn't sure if he was more horrified by the thought of that or of the reaction a certain golden-blonde haired girl would have should she discover that her sister was into very niche sort of porn, and that it was most likely because of him since he had fairly good hunch as to where Ruby had found the book from.

"I… I understand if it's sudden, but I think we should get to know eachother better, and I read from… uh... a certain sort of book... that some um… s… skinship… would h… help with that?" Ruby trembled out while she had hid her face deep into her hood and pulled it's top down over her eyes so Jaune could not see the quivering of her eyes- although even he could tell that the girl was extremely embarrassed and nervous… and…

' _...Hopeful?'_ Jaune thought as he briefly fired up his ability to sense emotions and found a odd one amongst the bundle of nervousness that was Ruby. ' _She's… She's looking forwards to it… Or is she looking forwards to spending more time with me? I can't tell...'_

"Uh… Ruby, I don't think that doing… that… counts as 'skinship' exactly." Jaune rubbed the back of his head while balancing the food tray on his other hand. ' _Crap, I didn't deny that she was dating me…'_ "I mean, I don't think that we should do that."

"Oh…" Ruby turned to look at the paved tile walkway with downcast eyes. "W… well… can't blame a girl for trying…"

"Euh…" Jaune felt as something cold squeezed his chest. He recognized the emotion as he was intimately familiar with it- indecision coupled with fear of losing someone. ' _And now I've made her sad…'_

"W- Well...p- perhaps we could do that in the future?" Ruby asked quietly, and Jaune had nodded half-heartedly before he even realized it.

' _Oh no.'_ Jaune froze completely, feeling faint as Ruby's expression cheered up immediately after seeing his 'reply'. The change of expression was so sudden that he wasn't sure if the earlier sadness had been real or not. ' _Oh, no. Nope. No.'_

"I'll look forwards to it, then." Ruby nodded resolutely, although her blush was starting to slowly overtake her ever-present cape in it's colour. "Actually, I'll go ahead. See you in the dooooorrmmmmm…."

Jaune was left blinking as Ruby disappeared from beside him and he numbly traced the trail of rose petals that led towards the dorm after the girl had temporarily unlocked her supersonic mode by power of embarrassment alone, and used it to practically teleport away.

' _Great…'_ Jaune thought. ' _...What am I going to do now…'_

Jaune sighed as he felt headache starting to form in the front of his head, and he could have sworn that the Shadow was laughing at him. Or barking at him. Or screaming at him. It was sometimes hard to tell the noises apart in his internal cacophony of thoughts and emotions.

He sighed as he was contemplating whether he should try to futilely try to catch up with the hooded girl, run to the dorms in pursuit of Ruby and try to correct her, or run off Beacon and hide into some convenient hole... or just go to Blake and Pyrrha and beg for mercy (or at least quick death).

However his thoughts were interrupted as he noticed a white-clad shape that was rapidly approaching him.

He furrowed his brow in concern as he saw Weiss running towards him from the same direction to where Ruby had disappeared to, and that she had small tears in her eyes.

"Weiss?" Jaune asked, putting Cinder's breakfast tray away as he sensed the white-haired girl's agitation from the distance and he prepared himself for battle. "Weiss? What's wrong?"

"..." The girl's pair of pale blue eyes flashed.

"Weiss! Did something happ… Oof!" Jaune didn't quite manage to finish his sentence as Weiss-to-ground missile hit his chest, knocked him off the tiled path and the pair stumbled into a nearby bush, although oddly enough it felt as if Weiss was deliberately guiding his fall towards it.

"Do it." Weiss took a quick look out of the bush to see that they weren't being watched before she turned to growl at Jaune who was trying to get his bearings straight. "Finish what you started."

"Do what? Finish what?" He asked, completely taken off guard by Weiss's odd behaviour. "Did something happen?" Jaune repeated as he caught the odd emotion that the white-clad girl was radiating. "Did Cinder att…"

"Just do it." Weiss's face flushed pink. Angry tears formed in the corners of her eyes and she sat on top of his chest. "Just fulfill your savage needs."

"...tack you? Where's Blake?" Jaune asked, extremely concerned over the situation, until Weiss's words registered in his head and he did a double-take. "Wait, what?"

"I know you want to. I've seen the way you look at me. I've heard your c… confession." the girl was shaking from head to toe and she began to unbutton his shirt with trembling fingers. "B… Blake told me to do this. She told me to give you a chance… and told me to try you out."

"Wha… Oof!?"

' _Try me out'? What does that mean?'_ Jaune thought as Weiss continued to manhandle him. As her fingers started to shakenly unbutton his shirt he realized what she was aiming for. "Weiss! No!"

"Stop squirming and do it!"

"Sister, if I may…"

"Come on, undress yourself!"

"Weiss, why are you doing… wait, aren't you…"

"Sister! control your urges!"

"Get it up… Oh, good morning, Winter." Weiss turned around mid-shout and her expression did complete turn from irritation and embarrassment to smile, and then to despair as she realized who she was addressing.

Winter Schnee's eye-twitch seemed to have a life of its own as she stood in the tiled pathway, leaning over the bush to where Weiss had tackled Jaune. She was holding what appeared to be a somewhat stained rag in her hand, with the other holding the pommel of her saber.

"Ahem…" Jaune waved his hand placatingly at Weiss who was currently sitting on Jaune's chest with her hands gripping his half-open shirt. "Erm… Can I get up?"

"..." Weiss looked down at Jaune with accusing eyes. "This isn't my fault."

"Er…"

"...Weiss?"

"Very well, it might be slightly my fault." Weiss acknowledged while turning back and forth between Jaune and Winter, which caused all kinds of interesting effects on Jaune as the girl's rear swiveled on his chest. "But I did it under protest!"

"You… did this under protest?"

"Blake made me do this." Weiss's tone took a slightly hysterical note.

"Sister, this isn't like you." Winter sighed before turning towards Jaune and giving him a glance that was a mixture of hostility and wariness. "Excuse me. I need a moment alone with my little sister."

Without further explanation, Winter grabbed Weiss's hand and pulled her off Jaune's chest, and the pair disappeared towards one of the Beacon's facilities, accompanied by the sound of sharp footsteps that came from the older of the Schnee sister's steel heels.

"Uh…" Jaune blinked as he watched the pair disappear from his sight. "Well, that was a thing."

He dusted himself up and cleared twigs and leaves from his clothes as he tried to process what had happened.

' _First Ruby claims that we're dating, then wants to have se… do 'things' with me, then do it with me as a tentacle monster, and now Weiss tried to jump on me and undress me… '_ Jaune sighed internally. ' _What's next, Blak…'_

"Jaune! Are you alright?" a slightly panicked voice came from behind him, and Jaune mentally braced himself. "Did Weiss… uh… get to you?!"

"Hello, Blake." Jaune sighed as he turned around. "Just for the record, are you going to ask me to…"

Blake's face was bright red and she was panting after her attempt to catch up to Weiss, which made her appear more than a little disheveled and the way her eyes roamed over him did not fill Jaune with confidence.

' _Oh great. She's going to ask for 'that' as well.'_ Jaune sighed internally. ' _What's going on with girls right now?'_

A odd thought that he was fairly sure wasn't his passed by his head. ' _Don't tell me that humans have a mating season or something?'_

' _B̨͘͢͡ŕ̸́͜e͏̨̨è̷̛͞d͢͡͞͝.̸͝͏̧.̸͞͞.̡̨̀͠'_

The fourth thought was more confused than the three before it. ' _Hold on, since when have I started to address 'humans' in third person? Also, Shadow, shut up...'_

"Ah, it's alright if Weiss didn't get to you." Blake sighed in relief, completely unaware of the fact that Jaune was having an existential crisis. "I may have used a slightly misleading wording when I was lecturing Weiss for her behaviour, so she might have… erm… gotten a wrong message."

"Oh. Is that why she tried to… er…" Jaune replied half-heartedly.

Blake's breath caught. "So Weiss found you… what happened?"

"Her big sister was around and she stopped her." he shrugged, feeling somewhat bad for Weiss as he thought about it.

Blake cringed. "I'll have to apologize to Weiss later... But you're alright, so nothing bad happened?"

"Well… I guess?"

"Good..." Blake sighed in relief before her eyes flashed slightly. "Weiss was complaining to me about you."

"About me?"

"Yes, she felt that you were stalking her."

"Erk." Jaune's thoughts halted for the third time in less than fifteen minutes. ' _If this is going to become a norm…'_ "W… why would she feel that way?"

"She told me that you... violated... her when you saved her from Mercury Black." Blake's eyes narrowed dangerously, and although Jaune did not feel the usual irritation from the girl there was something far more ominous and slightly alluring in its place. "Although I… I may have used slightly wrong expressions when I defended you and I think Weiss took it as me trying to hitch you two up."

"Oh."

"So did you do it? Also, Ruby passed by me just a moment earlier, and she was completely red from head to toe… did something happen?"

"Er…"

"I am waiting." Blake tapped her feet against the paved tile and she crossed her arms in startlingly Weiss-like manner.

"In my defence, I had no say in the matter." Jaune attempted to emulate Weiss as well. It didn't work.

"So did you do it?"

"Well, sort of... Just listen first!" Jaune hurried to halt Blake's response. He glanced around and saw few students meandering around on the grounds as the breakfast had ended, and he reached to grab Blake's hand. "Let's go somewhere else to talk. There's too many listeners here."

"Hm. Very well." Blake responded half-mindedly while she looked at her hand which was entwined with his as he led her back towards the dorms.

* * *

"Ehm, so…" Weiss coughed as she sat in front of Winter in one of the Beacon's many empty group study rooms.

"Weiss. I want to address your… unsightly actions just now." Winter scolded. "I am willing to allow you the benefit of doubt since you are quite young, but trying to… engage in a certain activity… in the middle of the Beacon is too undignified and improper behaviour for anyone, much less for one bearing the surname of a Schnee!"

"W… Well…"

"I am not looking for excuses, Weiss…"

"Fine." Weiss gave a resigned sigh. "I was pressured into it by Blake. One of my teammates, who is dating Jaune."

"Jaune?" Winter's eyes narrowed. "Do you mean your… 'boyfriend?'"

"I… Well…"

Winter gave a resigned sigh before she straightened her back. "Weiss. I am aware that the Grimm creature that you introduced to me as your boyfriend has taken the identity of a certain late Jaune Arc, who according to the reports has been _missing_ in whole another continent for two years until he _miraculously_ appeared in the middle Vale and immediately joined your team. You do not need to lie to me."

All colour fled Weiss's face as she processed the thought. "Wait, what? How?"

"I saw the recording of his fight against Mercury Black as he defended you." Winter told her simply. "I saw that you somehow managed to turn mr. Arc's 'dead' body into a Grimm, and then turn it back into a _living_ 'mr. Arc', who I then discovered in now-disbanded team CEMN's dorm, assaulting miss Fall while bearing a somewhat similar appearance to your… boyfriend… mere minutes after his miraculous 'resurrection.'"

"Um…"

"And now you are telling me that mr. Arc, who is your boyfriend according to what you have told me, and is also a Grimm tentacle monster disguised as human being from what I have witnessed, is also dating miss Belladonna, who is your teammate? At the same time?"

"W- Well…"

"Weiss. I am more than tempted to seize you right now and carry you back to Atlas with me." Winter sent a severe glare at Weiss's direction. "This kind of behaviour is unacceptable from a Schnee, even though I am aware that our father has greatly wronged you and you are no doubt doing this partially to spite him..."

"No, that's not at all…"

"Quiet."

"..."

"Weiss, I am going to give you one more chance to come clear with me. Please, tell me what is going on in here?" Winter placed her hands on the table that separated the two. "Just what happened that made you so… lewd? How did you encounter mr. Arc? Just how did you discover your Grimm controlling techniques?"

"Ah…" Weiss shook as Winter's concerned look pierced right through her. "Uh, anyway, why were you following me in the first place, if I may ask?"

"I was cleaning er… Atlesian equipment. And I saw you running out of the dorm and I moved to investigate." Winter blushed slightly and Weiss glanced towards a nearby trash bin where the older of the Schnee sisters had tossed a dirty rag that looked like it had been used to wipe bird droppings.

"Sister... Just how come you are always around when something like this happens?" Weiss started to feel slightly suspicious. "Are you by any chance deliberately following me around? This is, I believe, the third time something like this has happened." ' _Are you stalking me?'_ was left unsaid, but it hang in the air.

"Don't try to change the subject." Winter blushed.

"Very well." Weiss's face was devoid of emotions. "I was framed."

"I see."

"I am innocent of the crimes you accuse me of!" Weiss's emotionless mask cracked as it clashed with Winter's doubtful tone.

"Haah… Very well. I believe that somehow someone _convinced_ you to try to assault your _boyfriend_ in the middle of Beacon's grounds." Winter sighed, although she kept an eye on Weiss. "You were far, _far_ more calm and composed before coming to Beacon. Tell me, have you forgotten what it means to be a Schnee?"

"I have not!" Weiss bristled. "The situation is just stacked against me!"

"Tell me. I may able to help."

"...It's my team." Weiss finally confessed. "I'm surrounded by perverts and deviants."

"Sister, I saw you in the same bed with one of your teammates and now you tried to sexually assault another in plain sight."

"W...well… It was a bush..."

"Weiss."

"Sorry."

"Don't tell me that you are saying that you have taken in their habits and become a perverted deviant yourself?" Winter's eyes widened as the reason for Weiss's irregular behaviour came clear to her. "No… Don't tell me, something happened inside your team, and you fear that they will turn their backs on you, and you're going out of your way to accommodate for them, am I correct? Did you become a pervert to fit in with a group of perverts?!"

"...Yes. Fine. Whatever." Weiss confirmed with a weak voice. To Winter, it looked as if Weiss had just simply given up. "Yes, yes…"

"Haah…" Winter leaned back on her chair. '.. _I need to find a way to get Weiss out of here. Her team is a bad influence on her.'_

"...I'm a bad leader." Weiss complained quietly to no-one in particular, and it looked like as if Weiss had detached herself from reality with even her eyes going from their radiant shine to plain and dull pale blue "Whatever I do, ends up being a failure. I fainted on my Initiation test. My team doesn't like the way I lead them. I have to cover for their crimes… and even someone I like likes another member of our team. Everyone thinks that I am a deviant, even my sister… I was kicked out of my family… _He_ is trying to claim my body… and no-one in the team defends me."

"Weiss?"

"I don't care… I'm tired. Let me sleep." Weiss slumped down on the table. "Perhaps if I wake up I find that this whole thing has been just a nightmare."

Winter stood up from her seat and walked beside her younger sister that had started to shake. "Haah… Weiss. If you need to talk, I'm here."

"I'm sorry, Winter. I'm sorry…" Weiss mumbled. "I lied…"

"Weiss. Please tell me what's wrong." Winter rubbed circles on the distressed girl's back and even her own conviction was wavering.

' _Just what should I do with you, Weiss…'_ Winter thought as she observed her distressed sister. ' _Something is gnawing at you from the inside. But unless she opens up, I can't help her… And if I do end up helping her, I'd have to report that to Ironwood, which then goes to Atlas, which then goes back to our father. What would he do if he learned the way Weiss's 'craft' worked?'_

Winter's internal struggle continued for a while, but in the end, her bond to her family, to her sister, won over her sense of duty and her orders. "Tell me what's wrong, Weiss. I promise that I won't judge you, and that I won't tell anything you say to anyone else."

"Do you promise?" Weiss's voice wavered.

"I do, if you promise to tell me the truth. Now, tell me. Tell me everything."

.

..

…

"He's… His Semblance is the ability to become a Grimm by absorbing their flesh?" Winter whispered. Her face was paler than usual, and her hands gripped the table with enough force to place small dents in the wood. "And he is trying to get his hands… no, his tentacles on you?"

"He claimed that his Semblance likes me, and…"

"He was the Grimm in the cage back in Vale, right?" Winter asked, speaking over Weiss. "Your ability to control Grimm is just a cover for him, right?"

"Yes."

"Why, why did you claim that he was your boyfriend?" Winter asked desperately. "Was it also to cover for him? For his ability?"

"Yes…" Weiss looked down, although she looked relieved, almost as if a weight was taken off her chest. "I was sick at the time, and I didn't know what to say, so I just blurted out something."

"And the first thing that you could come up with was that he was dating you?"

"Y… yes."

"Weiss, do you like him?"

"No."

"...Weiss." Winter's eyes narrowed. "You would not come up with such excuse out of the blue. Something happened between the two of you."

"Fine. He has his good parts, but the negatives _far_ outweigh the positives." Weiss looked troubled as she spoke, and Winter's eyes narrowed even further.

"Did something happen?"

"Well… His desire to protect those around him was something I thought was quite charming, and his iron will to hold back his more feral side was something I considered laudable." Weiss recounted. "But… The thing is, he's a complete pervert! He took his girlfriend, Blake, in the shower when we were sleeping, and even when we were in the same room!"

"..."

"And he told me that he wanted me next! But he has girlfriends already!"

"Girlfriends?"

"A girlfriend." Weiss quickly corrected herself, and her elder sister sent her a suspicious glare but chose not to comment.

"I see. I can have a word with him if you want." Winter rubbed her eyebrows. "A word or a few."

"Don't." Weiss warned her. "He's not stable. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I see." Winter's eyes narrowed at the way Weiss was fidgeting on her seat ever so slightly. "Is it his Semblance? That 'shadow' you told me that he has?"

"Yes. I don't know if that's a real thing, or if he is just using it as a convenient excuse to go wild and do what he wants." the long-haired ex-heiress of the Schnee family sighed, and the Specialist of the Atlesian army reached to pat her back reassuringly.

"So when he tried to molest you in front of the crowd, back in Vale when he was shaped like a Beowolf…"

"Yeah."

"How despicable. That filthy man." Winter shivered in disgust, or at least to Weiss it looked like disgust. "But, why would Ozpin let you claim that you could control Grimm in the first place? Surely he must know of the Arc's ability?"

"Yeah, he does." Weiss agreed. "I… I didn't think too much about that. I just wanted to shake off the rumors about me being a evil mistress of the Grimm… I had already lost too much because of those."

"I see." Winter sighed, and her eyes gained a measure of steel. "Ozpin set you up."

"Sister?"

"Some third party started those rumors to discredit both the Schnee's and Beacon, and Ozpin must have used you as a convenient puppet to draw out the ones responsible." Winter explained. "He must have used you as a cover for the Arc's secret, after all even if something happened then you would bear the brunt of the attacks, whether they were in the form of public discredit, distasteful journalism… or assassinations."

"...!" Weiss's face paled. "Mercury and Emerald."

"Exactly." Winter nodded, equally pale although her eyes might as well have been glaciers. "That bastard. You were nothing more than a sacrificial pawn to him."

"Winter, Ozpin decided to put Emerald's team leader, Cinder, on my team!"

"I know. It makes sense now." Winter said as she stood up from her seat beside Weiss. "He's made you a convenient target… again. How despicable."

"Winter, what should I do?" Weiss asked, feeling the despair of the situation welling inside of her. "I'm surrounded by enemies from all sides."

"I can help. Please do not tell anyone about this, but General Ironwood tasked me to observe you." Winter said. "I can oversee your safety and I'll be near should anything happen to you. Moreover, is there anyone in your team that you can trust?"

"Well… To varying degrees, yes and no." Weiss grumbled out. "Even though Ruby seems to be gunning for Jaune, I feel that I can trust her. I just wish that…"

"Ruby? Do you mean the girl in red cloak?" Winter interrupted her. "Wasn't she the one in your bed in the infirmary?"

"Y… yes." Weiss blushed slightly. "We're not… uh, 'together' though."

Winter's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Weiss…"

"Fine, I'm sorry! I like Ruby!"

"...I see. I'm sorry, I had a feeling that it would be the case but I won't judge you because of your preferences." Winter's face gained a slightly green tint, but she carried on with grace that Weiss could only hope to archive one day.

"Not that you need to worry about that… Ruby's got her eyes solely on Jaune" Weiss grumbled bitterly.

"What about your other teammate, Blake? You told me that she persuaded you to… commit that disgraceful act earlier?"

"Yeah. She's probably thinking that if I… uh, 'sample' Jaune then I'd fall for him or something. She even pushed me into doing it." Weiss shrugged through her rising blush. "To be honest, I don't know what's going on in that girl's head. One moment she's all about equality, duty and purity of actions, the next she's completely unchained pervert, and the next she just wants to lazy around in her bunk and read smut, completely ignoring that we're literally in the same room while she's reading it."

"That sounds like she's trying to imitate a housecat."

"I… Uh, I mean… well…"

"That leaves just mr. Arc, and I believe that we both know by now what kind of person he is." Winter sighed. "So in other words, you feel alone in your team."

"Yes. Even when I tried to plead for help from Blake, she just… she just…" Weiss's words broke as her actions registered in her head, and her earlier actions returned to her. "I can't believe that I did that…"

"You felt alone and even your partner turned on you. I understand." Winter sat down next to Weiss and continued to rub circles on her back. "Atlas Institute will no doubt accept you if you want to change schools, you know."

"You know that Atlas institute is practically owned by our father. As long as I remain a stain his reputation, they will never take me." Weiss replied. "Vacuo hates the Schnee's because of father's excavations, and I will just run into same or even worse problems in there. Mistral might as well be White Fang's headquarters. I have nowhere to run."

"I see." Winter sighed. "You're in a difficult situation."

"That's a fairly mild way of saying it." Weiss agreed. "I'm glad to have you by my side, dear sister."

* * *

"... _And I'm glad to be able to stand by yours, sister."_ the words echoed lightly in Ozpin's office as one of the recording devices inside the empty classroom captured the sister's conversation.

He sighed as he reached for his Scroll and dialed a certain number.

"Qrow. Specialist Schnee knows too much."

" _...What do you want me to do?_ "

"Ironwood must not know about mr. Arc. Do what you need to do to silence Winter Schnee."

" _Do you really think that Ironwood would go as far as you have said, should the knowledge of the kid's ability reach him?_ "

"Qrow, I have walked this earth far longer than you have, and I know what people of Ironwood's character do when confronted with this kind of situation."

"... _Fine._ "

* * *

" _...And I'm glad to be able to stand by yours, sister."_ the words echoed lightly in a small office aboard an Atlesian airship, and General Ironwood furrowed his brow at Penny whose eyes had turned from their usual bright green to pale blue resembling that of Specialist Schnee eyes.

"Recording ends." Penny quipped and her eyes turned back to bright green. "Surveillance devices attached to Specialist Schnee's uniform remain operational. New orders?"

"Resume your observation of Specialist Winter. While she may not relay the information she gathers to us, your equipment will bridge that gap. In addition, I want you to add Jaune Arc as one of your observation targets." Ironwood sighed and leaned back on his chair. He closed his eyes briefly to consider the new information. "I can't ignore the possibility that Weiss Schnee lied to her sister in order to cover her own back, so surveillance of miss Schnee will continue as usual. In addition, I want you to try to find out whether mr. Arc is capable of transforming individually, or if he needs miss Schnee to act as a catalyst for him."

"Yes sir." Penny continued to smile radiantly and she filled Ironwood's drinking glass with water. The general drank it absentmindedly.

"Specialist Schnee has betrayed us. I expected that it could happen from the way she has acted recently, but sometimes I hate being right right." Ironwood rubbed his eyebrows. "I had high hopes for her. Peerless record in her studies, combat, and tactics, but it seems that her loyalty to her sister proved stronger than her sense of duty."

"I have prepared the necessary documents to relieve Specialist Schnee of duty and detain her for questioning." Penny supplied helpfully. "Shall I forward them to you for approval?"

"No. She can still serve her duty to Atlas, although not when it puts her against her sister's interests." Ironwood rubbed his temple in frustration. "However, I feel that I should detain mr. Arc and send him to Atlas so we can properly dissect him and learn how his Semblance operates, should that be the source of the recent Grimm activity in Vale."

"Sir."

"The amount of information on Grimm we could pump out of him could turn our war against the Grimm around... but with the amount of secrecy that Ozpin employs to protect him, I feel that just straight-up assault and capture operation directed at him would not work, and at worst, it would turn Vale against us."

"Sir, you appear to be distressed. Do you wish for medical assistance?" Penny furrowed her brow in concern as her biometric sensors read increased stress levels in the General's partly mechanical body.

"No, thank you." Ironwood sighed and swiveled his office chair around to look at a wide-screen display behind his desk that showed the city of Vale, as recorded by the network of cameras mounted on the frame of the air-cruiser.

For all intents and purposes, the screen was a wide window. But windows were structural weaknesses, so Atlesians did not use them, which meant that such configuration of cameras and screens was a necessity should one want a window in their office.

"I am not suited for this cloak-and-dagger strategy." Ironwood confessed. "I would much prefer to relieve Specialist Schnee of duty, storm team SABR's dorm and capture mr. Arc for study and finally establish martial law on Vale and use that to apprehend both White Fang operatives and Torchwick to bring peace to this nation."

"What is stopping this course of action, sir?"

"If I relieve Specialist Schnee of duty I make an enemy of Jacquois Schnee when the news of her dishonourable discharge reach Atlas and the name of the Schnee's gets dragged into even further controversy." Ironwood explained. "If I capture mr. Arc, I will make an enemy of Ozpin and his band, which most likely means the entire Vale. As much as he pretends otherwise, I know that he has enough strings attached and dirt in place to move the entire council of Vale around as he wishes, and I am not arrogant enough to think that he doesn't have a backup plan to replace me should I go against his plans."

"...Sir?" Penny's face grew slightly more worried.

"Which means that the only action I have left is to sit on my ass and watch as a _Grimm_ walks around freely in Vale, and even my own agent changes her allegiance." Ironwood gripped the armrest of his chair with enough force to splinter the plastic.

"Sir?"

"If I only could act… Dammit, if the Arc can control Grimm material, the salvation of mankind might as well be in our grasp but he is keeping our fingers tied..." Ironwood's tone shook from barely restrained anger. "Ozpin plays his games with Arc, but I doubt he realizes just how much this could cost us should it backfire…"

"Dad!"

"..." An explosive sigh escaped from between Ironwood's lips and he turned around to look at Penny whose normally cheerful mood had made way for concern that bordered fear. "Penny. How many times have I told you to not call me that. You are not _her_."

"I am sorry, sir." Penny dipped her head, and her expression returned back to her normal, cheerful mood. "Would you like a coffee?"

"Yes please." Ironwood sighed before he turned back around to face his window-screen.

Behind him, Penny Polendina bowed slightly before walking out of the room with steady, precise footsteps that only an automation could produce.

Ironwood rubbed his eyebrows again. "Damn all of this…"

* * *

"...Uh… I guess?"

"Thank you. That will be all." Cinder nodded gracefully and let Ruby's hand go.

"Err, why do you need to know what Jaune eats and what he likes and dislikes?" Ruby asked dubiously as she rubbed her wrist.

The flame-caster had caught the red reaper when Ruby had hid in the kitchen cupboard after entering the dormitory with the power of a small whirlwind, and Cinder had dragged the girl unceremoniously to her private dorm-room… where Ruby's personal nightmare was realized as Cinder started to grill information about Jaune from the smaller girl. And it wasn't about his Semblance, that she could stomach, but she asked about his habits, his personality, hobbies and choices of food… in other words, it was the worst possible case.

"I have my own reasons for asking." Cinder's answer caused Ruby's eyes to narrow dangerously, and Cinder sent her a sly smile which caused hairs in Ruby's neck to stand on their ends, but she had to carry on.

"I know what you're trying to do and it wont work. I'm dating him." Ruby commenced tactical precision bombing on Cinder's approximate location, and grinned slightly as she saw that Cinder's expression fractured for a split second before re-establishing itself. "Yep. That's right. So don't try anything funny or you'll have to go through me!"

"Somehow I doubt that it would pose a problem." Cinder hummed quietly while examining her fingernails, which caused Ruby to try to imitate Yang and try to set herself on fire by power of anger alone. Sadly it didn't work, and if the way Cinder smiled at her, Ruby's failure was clear to her as well.

"W… We're in love!" Ruby exclaimed, and her cheeks turned crimson as she burst out her second salvo of verbal missiles. "Y… yes, that's right. We even slept together! We're practically m… married already!"

Cinder's eyebrow twitched and her grip on her Scroll where she had taken notes tightened.

"J… Jaune and I, I mean." Ruby clarified as Cinder gave her an odd look that seemed to imply that the red-hooded girl had lost her mind. "Er… If you got confused, I... uhh…"

"I won't repeat what I said earlier."

"Grrrr…" never before had Ruby wanted to be able to growl intimidatingly (like Yang) as much as she did now as she looked at Cinder's smug, condescending expression that might as well scream 'fufufu, Just look how pathetic you are' to Ruby.

"In any case, I appreciate your help. Thank you." Cinder nodded her head towards the exit, and Ruby dug her heels in the carpet. "...You're free to go. Thank you." Cinder repeated herself and made slightly exaggerated motion towards the door.

Ruby puffed her cheeks threateningly but did not move.

"Really?" Cinder lifted her eyebrow.

"Fine. I'm telling Jaune that you wanted to know about him." Ruby glared at the girl.

"Please do. Also, tell him to stop by my room sometime." Cinder smiled and nodded, which caused Ruby to let out a sound that was somewhere between annoyed squeal and furious scream and she stomped out of the flame-caster's room.

"..." Cinder smiled and nodded at Ruby's back and closed the door after her.

' _I don't like her. I really don't like her.'_ Ruby fumed as she stomped into her own room, went to the shower and put her head under cold water, intending on using it to quench her rage.

It worked well enough so she grabbed her towel and started to dry up her hair, but midway through she heard as the dorm-room's door opened and she froze still while sitting on a small shower chair.

' _Oh no, what if Jaune is here… '_ Ruby felt as her face heated up again, although this time it wasn't because of anger. She rubbed the wet towel against her face in attempt to quench the new heat as well, but this time to no avail. ' _Sheesh… I can't see him right now… W- what if… What if he's going to come into the shower, and then he finds me here and… and_ that _happens…'_

She bounced around the walls of the bathroom like a trapped bird after that though entered her head, but a more feminine voice coming from the dorm-room calmed Ruby down.

Her interest piqued, she pressed her ear against the door that seperated the bathroom from the dorm-room. ' _Blake?'_

"...So what was that all about?"

"Er… Well… When Weiss got attacked, I kinda lost it. He kicked my brains out, I think, so I went sort of berserk."

"...Are you alright?"

"I'm good now. But when it happened I just completely lost it."

"And it caused you to... violate... Weiss?"

"Er, sort of. Not fully. Also, I didn't go all the way, I just… uh… shoved a thing down her throat because the Shadow was kind of er..."

"A thing."

"Y- yes. This kind of thing."

A small crunch, followed by bubbling sound came from the dorm-room and Ruby blinked. ' _Is he using his Semblance?'_

"T… That kind of thing." The shaking in Blake's voice was clear even through the wooden door, and Ruby pressed her ear against it again. "S… So uh… w… where exactly did you… er… uhm… s- shove it?"

"In her m̴͞o̷͜͢u̵̷͜҉̢-... mouth? I just told you that few seconds ago." Jaune's voice rippled slightly, but stabilized soon afterwards. "Erm… Sorry. I may have omitted that detail when I told you about that night."

"You forced Weiss to deepthroat that… t- thing… and…"

"W… well, that's about it. I think. I wasn't fully conscious at the time so I think that my other side took the helm and kind did of what it wanted..."

"I… It wanted to 'do' Weiss… With _that_ …" Blake's voice became more and more muddled as her tone became quieter, and Ruby leaned against the door harder so she could hear Blake better.

"Ugh… The door is too thick…" Ruby whined quietly and she contemplated opening the door slightly, but decided against it. ' _Why am I even hiding… Blake's there, so surely he wouldn't do anything too bad if she's like, literally watching… No, even more than that, I'm sure Jaune wouldn't try anything if I told him not to…'_

She processed Blake's earlier words, and a odd thought came by her. ' _...Didn't Blake say something about deepthroating? What's that, some sort of new way to sing? Weiss did say that she used to sing… Did Weiss sing to Jaune? I want to hear that too...'_

The odd thought was followed by another. ' _Also, Jaune violated Weiss? What does… Hold on, didn't_ that _book mentioned 'violating' as well… in that case, did J-Jaune… No, I won't believe it.'_

Ruby harrumphed soundlessly and crossed her arms while she sat cross-legged on the bathroom floor. ' _Sheesh, I'm just being a perv. What would Yang say? Actually, nevermind, I dont want to know.'_

"So uh… Are you mad?" Jaune's voice came through the door again, and Ruby turned her attention back to the sounds coming from the dorm-room.

"No… Not really." Blake's voice seemed distant, almost as if she was focusing on something intently and had forgotten everything else. "Uh… can I touch it?"

"Touch what?"

"T… that thing?"

"Oh. Er… Okay, I guess?"

"Right… I'm going to just go ahead and… grab."

"Ow! OW! Blake! It is sensitive! Careful! You don't have to try to pull it off!"

"Oh, sorry. Er… C-can I rub the pain away?"

"W-what do you mean rub- oh. Oooh."

"Er… is it working"

"Aueh."

"...Is that a yes?"

"Oh."

"M-maybe if I used both hands?"

Ruby blushed as she listened to the voices through the door. ' _N- no, they're not doing that. Jaune is dating me after all. He wouldn't do that. I'm just being a perv.'_

' _I shouldn't have read that book. I'm getting dangerous thoughts'_ Ruby steeled herself. ' _I'm just going to get up and walk out, completely calm and normal. There's no need to be embarrassed.'_

She took a deep breath before standing up, and putting her towel on a rack.

Ruby closed her eyes just in case and she opened the bathroom door while humming a cheerful tone, and she walked to her desk with brisk footsteps, took a random schoolbook, and sat down on her chair.

"Hi Blake, hi Jaune." She called behind her as she opened her eyes and reached for her pencil while keeping her gaze tightly on the book in front of her. "Oh yeah, Blake, your food is in kitchen."

"R- Ruby?!"

"Aeh?"

Ruby sighed and turned around. "I said, your food is in the… kitch..."

Ruby's voice died off as she saw Blake's expression which was somewhere between shocked and embarrassed, and she looked like she might suffer a heart attack at any time. Her amber eyes were almost as wide as saucers and her cat-ears, now free of their usual ribbon, were perked completely upright.

Ruby traced Blake's posture to her hand which held onto a suspicious looking tentacle that squirmed in her grip, and she traced the tentacle to Jaune whose expression was almost a complete copy of Blake's, with the exception of pain in his eyes as Blake's grip on the suspicious tentacle had tightened so much that the girl's knuckles were white.

The tentacle's other end disappeared under Jaune's shirt, and the tip that was being crushed in Blake's hand looked suspiciously like one of the 'things' featured in a certain book Ruby had read through.

"Uh… Blake, is that by any chance..." Ruby tried to ask, but she lost her train of thought as she looked at the squirming tentacle.

"This isn't what it looks like." Blake denied before Ruby managed to form a proper sentence.

"B… Blake… too tight…"

"J... Jaune?" Ruby turned her attention to the weakly struggling boy. "Uh… what are you doing?"

"Ow, ow…" Jaune complained and Ruby hopped down from her chair, and walked to Blake.

"You're hurting him…" the red-clad reaper grabbed the black tentacle and pried Blake's numb fingers off it, and she let the appendage slump to the ground.

Blake looked at Ruby.

Ruby looked at Blake.

Jaune rubbed the bruised tentacle.

The bruised black tentacle pulled itself back under Jaune's shirt and disappeared from sight.

"So uh… what was that thing?" Ruby re-opened the conversation after she determined that she had stared Blake for long enough. "And why was it…"

"Nothing. It was nothing. Just an illusion." Blake shook her head. "Nothing was going to happen. Definitely not. I wasn't planning on doing anything indecent."

"Uh… Blake…"

"Shut up Jaune." Blake turned to put her hand over Jaune's mouth before she turned towards Ruby. "Honest."

"Blake…" Ruby's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Nope."

"Wasn't that like, literally something from one of your books?"

"Nope. I don't know what you're talking about." Blake was sweating bullets.

"Blakeee…."

"Mbth." Jaune tried to voice his opinion, but Blake slapped her other hand over his mouth as well.

"Blake…"

"Fine, maybe I was thinking that something might happen." Blake cracked under the pressure. "But I'm his girlfriend, I can do that!"

"Hueh?" Ruby took a step back. ' _Wait… don't tell me that…. No!'_

"Nope." It was Ruby's turn to dig her heels in. "Not true. I'm his girlfriend. His tentacles belong to me."

"His what?"

"He belongs to me." Ruby corrected herself although she couldn't stop the raging blush that spread over her cheeks. "He told me that he liked me. We even slept together!"

"J- Jaune?" Blake turned towards the boy who had frozen still.

"Mggrrl."

"Oh." Blake pulled her hands off his mouth. "Sorry."

"I did. We did. But not like that." Jaune breathed out after taking a big gulp of air.

"No- Y- You what?" Blake's eyes widened while Ruby puffed her cheeks victoriously.

"But… Er… This is kinda hard to say but…" Jaune continued, which caused Ruby's victorious expression to crack slightly. "I sort of er… meant that in 'best partners' sense…"

"Whops, I think my hand slipped." Ruby mysteriously stumbled on her feet on an even floor and toppled over Jaune while slapping her hands over his mouth. She pulled herself upright while sitting on top of his chest and sent him a desperate gaze.

"Gah… Don't tell me that this is going to be Pyrrha all over again…" Blake complained as she reached to grab Ruby's hands and pulled them off Jaune's mouth.

"Pyrrha?" Ruby tilted her head at Blake as she lost her train of thought.

"She's dating Jaune." Blake sent Ruby a flat stare.

"But…" Ruby was visibly confused. "I'm dating him… and you said you were dating him… Pyrrha is dating him as well?"

"Yes." Blake sighed.

"D- does this mean that Jaune is actually cheating on everyone with everyone else?" Ruby gripped her head as the situation was starting to confuse her.

"That's actually a pretty good question. Are you?" Blake turned her attention to Jaune who was struggling weakly under Ruby.

…

"Er…" It was Jaune's turn to sweat bullets. "I sort of… well… didn't want anyone to be sad…"

"Jaune?" Blake's eyes narrowed and he could _feel_ the suspiciousness levels rising inside the black-haired faunus. "Do you by any chance like Ruby?"

Ruby turned to give him a look that pierced right through him. It was not a look that conveyed suspiciousness, hate, or fear. No, it was far worse.

It was trust. Ruby trusted him.

' _I can't… What should I do? What should I say?'_ Jaune stressed over his words. ' _Is this what big sis meant when she told me that if I keep this up I'll end up hurting someone eventually?'_

"Jaune…" Ruby reached to pat his head which let him know that his time was running out.

He needed to say something.

"I'm sorry!"

Ruby froze.

"I'm sorry." Jaune repeated. "I'm sorry for being thick-headed. I didn't know that you felt that way with me, Ruby."

"Ah… It's okay. I know you're a bit thick, like me." Ruby nodded resolutely. "But it doesn't matter now since we're together, right?"

"I…" Jaune felt shivers going down his spine. "I… Ruby…"

"Maybe it would be for the best if we got up, and sat down somewhere to talk properly." Blake saved him from having to make a decision that might break either of their hearts, and she offered her hands to Ruby and Jaune… which made the two of them realize that Jaune was still laying on his back on the dorm-room's floor, and Ruby was sitting on his waist.

"Oh… Y-yeah. Let's do that" Ruby's blush creeped up her neck as well and she shot up from his chest.

...

"We might need to get Pyrrha here as well." Blake sighed as she pulled chairs for the three of them and they sat down around Ruby's and Jaune's shared desk.

"Oh… Oh yeah. You told that Pyrrha was dating Jaune as well." Ruby tilted her head. "How does that work?"

"Work?" Blake lifted her eyebrow at the girl.

"I mean, you know that Pyrrha is dating Jaune, and you say that you're dating Jaune as well… does that mean that you're cheating on Pyrrha?" Ruby scrunched her face as she tried to comprehend the relationship triangle that was beginning to form. Or was it relationship square? Relationship cube?

' _I'm pretty good at math but not in this kind of math.'_ Ruby despaired internally as Blake thought about her answer.

"Well.. it all started when Jaune's sisters got us drunk." Blake started telling the tale of how their dating scheme had begun. "And it wasn't just 'slightly tipsy' kind, it was 'completely smashed' kind… and they sort of insisted that I'd get together with Jaune. Pyrrha was there too, and they told us that we should get together… all three of us."

"What happened then?" Ruby tilted her head.

"We… slept together." Blake blushed. "All three of us. And the next morning, we sort of confessed to each other and we started going out…"

"I… see." Ruby felt pinpricks of something odd and ugly building inside her chest, and she tried to blink off the sudden tears that had formed in her eyes. "J… Jaune? Is Blake… Is she speaking the truth?"

"Well… sort of. We didn't go all the way, and the 'sleeping together' was more akin to 'the two of them passed out on top of me'" Jaune scratched the back of his neck. "I… I didn't want anyone to be unhappy, so when Blake and Pyrrha told me that t- they liked me… I just sort of locked up. Completely."

"..." Blake turned her eyes on Jaune, and he started to fidget visibly.

"So… I figured that the only way for all of us to be happy would for us all to be together." sweat trickled down Jaune's brow under Blake's inquisitive gaze. "We're still kind of trying to get used to it…"

"And… What about the time I told you that I liked you?" Ruby grabbed Jaune's hand. "Back in your home. You told me that you liked me too…"

"I… well… I…" Jaune stammered. "I… thought that you meant that you liked me as a friend…"

"As a friend…" Ruby's voice cracked against her will. "D… do you still see me as just a friend?"

"Ruby…" Blake's tone was careful and she reached to hold the red-hooded girl's shaking hand with her own as Jaune opened his mouth and closed it without a sound.

"Nope." Ruby dug her heels in harder than she had ever dug before.

"Ruby?"

"Nope. I don't believe it." her tone was resolute. "Nope."

"Ruby…" Blake patted her hand. "Jaune is…"

"Nope." Ruby turned to look at Jaune.

It was an odd feeling, to be honest. It felt like Ruby's heart was being squeezed by a icy hand, and her legs had started to tingle almost as if she had lost all sense of touch in them. Her head spun and she could have sworn that the lights of the room had started to dim down as she processed her situation.

Jaune wasn't really dating him. He was still dating Blake. And somehow Pyrrha as well.

He wasn't really dating her.

She wasn't really dating him.

It had all been a misunderstanding.

Ruby realized that. She could understand that. Jaune was pretty thick-headed when it came to things like those, and she wasn't much better so it was understandable that unless they used very, _very_ specific wordings then there could be misunderstandings.

She just hadn't prepared herself for this.

' _Hold on, Blake said that she and Pyrrha were both dating him…'_ Ruby thought about her next action through the odd haze that permeated her head.

"So… you three are together-together?" her voice was oddly weak as she wobbled on her chair.

"...Yes." Jaune looked guilty as he said it out, almost as if it was someone's death sentence.

"I see." Ruby said faintly. "So… You, Blake and Pyrrha."

"Yeah." Blake agreed.

"Together." Ruby confirmed.

"Yeah."

"...Its unfair." the red-hooded girl slumped down on her desk.

"I'm sorry. I really am." Blake looked distressed as she rubbed Ruby's shoulder. The black-haired Faunus turned to give a pleading look at Jaune.

"...I want to be with Jaune as well…" Ruby whispered as she turned her head towards him. "I want to be in as well."

"Ruby?" Jaune's voice was careful. "W… what do you mean?"

"Can I date you too?" Ruby focused all of her attention on Jaune as she straightened her back.

Blake's rubbing stopped, and it looked like the cat faunus had frozen still.

"Y… You'd…" the black-haired girl stammered after she had overcome her initial shock. "Why?"

"I like Jaune." Ruby's voice was resolute and she puffed her chest proudly. "I like him. So what if you like him as well? Or Pyrrha likes him as well? That won't affect how I feel about him. I like Pyrrha, she's nice and kind. I like Blake as well, she's broody and bookworm-y, but she's also caring and nice. I don't mind if… if you three... "

"Ruby…" Jaune's voice choked a bit as Ruby's voice broke again.

"Do you like me?" Ruby threw delicate wordplay out of the window as she realized that she was never going to reach him if she tried to do that, and instead she asked Jaune directly. "Do you like me as something more than a partner or a friend?"

"I…"

"Jaune." Blake's tone was undecipherable, and Ruby spared a quick look at the cat faunus that looked like she was being torn in two directions at once.

"I… I like you. Ruby." Jaune breathed out. "I like you, Blake. I like Pyrrha too. I'm sorry. It's selfish, I know… but I don't want to leave any of you."

"You're a big dummy, you know that." Ruby's chest flooded with relief and she felt as the icy fingers that had grasped her heart eased their grip. She reached to take Jaune's hand. "I like you too."

"But… What about us?" Blake sounded hurt and she took a step backwards from Jaune and Ruby, which caused the two of them to turn to face the black-clad faunus. "Are… Just what are you doing?"

"Blake…" Ruby felt bad for the black-haired girl as she saw the distress in Blake's features. "Blake. I don't want to come between you and Jaune."

"Not you too." Blake complained although she looked both tired and resigned as she stood in the middle of the room. "Not again."

"W… well… You did say it earlier. This way we don't have to become rivals." Ruby pointed out. "We're friends, right? Friends can share things, right?"

"I… I guess, but I don't think that its applicable here." Blake bristled slightly. "Why are you so… calm about this?"

"Eh… I just dont really see the problem anymore." Ruby tilted her head. "I mean, you get to be with him, _I_ get to be with him… I guess Pyrrha gets to be with him as well… Just as long as Cinder doesn't get involved I'm good."

' _I wonder if Weiss would be interested as well…'_ Ruby thought as Blake's mouth fell open. ' _I got to ask her sometime. It would be nice if we could all be close friends like that...'_

' _I know! I'm going to ask her the next time I see Weiss!'_ She puffed her chest proudly at her unspoken declaration. ' _It's going to be just like dad, mom, and Yang's mom! Just with one… er, actually, two extra mom's!'_

' _Er… Not that I want to become a mom. When I'm still this young, I mean,'_ Ruby felt heat creeping up her neck as her plans reached their natural conclusion and she shook her head vigorously to shake the image of older-looking Jaune rubbing circles on her back and looking at her encouragingly with his usual goofy but happy smile while older, taller and curvier Ruby was lovingly cradling a linen-wrapped newborn siege howitzer…

Her trail of thoughts was luckily interrupted as Jaune rose up from his chair as well, which prompted Ruby to stand up and walk in front or Blake. She took Blake's hands on her own and squeezed them reassuringly as Blake seemed to still have doubts. "Blake. We can do this. We can be _the_ best friends, and share everything!"

Ruby knew that her 'adorable pouty look nr. 3' didn't work on Blake, but she tried it nevertheless which seemed to miraculously have an effect on the distracted black-haired girl with the side-effect that it caused Jaune to look back and forth between the two with concerned look. ' _I like how he gets really confused and concerned about me whenever I do that… It's kinda cute…'_

"Fine. Okay. I can do this." Blake breathed out, although it seemed that her words were directed to herself rather than Ruby or Jaune. "I'm good. I'm calm…"

"Blake?" a tinge of worry entered Ruby's voice as she looked at the cat faunus.

"Fine. Lets just try it. Fine." Blake seemed to make up her mind, and she turned to give Jaune a severe glare. "I… I just need to know. For my heart's sake. Jaune. Just how many girls are you intending on bringing into your harem?"

"Uh… well..." Jaune blushed bright red and Blake rolled her eyes.

"Nevermind." Blake sighed. "Just… Don't let Cinder seduce you, please."

"Cinder?" Jaune tilted his head, confused, as their auxiliary team members' name was mentioned. "Why would Cinder want to seduce me?"

"Nevermind. Forget it." Blake groaned, although she lifted her hand gingerly to accept a fistbump from Ruby and the two girls shared a meaningful glance.

Jaune shrugged before he walked up to the two girls, causing Blake to give him a nervous look while Ruby blushed slightly… before Jaune engulfed the two in a hug.

"Thank you. For accepting my selfishness I mean." Jaune told them as Ruby squirmed in his hug- It wasn't uncomfortable, but the close proximity to the boy caused all sorts of butterflies to start flying inside her stomach. Next to her Blake had frozen still in his hug.

"So… We're together. All three of us." Ruby clarified as Jaune pulled back from the hug.

"Four." Blake reminded her. "Remember that Pyrrha is 'in' as well."

"Four of us." Ruby nodded. "Uh… who is going to tell Pyrrha about this?"

"I think I should be the one to do that." Jaune said. "After all I'm…"

"We should do it together." Blake tapped her feet on the carpet. "We're together, remember? That means we should shoulder these kinds of talks as a group."

The black-haired cat faunus shook her head and looked up at the ceiling. "I can't believe that I'm doing this… What would mom say if she knew..."

Ruby reached to rub Blake's back reassuringly.

* * *

' _Hmh. How annoying.'_ Cinder thought as she stopped listening through team SABR's dorm-room door and she stepped back to her dorm. ' _Those girls are tying the Knight deeper and deeper into their filth as time goes… I need to intervene soon. For it's sake.'_

' _If I play my cards right, I can use_ this _to break it free of it's bindings.'_ She lifted her left hand and saw as a faint spot of black started to spread on her palm in spiderweb-like pattern. ' _Yes… And he can help me accomplish my mission in Vale.'_

She felt as a smile spread on her lips. ' _Its just a matter of time before I can corner him when he's alone… and I will be able to set him free.'_

' _Free to be mine,'_

 **Next chapter: 25.6 hopefully.**

 **This release stretched for an entire month because of severe work exhaustion.**


	34. Two Towers

Pyrrha liked her personal routine.

It was slightly different from the one she was used to back when she was still in Mistral, but it was essentially the in Beacon: Wake up, breakfast, go to school, lunch, attend to the afternoon lessons, dinner, break, train for the entire afternoon, snack, few hours of free time afterwards, and a small snack before going to sleep. Tournament fights every few days during the main tournament season, a practice tournament fight every few days otherwise.

Beacon offered her far more free time than she had been given back in Mistral, and she had planned on using it to further her understanding of her Semblance, but it looked like that she might have to put that time to some other ventures, namely her...

' _...Boyfriend.'_ Pyrrha was still somewhat amazed that she had found someone she could call so in Vale. Granted, the entire reason she had chosen to attend Beacon in Vale instead of Haven in Mistral had been because she wanted to find friends, _real_ friends and not the ones after her fame and money, and because she had harbored a secret hope that perhaps she could find someone who would see her as a girl, and not as a Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl… and would not just plainly lust after her body, like so many had done in Mistral.

' _Jaune…'_ Pyrrha wiped sweat off her forehead as she prepared to exit the Simulation room, now configured to appear like a combat ring with grass floor, which was now covered in trashed combat bots. ' _I'm glad that he's not like one of those 'fans'... But I'd kind of like if he was a bit more assertive from time to time.'_

She huffed as she thought about the recent relationship triangle she'd get caught into, and she couldn't quite stop herself from feeling a bit rejected. ' _After all, Jaune would have chosen Blake instead of me, if I had pushed him into choosing…'_

Pyrrha shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts. ' _It worked out in the end, somehow. And Blake deserves someone who loves her, she's gone through so much drama...'_

Her musings were broken as someone literally crashed onto her as she opened the simulation room's door, causing both of the participants of the crash to fall back into the simulation room in a tangle of limbs.

"Oof!"

"Whoazy!"

"R-Ruby?" Pyrrha asked as she recognized the girl that was currently smothered between her breasts. Ruby's signature red cape, which was now coiled around the two, made the recognition simple even while she struggled to extract herself from the tangle the two of them had made.

"Ouh…." Ruby complained slightly as she climbed off Pyrrha, and the redhead blushed bright as Ruby somehow managed to unconsciously grope Pyrrha's breasts as she did so. "Er… Sorry Pyrrha."

"It's alright. It's alright." Pyrrha said as she tried to get her bearings straight, and noticed that Blake and Jaune were standing in the doorway, looking at the two redheads. "Umm… Hi?"

"Hello." Jaune waved at her somewhat awkwardly. Pyrrha responded in kind by waving at Jaune, which caused both of them to smile while Blake was busy burying her head in her hands

There was something in that simple, innocent interaction that caused Pyrrha to feel warm inside her chest. ' _Friends and people I can love… This is what I came to Vale for…'_

"So uh… Hi Pyrrha." Ruby's somewhat nervous voice shook Pyrrha out of her thoughts and she focused her attention on the smaller girl. "I… er, We were kind of wondering where you were, and Yang sent me a message saying that you had gone here, so we were uh…"

"We wanted to cheer you on and then talk about something." Blake finished Ruby's stuttering speech.

"Erm… Sure." Pyrrha tilted her head, confused. "I'm done here so if you want to talk about something..." she motioned towards the wrecked combat bots.

"..." Blake opened her mouth, and then closed it. She gave Jaune a glance, before sighing at Ruby, and it looked like her words failed her.

"So…" Ruby picked up as Blake clogged up. "We were talking. I mean Jaune and I, and Blake as well."

"Yes?"

"So uh… We sort of… well, I sort of had a wrong conception about a thing…"

"What happened? Are you alright?" Pyrrha was starting to get more and more worried as Ruby vibrated on the spot while sweating rivers.

"So uh... I thought Jaune and I were dating."

Pyrrha froze.

"And I confessed to Jaune… and now Jaune, Blake and I are dating!"

Pyrrha promptly un-froze.

' _She what? Jaune?'_ Pyrrha turned her attention back to the boy that looked somewhat awkward as she looked back and forth between Ruby and Pyrrha. "Jaune."

"Well…"

"Jaune…" Pyrrha felt odd as she walked, or more accurately stalked closer and closer to Jaune. It was almost as if she was someone else, occupying a familiar body but not truly in control of it. "Jaune…"

"Ruby, well... sort of came and…"

"Jaune."

"E… erm… I… Well…"

Pyrrha felt as both her hands creeped up Jaune's shirt until they reached his face and she cradled it softly while looking into his wide, blue eyes. ' _I wonder… Nora told that if I took Jaune with me and disappeared somewhere, we could be together… That she planned on doing that with Ren if something didn't happen soon…'_

"Pyrrha? Pyr?" Jaune asked somewhat nervously and Pyrrha glanced to the side to see that Blake and Ruby looked really, really scared for some reason with Ruby's face being pale and Blake's hair standing on ends.

"Jaune… Do you like me?" Pyrrha heard herself asking. "Am… Am I being replaced?"

"N… No! I mean yes! I mean that's not at all what is happening!" Jaune waved his hands wildly to stop Ruby and Blake from interfering as the two girls looked like they were about to come and stop Pyrrha from caressing Jaune's face for some reason.

She didn't know why they would want to do that. Jaune was also hers after all.

"Jaune... " Pyrrha wanted to control herself. She really did. Something guided her actions though, made her more… direct… than usual. ' _I shouldn't have listened to Nora…'_ "Jaune… do you like me?"

"...Y- yes!" Jaune said nervously as Pyrrha's face was mere inches away from his, and she saw as the two other girls sent a glare at Jaune. "I… I mean I…"

"Shush." Pyrrha put her hand on Jaune's mouth. "Shush now… We'll be together… forever…"

"Uh… Pyrrha? You're kinda creeping me out…" Ruby pointed out nervously from the side and Blake nodded her agreement while she looked like she'd seen a ghost as the black-clad faunus stared at Pyrrha the way a kitten would stare at a hungry dog.

…

"Jaune…" The emotions that Pyrrha radiated made Jaune increasingly uneasy. ' _Is… Is Pyrrha alright?'_

He didn't mind Pyrrha's caress, but it didn't match the maniacal, insane look in her eyes nor the intimidating miasma that seemed to radiate from the red-haired girl.

"Pyrrha? Are you alright?" Jaune gulped as Pyrrha leaned even closer to his face. "You're sort of…"

"You're adorable…" Pyrrha whispered- but was cut off mid-sentence as Blake squeezed between the two.

"Hss…"

"Grrrr..."

The two girls glared at each other while Ruby wrung her hands nervously beside the two of them, and Jaune tried to get into grips with what was happening.

"C… can we calm d… down?" Ruby suggested very, very carefully and let a small 'eep' as the two other girls turned to glare at her.

"I never agreed to this." Pyrrha said quietly as she once again stepped in front of Jaune, squeezing past Blake, and this time she had her back towards him almost as if the red-headed girl was trying to block the two other girls from reaching him.

Jaune sighed inside his head as he realized what was going on, and cursed his own thick-headedness. ' _Pyrrha's feeling threatened... I should have known beforehand.'_

He pondered for a split second what should he do in order to persuade Pyrrha into calming down, and came across a potential way to solve the situation.

Or he at least hoped it would solve the situation. It had worked in a book at least.

' _Well… here goes nothing.'_ Jaune braced himself internally as he tied his hands around Pyrrha's waist from behind and drew her closer to him. ' _So… in that book, the protagonist did this and then…'_

The red-headed girl let out a surprised gasp as her back touched his chest, and that gasp was followed by her freezing up completely as Jaune reached to kiss her neck carefully. "I want you."

' _Please let this work... please work…'_

He glanced up nervously to see that Pyrrha's maniacal glare had disappeared, but it was replaced by massive, raging blush. Even more careful glance towards Blake and Ruby revealed to him that the two of them looked somewhat relieved as the oppressive miasma had disappeared- and it was replaced by frustration as they looked at Jaune who was now closing towards Pyrrha's cheek.

"Wait wait wait!" Pyrrha turned around swiftly and pushed Jaune away while her face was as red as her hair. "Y… You skipped a few steps!"

"Haah…" Blake sighed deeply while looking at Jaune. "Figures that's how you'd disarm the situation... "

"Well, it worked, right?" Ruby tilted her head at Blake, and she nodded mutely.

"Um… I can hear you two?" Pyrrha said somewhat nervously as she helped Jaune up from the Dust-created grass with shaky hands while she was blushing so hard that steam almost rose from her hair. "S… Sorry…"

"It's alright." Jaune waved Pyrrha's concern off. "I'm just glad you're back to normal."

"N-normal?" Pyrrha blinked.

"It was… well… nevermind." Jaune figured that it was better not to provoke Pyrrha's somewhat disturbing side and dropped the issue. "But… well… about our relationship."

"H-has it changed?"

"No!" Jaune denied. "Er… unless you want to change it somehow…"

"Jaune… Are you dating Ruby or not?" Pyrrha ignored him.  
"Yeah." Jaune nodded. "Well.. It's a bit more complicated than that."

"Make it less complicated."

"She wanted 'in' on our arrangement." Blake came to Jaune's rescue. "Jaune said yes, and I agreed too… although reluctantly." she added with a sigh.

"Um… So… um… It's my first time and I'm experienced so please take care of me?" Ruby entered the conversation as well, and got a wide-eyed stare from Blake as a response- before she realized what Ruby was intending rather than implying.

"Ruby… Haven't I told you not to read my books?" Blake asked with no small amount of dread and exasperation in her voice. "Also, please don't use that particular sentence…"

"I didn't read your books!"

"Really now." Blake lifted her eyebrow while Pyrrha just looked back and forth between the two girls, completely confused.

"I read Jaune's book!" Ruby defended herself.

"Erm... "

"Jaune, what are you making Ruby read?" Blake turned towards Jaune. "She's fifteen!"

"Sixteen in like, two months!"

"I'm sorry but…" Pyrrha tried to get into the conversation as well, but Blake was having none of it.

"Still underage!" Blake glared at Ruby, and Ruby glared back at Blake.

"I'm legally adult!" Ruby argued, but Blake just crossed her arms.

"Not in that way!"

"Um…"

"In what way then!"

"So… what is going to happen to us now?" Pyrrha turned to ask Jaune as Ruby and Blake continued to argue what was proper age and how it was important when it came to literature.

"Well… I didn't want Ruby to be sad, and… well…" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't really think it further than that."

Pyrrha sighed. "Somehow I am not surprised. Still, you did it so that no-one would be unhappy, right?"

"Yes." Jaune agreed adamantly. "I don't want anyone to be sad."

"You didn't do it because of some… other benefits?"

"What benefits?"

"Nothing, don't think about it too much." Pyrrha sighed again at Jaune's confusion. She however seemed to cheer up a second later and looked up at him with a faint smile on her lips. "However, trying to make everyone around you happy is definitely the Jaune I know…"

"Pyrrha?"

"Nothing. Shush now." Pyrrha put a finger on Jaune's lips briefly before she leaned closer and gave his cheek a quick kiss.

* * *

"MMPHR!"

"Dammit!"

"HRRRGGGG!"

"Sheesh!" Qrow grumbled as he dragged a tied-up and gagged but fiercely resisting woman by a rope into a dimly lit room deep under Beacon's halls. "This has got to be one of his worst ideas…"

Qrow had spied Winter Schnee exiting one of the Beacon's study rooms after her little sister, and he had followed elder of the Schnee sisters for a while after their departure, waiting for a time to strike when there would be no witnesses… and when Winter had lifted her Scroll, Qrow had struck.

A direct aerial bombardment in his bird form swiftly disabled the woman's Scroll, and while she was still mentally recoiling after seeing her military-grade Scroll literally explode from the power of precision bird droppings, he had transformed out of his bird form mid-flight and drop-kicked the back of her head.

That had not been enough to disable the woman, only disorient her, and Qrow had swiftly continued the assault on the confused woman by tying a chloroform-dipped cloth over her face and mouth.

After what had seemed like an eternity of struggle, Qrow had managed to tie up and gag the now-unconscious woman (while feeling incredibly stalker-ish) and dragged her to a nearby elevator, intending on riding it down and stuffing the woman into one of the underground rooms that lined the secret basement of Beacon while he was figuring out what he was going to do with her and how to get her to _not_ reveal the Arc brat's ability to the entire Atlesian military.

Ozpin had been fairly straightforward with his orders, but Qrow wasn't quite ready to just off the woman just yet. Qrow was fairly sure that if the incident came to light somehow, it would instantly sour the relations between Atlas and Vale, and would lose any and all support Ironwood would have for their cause.

The classes had been in session so he had managed to pull it off without being seen, which had made Qrow incredibly nervous since being lucky was _not_ a regular occurrence for him.

The next problem that had risen was that Winter had woken up during the manhandling, and calling her 'furious' would have been a serious underestimate.

"Right…" Qrow sighed as he dumped the gagged but still somehow loudly hissing woman into what appeared to be a janitor's closet and pressed his back against the door for a moment as he gathered his mental strength. "What the hell am I supposed to do now? Just keep her there until Ironwood moves out of Vale?"

' _Am I going to have to keep Winter in Oz's basement… except unlike_ her _, she'd be just a prisoner…'_ Qrow felt incredibly dirty as he thought about it. ' _Did I just condemn Winter to a life-long imprisonment? In Oz's dungeon? Shit...'_

"...Ozpin will know what to do." Qrow sighed while pulling up his Scroll. "Oz?"

" _Yes?_ "

"I got her."

" _You convinced Specialist Schnee not to speak of mr. Arc's ability?"_

"C-Convinced?" Qrow did a double take. "What do you mean convinced? You told me to…"

" _I asked you to take care of her._ " Ozpin's voice was somewhat confused. " _Glynda tells me that the two of you have been acting somewhat closer lately, so I figured that you might be able to convince her not to reveal mr. Arc's secret."_

"Wait what?" Qrow almost dropped his Scroll.

It seemed that Ozpin sensed the change in his tone and his voice grew slightly more concerned. " _Is there a problem?"_

A loud pang came from the janitor's closet, and he pressed his back harder against the door while coughing loudly to mask the banging. "No, no, not at all…"

" _Qrow, I'm sure you know that I can tell when you're not being entirely truthful."_

"Right uh…" Qrow cursed internally as he realized that his Semblance, Misfortune, was once again rearing its ugly head… and once again, it was working against him. "I might have kidnapped the ice queen, gagged and tied her up, and stuffed her into a janitor's closet."

" _...Right._ "

A loud slurp of coffee mug being drained empty was heard from the other end of the Scroll conversation.

" _In that case it looks like you have your work cut out for you._ " Ozpin said with a remarkably calm tone. " _I must confess that I am not entirely convinced if your method works to ensure Specialist Schnee's loyalty to our side, but I'm sure that you know her… preferences... better._ "

"Right…" Qrow sighed as he cut off the call. "Shit…"

' _At least it can't get worse… Oh no.'_ Qrow cut himself off mid-thought as he realized what he was thinking, but it was too late.

A massive crash and boom caused Qrow to be thrown off the door.

"I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD!" Winter Schnee howled as she hopped awkwardly out of the completely demolished janitor's closet, stained in soot, ice flakes and covered in some golden yellow liquid after somehow managing to detonate what must have been a spare Ice Dust round inside the cramped room. "Qrow! I knew you were behind all this!"

"Oi! Oi! Ice queen! Time out!" Qrow tried to wave his hands in universal truce signal but it seemed that Winter had gone well beyond such petty concepts as rational conversation. "We got off on the wrong foot!"

"I'll tell you where to stuff that foot!" Winter growled as she tried to futilely find her weapons while keeping a eye on Qrow, however to her misfortune the crow-shapeshifter had remembered to disarm the woman and strap her sabre to his own belt. "Return my weapon to me at once you swine!"

"Nuh uh." Qrow said while backing away very slowly. "Why don't we talk this out? Wait, hold on, what's that liquid on you? Is that booze?"

"What? You pretend like you don't know what's happening like the last time? You got me drunk and took advantage of me!" Winter hissed while advancing towards the retreating man like some sort of furious valkyrie despite her lack of weapons and the fact that the man she was currently aiming to strangle was armed to the teeth, and she was positively drenched in liquid that smelled distinctly of alcohol. "Was that your plan this time as well? To just kidnap me and have your way with me while I was bound and drunk?!"

"Er.. " Qrow looked past Winter to see, to his personal horror, that the closet he thought had been janitor's closet had actually been someone's private stash of expensive whiskeys, brandies and other _very_ strong, high quality spirits. "Oh… No… No…"

"Y-You pervert, rapist!" Winter seemed to pause for a second before her face gained slight blush and her eyes flashed with fury, clearly not persuaded by Qrow's despaired whispering. "Don't tell me you are stalking me like some sort of... horny stalker!"

"Oi, don't lump me with one of th…"

"Did the first, and _definitely_ the last time you took advantage of me turn you into some sort of sex-obsessed deviant?!"

"...What?" Qrow squinted his eyes at the woman while keeping his hands up in a non-aggressive stance. ' _I'm too sober for this…'_

"You would have tried to use me until I had broken, wouldn't you?!" Winter hissed drunkenly while her blush was gradually starting to spread over her face. "You'd have tried, but someone like me, a proud daughter of Schnee family, will never surrender to a piece of filth like you!"

"Er… No? What?"

"Not even if I am disarmed, disoriented from the accidental explosion and from the chloroform and from the alcohol vapor…"

"Ice queen, are you quite alri…"

"Silence, dog!" Winter threw a haymaker towards his face, which connected, much to her apparent surprise.

"Argh!" Qrow picked himself off the floor while rolling away from the white-haired woman. "Sheesh calm down! I got my orders wrong!"

"Orders?" Winter paused for a while before her eyes widened drunkenly. "Ozpin! Of course!"

Qrow froze. ' _Shit.'_

"Ozpin sent you to break my will to resist and make me defect to your side!" Winter deduced, although not entirely correctly and her pointing finger was wobbling visibly. "Weiss told me about Jaune Arc! You have been harboring someone with a illegal Grimm-eating tentacle monster Semblance in the same room with a group of young, very easily impressionable and innocent female students!"

"Er, the brat's Semblance is kinda mystery to us as well…" Qrow tried to alleviate the situation, but it didn't seem to help the Specialist's mood.

"You stuffed a highly volatile subject into same team with my sister!" Winter howled. "I saw as he… he took advantage of her mid-combat! Aren't you concerned that he's going to do the same to your niece, who is in the same team?! Have you no shame!"

"He did what?"

"I had to watch as he stuffed his tentacles deep into poor Weiss and… and… and then I had to see as she was overcome with the depravity of the act and was broken…" Winter's voice shook with what Qrow assumed to be barely restrained fury before she shook her head and snapped her eyes to his while she wobbled drunkenly on the spot. "Just what were your orders!? Why have you taken me here?"

"To talk! Just to talk!" Qrow took a quick look at the surroundings and realized that the omnious Dust-torch lit hallway of Beacon's secret underground system didn't exactly look like the most welcoming place for a casual talk, and his kidnapping attempt probably didn't make it appear any better. "I swear! I just got part of it wrong! We were just going to..."

"Don't tell me you were planning on using _him_ to ensure my cooperation with your vile scheme?" Winter's eyes widened as her logic took a leap. "You knew that you alone couldn't break my will, so you were planning on taking turns with me! You'd throw me to that tentacle monster's vile grasp and just _observe_ as it violates me!"

"Uh… Ice queen?" Qrow lowered his hands as Winter's advance stopped. "You alright?"

"Wh- what kind of question is that?" the woman hissed at him.

"...You're making helluva lot of assumptions." Qrow grumbled as he looked suspiciously at Winter whose face was now almost completely red and her furious snarl didn't quite convince him.

"Wha- do you deny that you were planning on taking advantage of me? After you gagged me and tied me up?!"

"Er, yes? I mean, no I'm not!"

Qrow tried to ignore the look Winter sent him, which was somewhere between suspicious, disbelieving, disappointed and somehow let down.

"You're telling me that you aren't going to try to force me to… to… 'engage' with that Grimm tentacle monster of yours?"

"Nope?"

Qrow tilted his head as Winter seemed to deflate for some reason and she seemed to be grasping straws. "Y-you're saying that just to lower my guard!"

"You're a closet pervert, aren't ya." He rubbed his eyes as he realized what was going on. "Also, are you Schnee's just naturally good at jumping to conclusions or is that a family trait of yer's? Old Jacques keeps doing that as well."

"Wha- I most definitely _do not_ want to get violated by a tentacle monster! How dare you insinuate such depravity!" Winter shook on the spot, although her angry blush didn't exactly convince Qrow. "This- this is already the second time you insinuate that!"

Qrow sighed in exasperation.

Winter glared at him.

Qrow lifted his eyebrow at her.

Winter bristled drunkenly.

"Jeez, fine." Qrow finally gave up and reached to take the woman's sword from his hip, and he threw it at her, pommel first.

"Wha- are you trying to finish me off with my own weapon or what?" Winter dodged the pommel and grabbed the sabre mid-air before lifting it to point at his face somewhat uncertainly.

"No, just thought you'd be more open to talk if I returned yer weapon." Qrow grumbled before taking a look around. "Figures that Oz's secret man-cave wouldn't have any tables or seats…"

"His what?" Winter seemed even more confused as Qrow turned around and opened one of the hidden doors that lined the walls of the dark hallway and saw a unlit room that seemed to have a table and chairs.

"Eh, this'll work." he nodded as he stepped in and motioned for Winter to follow, which caused the woman to blink before she followed after him, although with her sabre still pointed directly at Qrow's back.

"Right. I'm going to be frank with you." Qrow started, but was left speechless as he flicked the light switch and saw just _what_ the room contained. And the object he thought was a table was definitely _not_ a table. "Wait, why the hell does Oz have _that_ in his basement?"

A glance to the side revealed few other objects that most definitely _did not_ fit into a secret underground conference room.

"Is this Glynda's secret S&M lab or something?" Qrow asked aloud as he looked at the walls that were positively bursting with different types of sex toys, _very_ suggestive outfits, and what appeared to be magazines relating to the subject.

He looked up at a somewhat dusty sign at the wall of the room.

"Confiscated items?"

"W- what!" a shrill shriek altered Qrow to the fact that Winter had stepped into the room as well and had seen what he had already observed. "Y- I knew you were lying! You were pla…"

"Wait wait hold up!" Qrow waved his hands wildly around while taking a step back, which caused him to collide with the 'table', that was actually a rack designed to hold exactly one person tied to a very suggestive position, and he fell on top of it, causing the metal locks to snap shut around his wrists and ankles.

"Oh fuck me." Qrow cursed as he saw the signs of his Semblance going haywire with the presence of _so_ many things that could go wrong, and froze immediately afterwards as he remembered that the Atlesian Specialist was still very much in the same room and pointing a sabre at him with a loose grip.

"I- wha- to you? Egh?" Winter stammered while her eyes seemed to bulge out of her head as she stared at Qrow, and Qrow realized just what his outburst might have suggested to the apparently delusional woman.

"Er… not that way?" Qrow tried very, very carefully to disentangle the situation, but froze still in the rack as Winter grabbed a whip from nearby shelf.

Qrow did not like the way Winter's face gained a maniacal gleam which overtook the confused fury in her eyes.

"I will make you pay your crimes!" Winter growled way, way too enthusiastically as she approached him while unfolding the whip and cracking it few times with practised ease.

"Eeek!"

* * *

"..."

"...?"

"Penny, what exactly was that conversation?"

"Sir, you heard remote surveillance device 2912 attached to Specialist Schnee's uniform recording and transmitting a conversation between Winter Schnee and according to voice recognition, Qrow Branwen that happened at..."

"I know who, Penny, but… what happened?"

"I have no conclusions as of the subject, sir."

"...Delete the recording and halt the surveillance for now. I think I should not privy into their… private affairs any further."

"Very well. Done."

"...And bring me something to drink. Make it strong."

"Yes sir."

"...Goddammit Winter."

* * *

Weiss walked, no, _skipped_ through the Beacon's hallways.

She could barely help it now as she had managed to unload the weight on her shoulders to her dear sister, and Winter had been nothing but supportive of her, despite her earlier lie coming to light.

Weiss knew that there was only a very, very small chance that she could resume her life as a Heiress, but at that moment she could care less. She had a loving sister, a potential job as a huntress, and that was enough for her- at least for the moment.

Naturally, she was already setting plans to overtake the Schnee Dust company- and perhaps buy it from her brother Whitley as soon as his ineptitude and inflexibility would cause the company to crash and burn soon after taking over the role of its CEO.

Of course that would require that her father would be dead or in so poor health that he couldn't continue as the head, but fortunately no-one was immune to the passage of time- or some other means that she quickly curb-stomped out of her head.

' _Thank you, but now is not the time for those means, Jaune.'_ Weiss discarded the idea of pointing Jaune at the general direction of her father and telling the blonde-haired boy to go nuts, but not before humoring it for a while.

Thinking of Jaune caused Weiss to cringe internally. ' _I just assaulted him in the broad daylight before Winter stopped me… Just what came over me?'_

She thought about it for a while and sighed. ' _Blake must have filled my head with nonsense, and it affected me more than I thought. Still, I need to apologize to him._

' _...Although I doubt that he would have disliked that. He might as well have confessed his 'love' to me, despite him dating two girls already.'_ Weiss sighed internally. ' _Just how can Blake and Pyrrha do that? To share someone they hold dear? Do they even hold Jaune dear, or are they 'in' just for the sex?'_

' _Still, it isn't very good for Pyrrha's reputation if the rumor spreads that she's indulging in 'that' sort of activities.'_ Weiss paused as she realized how close she had been to discovering what might have attracted Pyrrha and Blake to Jaune... when she had tackled the boy in question into a bush and had started to… started to.. ' _Nope. Next thought, please.'_

"So… What should I concentrate on next?" Weiss half-hummed to herself to distract herself away from her own imagination. She had visited the infirmary after her talk with Winter, and the nurses had removed her bandages and declared her fit for duty which meant that there wasn't any physical impairments holding her back. "Hm… Library perhaps?"

She took a look around her, and noticed that her 'walk' had led her close to the dining hall, so she tilted her head slightly before deciding to get a pack of juice or something while she decided on her next action.

The dining hall was unusually quiet as she walked through the somewhat crowded room and reached a counter at the end that had pre-packed meals and desserts the students could buy, and she ended up picking few small strawberry and vanilla cakes before turning around while trying her hardest not to think why she had picked that particular set of flavors.

The oddly oppressive feeling that she had felt the moment she had stepped into the room didn't let up though, and Weiss ended up glancing around the dining hall just in time to see some of the students turning to look away from her.

Weiss lifted her eyebrow while looking at few other students that were still openly staring at her, some warily, some with open hostility, almost as if they were expecting her to attack at any moment. ' _Oh… I see. Great.'_

She internally debated for a moment if she should say something, but she realized that nothing short of a miracle would help her salvage her reputation in the eyes of the students- at least when the memory of the earlier incident was still fresh.

After all, she had managed to demonstrate that she could 'control' Grimm… which probably wouldn't endear her to the other students who would be tasked with killing Grimm- and would likely eventually end up either dead or crippled, perhaps losing teammates, friends or loved ones to the Grimm during their career.

It would probably be hard to not blame someone who could 'control' Grimm for it...

' _Haah… Well, it was a long shot…'_ Weiss sighed internally as she exited the dining hall warily, constantly hounded by the stares of the other students as she turned away from them. ' _I should have known that I'd end up as a outcast amongst the students no matter whether I was successful in salvaging my reputation or not.'_

A somewhat fluffy and uncharacteristically girlish thought entered Weiss's head as she imagined herself saying her thoughts aloud in the presence of a certain red-hooded girl, and she imagined that Ruby would just puff her cheeks threateningly towards the other studens before hugging Weiss so hard that she'd risk cracking ribs, and then telling Weiss that she'd never be an outcast in her eyes…

' _Okay, I'm not crushing on Ruby.'_ Weiss told herself, and herself told Weiss something completely opposite to her statement in the form of small but pleasant feeling in her chest. ' _No, I'm definitely not! And I definitely didn't buy these cakes so I could eat them with Ruby! Stop thinking things that are completely untrue! We're both girls, too, so it wouldn't work out either way! What would Winter say?'_

Weiss froze mentally as she remembered that she had told Winter about her feelings towards Ruby in a moment of panic- and then blushed bright red. ' _Winter knows… My life is over.'_

' _But there's nothing to stop you now…'_ a treacherous part of her mind told Weiss. ' _You can just confess… tell Ruby you like her…'_

' _But what if she says no?'_ Weiss asked the voice inside her head that _definitely_ was not a worrying sign about her mental health. ' _What if Ruby just says… that… that she's not interested? Could we still be friends and teammates… No, could_ I _still be her teammate after confessing?'_

The thought bugged her all the way to her dorm, where she sat on her bed to think after depositing the small dessert cakes into the dorm fridge. ' _I… I'll do it. I'll have to apologize to Jaune, again, and… and I'll have to tell Ruby just what I feel towards her.'_

A small creak of door being opened caused Weiss to almost jump out of her skin, and she turned around to look at the doorway, completely taken off guard.

"H- hi?" Weiss called with uncharacteristically weak voice as she saw who was standing in the doorway, and she realized that she was completely unprepared for whatever might happen as Cinder Fall walked, no, _slid_ into the room.

"Good evening." Cinder smiled at Weiss. The smile was honest, but Weiss didn't quite trust Cinder's eyes. They were too much like her father's- social, apparently caring, but too calculating. Just like one of his Dust-powered machines... "Is this a bad time?"

"No, no. I was just… making decisions." Weiss broke out of her thoughts to respond to Cinder and the red-clad woman sat down elegantly in one of the chairs in front of the room's two studying desk while facing Weiss.

"May I ask what those decisions were?" Cinder asked easily.

"You may."

"I see." Cinder nodded as she saw that Weiss wasn't in the mood for idle banter, and moved on. "I am here to ask about your goals- and your intents- for our team. I was a leader in my own team, until the recent events that led me teamless, so I would like to know what goals you had set for what would be now _my_ team as well?"

"You'll find that I am the leader of this team." Weiss bristled as she saw what the red-clad woman insinuated. "I appreciate your council as you are- were- a second year student but you'll find that team SABR might do things differently."

"I hope that they will. After all, team CEM- ugh… 'my team's history was quite brief, and not entirely pleasant." Cinder smiled while Weiss looked suspiciously at the woman that was unfazed despite Weiss's own insinuations. "I hope it will not repeat itself."

' _Oh, that's the barb then. Either she's here to just trash-talk, or she's here to make sure that SABR won't end up like team C- argh… why did Ozpin name her old team like that? That's so juvenile and…'_ Weiss cursed now-disbanded team CEMN's name internally as she maintained calm and friendly exterior. "I appreciate your concern, and I assure you that the bonds of my team are not so easily broken..."

"I made the mistake of distancing myself from my own team earlier. You are aware of what it led to." Cinder told her before sighing. "I aim not to repeat the same mistake. We may not share a long history, but I hope we can become more than just comrades-in-arms."

' _...Wait.'_ Weiss froze still while she felt as sweat started to form in her forehead. ' _Don't tell me that she's… she's confessing to me?'_ "I appreciate your… uh…"

"I hope we can become friends." Cinder offered her hand to Weiss, which caused the white-haired girl to sigh in relief and Cinder to lift her eyebrow.

"N-nevermind. I mean yes, I would like that." Weiss stammered as she shook Cinder's hand briefly. ' _Don't tell me that Blake was correct… I am_ not _jumping into conclusions… I am not!'_

Her resistance lasted for about a second before a creeping sensation overcame Weiss. ' _Oh Oum. I am jumping to conclusions... What would Winter say if she knew?'_

"Is something wrong?"

"No, no, I'm not having an existential crisis…" Weiss mumbled half-heartedly and Cinder clicked her tongue in annoyance which drew Weiss back into their conversation. "However, I'm sure you had something else in mind when you came to talk to me. What do you want?"

"Quite blunt way to put it, but fair enough. There was one more thing. I'm sure you know this, but there will be a dance just before our… well, _your_ first missions. The entirety of Beacon is invited to the dance, both staff and students included." Cinder said as she adjusted her position on her chair. "I came here to ask if you had plans for the dance."

' _No, she's_ not _going to ask me out.'_ Weiss took her 'dark' side by the throat and shook it around inside her head. ' _Stop jumping into conclusions!'_ "I had a plan, but unfortunately it appears that… I mean, no, I do not have plans."

"I see. Were your perhaps still intending to attend it?"

"Yes, as part of team SABR." Weiss felt somewhat suspicious as she looked at the red-clad woman who had what appeared to be a encouraging smile, but to Weiss looked more like a self-confident smirk. "I doubt any of us are planning to skip it. Were you?"

"I had planned to attend, but I feel that perhaps I should not."

"Why is that?"

"I have a feeling that my presence would sour the mood." Cinder said simply. "After all, I was the team leader in a recently-disgraced team- and my old teammates were disgraced for assassination attempt on a fellow student, no less!"

"I am aware, but how is that…"

"I fear my presence would likely cause people to be suspicious and perhaps even paranoid around me should I attend their party." Cinder told her. "I aim to prevent any further strife, and I would like for the dance to be a relaxed and enjoyable occasion, unmarred by paranoia or fear."

Weiss felt somewhat suspicious as she listened to Cinder's reasoning. ' _It feels almost as if she doesn't want to attend the party? Not wanting to attend is understandable, but why is she trying to make it sound like it wouldn't be the case… Unless she wants to avoid questions about why she didn't attend. But why would she do that?'_

"I see. However wouldn't your disappearance make the paranoia even worse? After all, enemy known is better than enemy unknown." Weiss countered.

"I would rather not be viewed as an enemy, thank you very much." Cinder's eyebrow twitched in annoyance- although it was hard to determine whether it was because of Weiss's words, or her questioning of Cinder's statement.

Weiss felt as her more paranoid side went into overdrive and conjured up a conspiracy theory. One where Cinder was be trying to make a alibi for her disappearance from the dance so she could instead execute some sort of plan or illegal act while the students and the staff would be distracted by the party- but she dismissed it almost immediately. ' _Blake was right. I'm jumping into conclusions. I need to stop doing that...'_

However, Cinder's almost _too_ encouraging expression did _not_ make dismissing Weiss's internal concerns any easier.

Or the fact that Weiss had planned to get information about outgoing flights from CCT during the dance to find out where White Fang and Torchwick were transporting the Dust they had stolen from Dust stores and SDC- and her investigation might not be exactly legal since the flight information was very much restricted, making her plan very close to the 'illegal activity' she had already almost projected into Cinder.

' _Thinking of that, I still need to find a way to get the illegal Dust trafficking revealed… which would also drag Torchwick off his high horse.'_ Weiss huffed internally. She had planned to have someone, which most likely would have been Jaune, to infiltrate the CCT that would be lightly guarded during the upcoming dance or, if their headmaster's aloof behaviour would be any indication, the CCT would likely be completely unguarded.

"I'm sure that the attractions of the dance will be enough to put such trifling concerns like me being absent out of our fellow student's heads as long as I don't remain as a visible reminder." Cinder's voice shook Weiss out of her plans.

"Very well, I understand if you don't wish to attend the dance." Weiss sighed. "I'll let the rest of the team know."

"Thank you."

"...Do you think I should do so as well?" Weiss asked half-heartedly, before shutting herself up as she realized that she had spoken aloud.

"What do you mean?" Cinder tilted her head, confused.

"W- well… there's been some rumors circling the student population…" Weiss stammered.

"I heard few of them, but I dismissed the majority as mere rumors." Cinder lifted her eyebrow at her. "Or are you having your team… perform a certain activity? If so, I must respectfully decline..."

"No, I am not having orgies with my team, thank you very much." Weiss's tone was bland enough to make porridge look like a veritable rainbow of flavors.

However Cinder didn't look too convinced.

' _Is this what it feels like when someone doesn't believe me… Oh no. Have I been doing this to Blake all along? Is she not… what if she didn't do 'that' with Jaune in the dorm, and I've been falsely accusing her all along?'_ Weiss started to feel lightheaded as the revelations of the day started to press on her. "A-anyway, do you have anything further to ask?"

"In fact, I was wondering if I could borrow your knigh- I mean mr. Arc." Cinder turned her attention to her fingernails. "I was hoping that I could perhaps have a spar with him… in private."

"...Why do you need my permission to do that?" it was Weiss's turn to lift her eyebrow. "Jaune is more than capable of making his own decisions."

"Oh, I was merely wondering. The two of your… our teammates, Ruby and Blake I believe, seem to have something against me so maybe they would attempt some juvenile prank on my person should I ask their… I would guess 'boyfriend' for a friendly, private spar." Cinder seemed to find the palm of her hand incredibly interesting for some reason as she spoke. "After all, such occasion might be mistakenly taken as me attempting to… hm, 'advance myself' upon him, which I assure you is not the case."

"So you're asking me to get Ruby and Blake off your back." Weiss summarized somewhat dryly. "What makes you think that I would do that? And why do you want to train with Jaune privately?"

"I was hoping to spar with each member of the team one-on-one, and I chose mr. Ar- Jaune to be the first. There's no specific reason for him to be the first though." Cinder answered easily to Weiss's confrontive words. Too easily. "I planned to do the spar in private, since I am interested to see how well each of you fare individually and what you specialize in so I can figure out what place I will take in our team combat-wise."

"Is that how you trained with your old team?" Weiss wasn't entirely convinced by Cinder's reasoning, and it must have shown since the red-clad woman's amber eyes darkened slightly.

"Yes. I did." Cinder's tone was cold. "That is how I built my old team's combat doctrine... For what good it did to them."

"I am sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up." Weiss realized that she was just twisting the knife in recently made wound, which made her feel somewhat bad for Cinder even despite the fact that it had been Cinder's team who had attacked her. "Haah… Fine. I'll help."

"Thank you."

"Just… Don't make me regret it." Weiss somehow felt almost as if she was signing someone's death warrant as Cinder had gained a sly smile on her face after hearing Weiss' words. It reminded her too much of a like a predator who had managed to corner her prey.

"You won't. Trust me."

Cinder's words did not fill Weiss with confidence.

.

..

…

"...And that's what happened." Qrow grumbled as he tried his hardest to ignore a particularly stinging whip-mark on his butt while sitting in Ozpin's office.

"You mistook my orders, kidnapped Specialist Winter and managed to convince her not to take further action towards us by making her believe that it was a foreplay for… some sort of deviant play?" Ozpin lifted his eyebrow at his agent. "Also, this is the first time I've heard that we had a room like that in our underground vault."

"Huh. I guess I was right afterall…" Qrow mumbled something under his breath, and Ozpin swiftly moved on before he risked learning something he did _not_ want to know.

"Were you able to convince miss Schnee not to reveal her findings to Ironwood?"

"Well… sort of." Qrow said after a pause. "After the haze lifted she made me swear that neither of us would tell anything about what happened to anyone else. She accused me… er, us, of harboring what she termed to be a 'illegal Grimm-eating tentacle monster Semblance, or something, so I just told her to stay quiet about it."

"Or?"

"Or I'd tell everyone what happened. I don't think miss prim-and-proper-on-the-surface wants that kind of information to go around." Qrow finished while scratching one of the whip-marks on his chest through his clothes. "She wasn't happy."

"So you deliberately had Specialist Schnee perform those… questionable actions upon you so you could extort her to stay silent?" Ozpin nodded. "Very good. It seems that you were the right man for the job after all."

"Right… All that was deliberate…" Qrow grumbled. "Anyway, we dodged that bullet, but the magazine's still almost full. What's our next step?"

"Our bait is still in place and it has already caught one fish." Ozpin mused in his usual style, which meant cryptic and vague. "I suggest we wait to see what miss Fall does, and if she is one of _her_ allies, leads us to their nest."

"So sit on our hands and wait, again?" Qrow sighed. "Oz, maybe Ironwood had a point. We can't just keep reacting. We need to act."

"There is time for that, but for now we need to unravel the recent events rather than trying to charge when we don't even know our foe." Ozpin lifted his eyebrow at his agent. "After all, having strength is worthless if you are not truly in control of the hand that wields it. Knowledge is what separates us from our enemies."

"What, hands?"

"No, I mean that we must know our enemy's motive before we act or we risk playing into their hands." Ozpin finished theatherically, although to not very enthusiastic audience as Qrow had ignored the headmaster completely and instead opted to start drinking heavily. "...Nevermind. However, you might be interested to hear about a proposal Ironwood sent me few hours ago…"

* * *

"...And that's what happened. Ozpin's agent tried to extort me!" Winter exclaimed scandalously to Ironwood and Penny who continued to listen silently to the Specialist above the Atlesian General's air-cruiser that was now in Beacon's air-dock. "He… He got me forcibly drunk and then had me have my way with his body! And then he told me that he'd tell everyone if I didn't comply to his orders, and submit to his perversions..."

"..." Ironwood rubbed his eyebrows tiredly. "Specialist Schnee… Winter, I'm not sure I want to know the details."

"Ah… I'm sorry, sir." Winter seemed to calm down, although her blush remained. "Still, something needs to be done, sir. Ozpin is clearly delusional if he had ordered his agent try to kidnap me!"

"Are you absolutely certain that it was Ozpin who gave this order and not say, Qrow… 'acting' on his own?" Ironwood looked somewhat despaired.

"Sir, I'm certain. Qrow said that he had orders from Ozpin to bend me to his will." Winter seemed slightly uncertain, but she shook the uncertainty off her mind like swan would shake water off its feathers. "I am unsure if Beacon is led by a suitable person."

"I see. Have you managed to find out more about mr. Arc's Semblance?" Ironwood changed the subject suddenly, which took Winter by surprise.

"I- Well… No." The Specialist stammered slightly, and Ironwood gave her a stern glare. ' _I promised to Weiss that I wouldn't talk about him… Damn.'_

"I know mr. Arc has tentacles?" Winter tried to supply after a pause, but it didn't seem to endear her to the general who just sighed once more.

"I see. That's how it is." Ironwood took a stack of papers and offered it to Winter.

"Transfer orders? Sir, what is this?"

"I am transferring you to Beacon, effective immediately." Ironwood told the confused woman. "You will be working as assisting combat teacher to Glynda Goodwitch…"

"A infiltration mission?"

"...And to Qrow Branwen."

The stack of papers slipped through Winter's fingers while her face went completely pale. "S- sir?"

"Your mission is to infiltrate Beacon's staff, and find out just what is going on in here. Penny will be taking over observing mr. Arc." Ironwood motioned towards the android who struck a crisp salute while smiling absentmindedly.

"B-but... "

"Also, you are to use your standard issue outfit while doing so." Ironwood added almost as an afterthought. "I hope it will help you gain authority amongst the students and staff."

"A-"

"Also, white suits you."

"T-thank you sir." Winter stammered while gathering the fallen papers, unsure of the implications of Ironwood's speech. ' _He wants me to keep my uniform on? B-but why should I take it off? Unless... Unless Ironwood is thinking I'm 'that' kind of woman... Damn you Qrow, this is your fault!'_

"I look forwards to studying under your leadership, professor Schnee!" Penny chirped happily, and Winter mentally prepared herself.

' _I have to work with Qrow… Oum, why have you forsaken me…'_

* * *

"Ehehe. Hehe..." Ruby positively tittered as she walked between Jaune and Pyrrha while holding Jaune's hand and bearing a distinct resemblance to a overly excited puppy, even while Blake was stalking behind the three of them while shooting somewhat suspicious glances at just about everything. The group was on their way back to the dorms after they had filled themselves up in the dining hall. "I got a boyfriend! Before Yang too! I can't wait to tell her about it!"

"Uh… Ruby, can you perhaps… not tell Yang about us?" Blake tried to very carefully bring Ruby back to reality as it seemed that the red-hooded girl was walking on clouds. "I'm not sure she'd approve of… us, I guess. I'm not even sure I approve of us."

"Ehh… But I can't just _not_ tell Yang about something like that!" Ruby protested.

"I'm sorry if this sounds like me trying to snoop into someone's private affairs, but... Yang doesn't have a boyfriend?" Pyrrha joined the conversation somewhat carefully. "From what I've gathered she seems to be someone who would have no trouble getting herself into a relationship…"

"Nah. Yang's not like that." Ruby denied. "I mean she's going to dances and parties, but she hasn't brought a boy home or anything like that." She paused to think before blinking once. "Come to think of it, Dad would have probably gone nuts if Yang brought a boy with her so that might be the reason…"

"Your father sounds like… an interesting person." Pyrrha sweated slightly.

"Eh, he's not bad. He teaches in Signal, the Beacon prep-school, and is full-time dad after that." Ruby waved Pyrrha's concerns off. "He tries really hard at being good dad too."

"I see." Pyrrha didn't look entirely convinced and Jaune chose not to comment as Ruby had told him more about her dad- it would be up to Ruby to decide when she wanted to open herself more to Pyrrha and Blake. "W-well, anyway... uh… its a nice weather?"

"A bit hot, yeah." Blake tried to join on Pyrrha's conversation to turn the tide away from overprotective fathers and other family members.

"Neh." Ruby just poked her tongue out at Pyrrha before continuing to bounce beside Jaune as the four of them entered the dorms.

"So… The dance is coming up soon." Pyrrha restarted the conversation as the four of them poured into the dorm's shared living room.

"Yep." Ruby and Jaune said at the same time, before looking at each other and looking away with suddenly red cheeks.

"Yes." Blake sighed as she looked at the two. "We know. What about it?"

"I was wondering… Who were you planning on inviting as your dance partner?"

"Jaune." Ruby and Blake answered at the same time, before turning to glare at each other with Blake's bow twitched aggressively and Ruby hugging Jaune's hand against her chest while puffing her cheeks threateningly.

"Well… I was planning on that too…" Pyrrha said weakly. "W-well. Jaune? Who do you want to accompany to the dance?"

"Er… About that." Jaune scratched the back of his head. "I don't know how to dance."

He wasn't sure if he liked the way all three girls suddenly gained a predatory look in their eyes.

"Oh, would you like if I taught you?" Pyrrha asked with overly friendly tone while taking his hand and intertwining her fingers with his.

"Is it because of your… journey from Mistral? There was no-one who could have taught you to dance?" Blake asked quietly while latching onto his arm. "I can help you recover… and teach you how to dance."

"I can dance too!" Ruby stomped her feet as it looked like her prey was getting snatched away by the bigger fish, and she latched possessively onto his arm. "I should teach Jaune since I'm his partner and all!"

"Err…" Jaune tried to stay in one piece as all three girls were pulling him to seperate directions. "C-can we calm down and think about it?"  
"No!" Came from three mouths at once, and Jaune felt as the grips became even tighter.

"Hm… Excuse me, but what are you doing?" a far more elegant voice caused the small group to turn their attention towards team SABR's dorm, and they saw as Cinder exited the dorm-room.

"Nothing!" Ruby said instantly while Blake and Pyrrha just glared at Cinder warily. "Where's Weiss?" Ruby added warily as she noticed where the woman had come from.

"She's in your dorm. Rest easy, I haven't eaten her." Cinder answered easily, and lifted her eyebrow at Ruby as she looked at the dorm-room's closed door, clearly worried. "I just wanted to talk with her."

"Uh huh…" Ruby narrowed her eyes at Cinder, which didn't seem to do much to intimidate the woman who just rolled her eyes and focused her attention on Jaune who was currently being flanked by Blake and Pyrrha, both of whom looked at Cinder with varying degrees of suspicion.

"Regardless, I was just talking to miss Schn- Weiss about the upcoming dance." Cinder said, which for some reason caused the grips both Blake and Pyrrha had on Jaune's arms to tighten to painful levels. Cinder noticed that, and smirked at Blake. "Nothing too threatening, I assure you. You don't have to torture him."

Jaune sighed in relief as Blake loosened her grip, which earned him a glare from the cat faunus, but Cinder's verbal poke didn't seem to work on Pyrrha whose face had started to slowly gain the maniacal look from before. Luckily enough Ruby noticed it and waved her hand in front of Pyrrha's face to break her away from whatever disturbing thoughts she might have had.

"I heard that you were planning on teaching Jaune to dance." Cinder's words however caused the three girls to form a protective wall between Jaune and the scarlet-clad woman. "Would you mind if I helped?"

"Why are you so eager to help Jaune?" Ruby narrowed her eyes at the woman. "And no, we're already teaching him!"

"She's right." Blake added her opinion to Ruby's and Pyrrha nodded as well, which caused Cinder to sigh and give Jaune a undecipherable look.

Jaune blinked as he tried to use his Semblance to feel around the room, and caught the emotion that radiated from Cinder. It felt like… pity? ' _No, more than that. It's like she's feeling bad for my sake. Odd.'_

He shook his head to dispel the after-effects of his ability and focused his attention back to the woman. ' _Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt... Perhaps it'll help Ruby, Blake and Pyrrha to get more used to Cinder since they seem to be pretty hostile to each other...'_

"Sure."

His voice caused Blake, Ruby and Pyrrha to freeze in place while Cinder's lips curved to a sly smile, which made him a bit hesitant to continue. "I mean, we could use more team exercises, right?"

"Quite so." Cinder's voice was positively purring while the three girls looked mortified. "I look forward to our dance lessons. And perhaps we could also train together soon…"

"Uh, sure…" Jaune felt almost like he had betrayed Ruby somehow as she sent him a look that made him feel like he had kicked a cute puppy while Blake was hissing quietly and Pyrrha's grip on his arm threatened to cut blood circulation to it. "I mean uh…"

"I'll see you soon then." Cinder smirked once more before sashaying out of the dorm, leaving Jaune alone in the presence of the three girls who he was 'dating'.

Although it was hard to tell at the moment since if looks the three of them gave him could kill, Jaune would be six feet under the ground already. ' _Crap, did I mess something up?'_

"Jaune… we're going to have to have a talk about proper timing." Pyrrha's voice was overly polite, and he didn't quite trust the warm smile she had- not when it was backed up by the intimidating miasma that had grown around the girl in full strength.

"And not accepting everything some long-legged women offer to you…" Blake added while glaring at the door that Cinder had closed behind her almost as if it had done her a grave personal insult.

"And! Not accepting dance lessons from them!" Ruby voiced her opinion as well while tapping her feet against the floor at rate of approximately thousand taps per minute which had fairly good chance of leaving a permanent mark on the floor. "Whops..."

"Err… But…"

"No buts!" came from three mouths at once with such force that team RYNN's dorm-room door opened and Yang peeked her head out of the door-frame to look curiously at the small group, soon followed by somewhat resigned-looking Ren and excited Nora (who didn't miss the chance to rest her head on top of Ren's).

Team SABR's dorm-room door opened slightly after RYNN's, but it didn't stop Weiss from poking her head out in much the same way as Yang to investigate the ruckus.

' _Yep, I screwed up…'_

"Oh, hi Yang!" Ruby waved energetically at her big sister, momentarily forgetting the issue of the scarlet-clad woman in order to deliver a mission-critical message at all costs. "I'm dating Jaune!"

' _Oh no.'_ Jaune saw as Yang's curious gaze turned suspicious, but more importantly, Weiss's face went completely white- followed by her turning around and slamming team SABR's dorm-room door closed. ' _Oh come on…'_

* * *

"...Why is this happening to me?" Roman Torchwick finished his grumble as he stepped out of a stage after delivering a 'inspiring and rallying' speech to a group of Faunus who had expressed interest in becoming members of the White Fang. "I never wanted to be some justice figure or… or a sodding wanna-be superhero!"

"..." A woman tilted her head at him from the shadow of the backstage, and Roman sighed at Neo.

"Yes, I know. We had little choice." Roman growled. "Still, I didn't sign up to be a poster-boy for faunus rights or something like that. I'm just in for the money… and not dying."

"..." A small sigh escaped Neo's lips, followed by a shrug.

"Yeah, true. It could be worse. She could have sent us on that suicide mission…" Roman acknowledged. "I kinda feel bad for those two kids she sent on that mission in our place… but then I remember that they are part of why we're in this shit in the first place."

Neo smiled.

"...You did give the wounded emo kid enough meds to last the journey when you helped them out of Vale, right?"

"..."

"...Of course you didn't. Fuck."

"..." Neo tilted her head while she had a innocent smile on her lips, but Roman knew better than to trust it.

"Ha… Fine. Fine." he laughed before reaching to pat Neo on the head, and then pulled his hand back before the woman managed to sank her teeth in his hand. He smirked as she glared at him while holding to her head. "You know I plan for us to survive the coming shitshow, right?"

"..."

"I am!"

"..." Neo didn't look too convinced, but she sighed and gave up by shrugging her shoulders theatheritically, turning around and shattering into thousands of tiny glass shards that vanished soon after hitting the floor.

"Heh, I like you too…" Roman chuckled to now empty backstage before checking his ornate wristwatch. "Haah… Another speech in what, ten minutes? Give me a break…"

 **Next chapter: Soon(™)- With more action!**

 **Not dead btw. Just delayed thanks to some legal troubles not related to this story.**


	35. Maidens and Gifts

"...Uh, and then I just sort of said and he said he liked me… er, I think so at least. But then a thing happened and now I'm part of a, er, I guess four-way relationship" Ruby finished her somewhat nervous explanation to Yang who was doing a fairly convincing display of Qrow's 'bad day nr. 5' routine, a bottle in one hand and her face in the other- although the bottle contained water instead of alcohol strong enough to knock out an Ursa.

"So you're dating Jaune, who is dating you, Blake and Pyrrha at the same time."  
"...I guess, yeah." Ruby thought about it for a while, and nodded. "Well, I mean, I'm not sure about what's going to happen to us in the long run, or even in the short run, but… er, I just kinda wanted to be with Jaune so I figured…"

"Haah…" Yang adopted Qrow's 'why is this happening to me' position number 2 by slumping on her desk in team RYNN's room where the two of them were having their conference.

"So... Yeah." Ruby tried to re-open communications as Yang seemed to be stuck in some sort of feedback loop of looking incredulously at Ruby and resting her head in her hands.

"Okay, okay… I'm just trying to get my heard around the idea." Yang sighed. "I got to say, you took me by surprise. I never would have guessed you were into harems. I figured that you might bat for the other team when I found you in Weiss's bed but I didn't really think..."

"I wasn't in bed with Weiss'." Ruby squinted her eyes suspiciously at Yang. "...I was just hugging her. In her bed. That's completely different."

"Never change, Rubaby."

"Hnnnnghh…" Ruby huffed loudly at Yang as she reached to pat Ruby's head.

"Right, anyway, are you happy with your arrangement?" Yang's tone turned serious. "I don't want to see you getting hurt by Jaune, and I'm really not feeling too thrilled that he's talked you into that kind of three-way… er, four-way relationship."

"Well, it wasn't exactly like that." Ruby poked her fingers together. "Its more like 'we're like, best friends and teammates, so let's share' kinda thing."

"Have you really known them for long enough to make that kind of decision?"

"Well… Jaune and Blake yeah. I guess. Sort of. Is about two months long enough time?" Ruby rubbed the back of her head in very Jaune-like fashion and her tone took a slightly uncertain turn.

"...That's Blake and Jaune. What about Pyrrha?"

"She's scary." Ruby shivered slightly. "But she's nice when she's not being scary."

"Haah…" Yang sighed once more. "You do know that this would be your first real relationship, right?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to be observing it."

"Yea- wait what?" Ruby paused to stare wide-eyed at Yang.

"I'm going to see if he's just taking an advantage of you. I know you were dating, well, pretend-dating for a while and he didn't take advantage of you back then… but that arrangement of yours doesn't really seem all that fair." Yang crossed her arms. "I'll make sure that your arrangement won't end up ruining your love-life!"

"Uuuh…" Ruby felt really apprehensive about Yang's offer.

"...And I'll help you win Jaune over to your side!" Yang added. "Just in case either of the two other girls try to hog him for themselves."

"Deal." Ruby immediately offered her hand to Yang, and she shook it conspiratorially.

* * *

It had been few days since Weiss had been released from the hospital and teams SABR and the remains of CEMN had been combined- and luckily team SABR's name had been unchanged since both Weiss and Glynda Goodwitch had lobbied heavily against the Headmaster's proposal to accommodate Cinder into the team name by changing it to BARFS.

The week had gone in a flash for SABR as the piled schoolwork from their excursions had caught up to them, and much of the free time that could have been otherwise devoted to training, relaxation or other activities had been effectively demolished by the piled paperwork and preparation for the end-of-term tests that would be just before the coming dance and their first missions.

Cinder had proven to be a good if reluctant teacher for the team as they struggled to catch up with their studies, although it had become clear that she was _very_ intolerant to slacking, much like Glynda Goodwitch, and also _very_ susceptible to giving Jaune a free pass while maintaining unchanged strictness for the rest of the team, much unlike Glynda Goodwitch.

The fact that Jaune had received special treatment from the crimson-clad woman had not helped the already strained relations between her and the team's other female members with Weiss and Jaune detaching from the argument to work as sort-of mediators inside the team whenever Blake and Ruby had started to protest too heavily against Cinder's less-than-subtle approaches towards the clueless blonde boy, and even more so when the woman had begun her even less subtle attempts to get herself somewhere alone with Jaune for whatever nefarious purpose she had- although Cinder had not managed to corner Jaune just yet thanks to Ruby's, Pyrrha's and Blake's vigilant overwatch, regardless of how much Weiss attempted to persuade them that Cinder wasn't out to snatch Jaune from under them.

Weiss had also started to behave oddly around Ruby, and Ruby had no idea why- though Blake kept rolling her eyes whenever she asked about it and Weiss wouldn't answer either, leaving Ruby with a odd feeling that something was wrong within the white-haired girl. Whenever Ruby was hanging around with Weiss the ex-heiress had started to fluctuate between nervousness and depression, and she kept sending Ruby odd glances.

Weiss had also returned to giving Jaune the cold shoulder after apologizing for some reason, again, and much to the blonde boy's confusion and dismay.

True to her word, Yang had started to not-so-subtly follow Ruby and Jaune around whenever they were doing something together, which usually was either studying or them repairing and refitting the boy's training gear which he kept breaking at incredible rate during the combat classes.

Granted, Yang was not the most inconspicuous of possible shadowers, and after living with Blake for a while Ruby had started to learn how to notice people that were trying to hide their presence around her (not that there had been much need to practice that before) or generally trying to hide themselves from her view (which really wasn't Yang's strong point, given her mane of bright golden-yellow hair and her habit to hum or whistle in overly _not_ suspicious tones whenever she thought she was hidden).

The spotting of the suspiciously acting big sister was made even easier by the absence of other students, who were keeping their distance to team SABR and their new member, most likely because of the negative rumors still circulating inside Beacon about Wiess's claimed abilities (and habits), Cinder's status as a disgraced ex-team leader and Jaune's infamy as some sort of masochistic regenerator- a infamy gained mainly from the boy's inability to stop himself from getting injured every time someone managed to land a hit on him in the combat class. Luckily though Jaune's unarmed close combat abilities had started to improve as he began relying less on his other, more animalistic and instinctive side and had started to take in more strategic and planned approach towards the combat against other hunters-in-training.

For Ruby, the weeks before their finals and the dance might as well have been a dream come true.

Yang was in the same class as she was and Zwei was near her and free to be cuddled to her heart's content (despite Jaune's objections and pouty looks, although she had occasionally hugged the boy as well whenever her blush or subsequent light-headedness hadn't stopped her). She had a team composed of people she could call friends and perhaps even loved ones around her (minus one certain long-legged woman), and she had few people to hang around with who didn't mind her eccentric nature, namely team RYNN. Their continued house arrest was kind of a bummer and mood-killer, and very anti-Weiss (or as she was called, ' _the dark Grimm-summoner Weiss'_ ) attitude around Beacon hadn't helped their status in the eyes of other students, but honestly, Ruby couldn't care less about that.

Her uncle Qrow was teaching her almost every day, and even Weiss had started to brighten up as she had discovered that her big sister Winter had taken up a temporary office as co-teacher for the combat classes- Although to say that Qrow's and Winter's teaching methods had matched well would be akin to comparing a lit torch to be a good match for warehouse full of exposed Dust.

The Beacon's students had profited from the explosive match-up in the form of a popcorn and snacks booth that had been set up outside the combat classroom by the older students for whenever the two teachers started to demonstrate expert combat tactics on each other in front of the students- At least until Glynda Goodwitch caught a hint of it and had arrived to break the fight up and scatter the students that had been cheering the fight on.

She gave up after the fifth time she had to break the fight up, and had instead ordered a installation of seven-inch thick bulletproof glass reinforced with Dust-based kinetic shield between the student seats and the teacher's desk (nicknamed 'monkey cage' by the majority of the older students) to at least prevent the students from getting hit by the stray shots.

The only negative during those days, in Ruby's opinion at least, was the fact that Cinder was in the team, and that she had set her sights on Jaune.

Not that it mattered too much for Ruby at the moment as she spun slowly in Jaune's arms during their last dance 'lesson' before the Beacon Dance, named so by someone who probably didn't have much imagination in naming events.

She hummed quietly as their dance moved them in a combat ring that they had been using as a makeshift dance floor. It was late in the afternoon after their end of term tests, which gave them a moment to relax before the dance that would held in the Beacon's great hall the next day, followed by one day off during which they were supposed to pick their missions- and the day after that their first missions would begin.

Weiss had talked about trying to get information about White Fang's flights from the CCT before their excursion to Vale to clear her reputation, but the ex-heiress's enthusiasm had waned greatly after the repeated attacks against her person- Although Blake had insisted that they should find _some_ way of revealing the fact that Torchwick was tricking the people of Vale into believing that Torchwick was some sort of hero, and that White Fang were misleading Faunus into joining them under the guise of heroism...

"Ruby?"

"Nothing, nothing... " Ruby broke off her see that her dance with Jaune had led them close to the edge of their 'dance floor'. "I was just thinking about Torchwick and his gang."

"We'll get them. Somehow. Someday." Jaune promised. "But I feel that Weiss might have a point- Torchwick is good at this game. Better than us, and if we go in recklessly we'll end up becoming villains for his 'hero story'."

"I don't think you should be the one who tells us not to act recklessly…" Ruby grumbled. "Well, at least the police has taken a stance against him, but I'm not sure its going to last at this rate…"

"Yeah." Jaune agreed. "We'll deal with it as it comes, but for now let's just focus on the coming dance. Are you excited?"

"After all that's happened? Yep." Ruby nodded enthusiastically as she spun on the spot, guided by Jaune's hands. "Just don't ask me to wear high heels. Or dance in front of the other people."

"Er… Ruby, the dance is a public occasion, so there's going to be other people as well…"

"We can still dance, let's just not do it in the middle of the dance floor. Or in front of the crowd." Ruby's voice was adamant. ' _Dancing in front of the other students… erk. Plus I'm sure Yang would just take pictures and send them to dad, and then my life would be officially over…'_

"Heh, sure…" Jaune agreed. "We can dance together somewhere private if you want to."

"I'll look forwards to it, then." Ruby pulled off from their dance to curtsey to Jaune the way she had seen a upper-class woman do to a gentleman in one of the old movies she had seen. She didn't quite get the regal airs correctly, and the way she stumbled on her feet probably didn't help, but Jaune didn't seem to mind.

She liked that about him. He didn't judge her for her age, her habits, or for her mistakes… unlike a certain red-clad woman that had entered their _privately reserved_ combat practise room just as Ruby was curtseying to Jaune.

"Hi Cinder." Jaune greeted the red-clad woman who curtseyed back, with _far_ more elegance and grace than what Ruby was capable of.

And Ruby was approximately hundred and twenty percent sure that the only reason the woman had curtseyed instead of greeting normally was because Ruby had failed in it.

"Grrr…"

"Why hello to you as well, miss Rose." Cinder greeted Ruby's not-very intimidating growl, which caused the girl to shut up in protest. "Would you mind if I borrowed mr. Arc?"  
"Yes."

"I see."

"Uh… is there a problem?" Jaune tilted his head at the woman who was looking at the girl with amused expression.

"No, everything is perfectly fine." Cinder turned her attention back to Jaune while walking closer towards the pair. "I had spare time so I asked myself: why don't I spend some of it with my beloved teammates."

"Well…"

"And I seem to remember that we haven't had our dance lessons yet." Cinder tapped her chin as if in deep thought. "I do remember that you promised such lesson, however, and I would like to see whether your dance lessons with our… hm… other comrades have paid off or not."

Ruby's growl came back in full force as she saw the jab in Cinder's speech. It was not helped by how Jaune looked confused as he looked back and forth between her and the red-clad woman.

"We're doing _just_ fine." Ruby growled out at Cinder, and the red-clad woman paused while glancing back at the exit almost as if she was waiting for something to happen. "What?"

"...Haaah." Cinder sighed as nothing seemed to happen, and she turned around to face towards the exit. "Miss Sch… Weiss?"

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head as Weiss walked into the room hesitantly while looking at anything that wasn't Ruby or Jaune. "Oh, hi Weiss!"

"H- Hello, Ruby." Weiss greeted back hesitantly. "So uh… err... W-would you like to go do something t-together?"

"Eh…"

Cinder rolled her eyes at Weiss's stumbling proposal, and reached to grab the white-haired girl's hand and pull her in front of Ruby while sliding herself past the pair so she stood in front of Jaune. "Why don't you two go ahead and maybe do something fun together?"

"But…" Ruby growled while she squinted her eyes at Cinder suspiciously. The squint's threat-factor was not helped by the fact that her stomach started to growl alongside her, reminding her that she hadn't eaten anything after dinner, and that she had spent the entire afternoon dancing..

"Yeah… I mean, Yes. Let's go, Ruby." Weiss seemed to find her courage as Cinder sent a look at her, and Weiss took Ruby's hand in hers. "I uh… I got us some food and…"

"Cinder…" Ruby growled as she realized that the red-clad woman was trying to separate her from Jaune for whatever nefarious plan she no doubt had.

She wouldn't let it happen.

"I got us a strawberry and chocolate cream cake delivered to the dorm with…"

"Lets go!" Ruby had practically shot out of the room before she realized what was happening, and that she was dragging Weiss behind her. She stopped on her tracks, causing Weiss to crash against her back ' _Oh crap, I shouldn't have left Jaune with that woman…'_

"A- And I got us the new 'Guns and Bullets' magazine for…"

' _I hope Jaune will be alright…'_ Ruby thought as her _completely_ involuntary and not at all stomach-driven Semblance-fueled charge towards the dorm continued while the white-clad girl held onto Ruby's hand for her dear life...

* * *

"It appears that your dance partner has left." Cinder remarked as Jaune looked slack-jawed at the spot of empty air that Ruby had occupied a second ago. "May I?"

"Er… Sure." Jaune blinked in confusion as he took Cinder's arm and the two begun their dance-practice in the combat ring.

"So, how long have you been… hm… you?" Cinder asked carefully as Jaune tried his best to keep up with her dance. He missed her question as he was trying his hardest not to step on her toes.

"E-excuse me?"

"I was referring to your true- I mean your other 'form'."

"Ah." Jaune fought the urge to scratch the back of his neck. For some reason it had become a habit for him. "Well… Er. It's sort of a thing."

"A thing." Cinder lifted her eyebrow sceptically. "I must confess I was expecting something more… detailed."

"Well… Uh…" Jaune sweated his answer. "Well,. I've had my Semblance for few years now, I think, but I haven't been able to use it consciously for more than a month or so…"

"I see. So that's when _it_ started then…" Cinder mumbled as she took the lead in their dance. "So, do you remember what you did before that? Before _that girl_ took control ov- I mean before _you_ became capable of controlling your… Semblance?"

"Er… I was in the wilds, I think. Somewhere between Mistral and Vale…" Jaune told her, omitting details of _why_ he had been there in the first place.

He didn't feel like telling Cinder about his family, not when they were dancing. It wasn't a happy story and he didn't want to spoil the mood.

"I see, I see… So you were free back then…"

"Err… free?"

"Ah, I mean… so you were traveling freely between the Kingdoms?" Cinder corrected herself hastily.

"I guess you could put it that way." Jaune answered half-heartedly while tried to look for a convenient way to change the subject. "So uh… The weather's nice?"

"Yes, yes it is…" Cinder said as he looked into his eyes, almost as if she was looking for something specific in them. Her intense look caused Jaune to shuffle nervously, and he really didn't want to try to use his Semblance to probe her mental state in fear of what he might find.

Granted, he was _fairly_ sure that Cinder didn't have a crush on him or anything, but he didn't want to risk it. Not after what had happened with Ruby, Blake and Pyrrha.

"Uh… Yeah. Yeah, it is. Nice weather, I mean."

"Let's talk about something else." Cinder's eyebrow twitched ever so minutely. "How are you finding Beacon?"

"Er… Shouldn't I be asking that?" Jaune countered carefully as he looked at the red-clad Mistralian transfer student. "I mean…"

"I was merely wondering. Have you experienced out-of-body experiences? Perhaps dizziness and patches in your memory?"

"That's… oddly specific?" Jaune felt as sweat trickled down his neck and his hand that was currently holding to the back of Cinder's waist shook slightly. "Er… is everything alright?"

"...Fine, I'll be more direct." Cinder sighed in exasperation and pulled away from their dance in order to take his hand and start dragging him towards the combat ring-slash-dance floor's locker room. "Come."

"T-that's women's lockers…"

"I know. Shut up." Cinder growled as she pushed him into the deserted room, stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "Listen. Have you been sexually assaulted before?"

"C-Cinder?" Jaune gulped as his fears came true. ' _Oh no, how am I going to tell the others about this?'_

"Oh shush, I'm not going to eat you. Just relax, it will be over soon." Cinder growled while pulling her red satin glove off her left arm, revealing a thumb-sized black dot on the back of her hand that rapidly grew into a black spider's web-like pattern that extended all the way to her forearm and elbow.

"Uh, what is that?" Jaune asked as he backed away from the woman, ignoring the way his head-companion began growling. The only reason he didn't straight up flee or try to attack was because the Shadow didn't seem to consider her a direct threat, and Jaune didn't want to repeat the events of team CEMN's dorm where he accidentally caused a confrontation between the two of them as a result of his overreaction. "Er… Cinder, your arm…"

"It was a gift from my mother. It is not important, don't think about it. Stand still…" Cinder said as she pushed herself against him after he managed to back himself against a wall. He tried to ignore the pleasant feeling of her soft body against his, but didn't quite manage to stop himself from blushing furiously as Cinder caressed his cheek with her black-patterned hand.

"Er, Cinder, I'm really sorry but I have a g-girlfriend, so I c-can't r-return your feelings... " Jaune started, and tried his hardest to stop himself from feeling bad as he saw Cinder's eye twitch and her expression grew colder. "I mean, uh, well. er… can we start as f-friends?"

"Shush. Hold still, and think something else. I'll heal you from that _thing_ ' _s_ corruption..."

Jaune's response was lost as Cinder pushed her hand against his face.

His vision exploded in black even as his head felt like it had split open- followed by hearing a familiar female voice speaking words he didn't understand and had never heard with his ears…

* * *

"...And then he just goes 'aaargh' and stumbles away while trying to wipe his eyes."

"That man sounded unpleasant. But are you sure your… reaction was appropriate?"

"Sounds like he was a bit of an idiot, wasn't he, Weiss?"

"R-Ruby! Language! Still, wasn't grabbing his bottle of wine and smashing it against his face a… _slight_ overkill?"

"Nope! That guy almost puked on me! And on my hair! And he tried to grope me too! That's a bit no-go from me." Yang waved her empty fork vaguely in the direction of her cake slice while she squinted at Ruby, or more specifically at the considerably larger slice of cake on her sister's plate, which caused the red-hooded girl to just roll her eyes while stuffing her third helping of chocolate and strawberry cake into her mouth.

"Good riddance to him, then." Weiss drawled as she contemplated Yang's words. "Do you think he was hurt badly or went blind?"

"Nah. There'd be a lot of blood if he did so I guess he had Aura or something."

"The - _gulp-_ guy who tried to hit on - _munch-_ Yang in a bar was a bit of a doofer, obviously, duh! I mean, anyone who asks a girl out - _crunch-_ while trying to grope her and so drunk he's about to puke on top of her needs someone to teach him to not to do that, so Yang did that guy a favor, really!" Ruby waved her fork vaguely while trying to swallow a mouthful of cake. "Bwah! That cake is sooo good, thanks Weiss!"

"You're welcome. Don't speak when your mouth is full." Weiss sighed while sipping her vanilla tea, her own small slice of the cake sitting untouched on her plate even though more than half of the family-sized cake had already disappeared into Yang and Ruby. She had wanted to try to treat Ruby somewhere private and just hang out before perhaps going out somewhere together, but...

'… _Yang just_ had _to come by and spot the cake…'_ Weiss despaired internally. ' _I- I know Ruby is…er, was seduced by Jaune, somehow… I can still s-seduce her back. I mean, I can still save her from him. Er, I mean, 'liberate' Ruby from him. But it won't work if Yang keeps butting in!'_

"Yah, awfully nice of you Weiss, thanks!" Yang nodded happily while helping herself to her fourth serving. "What's the occasion?"

"I was merely feeling festive after the tests. Nothing more." Weiss sighed. ' _Go away!'_

In retrospect she probably wouldn't be taking Ruby out anywhere other than their dorm even if Yang hadn't been around to ambush them since the general mood of Beacon was very anti-Weiss (or anti-Grimm controlling suspicious mad woman, if the students were to be asked) at the moment, and they were still not allowed to leave Beacon's grounds without consulting Ozpin first as their house arrest had not ended yet- while Weiss suspected it might have been because of the fiasco during her presentation in Vale, she was fairly certain that the house arrest was more for team SABR's protection rather than a punishment for their actions.

After all, they had no doubt stirred quite the storm amongst the White Fang and the criminal underground network of Vale with their actions, so it might not be too far fetched to guess that their enemies might take an action should they see one of team SABR or RYNN alone in the streets…

"Weiss? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing… I was just thinking about… uh... our future?"

"You mean team SABR's?"

"Y-yeah" Weiss coughed as she accidentally inhaled some of her tea after Ruby's innocent question. ' _S-sheesh, Weiss, calm down, I wasn't thinking about… 'our'_ _future… Sheesh…'_ "A-are you looking forwards to the dance?"

"Yeah, its gonna be so much fun!" Ruby squealed happily, causing Yang to lift her eyebrow at her. "I got my lightweight combat boots ready and everything!"

"Argh! _Cough…_ Oof!" Yang seemed to inhale her cake as she heard her little sister's shoe of choice for the dance. "Gah! Er… Rubes, you're not going to dance in your combat boots, are you?"

"Duh, of course I am. What else would I wear?"

"Dunno, high heels or something?" Yang shrugged. "You know?"

"High heels suck. No offense, Weiss."

"None taken…"

"I still don't know how you fight in high heels though…" the golden-yellow haired girl sighed at Weiss before she seemed to remember something and she turned towards Ruby. "Speaking of dancing, weren't you supposed to be dancing with Jaune right now?"

"Er, we were dancing but I got kinda hungry and Weiss came and told me she had cake…" Ruby rubbed the back of her head in very Jaune-like manner. "And… and… Oh no!"

"What?"

"I- I left Jaune alone with Cinder!" Ruby panicked. "W-what if…"

"Calm down Rubes, its not like she's going to eat him or something…" Yang drawled, before rubbing her face as Ruby's face lost colour. "I didn't mean that literally. Shouldn't you be more worried that it's the other way around if something like that happens? Plus surely he wouldn't cheat on you, right?"

"Well…"

"Not counting your harem-thing-whatever."

"W-well… I'm more worried that Cinder comes up with some sob story and then Jaune feels bad for her and then he tries to cheer her up and next he just comes to me and says 'hey I'm dating Cinder too'" Ruby muttered sullenly.

"You could always, well, _not_ date Jaune…" Weiss drawled, hiding her nervous stutter under her sneer. "There's got to be someone _better_ for you."

"Nuh." Ruby shook her head, almost dislodging the massive piece of cake that Yang had stuffed in the hooded girl's mouth as a mean of panic relief. "Noh gonwa stahp dafing himf... _gulp_ … He's nice, and I like him."

"Ruby, can you not speak while eating…" Weiss tried to reprimand the red-hooded girl and mask her disappointment. ' _Well, it would have probably been too easy if that had worked anyway… All is fair in love and war… Right?'_

"Hm, he should have come back by now though." Ruby blinked as she looked at her Scroll's screen. "Eh, I'll call him."

"Isn't his Scroll broken?" Weiss reminded her as she pulled her own Scroll and turned it around to show Ruby her contact list. "I'll give you Cinder's number if you're so worried. Here..."

* * *

A growl escaped a pair of lips, followed by a ragged gasp.

Pure blackness surrounded everything.

Everything seemed so real, yet there was no way it was- odd shapes, sounds, voices intermixed into a maddeding babble that assaulted her every sense.

Cinder felt nauseous. She felt nauseous. He felt nauseous. We felt nauseous.

' _W-what… what is happening? Who is that?'_ a odd memory of a unknown man and unknown woman standing on a dirt road in a burning forest passed by her faster than she could comprehend it. She felt tearing pain almost as if her arms were being torn and shredded, yet when she hugged herself she felt her arms still intact, yet at the same time she remembered the shredded stumps where her arms used to be, the feel of her long, sharp teeth biting into her own flesh still fresh in her mind. Tar-like black material coated her left hand, and she saw tens of small, red-glowing eyes opening on her tar-covered hand ' _W-what is this?'_

A mind-tearing chittering sound, like insects rubbing their chitins together begun to grow stronger and stronger until it finally stopped as Cinder's ears popped, causing incessant tinnitus in her head and causing her to break away from the all-engulfing darkness with a feeling that was not unlike falling on her back.

She lifted herself up from the slick, soft floor as soon as she realized that she could move. However she couldn't see anything as there were no light sources, and her attempt to use her Semblance to light a fire failed. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she begun to ponder why her Semblance was refusing her, but before she managed to reach any conclusions her thoughts were interrupted by a unnatural, chittering sound that vaguely sounded like speech- yet spoken through a mouth that had never been meant to speak.

 _Ẃ͝h͟҉͘͡o̸̶.̕҉̶́͞.̢̨.̧̢̨͝ ̸̡̀҉̧a̸̴̡r̀͢e͞҉̴̧̢ ̡͟͏̕ý̧̕͡ơ̧͢͠͡ư̡.̸̷͘̕͠.̨͠.̵̶_

The darkness seemed to come alive as the voice vibrated through the dark.

' _W-what is this?'_ Cinder thought, and slapped her hand on her mouth as she noticed her lips speaking her thoughts aloud. ' _No, stop!'_

A pair of red-glowing eyes lit up the slithering darkness that surrounded her, revealing faint shapes of hundreds of dead Grimm mixed with few humans and Faunus, each of them looking almost as if something had taken bites out of them, with some missing arms, legs or even half of their torso.

Cinder pulled her eyes up from the mass of the dead as a larger shape approached her, slithering through the dark sea of faintly red-illuminated corpses. She tried to call to her Semblance again, bring forth her Flame, but it flickered and failed her once again, making her eyes widen. ' _Th- this isn't real. This isn't real. Semblance cannot be suppressed like that. This is…'_

A monstrous, elongated face erupted from the mass of dead flesh with its four red-glowing eyes focusing on her own, and she froze as the monster's crown of bone with single blade-like extrusion parted the darkness as it approached her.

The moment stretched as Cinder refused to turn her eyes away from the corpse-swimming creature… until it turned its red-glowing eyes towards her left hand and lunged at her at speed surprising for such a massive creature.

The maw of razor-sharp teeth opened far further than any mouth should open, preparing to swallow Cinder whole as she screamed, her weapons refusing to come to her, her Semblance defying her, and even her feet refusing to move while tearing pain lanced through her left hand as she raised it to shield herself…

* _Bzzzztttt…. Bzzzt….*_

"Ghaahh!" Cinder felt herself catapulting out from the all-consuming darkness and her back impacted against the locker room's tiled floor while her head hit one of the steel lockers with a bang. "Argh…"

* _Bzzzt…*_ The incessant buzzing of her Scroll caused her head to clear slightly and she reached instinctively to her waist-pouch to turn the annoying device off.

"...W… what was that…?" a weak-sounding voice asked, and Cinder turned very slowly to look at the form of Jaune Arc who was lying on the tiled floor on the other side of the room, much like her. "Ow… My head…"

"Ah…. It's…" Cinder tried to say something, anything, to stop the monster in the room from turning on her, in case it somehow took her attempt to clear the Schnee corruption from his mind as a hostile attempt, but for once no clever scheme came to her, no cunning plan was materialized to turn the situation around. ' _What- Just what is he? That wasn't anything like how a Grimm should be! Just how deep have the Schnee's managed to corrupt him? Or… Was he even a Grimm in the first place?'_

"...M-mom? Who..." Jaune mumbled drunkenly, and Cinder took a sharp breath.

' _Don't tell me that… that I managed to remove the 'Arc' part of its mind, and it turned into a newborn Grimm?'_ Cinder thought but held her tongue as she tried to observe the situation through her post-panic haze. The fact that her hands were shaking, her body was slick with sweat and she felt like throwing up did not help her attempt to stay calm.

"...C-Cinder?"

Her breath caught, but she realized she shouldn't try to avoid the potential confrontation- not when she wasn't sure what the boy-slash-creature's intentions were. ' _...He's not attacking me immediately so I might still be able to salvage this…'_ "I'm here. Are you alright?"

"What happened? I… I just remember… _hurgh_." the boy paused to frantically scramble up and Cinder watched warily as he threw himself on top of a trash can and begun throwing up in it.

' _Well… he's coherent at least.'_ she thought as she focused her attention on the otherwise deserted locker room. There was a small splatter of blood on the spot where they had stood, but the room was otherwise unaffected by their 'interaction'. ' _Hold on, where did that blood come from?'_

A wet sensation from her hand answered her question, and Cinder took a look at her left arm- only to see that her hand was bleeding profusely from a wound that had opened on her hand. ' _Wait, hold on, where is… Where is it?!'_

"No…" Cinder whispered in shock as she looked at the wound that was located exactly where her Gift _should_ have been.

Only the black spot that the Grimm Parasite had once occupied, a Grimm creature responsible for her hidden ability to manipulate Aura and temporarily bend Grimm to her will, was empty.

No, the spot on the back of her hand was more than empty. It had been torn off completely and was bleeding red, human blood profusely on the floor even as she watched it in shock. ' _My plans…Mother… I… I have failed...'_

The tool to attain her primary goal in Beacon was lost. The Gift, instrumental to her plan was lost.

She felt as her fingers curled to form a fist as the gravity of her situation rushed to her.

' _The Maiden…'_

* * *

"It is still too early to decide." Ozpin agreed as he sat in his office with General Ironwood who was occupying the seat in front of him, with stern-looking Glynda Goodwitch standing beside the Headmaster and Qrow sitting on a chair next to one of the decorative pillars that lined the sides of the headmaster's office while trying his best not to look hangover.

"Ozpin, the Maiden's health is deteriorating." Ironwood said. "We need to find her Successor soon. She won't last long, and should she die now…"

"...Her power will be lost to us." Ozpin finished Ironwood's speech. "However, we cannot be hasty when deciding for her successor, after all we know that there are infiltrators in the school."

"You're speaking of those three students that were expelled, Mercury, Emerald and Neon, weren't you?" Glynda interjected. "The idea of using one of our students as a host for the Maiden doesn't exactly thrill me, but surely we now know at least who the three that attacked her were? After all, few months back when the Fall Maiden was attacked during her travel between Mistral and Vale, Qrow was in the area and was able to both get some information about the attackers and save the Maiden, even though she was severely wounded during the engagement."

"...I told you before." Qrow growled. "I couldn't see who the three people who attacked Amber Fall, our little Fall Maiden, were. Their figures were blurred, likely as a result of some sort of Semblance. The would-be assassins could be the same three that attacked little miss Schnee, or the assassins who attacked the Fall Maiden could be anyone else."

"But you told us that there were three of them, two female figures and one male?" Ironwood turned to ask Qrow. "That description matches the three that were expelled."

"Yes, but just because the key matches the lock, it doesn't mean the door is the right one." Ozpin reminded Ironwood, which caused the man to lift an eyebrow at him in confusion. "It was an old saying, just ignore it." the Headmaster sighed.

"You'd think that someone who had the power to control weather itself would have the ability to defend herself better, specifically if they are traveling alone." Ironwood added his sigh to Ozpin's while reaching for his cup of coffee.

Ozpin could swear that the man's coffee was less 'extract from coffee beans' and more 'extract from oil rags and engine leakings' if the pitch black colour and miasma of death that the liquid in the mug radiated were anything to go by. A satisfied sigh that Ironwood gave after a sip didn't help the image.

"Yes, Fall Maiden was attacked in the countryside when she was moving to Vale from Mistral, and her attackers somehow managed to completely bypass her Aura, and even more bizarrely _drained_ her power." Ozpin said, putting his cup away as Ironwood poured more of the black liquid into his mug from a thermos. "I believe that the attackers must have had some sort of secret weapon specifically designed to destroy Aura and absorb Semblances…"

Ironwood narrowed his eyes. "Do you have any idea what that weapon could be?"

"No." Ozpin answered while locking eyes with Ironwood. "Do you perhaps have some theories?"

"No. However what I know is that the Fall Maiden will die from her wounds soon. Ozpin, we are running out of time." Ironwood ground out after breaking off the stare. "Should she die now, we have no idea where her power will go. At best of cases it will disappear and imbue itself to some random girl, and at worst case it will go to her attacker if _she_ was able to identify her attackers."

"Indeed. However none of our students are quite ready to take the power, even if Ozpin has found few candidates." Glynda said with clear resignation in her voice. "A girl who is between fifteen and twenty years old, has strong Aura potential, and desires power either to safeguard those around her…"

"We just need to find one that we know for certain won't turn on us, or run from us after gaining the power." Ozpin nodded. "We all know what happened with the Spring Maiden who ran from Haven after gaining her power..."

"...And we have no idea where Winter and Summer Maidens are." Ironwood finished Ozpin's speech with a sigh. "My devices, drones and search teams haven't found any sign of them, and I have been searching for them ever since I was… introduced into this alliance."

"If the Winter wants to stay hidden, she won't be found by anyone but the Fall." Ozpin said. "Summer Maiden will come around, but never before Spring."

"Again with your riddles?" Ironwood glared at the headmaster.

"Sorry."

"Regardless, the Aura Transfer machine has been constructed in Atlas, and is ready to be shipped here and attached to the Maiden's life support while you find a proper host for her." Ironwood sighed. "Should you not find one, I have contacted Dr. Polendina to manufacture a blank Penny model who could be used as a temporary host for the Maide-"

"Thank you, but I doubt it will come to that." Ozpin cut Ironwood off. "I am not certain what would happen should her power be transferred into a soulless automation."

"Doctor Polendina's automations are not soulless. That is their point."

"That point is yet to be proved."

"Penny Polendina has Aura!"

"But lacks a Semblance, the very definition of one's Soul."

"Can you two stop bickering like children?" Glynda interjected herself into the conversation and cut both of the men off. "I get enough of such petty squabble during my day-to-day teaching!"

"Very well. I admit we are getting sidetracked." Ozpin nodded politely. "Thank you for letting us know about the Aura Transfer machine. We'll find a proper candidate, so you can focus on getting the machine here in one piece, and unraveling whatever ploy Roman Torchwick and his White Fang associates have in Vale. We can't afford to have the machine intercepted on its way here, and if the way the Dust shipments have been disappearing are any indication, shipping the machine right now would spell disaster."

"The robberies against Dust stores in Vale have halted after few of my raids so the situation isn't as bad as it was earlier, but some of the shippings coming from Atlas are still getting attacked by unknown forces and disappearing so I can't refute your point." Ironwood asked as he lifted himself off his chair. "What about the three who attacked Fall Maiden?"

"Let me worry about that. If they are in Beacon, they cannot hide for long…"

"Very well. In that case if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

"You're thinking that the Arc kid was one of those three that attacked the Maiden." Qrow thought aloud after Ironwood left the office. "His Semblance-whatever would fit that description. Didn't he eat that Mercury kid's Aura somehow?"

"Yes." Ozpin agreed. "He shows ability to control, drain and absorb Aura, so it is possible that he was part of the attack against the Maiden. The location would fit as well, since mr. Arc was allegedly traveling to Vale when Fall Maiden was attacked, and while she still holds the Maiden's power, her Aura is all but gone and even the Maiden within her is wavering."

"What about the CEMN? Oh gods sakes, Qrow, stop smirking like that!" Glynda growled at the infuriating man who had started to snicker as now-disbanded team CEMN's name was mentioned. "Act like the adult you are!"

"It is possible that mr. Black and miss Sustrai were a separate faction." Ozpin hummed while Glynda reprimanded Qrow. "The world isn't drawn to 'us and them', so it might have been possible that the two of them assumed miss Schnee was, as the public knew her as, a 'Dark Mistress of the Grimm'"

"Ozpin, that is ridiculous and you know it!" Glynda argued.

"They are young and impressionable, It might have been possible that the two of them thought they were doing the right thing by attacking miss Schnee- by taking the law to their own hands. Young people like to do that." Ozpin wondered aloud. "Or it might have been possible that they were persuaded into attacking by their two other teammates. Speaking of which, has there been any sign of miss Neon Polit's whetherabouts?"

"No, she has disappeared completely. Poof, gone." Qrow grumbled while he pulled his Scroll and started to fiddle with it. "It's almost as if she never existed in the first place."

"I gave you access to the Beacon's camera network, has that helped your search?" Ozpin asked out of curiosity

"Yeah, and it has helped my stalking of the Arc kid too, but your cameras have hellova lot of blind spots."

"Oh?"

"Women's lockers, women's showers and bathrooms, dorm-rooms with girls…" Qrow didn't get further before Glynda slapped the back of his head.

"There is a _reason_ I have vetoed the installation of cameras into such places, _Qrow_ , I know exactly what would turn into your 'high priority observation target' should cameras exist in such places!"

"I was just going to look!"

"I see… that leaves one person to be accounted for. We know nothing of miss Polit's motives." Ozpin mumbled, ignoring Qrow's pleas for mercy as the enraged headmistress fell upon him. "That sounds exactly like one of _her_ plans…"

"Ozpin? Are you going into your…" Glynda paused to turn to face Ozpin, and Qrow whimpered as he realized what was about to happen.

"If _She_ sent three people to assassinate the Fall Maiden and then infiltrate our midst, _she_ would be cunning enough to send _five_ people and have three of them appear like the three that were sent to assassinate the Maiden initially, but have three of them disappear, leaving two, but with one of the three unaccounted for there's very high chance that the three original assassins are still in Beacon and the two who were expelled were either _her_ agents who were sent away to create smokescreen for the original assassins or, in fact bystanders who got dragged in as scapegoats for _her_ true agents!"

"He's going into his conspiracy theories again." Glynda sighed to Qrow, confirming his fears.

"With miss Fall acting suspiciously, mr. Arc having a obscure ability, and miss Polit being unaccounted for and therefore possibly scouting for the two, we have two females and one male who fit the description of the assassin squad." Ozpin nodded to himself, pleased with his reasoning. "We need to find and interrogate mr. Black and miss Sustrai in order to find out for certain."

"Yep, he's gone…"

"I am still here?" Ozpin, clearly confused, turned his attention back to Qrow who had begun drinking heavily.

"Didn't you just tell Ironwood that, how did you put it, 'just because a key fits a lock the door might not be right one' or something along those lines?" Glynda sighed at Ozpin.

"Yes, but we cannot disregard the possibility that the door is, in fact, the right one. It would fit _her_ plans…"

Glynda considered asking Qrow to loan his flask and pouring the contents down her throat.

* * *

"Cinder, did you… Oh no." A male voice entered her ears, but Cinder couldn't care less about the Arc in the room as she stared at her ruined hand.

At her ruined plan. The Gift was gone. Her Aura absorbing ability was gone. Her ability to temporarily control Grimm was gone. Her _real_ team was gone.

Everything had failed.

She couldn't quite ignore the pair of hands that wrapped themselves around her hand though, and she lifted her eyes to meet the Arc's as he began tying a piece of cloth around the wound to stem the bleeding.

She noticed that he had torn a piece of his shirt to form a makeshift bandage and was looking at her in concern. "Oh."

"Cinder? What happened?" Jaune asked, and Cinder noted that curiously enough his voice carried no accusation. "Are you alright?"

"I'm… not." she responded with a fragile voice before she managed to stop herself. "It is destroyed."

"It… It will heal. It is just a flesh wound." the boy tried to reassure her, completely oblivious to what she had lost. She noted absently that Jaune had a wound on his forehead that was slowly bleeding dark red blood on his face and eye and there was a curved, bloody horn protruding from his forehead where the wound was. The tip of the horn had broken off, and it seemed to be crumbling slowly- Yet he was more concerned over her hand than his own wound.

"What did you try to do? You touched my cheek and then I- I just blacked out, and then the Shadow… I mean, I just kinda lost it. Er, I mean..." Jaune stammered as Cinder observed his forehead.

' _Shadow? Does he mean that dark place?'_ "I… It was a gift. From my mother. It uh…" Cinder visibly composed herself as it wasn't the time nor the place to have a breakdown. She tried to find a good excuse for her attempt to wrestle the Knight free from the Schnee's control, but no clever explanation came to her. "...It allows… _allowed_ me to see people's memories. To heal them. Of traumatic memories." she lied.

"So… were you trying to see into my thoughts then?" Jaune asked, pausing his bandaging of her hand to hold to his head, no doubt suffering from massive headache.

And if the dull pain in Cinder's head was any indication she'd be getting her share of the migraine as well after the adrenaline settled down.

"Why?" he asked as he returned to bandaging her hand, the boy's headache seemingly easing and allowing him to move again.

"I... ah… I heard that you had a traumatic experience so I figured I'd try to uh… help you get over it. Mend it." Cinder tried to stitch together a story- she hadn't expected for her attempt to go _so_ badly wrong, and to be honest, she had no idea how to proceed. ' _At least he's not hostile, so perhaps I managed to do something… Change something.'_

"I… I just remember odd memories. There was this woman with white skin and veins…" Jaune said half-heartedly while his eyes glassed over and he pressed his hand against his temple, his headache apparently spiking again. "She… she said something. I didn't really understand it but..."

Cinder took a sharp breath. ' _...Mother?'_

"Its just… really splintered. I don't know." he shook his head. "I don't think I have seen her before."

"...Ah."

"Cinder? You're pale. Don't worry, I'll get you to the doctor…"

"No!" she denied instantly as he reached towards her, likely so that he'd lift her up the floor but she waved her healthy hand in front of his face to stop him. "No, I'll be alright. It's just a flesh wound, correct?"

"Well… I'm not a doctor but…"

"Yes, that's right. Don't worry about it." Cinder tried to persuade him from doing anything hasty while checking the wounded hand quickly to see that the wound was properly bandaged. It appeared that the boy had a knack for healing and doctoring, but she'd open the bandage and re-apply it in her dorm just to be sure. "I just wanted to help, but I guess it didn't work out."

"...I'm sorry." Jaune apologized. "I should have told you."

"Ah… told what?" Cinder asked, confused.

Jaune sighed. "This is all my fault."

If Cinder was confused before, then she had positively no idea what the boy was saying now.

"We… We decided together, the original team SABR I mean, that we shouldn't tell you about my ability. The truth is… I'm not entirely in control of it." Jaune confessed. "It… It is self-aware, to a degree. And unstable to the highest degree- it wants me to kill everything. Eat everything. I can keep it at bay, but I can't suppress it completely. The Shadow, I mean. If you'd known... If… If I had just told you, you wouldn't have tried to help me, you wouldn't have gotten hurt..."

' _So the Schnee's haven't been able to cage 'him' completely- the 'Jaune' persona is just something they attached over the Knight, to keep him caged... If only I could just open the gate…'_ Cinder thought as she held to her wounded hand while the boy seemed to be busy with his self-loathing. ' _No, I have to focus on my true goal here, getting sidetracked has already cost me too much…But how am I going to steal the Maiden's power now?'_

Cinder had planned to steal the Fall Maiden's power back when she, Emerald and Mercury had set an ambush for the Maiden on the road between Mistral and Vale, and only a unfortunate interruption by Ozpin's agent, Qrow, had stopped her from using her Gift to absorb the Maiden's Aura and then her life. Luckily Emerald's Semblance had managed to blur their features from Qrow's mind during their brief fight

' _But now Emerald and Mercury are away… and the Gift is gone so I can't finish absorbing the Fall's power even if I find where Ozpin has hidden her.'_ She sighed heavily as she considered her now-numb hand. She couldn't properly move it, and she probed Aura only to find that it was completely empty. ' _Don't tell me that the brief confrontation between me and the… Shadow… caused my Aura to drain up completely? Was it also why that… thing… was able to tear the Gift out of my hand? But why is it hostile to me in the first place?_ _Was it because I tried to invade his mind to control it?_ _Or was it hostile to just the Gift since it stopped its attack once the Gift was gone?'_

"I… I need to think." Cinder said sullenly, recognizing that she needed to push forwards while she had the advantage of Jaune thinking that the whole fiasco had been his fault. "For what it's worth… I forgive you. It was my fault, really, I should have asked first…"

"No…" Jaune sighed dejectedly while rubbing his temple, no doubt his headache getting worse even as Cinder felt her migraine starting to pound her head.. "I was being stupid. I thought that you would… No, it's nothing. Forget it."

"Tell me." Cinder said quietly while she struggled to get up from the locker room's tiled floor. Jaune reached to offer his hand and she took it with her healthy hand, and allowed him to help her up. "What were you thinking that I'd do?"

"I… I just thought that you were about to molest me."

Cinder almost choked.

"Really?" she asked after the initial shock wore off, and was replaced by sympathy. ' _Come to think of it, he might have a point… those three girls have been molesting him non-stop so it's fair that he'd think any girl who got him alone in a room would try the same…'_

"Sorry." Jaune looked sheepish and Cinder couldn't help herself but to reach and pat his shoulder with her healthy hand, something that caused the boy to flinch and look at her hand warily before she pulled her hand back.

"Don't tell the others about this, alright?" Cinder said finally as the silence stretched. "That… That ability was tied to a item my mother gave me. It was the last thing she gave to me…' _...Well, technically that isn't a lie either since she wasn't in the habit of gifting all that many items to me, or any of her followers for that matter…'_

"Ah… I'm sorry. I destroyed it, didn't I?" Jaune looked ashamed.

"Yes, you did, I didn't want people to know about it. Otherwise everyone would seek me out to get rid of hangover or something…" Cinder drawled. "Well, it doesn't matter now. It is gone, and I don't want people to pester me about it. Just tell people that you fell or something if someone asks why you have wound in your forehead."

"Eh?" Jaune reached to pat his forehead, apparently completely oblivious to his wound that had appeared where she had pushed her Gift. He wiped at the dried blood and Cinder saw unmarred skin beneath it. "Ah, don't worry about that. I heal quickly."

"I… I see." She didn't. "Regardless, we should get going. I need to disinfect my hand, and you… probably have somewhere you need to be."

"I guess?" Jaune said while wincing. "I'm probably needed in the dorm-room where the headache meds are… I'm not sure if they work on me but this is a good time to test."

"Hm."

.

..

…

Their return to the dorms was fairly uneventful one, with Ruby catching to them on their way back as she had come to investigate the sudden lack of contact to the pair, which Cinder explained away as her being busy bandaging a wound on her hand that had come as a result of the two of them choosing to train instead of dancing.

Ruby had seemed a bit wary of Cinder, but luckily she had not objected too much. Jaune had promised to let Weiss and Blake know of Cinder's injury as well, which had caused the crimson-clad woman to scowl but agree.

For whatever reason his headache had worsened whenever Cinder had spoken earlier with the Shadow pushing against his mind- and it had left behind hundreds of small, disjointed and fuzzy fragments of memories he was fairly sure he had never seen. He guessed that Cinder's attempt, while it hadn't succeeded completely in healing his mind, had at least unlocked a myriad of memories still locked within the Shadow.

Jaune wasn't entirely sure why Cinder wanted to keep her mother's gift secret from others though, but he could respect her privacy- he'd be quite the hypocrite if he didn't, and it wasn't like her now-lost ability to heal someone's mind would hurt anyone.

Sleep did not come easily for him that night though- not with the excitement that radiated from the occupants of the beds around him, and with the incessant buzz of his head processing the shattered memories that had invaded his conciousnes after Cinder had used her mother's gift on him.

.

..

...

 _...The familiar-looking and eerily beautiful woman gave him a glove with a detailed red ritual circle on the palm, and he pulled it on his slender left hand. Immediately afterwards he felt as hundreds of small teeth bit into his skin, almost as if they had come through the glove..._

…' _Control it.' a female voice whispered into his ear, and he lifted his black-skinned hand at a Grimm form that snarled at him but didn't attack…_

' _...A Grimm is created with a goal… A singular command…' A familiar, comforting female voice told him, and he looked at a tar-filled lake. The woman's pale hand was extended towards the lake, and he caught a glimpse of her beautiful pale-white hair before a black form of a Grimm creature rose from the lake's murky water…_

 _...He was so close. Excitement coursed through him even as he forced himself to be calm, and he extended his hand towards a vaguely human-like shape. Strands of black shot from his arm towards the creature, and the shape screamed in terror even as a gunshot rang in the distance, forcing his attention away..._

…' _...Ah!' 'Sorry!' a pair of exclamations rang in the air as a odd blonde-haired boy collided against him, causing the unstable pile of blurred objects that the boy was carrying to fall over…_

 _...He screamed in horror as a_ _maw of razor-sharp teeth opened far further than any mouth should open, preparing to swallow him whole, his weapons refusing to come to him... Tearing pain lanced through his left hand as he raised it to shii̡eld͟ h͏i̸m͘s̀e̸lf̧_

Jaune woke up with a gasp.

He instinctively tightened his hold on the warm body that was lying on top of him, and buried his face in the unknown figure's long, black hair as the odd memory of a dream he half-remembered grew vague and faint.

' _Ah… so Blake snuck into my bed again…'_ Jaune thought as he recognized the girl, and tried to relax his cramping muscles.

He fell back on the bed with a relieved sigh, allowing the pleasant sensation that radiated from the girl to soothe away the odd combination of sickening pressure and desire to forsake his human form that lingered after his nightmare. He reached to pull her closer to him and tied one of his arms around the back of her waist while the other reached to stroke her hair, further intensifying the pleasant feelings radiating from Blake.

' _I haven't had a nightmare like that in a long time. I wonder if its a sign or something?'_ Jaune wondered while he took in a deep breath of the girl's scent and Blake purred sleepily, no doubt enjoying his caress in her own dreams if the way how she began rubbing her legs against his were any indication.

Normally he'd blush at that, and perhaps freeze up but as it were he welcomed the sensation to ward away the sickening heat that radiated from the back of his head. His connection to his Semblance grew stronger every time he unraveled one of the Shadow's splintered memories, but as a side-effect it caused his ability to sense emotions to grow more precise, more accurate… and more invasive. ' _Although I have literally no idea where those memory-shards came from… Did Cinder's item unlock some of the more hidden ones?'_

' _I wonder if my sort-of passive ability to sense emotions becomes a form of mind-reading at some point.'_ Jaune sighed internally as he prepared to go back to sleep. ' _That wouldn't be good… specifically if it becomes permanent and I can't turn it off. I wonder if it's how Grimm find humans so easily? Just sense emotions, come closer, and then zing, now they know where you and your friends live?'_

He shook his head sleepily as the nightmare's after-effects passed, leaving him tired and sleepy. ' _Well… the Dance is tomorrow… well, today, actually, so I better get back to sleep… I need to get some actual sleep since a nightmare doesn't count...'_

A sudden ring of a Scroll put an end to those thoughts, and he glanced at the team SARB's dorm-room's curtained window to find out that a faint ray of sun was starting to invade the room. ' _...Or not._ '

"Hmm… Yeah, that feels good… Don't stop that…" Blake murmured sleepily to his ear as he pulled his hand away from her hair.

"Ah! Er, sorry?" ' _Again? Just how light sleeper is she?'_ Jaune panicked, putting the nightmare aside for the moment. He'd have time to worry about it later. ' _Wait, was she awake the whole time?'_

"Yes."

' _S-she can read minds?'_

"Yesss, that feels good…" Blake murmured and shivered as he continued the stroking of her hair and scratching her cat-ears while the room's other occupants began stirring in their beds, woken up by the Scroll's alarm clock.

' _I guess not… Phew.'_ Jaune thought, before he realized another problem that was quite literally arising as Blake rubbed her body against his and he became acutely aware that Blake had quite nice curves in all the right places.

And that Ruby was glaring at him sleepily while hanging her head upside-down from her bunk bed above his.

And that Weiss was rubbing her eyes and blinking at the sight of him in his bed with Blake laying on top of him and rubbing her thigh against his very much visible 'tent'.

"Not again…" Weiss groaned as her vision returned, she took a look at what was happening, and promptly turned around on her bed after silencing her Scroll. "Can my first sight in a morning be something other than mr. Arc's… _thing_ , please?"

"Er… good morning, Weiss?"

"Put. It. Down."

"It… doesn't exactly work like that." Jaune felt sweat trickling down his neck. A hefty 'thump' rang in the room as Ruby hopped down from her bed sleepily (or more rather, fell in somewhat controlled manner) and immediately afterwards flipped Blake off him (causing the faunus girl to let out a indignant meow, much to Jaune's surprise), and she took her spot.

"Nh… I want to cuddle too." Ruby complained, which caused Jaune to blush as Ruby inadvertently brushed against _something_ and Blake blinked in confusion as the manhandling plus falling from the bed had woken her up.

As soon as the worlds left Ruby's mouth, Weiss jumped out of her bed in a white blur.

"N- no! We must get ready for the day!" Weiss's voice was panicked, and for a moment Jaune was worried if something was wrong with the white-haired ex-heiress as she looked at him... no, at _Ruby_ with her face a mixture of emotions…

' _...P҉͜á҉l͡͝e͏̀ ̷̵h҉̨ai̢̡r͝ ̵fŕa҉m̸҉in̸͠g ͠͡h͢͜͡e҉r̀ ̕ṕ͡a͡l҉̢e̡͜ ҉҉s̛k͘i͟҉̸n҉̢.̡.̷̡'_

Jaune paled and coughed as the presence in the back of his head surged forth, and he visibly recoiled as he forced the Shadow down before it had a chance to surface and do whatever it was trying to do.

"...Jaune?" Weiss's eyes lifted from Ruby to him in concern as she noticed his reaction, and he turned his eyes away from the puzzled white-haired girl.

"It's nothing. I just… I just had a bit of a heartburn. It's nothing important."

"R-right… Ruby! Wake up!" Weiss returned her attention back to Ruby who was fast falling asleep while curling herself on top of Jaune- although it looked like it would be cut short soon as Weiss's face was beginning to bloom bright red and her hands were shaking, and Blake was getting dangerously close to unwrapping herself from the blanket that had tied itself around her when Ruby had flipped her.

"Neh… Spoilsport." Ruby complained at Weiss as it looked like the white-haired girl would soon resort to drastic measures to get the smaller girl off Jaune. "I'm going to sleep with you tomorrow, then." she promised as she climbed off his bed and hopped on the floor, ignoring the hissing ball of cloth and black hair beside Jaune's bed.

Weiss let out something that borderlined a muted shriek while Blake gained a competitive look as she finally got herself out of her blanket prison, leaving behind a shredded ball of fabric that had once been Jaune's comfortable blanket but what now looked suspiciously like a ball of yarn.

"If… If you are _quite_ done with your… your… perversions can you _please_ get dressed?" Weiss attempted to re-muster her calm, but the uncertainty in her voice was quite clear even for someone as clueless as Jaune, and even Ruby lifted a questioning eyebrow at Weiss, but the white-haired girl fled to the showers before anyone could ask if she was feeling unwell.

"Right… So what's in schedule for today?" Jaune asked as the team moved through what had become their usual morning routines, and they sat down on their preferred comfy spot- Jaune's being on his bed, Weiss's being on her own bed, Ruby's being sitting on top of a pillow in front of the dorm window and Blake's being sitting on her self-made ball of blanket-yarn while leaning against Jaune's bunk bed leg. "Beside the dance, I mean."

"W-well… I heard team CFVY was supposed to be responsible for managing and arranging the dance, but their mission apparently dragged and the Headmaster gave that role to team TAPE…" Weiss started, but was promptly interrupted.

"Wait, is 'tapestry' actually a colour?" Ruby asked, puzzled, as she looked through the mail that the school system had sent the students about the dance.

"Huh?"

"It is. Really dirty white-grey colour." Blake commented from the side as Weiss was thrown off-track. "For the record, I think 'saber' is a really shiny white-grey colour, like blade of a sword."

"What about 'run'? You know, RYNN?" Jaune asked, intrigued.

"I'm fairly sure it's not a colour, or it is a really obscure reddish grey colour." Blake shrugged.

"Just how many shades of gray are there?!" Ruby despaired.

"Around fifty." Weiss gave up on trying to recite the schedule and joined the conversation that was going increasingly off track. "I believe Ozpin has used most of them when naming teams. Or possibly made few names up."

"Do you think Ozpin just makes up a colour and names it to suit a team name rather than trying to look for a colour that fits the team?" Jaune asked. "Is Ozpin actually part of a colour conspiracy?"

"It would explain why there's around two hundred and sixty different shades of green in Vale." Blake said with dawning realization.

"I see that Ozpin must really hate naming the teams then…" a new female voice sighed, and the team turned to see Cinder opening the dorm room and entering, clad in a red dress that contrary to her usual one, didn't have gloves. Instead she wore bandages on her left hand, and her right one was bare. "I'm glad that my old team name wasn't an exception but a rule."

"Your wounds haven't closed yet?" Jaune asked in concern as he saw a tiny dot of blood starting to seep through Cinder's fresh bandages, and her face looked quite pale. "It's been a day already… Is your Aura alright?"

Ruby gave a somewhat miserable whine as she saw the woman's injuries. Weiss looked somewhat concerned while Blake just kept giving Cinder a slightly suspicious look.

"How touching. I didn't know you cared." Cinder heard Ruby's whine, which instantly turned into protesting silence after the words left Cinder's mouth.

"I just don't like seeing people hurt…" Ruby complained and bunched her hands while looking away.

"...But no, my wounds have not closed. And my Aura is still all but empty." Cinder turned to give Jaune a somewhat curious and somewhat wary look. "Did your ability include some sort of Aura-suppressing effect that could still affect mine since we… sparred… yesterday?"

"W… Well, no, I think there's nothing like that in me- In my Semblance, I mean." Jaune tried to evade Blake's questioning-yet-slightly-suspicious gaze. His unclear answer however caused the red-clad woman to sigh.

"I see. Very well. Weiss?" Cinder turned back towards the white-haired girl. "I have changed my opinion. I would like to join our team for the dance this afternoon."

"Oh? Certainly, I'm not going to stop you." Weiss seemed to be taken off guard by Cinder's statement-slash-question. "Excuse me but what made you change your opinion? You were quite adamant that your presence could cause an uproar or perhaps even spoil the dance."

"I… had time to self-reflect, and I realized that I was being unreasonable." Cinder explained, and Jaune tilted his head in confusion as the Shadow was still acting somewhat agitated, causing his emotion-o-meter to stay active- which was now far less sensitive than it had been yesterday, where it had caused him massive headache and muddling any emotions it might have sensed.

' _The feel Cinder gives off now… its kind of like Emerald back when she was lying to Weiss.'_ Jaune wondered as Cinder went on a speech about self-reflection and realizing that her old team's faults were not hers, and that she shouldn't try to hold their sins against herself. ' _But why would Cinder want to lie about wanting to join the Dance? Does she actually not want to join it? ...Also, is Cinder sick? She doesn't feel all that well, or at least she_ feels _sick, judging from her emotional state… I should have known better than to allow her leave without a visit the doctor after yesterday's incident...'_

"...And, I feel like I need to wind down after all what's happened to me- to _us_ during the recent month." Cinder finished her speech, which caused Weiss to nod politely and Ruby to rub her eyes as she looked like she was about to fall asleep again.

"Very well. I can appreciate you wishing to distance yourself from your old team's disgrace." Weiss agreed while poking Ruby in her cheek to wake her up. "However, can you still dance with your arm wounded like that?"

"I'll manage. At least I'll show up to mingle, even if I don't participate in the dance itself." Cinder waved Weiss's concerns off. Her eyes landed briefly on Jaune's, and he got a strange sense of foreboding from the look she gave him.

Blake just scowled.

* * *

' _How unfortunate…'_ Cinder thought as she closed team SABR's dorm room behind her. She had delivered her message, and she had taken her chance to leave.

Which was something she desperately needed to do as the nausea and headache that had plagued her ever since her earlier brief confrontation with the creature known as Jaune Arc had grown stronger in the brief time she had spent in his proximity just now. ' _Why has the nausea increased so suddenly? This makes no sense. Why him?'_

She spared a nod to the Nikos girl as she passed her as the red-headed girl had walked out of team RYNN's dorm, and was looking like she wanted to enter team SABR's room but was lacking the courage to do so. Cinder's nod seemed to bolden her though, and the Mistralian Champion nodded back at her before entering SABR's room.

Cinder only marginally registered the interaction however as her skin felt cold and slick while nausea welled inside her, and she stumbled back to her blissfully private dorm-room while trying to desperately figure out what had happened, and why the wound on her left hand had started to bleed so profusely when exposed to the Knight's presence.

' _Something is wrong… This shouldn't happen even if the Grimm Parasite, the Gift, was removed…'_ Cinder thought as she settled down in front of her desk and unwrapped her now blood-stained bandages with her healthy, if shaky hand. ' _Did the wound infect? My Aura should have regenerated and taken care of that… but my Aura is not returning.'_

The now-bloody bandage was tossed carelessly to a trash can that was almost half-full of similar pieces of cloth, and she pulled a field surgeon's kit from her desk drawer. Cinder had used medical tape to close the wound after briefly cleaning it yesterday, but it was always possible that there had been some foreign material stuck deep in the wound.

' _Actually, there might be something left in there… Didn't the Arc grow a horn or something like that when he destroyed the Gift? I think the point of the horn broke off...'_ Cinder thought groggily as the memory of blood-stained horn protruding from the Grimm-shapeshifter's head popped in her mind. ' _I wonder if some of it splintered and was left in my hand… could it cause an infection?'_

Usually Aura took care of foreign bits of material stuck to wounds by either pushing it out of the wound or simply dissolving it and bleeding it out, so people with strong Aura often times didn't bother doing extensive search of foreign materials in deep wounds before closing them- a very useful and time-efficient side-effect of Aura which Hunters used quite often, even to the point of abusing it to save time and effort when field dressing their wounds.

The few pieces of wound tape that held the wound closed came off with few snips with scissors that came with the kit, and Cinder put her hand on the desk as she prepared to re-open the wound that was now clearly bleeding visva and blood. ' _Just… just what is this? It wasn't this bad when I took a shower and changed the bandage just few minutes earlier…'_

She ignored the clattering that came outside as the other two teams in the dorm exited their rooms and presumably headed for the breakfast that would be soon served in the dining hall.

Cinder presumed that the two teams had assumed that she had departed for the breakfast already, which gave her ample enough time to investigate her wound in private before someone would interrupt her.

The wound itself, or the fact that she was essentially digging into her own hand without anesthetic didn't faze her (Oum knows her Mother had helped to iron such feeble weaknesses as flinching from pain out of her mind through her training regime) but the odd, _unnatural_ , nausea grew ever stronger as she kept carefully undoing her earlier work. The stinging pain from the wound had disappeared, likely indicating that the wound was infected or something was actively suppressing the pain, making her even more suspicious.

' _I wonder if the Knight is poisonous or something…'_ her ponderings were halted as a clip of her pincer exposed a soft, black leech-like tail lodged deep inside the wound.

"Ah?" Confusion overtook her as she observed the black piece of flesh that most definitely had _not_ existed inside her the day before. ' _What is… that?'_

She felt as her face drained of all colour as the black tail growing in her hand twitched, and the odd feeling of foreboding it gave off intensified.

Her healthy hand struck instantly, catching the black flesh with her medical pincer as it was the closest thing at hand, and she tried to pull the foreign creature out of her hand. "Get… out!"

The feeling of foreboding grew as she pulled, and she felt as her ears began to ring with tinnitus as the tail of the burrowed creature was followed by a piece of white carapace, and then a swarm of appendages resembling long, black tendrils that were going into her flesh came into her view just as her nose began bleeding profusely.

The creature oddly reminded Cinder of a shrimp, a Grimm-fied, tendril-sprouting and desperately struggling shrimp, before all four of its red-glowing eyes opened and turned to look at her.

' _It… That's not the Gift. That's nothing at all like it…'_ Cinder tried to keep herself from panicking as she kept fighting the increasing nausea and welling sickness inside her head while she tried to pull the malformed creature out of her hand. It seemed to work somehow as the eerie echo was growing fainter, but she could see that the front of her red dress was already stained in deeper crimson of her blood as the creature wasn't willing to come quietly and its trashing grew wilder and more violent as she pulled.

' _I'm not going to die because of… some Schnee-brand second-tier Grimm!'_ Cinder thought viciously as she swore death and destruction upon all things with white hair and blue eyes while the creature's twitching and struggling intensified, now half-out of her flesh.

A snapping feel echoed up her hand and up her spine as the small tendrils growing from the black parasite broke off from _something_ within her and the creature came loose- and she swung the bloodied pincer with the _thing_ attached to it as far away from her as she could, the blood-covered tool slipping from her hands and the pincer-impaled creature was flung to the floor.

Yet Cinder had no time to revel in her victory as she saw that the creature tried to use its thin tendrils as legs to drag itself towards her- and while its approach had started slow, it gained speed as it learned to use its tendrils as legs at a remarkable pace.

All the while Cinder realized that she couldn't move- or even _feel_ her legs.

' _T-that snapping feel… Don't tell me that those tendrils managed to get all the way to my spine?'_ Panic surged through Cinder as she realized that she might have become paralyzed from her sudden extraction of the parasite, and she also realized that her only weapon was a surgeon's scalpel which was within arm's reach in the field surgery kit, and her left hand might as well have been dead weight as the massive wound on it bled on the floor.

' _The kit! It has Aura boosters!'_ she reached to grab one of the small auto-injectors that came in the field surgeon's kit, and quickly stabbed it in her neck. She felt as her Aura surged momentarily when the mixture of combat-drugs, clear-refined Dust and adrenaline flooded her veins and her Semblance flickered to life- just in time to send a gout of flame at the creature that was jumping on her.

The burning creature let a screech as the fireball knocked it off its course before turning it to ash while Cinder slumped on her desk, completely spent. ' _W-what the hell was that?'_

Her vision swam as she realized that she was still bleeding heavily from the gaping wound in her left hand, and she fought through her blood loss-induced lightheadedness to grab another Aura booster, inject it and she begun working on closing the wound again, feeling somehow… empty and cold as she tried to fill the hole left by the Grimm-thing with wound gauze.

' _My Aura is refilling slowly... '_ she thought as the Aura boosters had kickstarted her natural Aura regeneration, and the nausea and lightheadedness she had felt before had turned into tiredness and hunger. As soon as her left hand was bandaged she started to regain feeling in her legs, flooding her with relief as her Aura had likely healed whatever damage the Grimm-parasite had done within her. ' _Was that… thing… eating my Aura and using it to grow? It would make sense, my Aura was completely depleted and there was no way that thing could have grown so big in so short time otherwise…'_

She got up as soon as she regained the control of her legs and relieved of her starvation by stuffing herself with nutrition bars from her gear closet while she thought, ignoring the odd emptiness that she felt within her now-useless left hand. She assumed that it would heal to be usable given time, but she'd have to come to terms with the fact that the Arc creature had taken her out of action for a while.

' _Haah… Maybe the Knight is too far gone to be saved anymore... I'll have to consider my options when it comes to him, and I'll have to observe if its Schnee-centric behaviour changes after it ate the Gift.'_ she thought as she poked the pile of ash that had been the parasitic Grimm-creature with a long broom. She didn't really expect it to suddenly reconstruct itself and attack, but one could never be too careful. ' _Regardless, I'll have to get in touch with Emerald and Mercury, and get them to fetch me another Gift from Mother… somehow._

Cinder sighed as she gathered the empty food bar wrappers and stuffed them to her bin. The combined adrenaline boost from the fight and from the Aura boosters had left her system during her 'meal', and she felt anxious, cold and shivering as a result, but she knew her morning disaster-cleanup wasn't complete quite yet.

She paused to take a look around her dorm-room, and sighed again as her next goal became clear. ' _The room looks like something straight out of a horror film- a pile of ash with scorch marks in the middle of the room, desk covered in blood, trash bin full of bloody bandages and food wrappers… Not to mention that I'm practically covered in my own blood as well. I can't leave this to the cleaners, they'd start asking questions…'_

Cinder sighed for one last time as she undressed herself, tossed her blood-soaked dress to her bathroom and took a mop, feeling somewhat annoyed by the fact that she was forced to clean. ' _Where's Mercury when I need him?'_

 **AN: I debated publishing this and the next chapter, the dance, as one single chapter but I figured that 35k+ word chapter would be too much- instead I split them in two separate chapters. The next chapter will be released in a day or so.**

 **About pacing- The story will start to shift towards more action-paced theme as the 'studying' period of Beacon nears its end, marking yet another shift in tone after the Dance.**

 **Prepare your neckbraces as whiplashes might happen. On the other hand it means more omakes at the end as I tend to put those in chapters that have a bit darker theme to counterbalance it.**


	36. The Dance

"Do you think Cinder's alright? She hasn't shown up yet." Jaune wondered aloud as he got up from his seat in the dining hall, and offered his hand to Pyrrha.

Pyrrha had shown up in team SABR's dorm-room soon after Cinder had left them, and the red-headed Mistralian Champion had exchanged greetings with the team before asking if they were planning on going to the breakfast or eating in the dorm.

Blake had taken a look at Pyrrha's blush, and then a look at Jaune, and then a look at Pyrrha, and hesitating briefly before the faunus had finally sighed and told Pyrrha that 'Jaune would love to accompany her to the breakfast'.

Before Jaune had managed to ask what was happening, Blake had gotten up and had pushed him towards the red-headed girl, where he realized what Blake had been implying, and he had taken her hand and had offered to accompany Blake to the breakfast.

Unfortunately Blake had not accepted his offer and had instead slapped herself in the face thrice at the same time, a feat that had caused Ruby much amusement while Weiss had wondered how exactly Blake did it, and the black-haired faunus had taken his offered hand and pushed it against Pyrrha's, causing the pair to hold hands and Pyrrha to turn bright red again.

Only then did he realize that she wanted him to accompany _Pyrrha_ to the breakfast, so he nodded knowingly to Blake and asked if she, Ruby and Weiss wanted to come as well.

He managed to dodge the ball of blanket-yarn that Blake had thrown at him, and escorted (or more accurately fled with) Pyrrha towards the dining hall, ignoring the odd emotions that rang from Cinder's dorm-room's direction while violently hissing Blake followed in hot pursuit with Ruby following Blake out of habit, and Weiss, presumably not wanting to be left out, had followed Ruby.

Yang had then peeked out of RYNN's dorm, and chased after Ruby, followed by Nora, who was presumably chasing Pyrrha, and finally Ren, who was chasing after Nora, soon after which Nora started to follow Ren and the two of them got lost fairly quickly afterwards.

Jaune was slightly bothered by Cinder's absence though- he had assumed that Cinder was assuming that they would go and have breakfast, which meant that by staying in her room she was trying to signal that she wasn't feeling well, if he guessed correctly. Jaune made a mental note to get some breakfast for Cinder as well, since her current poor health was more or less his fault.

"Cinder?" Pyrrha asked, her voice oddly unconcerned. "Is she feeling unwell?"

Pyrrha had been in a happy daze ever since their escape from the dorm, and she hadn't let go of his hand even during their breakfast (something which had made actually eating slightly harder, although she had let go of his hand after letting out a quiet 'aww...' sound after he had pointed that out).

Blake was rolling her eyes on the other side of the table, and Ruby was visibly trying not to poke Pyrrha's cheek to see if she was 'all there'. Not that Weiss would let her, as she was sitting right next to the silver-eyed girl, ready to intercept Ruby should she try her luck.

"She… seemed unwell." Weiss told Pyrrha. "Jaune, are you sure you didn't do anything inappropriate to her when you two trained?"

"What? No!" Jaune denied perhaps a bit too quickly, which caused Weiss to give him a doubtful look. "Er… well, something might have happened, but it was resolved, and Cinder wanted that I didn't tell anyone about it."

"Could it possibly be what's causing her ill health?" Weiss asked, and Jaune could feel the underlying edge in her words. "I won't have my team members _maul_ each other to infirmary condition _just_ before our first _actual_ missions. Missions that might end up being actually _dangerous_. I would have expected you to know that without me needing to tell you."

"S-sorry."

"Am. I. Clear?" Weiss added, putting pressure on her words to make her message go through.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Very good." she smiled slightly at Jaune's crisp response as the two teams got up and left the dining hall after Jaune had fetched a pre-packaged meal for Cinder- or rather, the two teams attempted to leave the dining hall.

It seemed that their departure would lengthen however as they were intercepted at the exit by two unknown students.

By the looks of them, neither were from Vale, and by their actions it seemed that they were either transfer students or didn't care about the rumors that surrounded the two teams as the other students were still giving them a wide berth.

"Hey there beautiful. I'm Sun Wukong and this is Neptune Vasilias." the straw-blonde haired faunus boy introduced themselves to Blake who was walking on the edge of the group. "We heard there was going to be a dance later this afternoon, want to…"

"No." Blake said simply before moving to walk right beside Jaune. She placed her hand on his forearm as his hands were occupied- holding Pyrrha's hand with one and carrying Cinder's breakfast on other.

Sun was left blinking in confusion at Blake's cold response, but it seemed that his friend, a boy with blue hair and yellow goggles, wasn't disheartened by Sun getting shot down.

"Please excuse Sun, he gets over his head occasionally. Must be those abs rising to his head." Neptune joked to Weiss while smiling at her. Weiss nodded back politely, but she didn't seem to be overly amused by Neptune's joke.

' _I wonder what are those two trying to do?'_ Jaune wondered as the two other boys kept walking with the group. ' _...I guess I shouldn't complain. We haven't had much contact with other students outside team RYNN so I guess it's just positive thing that some of the students are feeling comfortable enough to approach us. Those rumors did not help our reputation around here…'_

Neptune was chatting with Weiss whose demeanor had turned a bit more polite as she had learned that the two boys were transfer students from Vacuo, and Sun was still trying to strike up conversation with Blake. The blonde-haired faunus wasn't having too much success though as Blake just kept sending Jaune undecipherable looks.

Sun's conversation attempts didn't seem to stop however, and neither did the odd looks Blake sent him.

Jaune tried to tilt his head to ask Blake what was wrong non-verbally as somehow he got a feeling that asking it aloud would be a mistake, but the message either got lost in the translation or didn't reach Blake as she just sighed.

It seemed that his cluelessness caused Blake to boil over as she sighed before turning towards Sun and begrudgingly joining his previously one-sided conversation while letting go of Jaune's forearm.

.

..

…

"So… what did the transfer students want?" Jaune asked Blake as they arrived to the dorms. Weiss had told them that she didn't have a real plan after breakfast so they'd be free to just hang around until it would be time to start getting ready for the dance- which left them with few hours to spend as they wanted.

Jaune had left Cinder's breakfast beside her door and knocked on it, not wanting to disturb her by entering if she was sleeping. The food was heat-wrapped anyway so it wouldn't get cold for hours.

Blake seemed to be gearing to go to the library while Ruby had fired up a game on a tv-slash-computer that she had set up on shelf in front of the dorm's window. Weiss had been somewhat intrigued by it, and had chosen to sit down beside Ruby and ask if she could play as well, soon followed by Yang who had spotted the game and wanted to play against tag team of Weiss and Ruby.

Pyrrha had decided to join them as well after Yang had challenged Pyrrha to a match, and before long Weiss's and Ruby's two-player game had turned into a four-player one, much to Weiss's annoyance if the way she scrunched her face was any indication. Or it might have been just because Yang was currently pressing her considerable bust against Weiss's cheek while trying to reach the controller.

Jaune however focused his attention on the black-clad faunus girl who hadn't seemed all too interested in the game, and was instead heading out of the dorm. She lifted her eyebrow at him, and he repeated his earlier question. "Er… So, what'd Sun want?"

"Why do you care?" Blake answered his question somewhat bitterly, and Jaune realized that he had wronged the cat faunus somehow, even if he didn't know how. Before he got a chance to ask what was wrong, she had turned around and left the room.

He took a quick look at the other four girls in the room who apparently hadn't noticed Blake's departure as they were absorbed in their game. "Girls? I'll be in the library if you need me."

"Righty-o, have fun reading with Blake!" Ruby turned to wave at him energetically, and he nodded gratefully at her before turning to chase after Blake.

* * *

"Blake?" Jaune called to otherwise empty library.

His departure had been delayed by him spotting Cinder who had left her dorm carrying a large trash bag, and he had offered to carry the bag to a bin after she had given him a somewhat weak smile and had tried to push past him. He couldn't let her strain herself though, not when she looked so weak, so after a bit of arguing he had managed to procure the oddly sweet-smelling bag and haul it to a big half-underground trash bin just outside the dorm. Unfortunately however he realized too late that he was getting sidetracked, and headed towards the library.

It seemed that the students had fled the library as the dance loomed closer, leaving the otherwise somewhat busy hall-like room eerily empty. He flared his Semblance briefly to sense people around him, and found a presence that he assumed to be Blake.

He found her reading alone in one of the more secluded reading spots.

The comfy, stuffed leather relaxation couch she was sitting on seemed to almost completely engulf her while she lounged on it. He took a quick look at the title she was reading, a book called 'Psychology of Herbs', which he assumed was some book she had picked up from the nearest shelf and was using just to appear like she was reading.

Which meant that there was something bothering her.

"Hi." he greeted her and sat down on the other end of the couch. "...Want to talk?"

"..." Blake was quiet, but reacted enough to turn a page on her book.

"So… The dance is coming. Are you excited?" Jaune tried to look for a neutral conversation subject, but it seemed that his casual words hit something as Blake turned to glare at him over her book.

"You know, I'm not good at wordless communication. Ironic, I know, since I have the emotion-radar-thing." he said after a while. "I know that something is troubling you, and that I'm not the go-to guy to clear relationship troubles, but can you give me a chance?"

Blake sighed and put her book down on her chest. "It's Sun."

' _Sun? Isn't that the faunus transfer student? ...Don't tell me he's bothering her?'_ Jaune blinked, before he repeated his thoughts aloud.

Blake just glared at him. "Are you aware that he asked me out just now?"

"Huh?" Jaune paused. "Wait, when?"

"He was waiting just outside the dorms, and asked me out as soon as I left." Blake glared at him. "I guess he didn't get the _clue_ that I wasn't interested when we walked from the dining hall to the dorms, and _certain someone_ didn't help me to persuade him to leave me alone."

"...Wait, I thought he was just... " Jaune started to realize what Sun had wanted earlier. "He was asking you out?"

"..." Blake just glared at him in a way that made him think that it should have been obvious. And it had likely been as well, but he had just managed to miss it regardless.

"I… I'm sorry." Jaune said. "I should have helped you get rid of him."

"...Do you even feel anything towards me? You just… stood there while some other boy was literally hitting on me!" Blake hissed at him.

"I didn't realize he was trying to ask you out!" Jaune told her. "I… I wouldn't have let him do that to you if I did!"

"Really now… He just walks to me, says 'hey beautiful' and then starts to ask me somewhere. You didn't realize that he was hitting on me?" Blake huffed while lifting herself up from the couch. The book she was 'reading' was put back to a nearby shelf, and she turned away from him.

"Well, you're beautiful so I didn't think that it was a bad thing that he noticed it as well, but I didn't realize that he was trying to ask you out." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Y- you don't exactly sound convincing. I expected you to be at least a bit jealous, you know…" Blake blushed and turned around to face him but kept glaring at him.

' _Oh.'_ Jaune thought as he stood up as well. ' _Wait, does she expect me to do something here? ...Somehow I don't think just saying 'sorry' will help, I'll have to think of something else.'_

He felt as a third person entered the library, and although he was only using his Semblance-born ability to sense human presence passively, he could guess who the person was without needing to activate the ability properly. After all, if Sun had waited for Blake outside the dorm, it wouldn't be a wild guess to assume that he'd follow Blake to the library as well after he had given Blake enough time to cool down after his latest attempt to get her attention. It was likely that it'd take Sun at least few minutes to find them though, as the faunus boy likely didn't have a Semblance that could pinpoint the locations of people from far away.

Regardless, Jaune could tell that he was running out of time and he braced himself. ' _I… I guess it's time to deploy cheesy lines from that romance book I read… I just hope I won't end up making things worse.'_

"Blake." he lowered his voice slightly as he approached her.

"Hm?"

He put his hands on her hips, and for a moment it seemed that Blake would slap them away but in the end she just crossed her arms and waited.

' _So far so good…'_ "If I knew, I wouldn't have let him come anywhere near you." he whispered to her ear. "You're mine, and I am yours."

"Cheesy." Blake commented but didn't pull away, so he closed instead and kissed her neck. "What about the other girls?"

"Ah… I… um… They're mine… er, ours as well." He said after a moment of fumbling his words.

"Cocky and cheesy." Blake said dryly while pulling away from his reach and slapping his hands away as he tried to step closer to her. "Are you reading those lines from some cheesy romance book?"

' _Crap, she caught me!'_ "I- Well… uh… maybe?"

"You know, at this point I can already tell what type of person you are. And a cheesy casanova is not it." Blake glared at him, this time with clear hurt in her eyes. "Why won't you try telling me the truth for once?"

"I… Well, I don't want to lose you." Jaune told her honestly, realizing that he shouldn't try to pretend when a wave of displeasure from Blake crashed against his mind. "But I know I'm not really good at these kinds of situations so I thought I'd try to be something I thought you'd expect me to be…"

"Stupid." Blake's words came instantly, and Jaune flinched.

Blake turned around and walked up to him, surprising him as he had half-expected Blake to just walk away again. "I didn't… I didn't fall for some cheesy casanova. I fell for a boy who, despite being tormented by his past and his very ability, and who lost most of his family, always tried his best to make everyone around him happy no matter what. Even some ex-terrorist, who was stupid and thought she was doing good when all she did was cause ruin…"

"You're not like that." Jaune interrupted Blake, causing her to shrug.

"Maybe. But that's not the point." Blake glared at him. "Can you stop pretending to be something you are not, or is that too much to ask?"

"Sorry… I just thought it was uh… well, appropriate, I guess." Jaune apologized. "I don't really know what to do here so I tried to copy something that I thought worked."

"You do know that you didn't have to pretend, right? I didn't fall for some fictionary storybook casanova, I fell for you. I won't hold it against you if you fumble as long as you are honest with me." she said before taking his hands in hers. "I guess I'm being a bit unreasonable as well since I was expecting you to realize what was going on when Sun was trying to court me. I mean… I could have just made our relationship more obvious to him. Or said something. But I expected you to take care of him, to realize what was going on. I..."

"Blake…"

"I wanted to make you jealous." she confessed. "I know it was a bit stupid, but… I sort of wanted to see how you'd react to me being courted by someone else."

"Well… If you honestly wanted to be with someone else, I wouldn't stop you." Jaune told her after a small pause, which caused Blake's eyes to widen and shoot up to meet his. "I don't want to be someone who tells you who you can speak to, and who you can't. But… If someone tried to force you, I wouldn't stand by and watch. He'd have to deal with me. Both me, and… _M͝e̵̢͜._ "

His eyes flashed glowing red as he added the last bit, and he pushed the Shadow down as it rose to challenge him. Surprisingly it didn't struggle against his control as much as it did normally, which told Jaune that their goals had aligned for once.

' _Does it have a possessive streak?_ _Gah… Still, that wasn't a good idea.'_ Jaune blinked as he fought down the increasing nausea and focused his attention back on the girl in front of him.

"I like you, and Ruby, and Pyrrha. All of you" he told her as Blake was quiet. "You deserve someone who loves you, and you alone. But if you're happy with… well, with the arrangement we have, I'm not going to give up. And that won't change."

"What about Weiss?" Blake's eyes narrowed in suspicion, and she pulled away from him.

"I… I haven't told you, but it's complicated. I haven't figured it out by yet either." Jaune told her. He knew that he was cheating by using the after-echo of his Semblance activation to gauge Blake's emotional state- and realize that she likely knew more about his situation with Weiss than she told him. Which likely meant that Weiss had told her about his… about the Shadow's infatuation with the ex-heiress. "The Shadow, it sort of likes Weiss. I'm… just not sure how deep it runs, or _why_ it does that since… well, it's been behaving oddly recently. Don't worry though, I'll tell you if something happens with it."

"Haah… Well, I did tell you that I want to know if your harem is about to grow." Blake sighed while thumping her palm against his chest. Jaune had a feeling Blake was joking, but he didn't want to test his luck. "But fine. If you find how deep that 'infatuation' runs, let me know first, alright?"

"...Yeah." Jaune promised. "If you promise to me that you'll be more direct with me- I am not good at picking up your wordless signals, and I don't want either of us to get hurt because of miscommunication."

"I… Yeah, I can promise that." Blake said quietly, almost as if she was suddenly feeling ashamed. "...You know, I didn't expect you to come clean with me about Weiss."

"Why is that?"

"...Just call it a hunch. Still, thanks. For being honest with me."

"..So, are we good?"

"We're good. For now." Blake told him while leaning towards him. "I promise that I'll try to be a bit more... _direct_ with my messages, _if_ you promise that you'll try to stop being something you're not in the future, and continue being honest with me."

"That I can promise." Jaune said.

"And in the spirit of that… there's one thing that's bothering me. About our relationship." Blake bit her lip and looked up at him while coming closer. She reached to pull off her bow and let her cat-ears free. "Do you... dislike faunus?"

"Wait, where's this coming from?" he asked, completely taken off-guard by her question.

"Well, so far all uh… 'physical interaction' we've had has been initiated by me. All of it. You didn't even react when I almost… almost..." Blake gulped, and continued somewhat nervously. "I almost… You know what I almost did. After the Vale town square incident."

"Yeah." Jaune blushed as he remembered when Blake started to play with his 'tools', before she got interrupted by Pyrrha the morning after Weiss was attacked during her speech in Vale.

Blake sighed before continuing. "Right. I had… I _have_ a feeling that you aren't trying to communicate anything by not initiating anything physical with me… but the lack of any initiative from your part was why I wanted to see if I could make you jealous. I thought… maybe you weren't as interested in me as I was in you. That the arrangement we have is just to make us- me, Pyrrha and Ruby 'happy', regardless of what _you_ felt towards us. Maybe you didn't like my… well… 'faunus parts'. I heard that not many humans like them, and it made me uncertain... I couldn't figure any of that out… I couldn't figure out what _you_ wanted, and I didn't like it. I wanted that uncertainty to stop."

She paused to take a breath and she continued with slightly shaky voice. "That act of yours earlier… it hurt, you know. It hurt because you essentially told me that you'd need to put up an _act_ in order to bring yourself to touch me."

"Ah." Jaune realized. "No! It wasn't because of that! …I just kinda thought… that you know…"

"What?" Blake asked.

"I thought you wouldn't like that kind of attention." Jaune confessed. "I mean, back when uh… this arrangement started, when my sisters got you and Pyrrha drunk…"

"Don't remind me of that…" Blake groaned, but motioned for him to continue.

"Well, we promised that we'd take it slow, so I didn't want to push the… how'd you call it, 'physical interaction' further." he told her. "I… Well… The thought might have passed by me few times, but I didn't want to go too fast, and I didn't know how the Shadow would react if _I_ tried to do something… uh, more physical. I doubt it wouldn't be too hard to control, since I noticed that happy emotions seem to nullify big part from its urge to hunt, but I didn't want to risk losing control of it should I get distracted when taking the lead."

"I see. That makes sense at least. Having one's partner turn into a hostile Grimm through a kiss or something might not be a good thing." Blake said before she let out a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a frustrated groan. "...Well, can you tell me when you're ready?"

"I… don't know when I'd be ready to go all the way through, exactly." Jaune blushed. "I mean, my control over the Shadow has been improving recently, but I'd need to test it too. Just step by step. A bit at a time."

"Are you saying what I'm thinking you're saying?" Blake's eyes widened slightly.

"I mean, if you… uh… want to… you know." Jaune felt his face lighting bright red as he realized what he was implying. "And you don't mind me being your partner…"

"...We're dating, you know. And yeah, I'd like to, just be careful." Blake warned while she blushed as well. "I'll try to keep my guard up as well, but uh… take it slow."

"Ah." Jaune felt slightly light-headed as he took her hands and pulled her closer. ' _So… this is happening.'_

Blake just stood still, and he tied his arms around her back, pulling her against him.

He cheated again by reaching into his ability very, very carefully to further sense what Blake was feeling- seeking for emotions that would indicate uneasiness, disgust, or some other emotion that would tell him that he was doing something wrong as he pushed his forehead against the girl's, and then kissed her.

' _...So far so good.'_ he thought as Blake didn't reject his embrace, and instead she tied her hands behind her back and leaned into the kiss, giving him the lead completely.

He felt as a foreign presence he knew to be Sun closed towards their little spot in the library, and a vindictive, possessive thought entered his head. He could feel the slight buzz from the Shadow, brought out by the negativity, but he was able to push it off before it could take hold. ' _Well then… that guy was hitting on Blake. Let's let him know that she's taken, yeah?'_

His hold around her shoulders tightened and his hands roamed down her back to stroke her hip, and he pulled her off her feet with his other hand that had tied itself around her waist. The black-haired girl's eyes widened, but she didn't try to get out of his embrace nor did she break the kiss that had turned from innocent touch of lips to something _far_ less innocent.

"Mhh… H- haah… J- Jaune?" Blake asked between the kisses, no doubt taken off-guard by the sudden intensity of the touch. Her amber eyes were wide as he brought her to the leather couch she had been reading in, and he sat down on it so that she was riding on his lap.

He felt surprise from the girl, but Jaune sighed in relief internally as she didn't seem to dislike his actions- and while he was getting more and more excited as he touched her, the intensity of that emotion was somehow amplified even further by him feeling the emotions, once muddled and faint but now far more clear, radiating from Blake and washing against him.

She let out a groan-like breath against his skin as he pulled her against him and let his hands dig under her shirt.

His body felt feverishly hot and hers felt cool to touch, making him want to touch her more, feel her more, c̡on͠s̵u̸m̕e her more… and he froze as he felt the Shadow rising once again to challenge him.

' _...I won't. I refuse.'_ Jaune thought as he suppressed the Shadow as much as he could by focusing solely on the girl on his lap. It made him feel vulnerable as he had gotten used to passively monitoring his surroundings, but he ignored the feeling in order to further intensify the emotions coming from the black-haired faunus, and he touched Blake more to bring forth the pleasant emotions- both to feel them, and to use them to push against his inner daemon.

As a result he felt her on more levels than mere touch- he could _sense_ the way she reacted to his kiss, to his touch, the feeling of embarrassment inside her turning to want, and then to lust. He could use the emotions trace the spots that would make her feel it even more, and so he did.

Blake let out a muffled gasp as she felt the touch, breaking off the kiss and exposing her neck which he picked as his next target- not that she disliked, if the way she wrapped her arm around the back of his head and pulled him closer was any indication. Or the way she began rubbing her body against his, or the way she guided his hand to her breast while her emotions felt like a sun to his inner 'eyes'...

"Hey Blake! I got us some fizzy drinks so wanna talk about the dan… ce... " A energetic male voice coming from near the bookshelves faded into silence, and Jaune looked over Blake's shoulder to see Sun standing beside one of the bookshelves. The boy was looking at the pair with his mouth hanging open, and a bag containing two bottles of some green drink slipped off his hand.

' _Oh yeah, he was coming here… I completely forgot.'_ Jaune blinked as in the brief time he had spent kissing Blake he had forgotten the outside world- although he wasn't the only one.

"Haa...?" Blake blinked hazily at Sun, and Jaune could tell that she had forgotten and Jaune were making out in a very much public place as she kept grinding her hips against his, wanting for the caress to continue even during Sun's interruption. Before she managed to regain enough of her senses to realize what was happening, or what she was doing, Jaune took hold of her cheek and turned her back towards him and resumed their kiss- this time parting her lips and invading her mouth.

A wet, erotic moan escaped her lips as the kiss deepened and intensified while her cat-ears were perked upright, although one of them was twitching ever so slightly almost as if it was begging to be played with..

"Wait, you were a faunus too! I mean… Uh… Well, since you guys... "

"Ah! ... D-don't shtop..." she moaned as Jaune started to pet one of her cat-ears while running his free hand down his back before pulling her closer by the back of her waist.

"...Y-you guys seem to be kinda busy removing each other's tonsils so I'll…"

"Ha… Mwah… J-Jhaune… t-that feels... "

"...I guess… I'll be going now! Sorry for disturbing!" Sun bolted away from the secluded reading spot, and Jaune could practically feel the depression flooding from him in waves. He quickly shunted his emotion-radar as he felt the negativity coming from the fleeing boy. ' _I… I kinda feel bad for him now… but… well… he had it coming.'_

Blake tied her hands around the back of his neck and tied her legs around his waist, and it was enough to push the thought of the faunus transfer student out of his head, and the two of them lost themselves completely in each other's embrace.

* * *

"Sheesh! Where have you two been?" Weiss berated as she finished tying her hair and fitting her high-heeled dance shoes. "Don't tell me you two somehow got into 'the mood to train' and started to whack eachother senseless _just_ before the dance just as you did with Cinder?!"

"...Sorry." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck sheepily while his face was scarlet red from embarrassment and his clothes were crumpled.

"We… We were reading a book." Blake came to his aid, her face flushed and hair so tussled that it wouldn't be a long shot to guess that she had put her head in a washing machine.

"And you ended up looking like that?!"

"It was a _very_ good book."

Jaune and Blake had arrived to the dorm after spending time in the library- although what had felt like few minutes but had been revealed to be almost four hours spent either reading on the comfortable couch, or doing something else entirely on it.

Blake looking slightly overwhelmed still as their snogging session had repeated itself few times during their time in the library, and Jaune rubbed his neck unconsciously as the hickey marks he had received were still tingling on his skin, although the physical evidence of them had already disappeared thanks to his Semblance.

Blake let go of Jaune's hand, the two of them having held hands all the way from the library where Jaune's alarm clock set two and half hours before the dance had broken them out of what had been their fourth snogging session (and also reminded Blake that her shirt had somehow fallen off her shoulders during it and she was wearing only her sports bra under it).

Luckily though (at least if their showing up to the dance was concerned) their snogging hadn't gone further than really, _really_ intensive kissing and petting, but it had still taken a while for the both of them to return back to the real world after their little excursion on the clouds.

"Fine, whatever. Just start getting ready for the dance!" Weiss shooed them apart, which caused Jaune to blink in confusion.

"Isn't the dance starting in… two hours? Why are you in such hurry?" Jaune asked, which caused Weiss to send him a evil glare while Blake just sighed and Ruby, who was currently eating chips and watching television while sitting on beanbag chair she had procured from who-knows-where, just shrugged.

"I don't know either." She told him after gulping down a mouthful of potato chips, and offering the bag towards him. "Snack?"

"Thanks." Jaune smiled as he took few and sat down beside her, beckoning for Blake to come as well.

Blake looked at his extended hand for a second before she sat down, and Ruby offered her snacks at Blake as well.

"Blake, you smell weird." Ruby commented, which caused Blake to go from faint blush to brilliant scarlet in an instant.

"Ineedtogoandwashmyface." the faunus girl said before she practically teleported from her seat to the bathroom, kicking Weiss out in the process.

.

..

...

"I've been thinking." Blake said as she finished her own preparations for the dance.

"What's up?" Ruby adjusted her red dress and tilted her head at the faunus who reached for her bow which she had tied around her cat-ears.

"I'm going to go to the dance without my bow." Blake said quietly, causing Ruby to blink, Weiss to pause her combing of her hair and Jaune to turn towards the black-haired girl.

"Why?" Ruby asked. "I mean weren't you trying to keep your… well… thingy hidden?"

"My faunus nature. But yes." Blake corrected Ruby. "However I've… well… I've realized that I don't want to live a lie anymore. Not when I'm expecting honesty from people around me at the same time."

Jaune blinked. ' _Wait, is she referring to our earlier talk?'_

"...Uh, but..." Ruby tilted her head. "I mean, we all know that you're a faunus and it doesn't matter to us?"

"That's why I have the courage to come forth with my nature." Blake smiled at Ruby. Ruby walked to the cat faunus and begun patting Blake's head.

"Nope, no fever." Ruby said as Blake lifted her eyebrow at the silver-eyed girl. "I mean, you don't smile, like, ever, so… "

"I… don't smile?" Blake seemed mortified.

"Nope." Jaune said from the background where he was helping Weiss by holding up a mirror for her as she did something to her hair. "Not often at least. Sometimes yes."

"Oh." Blake sighed. "I didn't realize that I was presenting so moody appearance."

"Its alright, we've become used to it." Ruby reassured Blake, which didn't seem to help. "A-anyway, about your bow…"

"The bow also makes my ears scratchy and its uncomfortable." Blake said matter-of-factly. The fact that her left cat-ear twitched ever so slightly reinforced her point. However it didn't prepare her for when Ruby reached to grab Blake's cat-ear and she began rubbing it.

"H-hey! That's inappropr… ah!"

"Whoa, it must be really scratchy! They're really sweaty and kinda tangled." Ruby said as she kept rubbing and scratching Blake's ears, either not aware of the effect it had on Blake or deciding to ignore it.

"Nh… Nhya!"

Weiss paused to take a look at the pair and for a moment it looked like she'd go and stop Ruby, but she opted to just sigh instead.

"Er… Ruby? Blake?" Jaune tried to come to Blake's rescue as the girl had started to shake and twitch and she had blushed a brilliant shade of red. And Jaune could tell even without his Semblance that the black-haired faunus was _really_ feeling the petting. "Huh, it must be all that experience Ruby received from petting Zwei all those years…"

His words seemed to break through to Blake and she pulled her head back and out of Ruby's reach. "S-stop! That's bad in more ways than one!"

"Can you two _stop_ goofing around and get ready for the dance?" Weiss growled at the two girls.

"Y-yeah, you're right." Blake just sighed in relief as she spotted the escape route that Weiss was offering and turned towards the bathroom. "Excuse me. I'll have to go… uh... groom my ears."

"Good! Now… wait, what?" Weiss's thoughts seemed to grind into halt as she tried to process what she'd heard, which gave Blake ample opportunity to slip past the ex-heiress and claim the bathroom for herself. "Wait! I need to finish my makeup!"

* * *

The dance opened with a greeting from team TAPE, followed by a brief speech from Ozpin (which was promptly ignored in favor of getting drinks), and after that it was time for the dance to start properly as a band hired for the occasion fired up their first song of the night.

The dance itself was a somewhat confusing mix of Jaune trying to dance with each of his 'dates' at equal measure, which seemed to work well enough although oddly enough Jaune felt that he was being watched the entire time, and he could have sworn that he had seen a pair of brilliant green eyes looking at him through the crowd occasionally, often accompanied by a flash of orange hair.

Cinder had joined the group alongside team RYNN, although Cinder's arm still bore a bandage (even though it was far lighter and more compact than it had been, not to mention that she had apparently gotten her wound checked since it wasn't bleeding anymore). Nevertheless she had opted to steer clear of the dance floor, and her mood wasn't the best possible- perhaps because of her injury preventing her from dancing, or perhaps because none of the boys had mustered the courage to ask her for a dance in the first place- which might have something to do with the fact that she looked like she was going to kill the first one who asked.

Ren had led team RYNN in a synchronized dance spectacle which had garnered them a lot of positive attention, and afterwards Nora had drawn Ren to a dance while Yang had disappeared into the crowd of dancers that had flooded the dance floor after Ren's spectacle had ended.

Pyrrha had been flocked by her fans amongst the students almost immediately afterwards- she had managed to stay somewhat under the radar before their team's dance, but her luck had ended. Jaune had noticed that and had gone to grab a dance from her which seemed to deter the crowd a little, specifically when Pyrrha had kissed his cheek lightly. He had vacated the area as the hostility towards him had risen to new spheres amongst her fan club, and Pyrrha had used that chance to slip away- demonstrating that Blake's lessons had not gone to waste on her, even if it left Jaune taking the brunt of the mental assault.

Meanwhile Blake had been cornered by Sun who had gone to ask her for a dance as soon as he'd seen Pyrrha kiss Jaune, but before Jaune had managed to disengage from the hostile fan club to intercept the money faunus, Blake had slapped Sun and stomped away with her face red from anger. She had promptly taken his hands and led him to the dance floor without saying anything, and after a moment of slow dance her mood had improved and her face had gained a light smirk which grown into a full-blown smile when Jaune had kissed the back of her hand after their dance.

The calm was much needed as he had been forced to bite his tongue more than once to break through the chittering haze that the Shadow was forcing over his consciousness as a result of the increasing hostility, and he drained strength (metaphorically speaking) from Blake's good mood after the dance to keep himself in check.

He had pulled Ruby aside as she had looked somewhat miserable standing alone in the crowd with a small punch glass in her hand after talking with Ozpin, and the two of them had shared a dance in one of the more secluded balconies which had cheered Ruby up immensely since apparently she hadn't managed to find dance partners or people to mingle with after her initial dance with Jaune during the start of the party, outside of a certain girl from Atlas.

Ruby told him that she had met with Penny who she had gotten along with fairly well as the two of them had gotten a chance to talk, but Penny had excused herself telling that she had a mission to complete and the ginger-haired girl had left Ruby after apologizing profusely (and promising to meet her again). She had not found much success in her attempts to mingle or dance with the other partygoers after that.

Since Jaune had been forced to use his Semblance to regenerate three of his toes during his dance with Ruby he had a fairly good hunch as to why Ruby was unable to find dance partners- her lightweight Dust-alloy reinforced combat-boots weren't the best possible dance shoes, specifically when Ruby wasn't all too familiar with dancing and tended to step on her partner's toes if she got too excited. Not that he minded, he needed some pain to anchor himself back to reality amongst the cacophony of emotions (even if it made him wonder if the rumors circulating the Beacon about him being some sort of masochist held at leasts partial truth).

The red-clad girl's silver eyes helped to clear his mind though, even it would have worked better if Ruby had kept an eye contact with him for longer than few seconds- she tended to look away while blushing cutely whenever their eyes met.

He had somehow managed to dance with Weiss briefly as she had surprised him by coming to ask him for a dance, and Ruby had gone to fetch some punch while the two of them danced- although his dance with Weiss ended slightly abruptly as she stepped on his toes five times in a row, and then politely excused herself to go dance with Ruby as she returned with the drinks.

Jaune noticed that Neptune had approached Weiss for a dance after her and Ruby's dance had taken a break (which she was using to recover both mentally and physically from dancing with Ruby for few minutes). The white-haired girl had shared a very brief dance with the blue-haired transfer student before excusing herself, and letting somewhat happy-looking Neptune go cheer up Sun who had started to chug down copious amounts of (luckily alcohol-free) punch with red slap mark decorating his cheek.

Jaune had masked the tinge of jealousy the Shadow had bubbled up after seeing Weiss dance with Neptune by offering to dance with Cinder, who had politely refused while not meeting his eyes for some reason.

The feelings of frustration and anger that had radiated from Cinder had caused him to vacate her presence before he got the chance to ask if something was wrong since he didn't trust the Shadow not to get too excited over the negative feelings, but her unhappy state of mind stayed to nag him for the rest of the dance.

By the time Yang cornered him the dance had gone for hours and Jaune was starting to feel tired both mentally and physically- which was a feeling many of the other dancers seemed to share since the dances had started to go from energetic dancing to more slower-paced ones.

"Feel like dancing?" Yang asked playfully as she grabbed Jaune by his tie and dragged him into her arms before starting to lead him away from the dance floor, which he figured was kind of opposite as to how things were supposed to play out normally, but he went with it anyway. "Nice evening, eh? I kind of wanted a different band, but hey, this one played pretty nicely as well. Too bad people are starting to fall asleep on their two feet."

"Aren't you're full of energy." Jaune snarked as they danced. "I'm not used to dancing, I guess it's starting to take its toll on me."

"Oh, it's affecting me as well, but it's just nice to get out and party a bit. I haven't been able to do this for a long time since the headmaster house-arrested our teams." Yang scowled, but her bad mood passed soon enough as she spotted Ruby dancing again with Weiss- or rather, Ruby trying her hardest to dance while not stepping on Weiss's toes while all the while Weiss was trying her hardest to avoid get her toes stomped on by Ruby's 'dance-boots'. Neither of them seemed to it mind their somewhat clumsy dance though, if their expressions were anything to go by, and it looked like Weiss had already become somewhat proficient in her newly-unlocked ability to dodge while dancing.

"Heh, it's nice that Ruby is having fun." Yang chuckled as the pair disappeared from their view

"Yeah..."

"Speaking of which, we haven't been speaking much recently. Well, since we started to spar together anyway." Yang turned back towards Jaune, and her dance soon moved them out of the crowd and towards the more private balconies. "One might get an impression that you're trying to avoid me?"

"Avoid you? No way!" Jaune denied as he tried to wonder what Yang was planning. "Aren't you the one following Ruby and I whenever we go out?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Yang said while trying her hardest to not look like she'd been caught with her hand in a cookie jar. Jaune lifter his eyebrow at her, and she shrugged playfully. "I admit, Ruby does that better."

"Haah… Well, its not like I have anything against you following us around."

"That's nice to hear."

"You could join us if you wanted, you know?" Jaune tilted his head at her, and felt the need to clarify as Yang balked at him. "I mean, doesn't it get lonely to follow us alone, not that I was uh… implying anything?"

"Nah, I'm good. Just wanted to see how you two are doing, which leads to my next question- How's it going with Rubaby?" she asked as she paused and withdrew from the dance, and Jaune saw that she had led him to one of the balconies that overlooked towards the Emerald forest. There were few partygoers mingling on the balconies next to and above them (although it looked like few of the partygoers were doing something else than just talking…), but it was as quiet and secluded as one could get without leaving the party- and he had to admit that the crisp nightly air was nice when compared to the air inside the ball room.

"Ah! We… We are dating. Its going good, I think." Jaune said as he remembered that he was supposed to be saying something, so he defaulted to his standard response. It didn't seem to help much since Yang lifted her eyebrow at him. "I mean, well… I think so at least."

"Uh huh. What about your two other 'partners'?" Yang asked while crossing her arms. "Just call this a sisterly interrogation." she added as Jaune lifted an eyebrow at her in return.

"Well, it is complicated." Jaune said. "We're kind of taking it slow. This situation is pretty unexpected, for all of us, but we hope that it will work out."

"A bland, standard-issue statement." Yang's tone turned more serious. "I'd like it if you were a bit more specific though. Are you really interested in Ruby?"

"Uh… yeah, I am."

"Uh huh?" she lifted her eyebrow at his response, and Jaune felt that Yang wasn't impressed by it.

"I like Ruby." Jaune repeated. ' _Really, why does Yang need me to say it aloud? She's been following us for what, a week? Surely she knows this by now…'_

"I am not a drill sergeant, you don't have to repeat to get a passing grade." Yang said as she gave him a undecipherable look, before sighing heavily and taking his hands again, almost as she was planning to resume their dance.

Jaune felt slightly confused by it, but he went along nevertheless- until what should have been the first few steps of a dance turned into anything but as Yang pushed herself against him and tied her hands around his neck.

He got a brief glimpse of brilliant yellow hair and burning violet eyes before something _soft_ touched his lips.

' _W… wait, what is happening?'_ Jaune could only stand in dumbstruck silence as Yang lifted her leg and tied it around his waist while kissing him and pulling his head down to meet her lips. ' _Oh no, is this happening again?'_

His mouth parted to ask what she was doing, and she took the chance to deepen the kiss while guiding his hand to touch her sizeable breasts.

"Are you really after Ruby?" She asked as she pulled her lips apart from his enough to speak, but he felt her lips brush against his as she talked. "Or are you actually after me?"

"A- wait? What?" The words that Jaune might have had were lost as Yang's question sank in. ' _Wait, does Yang think that I'm after her? But how'd… I'm dating Ruby!'_

"I… I might be willing to give you a chance. But you'll have to pick. Me, or her. You won't have both." Yang told him while lifting his head to look at him. Her breasts pushed against his chest, and her hot breath washed over him. She guided one of his hands to grip her thigh that was lifted to rub against his waist. "Which one will you choose? Ruby's a bit nerdy, you could have me instead… If you just say yes. I don't mind if you have other partners either, you can keep Blake and Pyrrha. I don't judge."

' _Wait.'_ Jaune blinked. ' _Something doesn't add up.'_

Just as Yang was closing again, presumably to kiss him, he pulled his hand away from her thigh, and put his hand over her mouth.

Yang's eyes widened, but she didn't push further, almost as if she was waiting for something. An answer, presumably. ' _S… something tells me that if I say 'let's just start as friends' it is going to get me killed… so...'_

"I'm… I'm sorry."

Her eyes widened slightly more.

"I'm sorry but I'll… I'll havetosayno!"

"Mbrgh?"

"I mean, I'm sorry but I can't return your feelings." Jaune stammered nervously. "I won't… I won't leave Ruby."

Yang's eyes softened and she pulled his hand off her mouth.

"I… I'm okay if you don't want to talk to me after this but… I'd still kind of want to be on friendly terms with you…" Jaune was about to continue, but Yang put her hand over his mouth in turn.

"Shush. You pass." Yang said with tone far happier than it should have been. "Congrats!"

"Huh?"

"Don't take this the wrong way. I'm not telling you that I won't be looking after the two… er, four of you." Yang told him, ignoring his confusion. "But at least I know that Ruby won't get replaced by just any pretty hussy who's willing to throw themselves on you with a condition to kick Ruby off."

"Wait, you… You thought that I'd leave Ruby?"

"Partly. Shush, it'll make sense in the end." Yant told him while her expression turned a bit more serious, and Jaune waited for her to continue. "Just… Don't judge me too harshly, okay?"

"Okay, I'll bite. What's this about?" He asked finally as Yang seemed to wait for something. "Something makes you think that I'll fall for you and leave Ruby?"

"Did you know, back in Signal, a lot of guys wanted to become Ruby's friends." Yang told him while turning away from him and straightening her dress, and Jaune looked down to see that their brief but intense physical 'confrontation' had left his suit in equally crumpled condition.

"Er… so… Ruby had lots of friends? Was that a bad thing?" Jaune asked as he tried to straighten his suit.

"Oh, but she _didn't_ have many friends. You see, most of those boys were her friends for one reason… _I_ was her big sister." Yang said somewhat bitterly. "Do you know how it must have felt? That someone was pretending to be their friend _only_ to get closer to their hot, attractive, and popular sister? Ruby must have been _miserable._ No, scratch that, she _was_ miserable back then."

"That's…"

"Oh, I know. But the real question is, what happened, and why? I _am_ awesome, and that garners a lot of interest from the male population. That's the root of the problem, I guess." Yang said as she turned around to face him. "I've had to turn down a few boys in Beacon already. But the Signal… it was far worse. I had confessions every day. In the end the boys realized that they couldn't approach me directly, so they went through Ruby- to get to know me. And as soon as the chance came, they all jumped from Ruby to me… leaving her behind like a roadside pebble if I gave them the slightest bit of attention. The ones that hurt Ruby by doing so deliberately, I beat up. The ones who I accidentally charmed, the ones who legitimately wanted to be Ruby's friends but couldn't help but to fall for me… I gave them a date. Few of the good ones I even kissed on the cheek. I think those were the ones that hurt Ruby the most. None of them passed my little test though."

She shrugged and turned away from him "In retrospect it was not a good idea to give them any attention at all, since all it did was encourage more of them to try it, and to hurt Ruby in the process, but back then I wasn't well versed in teenage psychology. By the time I realized that… it was too late already. I… I didn't want to hurt her, but I didn't want for her to be _used_ either. The girls weren't much better either- they became jealous of me, and knew that I was very protective of Ruby, even if I didn't know _how_ to best protect her. That led to them hurting Ruby in order to hurt me- even more so when I started to break noses in revenge."

"So… All that was a test?" Jaune asked, feeling annoyed. "To see if I would just ditch Ruby?"

"Yep." Yang shrugged her shoulders. "If you had told me yes, then I'd have dropped you instantly like you would have dropped Ruby… and also thrown you off this balcony as well. But you didn't, so we're good."

"I wouldn't do that, you know." Jaune denied vehemently. "I wouldn't leave Ruby.I don't want to make her, or anyone sad!"

"And what if your decision would make someone sad regardless?" Yang asked. "What if I was actually a _teeny, tiny_ bit interested in you?"

"Er… I'd have to ask Blake, Pyrrha and Ruby…" he reared back almost as if he had stepped on a living snake. ' _Is she actually interested in me?'_

"Don't you dare finish that sentence."

"No, ma'am."

"Haah…. and you were doing so well too." Yang sighed. "It looks like I'll have to look after you all still."

"I wasn't going to dump Ruby!"

"And what if I wasn't interested in your… arrangement?"

"I… I don't know. But I wouldn't dump Ruby!"

"And we're at an impasse again." Yang told him while tapping her feet against the balcony. "Me, or Ruby. Which one will you choose?"

"This is also a test, right?" Jaune asked just to be sure.

"Maybe?" Yang asked in return while poking her tongue at him in a very unladylike manner.

"In that case… I'd have to tell you that I'm sorry, but I won't leave Ruby." Jaune said after a moment of thought, although only thing he had needed to actually _think_ about was how to deliver the news in a way that wouldn't leave him as a stain on the ground, or hurt Yang's feelings. "Not... even for you. I'm sorry. I'd ask Ruby to see if she had an idea to change your mind though. Either to not fall for me, or for..."

"For 'introducing' me into your secret under-blanket society?" Yang finished his sentence for him. "I'll have to go with a 'no' on that one. I'm not into a sister-on-sister, that'd be too weird. Even compared to your tentacle-Grimm-Semblance-things."

"You should meet my sisters and tell them that…" Jaune sighed, but didn't repeat it as Yang lifted her eyebrow.

However before he managed to say anything to further the conversation Yang had once again surged forth, and had pushed her chest against him. This time however she had her own hands behind her back, and he was keeping his very close to his _own_ waist.

"But regarding to your concerns, and this time for realsies…" She looked at him with her violet eyes, and smirked in a confident manner. "Well, I can't say that I'm not slightly intrigued about what the whole fuss is about with you, but I won't get in the way of Ruby's first real romance. Specifically when the boy she's interested in is apparently someone even I could approve of."

"Er… thanks? Just no more testing like that, okay?"

"I'll promise that as long as you just keep your hands and _other things_ where they belong until Ruby is ready for it?" Yang asked, although it felt more like a polite request than a threat this time. "I've said that to you before, but it can't hurt to remind you. She's new to this- vulnerable, and I won't forgive you if you end up hurting her."

"I won't." Jaune told her- but glared at her as she smiled. "Aren't you the one trying to hurt her right now? You know how Ruby would react if she knew you were doing this... again."

"Better that she be hurt now than later." Yang's eyes hardened as well. "With you having what's basically a harem, I have the right to worry about Ruby- Imagine how much it would hurt her if she learned that you'd drop her for someone like me? After all that's happened before? Plus, your… willingness to take new partners is making me worry for Ruby."

"...Point, but I wouldn't hurt Ruby like that."

"Your earlier responses weren't exactly convincing, so excuse me for wanting to find out for sure. The pattern was there, even if it was a long shot."

"...I suppose. I have a feeling you're not telling me everything though" Jaune still felt a bit suspicious from the way Yang was behaving. ' _I mean, I haven't shown that much interest in her, and we haven't interacted all that much, so her thinking I might be going for her seems a bit stretched…'_

"Weeeellll…." Yang turned around while holding her hands behind her back. "I might have done that also to see if you'd have the spine to reject someone as well. Don't get me wrong, I heard from Pyrrha that you wanted to make everyone happy with your dating schemes and with that thing you have going on with her, Blake and Ruby, but I also wanted to see what you'd do if you were presented with a situation where you _didn't_ have the choice to just add plus one to your harem- and if you were unable to do that, I also wanted to see if I could help you grow enough spine to do so. I don't want you to become someone who can be pushed around by anyone who has a pair of tits."

"Uh…"

"You can thank me when you feel like it~"

"...Thanks?"Jaune wasn't sure if he should be grateful for Yang's 'assistance', but he went for the safe answer.

"Atta boy. Just remember, no hussies." Yang reached to pat his shoulder. "But I think I can hold you to that now. Just holler for me a bit more often when you want to train hand-to-hand combat skills. It's rude to leave a girl waiting, you know?"

"I'll try to remember that." Jaune said while he sighed in relief internally.

"You'd better, or I'll remind you." Yang said with a smirking. "I have a _xiao-long_ memory."

Jaune blinked. "...It started again?"

"It'll pass." Yang rolled her eyes at him as she turned to walk out of the balcony and back to the dance floor. "Try not to get too dazzled by the brilliance of my puns in the meanwhile, will you?"

"Heh…" Jaune turned towards the forest and leaned against the decorated balcony railing. "I'll keep that in mind."

Yang reached to pat his head playfully before walking away.

He was fairly sure that Yang would likely be partying until the late hours, and chances were that there would need to be forces beyond those found in Beacon to get her out before the party would finally wind down and disband.

' _Yeah… I'm not really meant to be amongst that cacophony of emotions and smells.'_

Jaune sighed as he breathed in the fresh nightly air. He was lucky that the emotions in the party had been _largely_ positive ones, but even so the flood of them made him somewhat uncomfortable, not to mention whenever there had been pockets of negativity within the crowd he had gone dangerously close to the edge of his control over the Shadow. He barely knew anyone involved in the party, outside teams RYNN and SABR anyway, which didn't help his attempt either as there was no emotional bond to the other students- making it frighteningly easy to just equate them to mere statistics, measured by their value in nutrition to him...

"So…" A weak, somewhat muffled voice came from behind him and broke him off his increasingly disturbing thoughts, and Jaune turned to see Ruby standing behind him on the balcony.

He was about to greet her, but he stopped as he noticed that Ruby was keeping his distance to him- and that something was wrong.

Ruby's energetic mood had disappeared, and her usually lively silver-eyes were dull and lifeless, sending wave of ice down his chest- this time separately from the ever-present freezing sensation whenever she looked at him.

"Ruby?" Jaune asked carefully as the girl seemed to be lost for words. However his calling her name seemed to clear whatever mental block she might have had, and she took a shaky breath. "Is everything alright?"

"Ha… haha… Yes… yes, everything is back to normal now." Ruby's voice was somewhat high-pitched. "I saw you two, you know."

Jaune paused. ' _Wait, me and Yang? But… Oh no.'_

"I should have figured that this was too good to be real, you know?" she continued with the same unusual voice. "That I'd _actually_ have someone who'd be interested in me, and wouldn't hop to Yang as soon as she offered. Well… it… it was fun while it lasted, but I should have seen this coming. She gave you her offer, didn't she?"

"Ruby, wait!"

"I… I like you, you know. For realsies." Ruby shook from head to toe. "I mean… I know I'm not match for Yang, so I don't begrudge you for your decision but… I'd like if we could still be friends?"

"Ruby, I told her no!" Jaune reached to grab Ruby's hand before she managed to escape, knowing that once she used her Speed he wouldn't be able to catch up and he needed to shake her out of her misconception before anything happened.

"Yang told me about what had happened previously." Jaune tried to find words that would help defuse the situation. "About… what she did to you by accident. She wanted to test me, and I refused her."

Ruby looked at him. Her eyes were still dull, lifeless, but she didn't try to get away. "Are you saying that just to make me happy?"

"No! It's the truth!" Jaune told her vehemently. "We can go to Yang and ask if you want, but I swear I am not going to 'hop over' to Yang like the boys she told me about!"

Ruby's mouth opened, but nothing came out of it.

"I swear that." Jaune reached to take both of her hands in his and he held them together.

"If… If that's the truth… then that's the first time it's happened…" Ruby looked up at him almost as if she was seeing him for the first time.

"It was a test. I passed. Just think about it, why'd I want to 'swap' to Yang?" Jaune tried to reason. "I like you, and we're dating, and our personalities match a-and…"

Ruby's head tilted to the side as he talked, and her eyes seemed to regain a sliver of her normal liveliness. "Are you… Are you saying you chose me over Yang?"

"Yes!"

"R-really?"

"I wouldn't lie to you, Ruby!" Jaune despaired, and to his relief it seemed that he was starting to get through to her as she blinked.

"But I thought… I thought that _it_ had happened again…" Ruby muttered shakily. "I… I didn't think Yang would do that, she told me that… but… You two kissed, you know, mouth to mouth, and she had never done that to those that approached her through me so…"

Jaune opened his mouth and closed it again as he recalled what Blake had told him. ' _Is… is this one of those occasions where words won't work?'_

' _Well… here goes nothing…'_ he thought before he leaned forwards and kissed Ruby, causing her to freeze still. ' _Wet?'_

He pulled back as he noticed that there was something oddly moist on her face and he discovered that Ruby was crying.

"R-Rub… Oof!" Jaune tried to apologize but was interrupted as Ruby broke off her daze and practically crash-tackled him.

"I… I got so scared…" she sobbed against his chest. He drew her closer and engulfed her in hug, despite getting tears and snot all over his suit. "I… I thought that… I'm sorry!"

"Shh, it's alright. It's alright." he muttered as Ruby vented. "I doubt Yang had planned for you to see that. She never intended to 'seduce' me, she was just testing me- checking if I would leave you for her. It was just a test, and she wouldn't have gone out with me even if I said yes, but I imagine she would have beaten me to a pulp if I had done that. She wanted to see if I could reject someone, and so I showed her."

"I… I feel so stupid now. I shouldn't have gotten so worried." Ruby sniffed. "It just… It just happened with everyone else, almost all of my friends… I guess I hadn't gotten over that as well as I thought I did."

"Ruby, I…"

"Shush…" Ruby pushed her forehead against his chest. "Remember when I told Blake that I wouldn't lose to her?"

"Back when you walked on me and Blake having a shower a long time ago?" Jaune asked.

"Y-yeah, that… Well, I won't lose to Yang either!" Ruby begun as a stammer, but her voice gained a measure of confidence as she declared her resolution. "I won't lose to her either! And you won't lose to her either!"

"Er… Ruby, it wasn't all about that though…"

"Or… Uh, do you think Yang would be interested in sharing?" Ruby blinked as she seemed to realize something. "Come to think of it, why hadn't I thought about that earlier?"

"I… I don't think she'd be keen on that idea." Jaune couldn't help but stare at her dumbfounded as she tilted her head curiously at him while wiping her tears. "A- and weren't you supposed to not lose to Yang?"

"I'm not losing if we all win!"

He felt ready to give up as Ruby's excited voice rang in his ears. ' _At least the missions are starting tomorrow so I get a break from all this… I'm not made for relationship triangles… or whatever relationship geometry this is.'_

' _I wonder what kind of a mission we are going to pick?'_ Jaune very deliberately steered his thoughts away from the issue at hand to give himself a breather as he offered his hand to Ruby who had started to compensate for her earlier sadness by getting over-excited about the idea of introducing Yang into the… relationship... they were having.

' _This is a harem. isn't it?'_ Jaune thought with a internal sigh. ' _I had no idea these could happen… I wonder what mom and dad would say if they saw me now?'_

He realized where his thoughts were going so he moved on from the subject before he made himself sad. The dance was supposed to be a happy occasion, so he offered his hand to Ruby. "Wanna go and have one more dance before the party winds down?"

Ruby took one look at him, and took his hand while giggling slightly. "Sure… But we need to get your suit cleared first."

"Huh?" he looked down and saw that the front of his suit was practically dripping wet from her tears, and covered in snot. ' _Wait, did all of this come from Ruby? Just how much liquid does she have in that body?'_ "Uh…"

"Uh… Sorry..." Ruby offered before she seemed to get an idea- which was a very dangerous thing since she was practically bursting with energy now that her earlier panic had passed (which told him that she was still feeling the adrenaline from it, and she would likely stay in her overdrive until the surge winded down and she'd crash). "Hey, stay here, and I'll go wipe off your suit. Just let me take it off and then run to the bathroom to clean it!"

"W-wait! It doesn't work that w- aargh!" ' _Oh, here we go again…'_

…

' _You'd think that they would leave him alone during events like these.'_ Cinder sighed as she looked out of a large window. She had been observing the Knight ever since the start of the dance party, looking for changes in his behaviour.

The yellow-haired brute's advance on him hadn't gone unnoticed by her either. ' _...Although that only made me realize that I know next to nothing about him- and without a reference point it is incredibly hard to spot different behaviour.'_

She felt somewhat sick in her stomach as she let the thick red curtain slip through her fingers and she turned to walk away from a large window which overlooked a certain balcony where the Knight was getting forcibly undressed by the silver-eyed girl after what had appeared to be, curiously enough, a emotional burst or perhaps some sort of confession. ' _Still... Can't those hussies restrain themselves even for a single moment?'_

Cinder shook her head as she realized that she was again getting off-track. She was starting to get more and more worried about that as the time went on, since she could swear that she had not been so unfocused in the past.

She had also noticed that she had started to unconsciously rub the back of her neck whenever she was deep in thought, and occasionally she felt oddly… empty. Like there was something missing from her but she couldn't put her finger on it, or why the emptiness gave her a strange sense of fear that turned relief whenever she thought about it and realized that there was nothing where there was _supposed_ to be something. ' _I wonder if the removal of that parasitic thing affected me mentally as well? I can't overlook that possibility, not after all that happened yesterday. The Gift shouldn't affect me this way if it was removed, it was completely blank creature specifically made for me and only me… It's only been few hours since the removal so perhaps I'm just feeling the after-effects of it, but I need to document this and get it to mother, just in case my mental state degrades even further- or in the worst case scenario, deteriorates to the level where I can't give my report to her in person anymore...'_

Cinder sighed as her next objective came clear. She needed to convince her 'team leader' to take a mission which would take them close to where she had stationed Mercury and Emerald, and then either have them 'kidnap' her, 'get captured' by the White Fang who those two had been sent to assist, or find some other way to disappear in a way that would let her return to Beacon at later date- after her mother had checked her over, and given her a new Gift.

' _I don't look forwards to her ire though, she must be furious at my failure…'_ Cinder bit her lip as she thought about the reception she might receive after returning with the bad news. ' _Nevertheless, first things first. I need to link up with Emerald and Mercury. Those two are in Mountain Glenn, so a mission in or near that area will get me out of here. It also gives me a good opportunity to watch over the White Fang operation there and send them off while I depart towards mother's…'_

"Are you enjoying the dance, miss Fall?"

Cinder nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard the very distinctive voice of Beacon's headmaster behind her. "Ah, yes. Yes, I am. It is…"

"Hm, hm… I hope your injury is not harming your experience?" Ozpin asked casually as Cinder turned towards him. "Considering how quickly we tend to heal after light wounds, having a wound that warrants such prolonged bandaging must be quite dire… I hope you were not attacked?"

"Ah, no, not at all. I got hurt during off-school training. I merely want to ensure proper healing before my first mission… _our_ first mission as a team." ' _Dammit, not now! Don't get distracted now!'_

"And you were wounded from…"

"A training exercise with mr. Arc caused the wound unfortunately." she said while looking pointedly over Ozpin's shoulder. "Ah, it seems that one of my teammates is looking for me! Excuse me…"

Cinder hastily made an excuse and left the headmaster standing alone with his ever-present coffee mug. ' _I really, really don't want to talk to him when I'm suffering from… whatever this is…'_

She felt like crying, if she was being honest to herself, but she fought through that unfamiliar urge as she concentrated on her goal.

* * *

"Nh…. I'm sleepy… Couldn't we pick the missions in the afternoon?" Ruby whined as she walked alongside the gathered group consisting of team SABR, RYNN and Cinder towards the hall where they had been welcomed to Beacon- which primarily served to distribute available low-priority missions to the students and assignment-free Hunters.

Out of the entire group only Weiss looked somewhat well-rested, followed closely by Pyrrha who had very static expression likely to mask her desire to yawn. Outside those two the group looked like something straight out of a bad zombie movie, which might have something to do with the dance stretching until late night and them having to wake up before the first light of dawn.

Ruby had been extremely drowsy as she had completely crashed soon after her and Jaune's last dance had ended, and Jaune had carried the sleepy girl to the dorm. Weiss and Blake had joined them soon afterwards, and Blake had taken one look at Ruby who was sleeping in her own bed, still clad in her dress, and the black-haired faunus had pulled Ruby down after waking her up. Blake then told Jaune that she'd help undress and bathe Ruby before returning her to her bed, and Ruby had blinked sleepily to agree. Weiss had offered to help, and Blake had given Weiss an _extremely_ suspicious look before locking the bathroom door after her for some reason.

Jaune had lifted an eyebrow at Weiss who looked ready to faint as she trembled on the spot with face mixed between annoyance and embarrassment, but Weiss wasn't in the mood to explain as she had left their dorm to go shower in Cinder's dorm room.

Jaune had slept alone, although the nightmare that had plagued him the night before didn't return- however he didn't get all that much sleep anyway since apparently the first-year's sets of missions would become available for picking at 6. AM the day after the dance, and since two teams couldn't take the same mission, Weiss had shaken them out of their beds half hour before the missions became available so they'd have the best chance to pick out a good mission.

Weiss's decision, while it made sense, had however caused much complaining from Ruby and Blake mainly because of the early hour, and Jaune had departed to wake Cinder up during the fuss.

The flame-caster had been taken off-guard by the early wake-up as well, and it had taken Jaune three sets of knocks on her door to get her to open it. He didn't want to enter her dorm-room without her permission since Cinder's room was somewhat private, and he was fairly sure that entering someone's room without a permission might be considered rude, specifically so if the occupant was of opposite gender and likely either lightly dressed or completely undressed.

Fortunately waking team RYNN had been fairly painless affair since Ren apparently had the same idea, although they had set their alarms slightly later. Jaune had however gotten a sleepy hug from Pyrrha who was dressed in her usual oversized men's shirt she used as a pajama. He could have lived without the cheer and whistle Yang gave them though.

Nevertheless the groups had made their way to the welcome hall after dressing themselves and taking morning showers, which had caused Weiss to become increasingly nervous until they reached the hall as she had started to worry if they were going to be late.

Fortunately there weren't all that many teams waiting for the mission board to become active, so Weiss's fears that they would be left with some crap mission seemed unfounded.

"So… Let's dive in." the white-haired girl sighed in relief as team SABR stepped in front of one of the holographic mission boards, and waved at team RYNN that walked to stand in front of the mission board next to them. "Look for a good mission and drag it in front of me. We'll pick a selection and then pick one from those…"

"What are we looking for?" Jaune asked as he glanced at the small mission description texts floating freely in the holographic screen, and he swiped his hand curiously at one.

The description expanded from his touch, and he could read the entire mission goal, expected opposition and gathered intel relating to it. "Huh, neat."

"Something interesting." Weiss answered half-heartedly while she was reading a mission description she had in front of her. "Preferably against Grimm. There are a mix of criminal investigations, guard duties and other missions in addition to the usual extermination and scout missions, but I feel that our team's strength doesn't lie in investigation- or in any role which requires interaction with the general public."

"I see." Jaune nodded as Weiss had a definite point. "I imagine I'd be dead weight in a investigation mission."

"As long as your emotion radar is as good as you advertise it to be you would be very useful in investigation." Blake noted quietly. "Having what's basically an empath would be hugely advantageous, but I doubt it would be the best use for your ability."

"Quite so." Weiss agreed cordially while swiping at a mission description. "Exterminate a sizeable Beowolf pack and kill their Alpha near one of the villages that border Vale?"

"Probably too easy." Ruby said while she focused on the description in front of her while scrunching her face cutely.. "There's like, twenty Beowolves max so it'd be over in a flash. I'd like for our first missions to be a bit more… I don't know, exciting?"

"I guess 'help the Huntsmen to cultivate Grimm population in Emerald Forest' is out as well?" Jaune asked while pointing at one of the missions he had in front of him.

"I… I think these missions are specifically picked to be as easy as possible." Blake said as she looked at her collection of descriptions suspiciously. "'Escort a passenger train' - or travel to one of the coast villages near Vale in a train and come back with return trip. 'Escort a plane flight to Mistral' - same but between two kingdoms. 'Help a team of Hunters to eliminate Grimm presence near Vale's city wall.'- tag along as real hunters kill the Grimm."

"Uhhh… Sounds boring." Ruby complained. "Isn't there like, badass missions where we go and kill hundred thousand Grimm or drive off bandings and save a village from certain death?"

"I doubt those missions are posted to first year hunter-in-training team's mission board, and I doubt those kinds of messages make it to mission boards at all." Jaune commented darkly as Ruby's comment hit too close to home, causing the girl to flush pale and start to whimper.

"I'm sorry…"

"It's alright. You're excited, I get it." He shook his head and Ruby looked down sadly.

"Way to kill the mood." Blake sighed as she went through few other missions.

"Hmm." Cinder hummed from the background

Ruby let out a squeak as the voice of their new team-member entered the conversation, and Jaune looked over the red-hooded girl to see Cinder going through few of the missions. It looked like the presence of their fifth member had slipped off everyone's minds as the team turned to look at Cinder who smirked at Ruby.

"Well, if first-year missions are a bit too dull, I have a proposition." Cinder said as she pushed the group of blue holographic mission slips away, and lifted her Scroll to touch the light-made screen.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked politely as Cinder typed something on her Scroll, and the holographic screen switched from blue to red, before switching back to blue.

"I seem to still have my second-year team leader codes for mission selection." Cinder said while smirking. "I have unlocked second year's missions for us, if you are interested in something more challenging than sitting in a train or watching someone haul fish in the coast."

"Ooh, disrupt Grimm presence near Vale-Mistral border, redirect Grimm movement in western Vale, assist deep sea exploration vessels to clear submarine Grimm near Vale's coast…" Ruby read the mission descriptions that had appeared in front of her. "These sound really interesting!"

"While I would agree, I would also like to note that these have been picked from the available requests with second-year students in mind." Cinder smirked as the team started to go through the missions, although this time with far more enthusiasm. "If we are to pick one of them up, I would like to have a significant say in the selection- after all, I am the only second-year in our group."

"Makes sense." Jaune nodded as he thought about it. "I mean, how do you even redirect Grimm movements? I thought that Hunters just went and killed Grimm."

"With explosives to terraform their path into something that leads away from settlements and using your team as bait to draw them off their intended targets and towards less populated areas." Cinder answered easily. "Sometimes the Grimm pack is too big to hunt directly without suffering losses, and Hunters need to focus on their own survival as well since dead Hunters can't protect anyone- after all, as far as the government is concerned, losing an entire minor settlement is preferable to losing a full team of Hunters."

"That's... " Ruby pulled herself away from the mission board, and Jaune took a look at her to see that she was pale. "That's horrible…"

"It's our job to make sure both survive, but sometimes we must make difficult decisions." Cinder said while shrugging, unaware of the impact her words had on Jaune, and Weiss nodded hesitantly while she looked back and forth between him and the crimson-clad woman.

"I've been told that as well." The white-haired girl said quietly as Ruby turned to look at her almost as if she was begging Weiss to say that what Cinder told them wasn't true.

"I… I don't get it." Ruby said while turning away from them and going back to scrolling through the missions.

Cinder lifted her now-healed hand to stall Jaune before he could move towards Ruby. "She'll understand eventually if she wants to become a Hunter as well. You'll just harm her if you intervene now."

"...Fine." Jaune sighed, wanting to change the subject as it _really_ started to annoy him, and he didn't like himself when he was angry. ' _So according to her, even if there were hunters around they wouldn't have come to help Shion back when it was attacked by Raven's bandits... '_

"What kind of mission would you suggest for us, then?" Weiss took a look at Jaune's expression before she asked Cinder, no doubt recognizing that he wasn't in the best possible mood.

Those seemed to be the magic words however as Cinder gave Weiss a cheshire-cat grin, which made him uneasy. "Well, I have thought about it, and there is a mission that takes place near Mountain Glenn..."

 **Thum. Thummm.**

 **Thum.**

 **Hum hum.**

 **Here we go.**

' _ **Ere we go. 'Ere we go.**_

 _ **Next chapter- soon(™), but not as late(™) as before.**_


	37. City of Glenn part 1

"Hurgh!"

"So… I spy with my little eye… V."

"Vomit."

"You got it, Weiss!"

"Hm."

"Can't ye kids just help the bloke out?"

"Nah, you're doing just fine uncle Qrow."

"Bhuuuurrgh!"

"...Anyone? Ice princess?"

"…Unfortunately it appears that I have chipped a nail, my condolences. However I appreciate what you are doing, mr. Branwen."

"...Kitty?"

"I am busy studying necessary material for the mission ahead. I would advise not calling me that again, professor."

"Et tu, Cindy?"

"...No. While I fear I might sound like miss Belladonna, I must insist that you'll stop calling me that, professor."

' _Oh no, no no no…'_ Jaune thought as the rattling and shaking of the aircraft they were embarked in did a number on the contents of his stomach, most of which was by now in the bucket that Qrow kept in front of his face while he tried to keep himself stable enough to land all of the disgusting liquid in the container. ' _I mean, it's not as bad as it was on the Bullhead, but the travel time to Mountain Glenn is far longer…'_

They were embarked on a Bowhead-class aerial assault transport, which compared to Bullhead was far larger, equipped with four engines instead of two, and sported two gimbal-mounted sponson autocannons as opposed to the one typically mounted underneath the cockpit in a Bullhead. Not to mention a added howitzer that poked its barrel out of the craft's spine to help clear big air threats like overgrown Nevermores and equivalent airborne Grimm.

While the heavier airframe and the additional engines made the travel slightly steadier, it also made the craft slower and less maneuverable.

The abandoned city of Glenn, named so after the mountain it was built next to, wasn't too far away from Vale but the slower speed of their transport meant that the travel was hell for Jaune who was really starting to feel the rocking and shaking of the aircraft as time went on.

"Ghaa… Why couldn't we just take a Bullhead?" Jaune whimpered as he cleaned his face with a wet wipe Qrow handed to him.

"Because the mountains can attract big airborne Grimm such as giant Nevermores, Griffins and other large threats, and any of them can easily dispatch relatively weakly armored aircraft like Bullheads should they spot one." Cinder told them while reading something from her Scroll. "The overrun city of Glenn has no doubt become a breeding ground for such creatures, so even if we don't fly close the mountain itself, it is very likely that any Bullhead trying to land within the city would get swarmed by flying Grimm fairly quickly."

"Then why haven't we seen any of those big Grimm?" Ruby asked suspiciously as she looked out of the small observation port on the side of the aircraft. Grey, abandoned buildings met her view, telling them that they were flying above the outskirts of the abandoned City. "I mean, shouldn't we be under attack right now it that was the case?"

"Oddly enough the Grimm don't seem all that interested in us. Perhaps someone has cleared them out?" Cinder shrugged nonchalantly. "It would make our job easier."

"Any ideas? Weiss? Blake? Jaune?" Ruby turned to address the other team members.

Blake didn't comment beside shrugging slightly as she read her book, once again displaying her skill to not get airsick or get a headache while reading in unsteady and dimly-lit place. The way her now ribbon-free ears were rigidly upwards however betrayed her emotions underneath the calm surface, and Jaune could tell even without his Semblance that Blake was both excited and nervous about the mission.

Weiss seemed equally baffled by the lack of Grimm, so she chose to shrug as well before turning towards Jaune and lifting her eyebrow. "Can you feel them?"

"I can't sense those. Grimm, I mean." Jaune answered as he focused his ability outwards, feeling for the bitter, violent emotions the Grimm usually gave off. "There's something in Glenn which gives me a bad feeling, but… there aren't all that many Grimm in there."

"Huh." Qrow looked at him suspiciously while Cinder seemed somewhat surprised by Jaune's statement. "You can sense Grimm?"

"Sorta."

The enigmatic teached just huffed and sat back down on his seat and returned to typing something on his Scroll as Jaune's stomach seemed to calm down somewhat after it had been completely emptied while Cinder just looked at him curiously.

"Couldn't we get someone else to observe our mission?" Weiss whispered to Cinder, causing Ruby to huff and Jaune to shrug.

Cinder didn't respond, but she looked thoughtful while rubbing her neck and adjusting her blood-red choker.

While the other team members wore their usual combat clothes, Cinder had left her red silk dress behind and instead wore a brown sleeveless jacket, black leather-reinforced pants and gray knee-high boots. She had also attempted to make a top-lookalike from bandages, for some reason, but Weiss had caught wind of that before their departure and had demanded Cinder to unwrap the bandages and wear a proper shirt. Cinder had obliged after Jaune had also asked about the odd choice of clothing, and she had opted for a gold-decorated long-sleeved shirt in similar style to her regular red dress (which made the shirt look _incredibly_ out-of-place in the otherwise muted colours of her other clothing). She also wore red choker, which also looked slightly odd on her but Jaune didn't comment as it appeared that Cinder wasn't exactly the best person to ask about proper combat clothing etiquette- a feature that she seemed to share with Jaune, to his hidden delight.

Not that it helped the exasperated looks Weiss had sent him when Jaune had don his usual jeans and hoodie as clothes for the mission.

"Nah. Originally this was Oobleck's mission, but Oz caught up to your shenanigans with Cindy's leader pass." Qrow growled, causing Weiss to jump slightly as she likely hadn't expected to be overheard by their observer while Cinder just lifted her eyebrow at Qrow. "Oz made me swap places with Oobs so you'd have more combat-experienced teach to hold your hand. No offense to Oobs, but he's not exactly what I'd call a combat-focused prof."

"...If us taking the mission was an issue, why didn't Ozpin just reassign us?" Jaune asked, feeling suspicious as he felt that Qrow was hiding something.

"He didn't feel like it or something. Or I guess he felt like you could still do this as long as you had a different teach." Qrow shrugged, and Jaune squinted his eyes suspiciously at the man.

"Anyway, enough chit-chat. The LZ is pretty close." The professor told them as Jaune was about to comment. "Look alive people, we're dropping."

"Dropping?" Jaune asked warily as the other team members stashed their items and grabbed their backpacks.

"Yeah, we can't land while we don't know what's down there. This craft is sturdy it but won't last long if we land in a square and something jumps on top of it from one of the high rises nearby- the anti-flyer cannon isn't there for knife fighting with Beowolf or something."

"Uh…" Jaune was feeling more and more apprehensive by the passing second. "Do you happen to have parachutes?"

"You're a shapeshifter. Can't you like, transform some wings or something?" Qrow shot back.

"I mean… I still weight around three hundred pounds. Wings aren't exactly made for heavy weight lifting" Jaune said, which caused the man to rear back in surprise- even if he got a distinct impression that Qrow's surprise wasn't genuine.

"Well, I guess you'll need big wings then. How'd you land safely back in yer Initiation test?"

"I didn't." Jaune sighed as the memory popped up. "Somehow I get the feeling you know that already."

"What, me? Nooo way…"

" _LZ in minute. Get ready to drop. Altitude stable at two hundred feet, wait for green light._ " the pilot's voice came through the air-transport's intercom and Qrow slammed his fist twice against the door that separated the pilot from the crew to let him know that the message had been received. Weiss sighed as she looked at the interaction and she leaned to confirm the message verbally through the intercom.

Oddly enough Jaune felt like the pilot was extremely relieved to have them off his ship- which, considering one of the craft's engines had mysteriously caught fire during the travel and almost caused them to crash, not to mention how Jaune had starting to puke all over the craft few minutes after their departure, the pilot's eagerness to drop them off wasn't all that unreasonable.

"Can't you carry Jaune, Uncle?" Ruby asked while smiling cutely and grabbing the older man's hand. "And help him land safely?"

"Yeah, no."

"But it'd be sad if Jaune got hurt…" Ruby looked at the man with wide innocent eyes. As Jaune watched he saw small tears forming in the corners of her eyes, and Qrow began to shuffle uncomfortably- although it might have been because of the _incredibly_ disgusted look Weiss sent at Qrow.

"Nice try pipsqueak."

"B-but I've always thought you as the bestest uncle who's stronger than anyone, so surely you could help him get down safely?"

"Gh- Argh, fine."

"Thanks!" the tears disappeared instantly and Ruby hugged Qrow briefly before shooting off to hug Jaune as well.

Before Qrow could regret his decision the plane began to decelerate until it started to hover, and the red light near the back ramp of the aircraft turned green.

The ramp opened, giving them a view of ruined gray buildings below stretching almost as far as they could see.

" _Green, go go go! We can't stay still for long!_ " the intercom buzzed, causing the team to burst into motion.

"See you on the ground!" Ruby clapped her hands before hopping down the ramp, followed by Weiss and Blake.

"Right, kid… Don't try anything funny." Qrow grumbled as he reached down to grab Jaune by his knees and by his shoulder.

He _really_ wished that Ruby didn't have her camera ready and pointed upwards at the aircraft when Qrow jumped off the ramp with Jaune in princess carry- the former looking like his back would break from exertion and the latter screaming in terror and holding to the older man's neck for his dear life.

' _I bet RYNN doesn't have to deal with this…'_

* * *

"So you're Weiss's big sis then." Yang stated as she leaned against her palm while sitting on a couch that was placed in front of a small four-person table of team RYNN's somewhat sizeable airship cabin.

"Yes." Winter sighed as she sat on a couch opposite to Yang, although she sat in a calm, disciplined manner with both of her hands on the table while looking out of the cabin's window at the changing scenery far below them.

"You know, you look a lot more calm and collected now, as opposed to when you are teaching a class." the brawler noted as the ride went on in infuriating serenity. While it was irritating, the calmness and quiet was still better than the 'Are we there yet?' chanting that had come from Nora after the first few minutes of their flight.

Luckily Ren had managed to calm Nora down, and the bubbly girl was currently sleeping with her head on Ren's lap on a seperate couch near Yang, Pyrrha and their observing teacher, Winter.

It was early morning, and the team had departed before the other teams due to the airship leaving Vale before the break of dawn.

The airship would arrive to Vacuo in two days, land in its capital city to deliver the passengers and trade goods, refuel, perform basic maintenance for any issues that might appear during the flight, load new passengers and cargo, and then head back to Vale.

That made team RYNN's mission a fairly simple one- make sure that both flights would arrive safely.

Fortunately that had net them a VIP class cabin, which was _extremely_ luxurious as far as intercontinential flights went- it even had a private shower and a small bathtub.

Pyrrha was sitting next to Yang, but she wasn't much of a conversation partner as the redhead was as still as a statue with her usual fixed smile plastered on her face, but with the exception that her eyes had glassed over and Yang could swear that the redhead snored from time to time. Yang wouldn't have minded if Pyrrha had just flopped over like Nora and went to sleep (even if that would mean her sleeping on Yang's lap), but she guessed that the Mistralian champion was feeling somewhat uncomfortable in the teacher's presence and had chosen to act like a 'proper lady', whatever that meant.

"What are you implying?" Winter narrowed her eyes at Yang as she got up, walked to a beverage machine set up on a desk and pulled two cups of tea.

"I mean, whenever we see you with Uncle you two are almost instantly fighting each other." Yang said as she offered one of the mugs to Winter and sat back down.

"I'm not normally like that. However, whenever he approaches me despite my attempts to convey that _I am not interested_ … something happens." Winter sighed while sipping her tea in very calm and refined fashion.

It was difficult for Yang to believe that the woman in front of her was the very same woman who had been pulling Qrow's hair and kicking him in the crotch mere two days before in front of the entire first year class.

She blinked and shook her head as she realized she was going off-track "Something happens?"

"Something happens- Either nothing goes as I planned, something ends up breaking, or suddenly I am either fighting Qrow or I get drunk, or he gets drunk, or something even more _disgusting_ happens between us." Winter growled while cradling her drink.

"That's… unfortunate." Yang blinked as she registered her own words. "Is it because of his Semblance?"

"His… Semblance?"

"Yeah, Misfortune." Yang lifted her eyebrow. "It makes everything unlucky around him. Enemies, allies, people, Grimm, animals, inanimate objects… I saw a bird fly into a window, break through, get sucked into a ceiling fan and then cause both of them to crash down on top of Qrow and spill his drink all over his date in a bar. I think it has something to do with his mood but I'm not sure."

"So that's why…" Winter fought visibly against a urge to groan.

"So uh, since I thought you two are... uh, were a item or something I figured that I'd tell you about uncle during this 'mission', you know, help a girl out?" Yang offered, although she could by now guess what the answer for that would be.

"Please, no more…" Winter half-whimpered and her eyes gained a look not unlike that of a shell-shocked war veteran.

"O-okay, sorry." Yang waved her hands to signal her surrender. "I didn't know it was that bad."

"It _is_ that bad."

"Uh…" Yang felt as a idea popped up inside her head. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but she went along with it nevertheless. ' _I mean, in the best case scenario that might even work out…'_ "You know I'm Qrow's niece, right?"

"That is correct." Winter's refined behaviour seemed to return slowly.

"So want me to help you get rid of Qrow or make him less, I don't know, disgusting?"

"The former, please." Winter shivered visibly. "Violently, if possible."

"So how about a deal, I help you do that, and in return, you see if you can find anything worthwhile in him?"

Winter lifted her eyebrow at Yang.

"I mean, unc- Qrow flaunts about being a hot batchelor but he's not really one." Yang explained. "He's putting on the show and act but his Semblance always gets in the way of… well… everything. So I was just wondering if we could attempt to get a proper human being out of him since you two seem to be able to at least interact, which is hell of a lot more than what has been in the past."

"So you're telling me to become his psychiatrists?" Winter didn't seem convinced. "Frankly I feel like I'm the one who might need to go visit one in near future if the... harassment... keeps up."

"Just think of it like trying to make him into something worthwhile and getting him off your skin at the same time? I mean, if he becomes a 'decent human being' and hitches up with some woman then he'd be off your hair." Yang offered and Winter seemed to mull on it for a while.

"Fine, I am willing to give your suggestion a chance, seeing that I will be his co-teacher for a while anyway." Winter told her, and Yang sighed in relief. "In return, I expect you to _actively_ persuade Qrow to cease his harassment- and I expect results."

' _Heh, and perhaps I can get you two to hitch up properly…'_ Yang grinned as she offered her hand to Winter, who took it while glaring at her suspiciously. ' _Still, he's not_ that _bad, is he?'_

"You can start by persuading Qrow not to kidnap me, forcibly get me drunk, tie himself into a rack and then have me whip him." Winter told her.

Yang stared at Winter as the two froze mid-handshake.

Winter blushed slightly. "...Pretend you didn't hear that, please."

Pyrrha let out a quiet snore beside Yang and slumped on the table.

* * *

"So… This place is a bit of a ghost town, then." Ruby commented idly as the group walked on what had been once a bustling main street of the city of Glenn. The ruined highrises all around them, once colourful but now grey after years of corrosion, seemed like bones of a skeleton rising from a asphalt-covered grave.

The colorful imaginary was a direct result of the eerie quiet and lack of life in the gray city- not even plants lived in Glenn anymore.

"The mission was to recon Grimm presence in Glenn, exterminate any leadership-type Grimm like Alphas, and after exterminating the Grimm presence, or after finding that it is too much for us, find a way to clear a LZ either inside the city or outside it so the Bowhead can land and pick us up after we send it a signal." Weiss reminded them. "It doesn't necessarily mean that the city is choke-full of Grimm. We're here to do a force recon role, and only that."

"It is very strange that the city is so empty though, you'd think that at least _few_ Grimm would have settled in." Blake commented as she scanned the buildings, her amber eyes sharp. "Jaune? Can you use your radar to tell if there's anything near us."

"...I'm using it. I can't find any Grimm nearby, but… something is off." Jaune said half-heartedly while holding to his twin blades. He had transformed his forearms and created his usual blood-red bone-made blades.

He had noticed that he could grow them out of the bone of his forearm instead of thumb, and that meant that the 'vein' which connected his wrist to the blade would stay intact, enabling the blade's vampiric effect (even if that meant he couldn't let go of or sheathe his weapons as they would just dangle off his forearm).

' _...I guess that effect has always been 'on', but I always made the blade out of wrong bone and broke the connection prematurely, which I guess explains why I had to manually feed the blades.'_ Jaune sighed as he carefully felt around the empty buildings using his sort-of sixth sense while he gripped his weapon's now-smooth and barbless handle, ignoring the rashy, rubbing feeling originating from within the flesh of his forearm and back of his head.

He didn't really want to think about his 'projectile weapon' more than what was necessary in fear of what he might find, so he chose to just 'go with it' and hope it would work out in the end- although oddly enough the bone-darts inside his skin felt oddly lively- something that had started after the encounter he had with Cinder. ' _I wonder if her attempt to heal me caused those… darts… to become self-aware or something? I really hope that isn't the case… I'm already too occupied fighting one inner daemon without needing it to reproduce...'_

"Ehm… Mr. Arc's radar?" Cinder asked curiously which caused Weiss to sigh. "I meant to ask about it on the airship, but…"

"I seem to have forgotten to tell about it. Mr. Arc can sense the emotions of living things around him. Grimm, humans… I believe that he can also detect specific emotions such as distress of happiness, and he can tell when someone is lying." Weiss explained after Jaune nodded to her, signalling that he was fine with Cinder knowing about it.

"The ability is like that of a Grimm, except upgraded as he can sense both positive and negative emotions." Weiss added as Cinder lifted her eyebrow at Jaune.

"You appear to be full of surprises, mr. Arc." Cinder said, and for some reason Jaune got a feeling that Cinder started to behave differently after learning of that part of his ability. "It seems that you have caught a very useful Grimm, miss Schnee."

"Ah, yes, caught him…" Weiss mumbled. "Yes, I can control Grimm, that's right…"

' _Oh yeah, Cinder still doesn't know that Weiss doesn't actually have ability to control Grimm.'_ Jaune sighed internally. ' _I think we should just tell Cinder about my ability. Weiss wanted to keep it secret so if Cinder was with Emerald's gang then my ability wouldn't come to light, but we can't keep the secret for long as we are in the same team- plus, if the truth comes out at wrong time...'_

The buildings around them were empty of life, but for some reason he felt increasingly nervous and apprehensive as they moved towards the center of the city, which Qrow had explained to be a entryway to Glenn's underground housing and train network. ' _There's something in here. Foreign. Alien. But oddly familiar… I can't put my finger on it, but I don't think we're alone.'_

"Stay on your guard. There's something here… Not here-here!" Jaune quickly corrected himself as the team went on full alert after hearing his words. He guessed that they were on edge as well. "Something feels wrong, I don't think we're alone. There's something in somewhere in Glenn, but whatever it is, I can't pinpoint it."

"Well that's helpful." Weiss commented dryly as she flexed her cramping shoulders. "Miss Fall, do you have any ideas?"

"No. Outside the usual suspects, Grimm, natural predators or perhaps people from nearby settlements who might have come to claim parts of the city- which would make them bandits for us." the red-clad woman said perhaps a bit too easily, but Jaune didn't want to lapse his long-range 'radar' to feel if the woman was truthful or not.

' _I mean, she's in this with us, so she has no reason to lie…'_ Jaune shook his head to focus himself. He couldn't afford to get distracted when he was probably the first line of defense for the team- if there was something living near them, he'd be the first one to know.

"Professor Branwen? Do you hav…"

"Sorry kids, I'm here just to observe and help you in combat if you need it." Qrow grumbled. His demeanor seemed confident and careless, but if the way his eyes moved and the way he rested his hand on his weapon was any indication the unnatural calm of the city was affecting him as well. "Ya'll got to make your own decisions. I just hop in and stop you if you're about to get yerselves killed because of them."

"I see, thank you for your helpful input." Weiss sighed in exasperation, and mumbled something along the lines of 'wish', 'here' and 'Winter'.

"Don't want to make this too easy fer you all." Qrow shrugged playfully at Ruby, but for once her mood wasn't very cheerful and the man quickly gave up.

Jaune sniffed the air as he smelled a oddly sweet, disgustingly musky smell, and he waved for the team to stop, and then waved at the direction of the smell.

Weiss lifted her eyebrow at him before waving for the team to follow her, and they all lifted their weapons and started to observe their surroundings far more carefully as they entered what Ruby had dubbed as 'sneaking mode' during their team trainings..

Jaune felt the disgusted emotions coming from the team as they too smelled the odd scent while they moved soundlessly towards it, and the team soon arrived to a crossroad where the smell seemed to be coming from.

"Is that…" Ruby asked quietly as they approached a form that was not much larger than a human yet it bore black skin and patches of white bone, and it was partially covered by building rubble.

Jaune approached the form first and flipped few rocks covering the form to reveal a very small, mauled and rotting Grimm Beowolf.

"Wha… But Grimm deteriorate and vanish!" Weiss's voice was muffled by a piece of cloth she had tied over her nose and mouth to dampen the smell. "What happened?"

"It must have come from the sewers." Blake pointed out as she traced dragging signs that came from a nearby manhole- the trail of blood and ichor was hard to miss. "But what killed it?"

Jaune crouched next to the dead creature and turned it over with his sword.

The Beowolf was shriveled almost as if it had been malnourished, and it was covered in wounds ranging from bites to deep gashes that looked like claws marks. "Did it get attacked by other Beowolves?"

"...Sure looks like it." Qrow mumbled as he knelt beside him and took a picture of the dead carcass. "It would explain why Glenn is so empty if the Grimm had some sort of civil war. But Grimm don't eat or hunt each other."

"Or rot."

"Something is wrong." Cinder said as a visible shiver went through her and she stared at the dead Beowolf. "This… This shouldn't happen."

"Well, less Grimm for us to deal with. Let's just take a sample of it and get going. Let the science-types figure this one out." Qrow shrugged. "Didn't take you for scaredy-cat, Cindy."

"..." Cinder just glared at the man and turned around to walk after Blake who had gone to secure a perimeter.

Qrow caught a empty Dust vial just in time to stop it from shattering against the street and turned to glare at the white-haired girl who had thrown it.

"Taking samples was your idea, so would you please do the honors? We'll check the perimeter." Weiss told him with overly sweet tone, and Ruby just shrugged as Qrow sent the red-hooded girl a pleading look.

Jaune suppressed a snicker, and paid for it as Qrow pushed the vial against his chest.

"You heard the lady, get on it."

"I…"

"Observer only."

"...Fine."

The rest of their first day in Mountain Glenn was spent in haunting silence.

.

..

…

"Is it time, then?" Jaune asked as Cinder woke him up for his turn in´the guard-slash-firekeep duty in the middle of the night.

"Yes… Are you feeling alright?" Cinder asked somewhat warily and she took a calculating look at him.

"Yeah, why?"

"You were turning and muttering a lot in your sleep… were you having a nightmare?"

"Uh… yeah. I guess it's the atmosphere here." Jaune said while rubbing the back of his neck sheepily. "This place is pretty haunting with the empty buildings and everything."

"...I see. Try to keep yourself together." Cinder gave him a undecipherable look before crawling over to her sleeping spot, lying down and pulling her blanket over her.

Jaune blinked the sleepiness away as he focused on his surroundings.

The team had picked a somewhat intact-looking highrise to be their temporary base. It give them some elevation which meant they could see Grimm from further away, and it would restrict the possible angles of attack to stairs or windows, both of which were fairly defensible.

Qrow had pointed out that if the Grimm swarm was too strong for them then the team would be trapped as they were on the fourth floor, but Weiss had just waved her hand and told him that the team could just jump down or use one of her Glyphs to propel themselves out of the small ruined apartment and into one of the near-identical buildings around them- that way they could use the height of their camp as an advantage to disengage.

In the end they had settled down and cooked a small meal from their rations (Ruby had given some of her extras to Jaune after she had heard his stomach growl) and set up a guard duty chain for the night.

Qrow had picked the last shift, which would be at sunrise. It was likely that the team would wake up and pack up before Qrow's shift came, however, and the decision had thus earned Qrow few glares from Weiss but the man hadn't been too affected by it. After all it gave him full night's worth of uninterrupted sleep. Qrow had then argued for Ruby to take the first shift since she would likely be their scout for when they enter the metro station the next day, and the red-clad girl would be the second person to get a full night's sleep.

Ruby had argued for Weiss to take the first shift since she was the leader, and needed more sleep. Weiss had agreed but only if Ruby's shift would be just before Qrow's, giving her the second best shift. And after few rounds of 'pick the shortest stick' it was decided that Weiss would take the first turn, followed by Blake, then Cinder, then Jaune and finally Ruby and Qrow.

' _Haah… For some reason I thought that this mission would be a bit more action packed.'_ Jaune sighed as he poked the fire that was burning inside a large cast iron pan held above the floor with some steel bars, warming the room and giving them light.

Granted, he didn't really _want_ them to be drowning in Grimm or something, but the eerie calm around them was stretching his nerves, and if he was guessing right, it was also affecting Cinder and rest of the team. However he had become used to the hustle and bustle of Beacon, and sudden lack of _any_ emotions around him beside those of his team made him feel incredibly isolated.

He looked out of the broken window to make sure that their surroundings were clear, just in case his internal radar was somehow malfunctioning. The streets outside were empty of life, and nothing moved in the perimeter, meaning that he could just sit down on a stool and add few pieces of broken wooden furniture to the pot that made their fireplace.

Minutes passed in silence as he poked the fire to adjust the room temperature and Jaune glanced at Cinder's blanket-covered form as he felt that she wasn't sleeping.

"Cinder?" he asked quietly after making sure that the fire was burning properly and keeping the room's occupants warm. "Are you awake?"

The woman froze still in the slightly out-of-the-way spot she had picked to be her sleeping spot. "...Yes."

"...Is it because of the odd feeling this mission gives off?"

"Uh… yes."

"...Cinder, I can tell when people lie." Jaune felt slightly suspicious as he focused his attention on Cinder. Their surroundings had been clear for a long time so he felt around for her emotional state. "What's wrong?"

"Ah… It's nothing."

"Maybe I can help?" Jaune asked as he walked to where she was lying and sat down next to her bed. "Blake can testimony that I'm good at talking girls until they pass out."

"That's… a colourful way to put it." Cinder turned to give him a very sceptical look before she sighed. "Fine, but you must promise me something- don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. That includes your... our team."

"Cinder…"

"I'm serious."

"Fine, I'll promise." Jaune sighed while looking over his shoulder and momentarily focusing on his ability to make sure everyone else were still sleeping. "What is it?"

"I'm just going through some data I… uh... acquired recently." Cinder said after a considerable break while looking at him with calculating expression. "There was some distressing material within."

"Did something happen?"

"Well…" Cinder glanced at Qrow's sleeping form. The teacher was lying slack on top of a table which he had picked as his sleeping spot. "...Kni- I mean, mr. Arc. How much do you trust Qrow? And Ozpin?"

"Huh?" Jaune was taken back by the question somewhat. "What do you mean?"

"There's something that Ozpin is hiding." Cinder said conspiratorially while her eyes passed by Weiss's sleeping form. "...I don't know if I should tell you about it though."

"…What do you mean?" Jaune asked, feeling a bit suspicious.

"Ozpin isn't the saint he pretends to be." Cinder said quietly while pulling her Scroll from under the blanket she had covered herself with. Jaune looked at the Scroll which showed a tanned girl leaning on a staff. The picture had a text under it saying 'Amber Fall'.

"Amber… Fall? Who is she?"

"Shh! Not so loudly!"

"Sorry." Jaune said sheepishly. "But... who is she? Someone you knew?"

"She is someone very important to me." Cinder said quietly before blinking as she seemed to realize something, and afterwards her face paled. "Why am I... Forget I told anything."

' _She's telling the truth…'_ Jaune blinked as he was using his Semblance discreetly to gauge her emotional state- he wanted to be able to help her afterall, so he allowed himself to cheat a bit. Cinder looked like she needed help as she looked at him oddly- It was almost as if she was considering setting him on fire or something. "What happened?"

"...We were together a few months ago, but our… uh… interaction… was interrupted as Qrow came and fought me. He didn't recognize me, but he captured Amber, and I suspect that Ozpin is holding to her. Qrow didn't see my face, so I decided to inf- transfer to Beacon in order to get Amber back." Cinder said as she seemed to come to a decision. Jaune guessed that she hadn't planned to tell him about the other woman, but it had likely just slipped. "I want to to get her back. She... I feel like she won't last long wherever Ozpin is holding her. I need her."

' _Truth again… odd. I didn't think Ozpin was the kind person who would order a kidnapping. Hold on, Amber Fall? Cinder Fall?'_ Jaune felt bad for Cinder. "Ozpin is holding to her?"

"I am certain of that." Cinder said with a tone of finality. "Against her will if I'm correct. You must _not_ tell anyone about that, or... or I fear Ozpin might attempt to capture me as well."

' _Why'd Ozpin want to capture either of them? Also...'_ "...Was she your sister? Your surnames match."

"N-no…"

"Ah." Jaune blushed as he realized what the shared surname could then mean. "I'm… I'm sorry. No-one should be separated from their uh… loved one in such a way."

Cinder blinked once, twice, and thrice before groaning theatherically and burying her face in her hands. "You will tell no-one about what you just heard."

"You got it… just, why do you think Ozpin is holding her against her will? Why did he even want to capture her?" Jaune asked. "I mean, it's pretty hefty accusation."

"Amber, she... she has a certain power. Think of it like a Semblance, but not quite- something outside that." the woman told him. "Ozpin, he wants that power, and will resort to just about anything to get it. We... Amber and I shared a part of that power, and I fear that Ozpin would capture me and try to forcibly extract the power from me if she found out. He might have done that to Amber already."

' _Truth... odd. Is she perhaps like me? My Semblance isn't exactly ordinary either...'_ Jaune thought. The more he heard about Cinder's plight, the more apprehensive he felt about Ozpin. ' _I didn't take him for someone who'd go so far as kidnap someone innocent just to gain their power. Come to think of it...'_ "...But how did you find out where Amber was? That Ozpin has her?"

"I… I might have slipped few knockout drops to Qrow's food when I helped catgir- Blake prepare it." Cinder confessed extremely quietly. "I went through his Scroll when it was my turn to watch over the fire. If he had any information about her… it'd be there. A small autocracker helped to get me through his Scroll's defence, and I got full access to his files."

"...And did you find anything?" Jaune asked carefully while he tried to keep straight face. ' _I mean...Qrow's Ruby's and Yang's uncle, and he has his network searching for my sisters… However if what Cinder is saying is true, then Qrow is practically a kidnapper. But knockout drops?'_

"I did. I found more than that in Qrow's Scroll however. Something concerning you." Cinder bit her lip while giving him a very calculating look. "I… didn't know that you had missing sisters though. My condolences."

"Wait, what?" Jaune went instantly on full alert and the thought of Cinder's lost lover flew right out of the window alongside any concern he might have had to the woman's information gathering techniques.

Cinder hesitated for a moment before she handed him a pair of headphones. "There was a recording in Qrow's Scroll, and I think it concerns you. It is dated a month or so ago."

Jaune put the headphones on and leaned closed as Cinder started the recording.

" _Raven. Please._ " Qrow's voice rang in his hears.

" _No._ " A female voice answered coldly.

Jaune froze still. He felt light-headed as the speaker's female voice was something he could never forget, even if he had only heard it very faintly. ' _Raven… Branwen. But Ozpin said that Qrow hadn't met her yet- that he was still searching!'_

" _We need him. The Arc kid._ " Qrow's voice said. " _He might hold a key to ending the Grimm... Please. Give his family back to him._ "

" _And you'd think that I'd just hand over something you could use to control him?_ " the hated female voice asked.

" _We just want to return them to Vale. To make the Arc family whole again- or as whole as it can be after what you did…_ " Qrow's voice whispered loudly. " _For Nicholas, for all those you've killed…_ "

" _Guilt-tripping won't work on me. If you want them back, then take them from me- but until then, I'm keeping the family_." Raven drawled. " _If he wants to join them, then tell him that he's free to seek me out and ask to join the tribe. He sounds strong enough…_ "

' _She's talking about me..._ _As if I'd join her... '_ Jaune felt his blood boiling. He ignored how Cinder gave him a wary look as he kept listening. ' _Raven killed dad, and mom is dead because of her!'_

" _You'd try to recruit him?_ " Qrow's voice asked, clearly sceptical. " _You'd keeping him from focusing on the real threat… Are you working with the Grimm?_ "

" _Yes, I'd take him in if he was as strong as you claimed he was._ " Raven's voice was accompanied by a faint sound of sipping, making Jaune almost think that the two of them were conversing over a drink in a bar. The slurs the pair had in their speech certainly matched the observation. " _As for the Grimm… I didn't take you for a deluded drunkard. Have the years done a number on you, brother?_ "

" _If you weren't working with the Grimm, you'd give the Arcs you hold hostage to us…_ " Qrow drawled. " _Are they even alive?_ "

" _I am not working with the Grimm… I'm merely using them when it suits me._ " Raven slurred, and Jaune knew his earlier guess to be true as he heard the chatter from the background of the recording.

' _Qrow never needed to use his 'network' to find out where she is… he's just drinking merrily with that… that bandit in some_ bar….' he felt as his teeth gnashed. ' _Did he just call his 'sister', decide to stop by on some bar and have a drink while mentioning that I had survived and I wanted my family back? Some 'network' he has...'_

" _As for the Arc kids, they are... a part of our happy family._ " the hated woman added almost jokingly.

' _Joke some more, bandit… I will tear your head from your shoulders… and e͏a͏͠͝t҉̴ ̛͘y͠҉̸o͝u͏͡r͟͠ ҉̷t̨r͜͞ib͟e̕͡…_ ' Cinder backed away from him slowly, her startled face lit in the red glow coming from his eyes...

" _You told your men to torture and rape them, didn't you?_ " Qrow growled accusingly, and Jaune heard as something slammed hard against some wooden surface.

For a moment it seemed that everything would grind to a halt as the voices in the recording paused.

" _Yes_ " Raven's voice sounded disinterested, almost as if the question wasn't worth her time. " _They obey me. My word is law, and they know better than to defy me. Those that try to do so end up dead._ "

The recording finished with a click, as did his patience and dubious calm.

A odd shattering sound rang in the small room that somehow felt far more cramped than it had before, and before he realized it, he had fallen out of the window in a shower of concrete while taking bit part of the wall with him, followed by an impact he barely registered as his legs crashed against the asphalt road, creating cracks in the armor that now covered his legs as he let out a furious howl that echoed in the abandoned streets.

A part of him realized that he had thrown himself off the building in attempt to get away from his team as the Shadow raged for control inside his head, but his rage overpowered it's by a wide margin. He knew that he must have transformed during the recording, but he couldn't care less about his torn clothes or how it must have frightened Cinder, or how it must have woken up the rest of his team.

A second furious howl escaped into the night as he looked for something, _anything_ to vent his anger, frustration and fury on as he ran and slithered on the cracked asphalt, carving his way through the broken buildings towards the nearest source of life- yet he was still coherent enough not to break his rage against the nearest possible target, his own team.

However as his thoughts turned to keeping himself from hurting his team the rage that was _him_ was soon overtaken by rage of the creature within- and it was accompanied by a bitter thought as he realized that the entire thing was his own mistake.

' _I… I failed... '_ the furious howl was followed by a more sorrowful one as he instinctively locked on to nearest sign of life after bursting through a weakened concrete wall of what might have once been a cafe and into the street- and the creature within him noticed that the faint echo of life came faintly from directly below him. ' _I trusted Qrow, and Ozpin… I thought they would help me... We̸͜҉ m̵̡u͝st҉ ҉̨͢d̷es͝t̸r̷o̸y̷ ̨t͘͞h̢͘͏e̴m̨͏.._ _that I could focus on my own recovery and leave my sisters to 'real'_ _huntsmen… I shouldn't have trusted them, I should have just... Cha̶͘͡r̴̡g̨e̢̛͠ ̷̀a̕͜͢nd̶͟ ̛d̸èştr͝o̷y̴̡̧..̛͏̵.̨ ̨͠h̷̵̷u̷҉nt҉ ̴͠a͞l̶̷l̡͢ ͢l͝͠if̴e͜.̷̧̀.̀̕.̨ gone straight from Beacon to Mistral, and search for my sisters by myself...'_

The ground cracked as he searched, his mind having already forgotten what he was searching and what he was going to do as he found it, and he felt as the asphalt gave under his feet and claw.

He fell and the rocks and pieces of asphalt fell around him, crashing against him and crushing parts of his bone-made armor, yet he flung the masonry aside with the appendages that had grown from his spine and he began burrowing his way out from underneath the rocks as the tumbling and crashing came to a halt.

His claws hit something soft, and he burrowed straight through it, ignoring the blood, steam and flesh that flooded over and into him as he burst out of a Beowolf's chest that had been trapped by the landfall and he turned to lunge at what he recognized to be another werewolf-like Grimm, likely disoriented from the landfall that had crashed on top of it.

The beast gave a snarl-like voice which turned to a whimper as his twin blades pierced its chest. Before it fell a pair of spike-tipped, barbed tentacles wrapped themselves around the creature's arms and _tore_ chunks of flesh from the dying creature in a spray of oily dark-red blood. He barely registered that his tentacles had grown savage-looking teeth and scales, making them able to rend flesh with frightening efficiency.

He felt as his white bone-mask opened unnaturally wide as the Shadow began to feed- and the act was enough broke through his despair as the rage within turned to fear, and confusion as he realized what was happening around him. ' _Foolish… Foolish… Fo̵oli͏s͟h... I forgot I can't get distracted or the Shadow takes over...'_

Jaune felt like throwing up as the all-too familiar taste of bitter, oily flesh invaded his mouth and stomach as one of his own tentacles pushed the meat inside his waiting mouth. He spluttered and the half-chewed piece of black meat fell off his mouth, and the creature in control of his body paid for his interference as a faintly Beowolf-shaped creature charged him and shoulder-slammed him off the dead and slowly vaporizing body off its kin.

A hiss escaped his bloodied mask, letting out a gout of steam which soon mixed with the cold underground air, and he prepared to attack the new prey… only to see that the Beowolf-like Grimm which had rammed him had begun to tear into the carcass of its dead kin, pulling off pieces of black meat and stuffing them into its mouth in fever-like state.

He felt as he paused for a moment since something seemed _wrong_ about the situation, but the rising hunger inside him broke his hesitation and he felt as he charged.

The distracted creature was swiftly decapitated while the swarm of of brutal tentacles pierced its body, and immediately begun to tear flesh off its corpse and drink its blood to feed his armored form further.

A faint ray of moonlight lit his surroundings, making him aware that he must have fallen through the surface of Glenn and into the underground portion of the city.

The Grimm had not abandoned Glenn- they had moved underneath it, much like its previous owners.

He looked around to see red eyes swarming all around him, and his internal radar, now overcharged by the Shadow's influence, 'saw' hundreds of Grimm approaching towards him through the darkness that covered the underground city.

Oddly enough there were some Grimm amongst the mass that felt… odd. Altered, much like the one that had started to eat it's fallen kin.

However he couldn't care less about the curious feeling the Grimm gave him as he felt his earlier rage returning now that he had a target for it to vent.

In fact he was grateful for the Grimm.

They stood against him.

They would try to kill and eat him.

That was fine.

' _Yes… this is more like it.'_ He felt as his breath came out in gout of blood-hot steam from underneath the featureless white mask he bore. ' _This is what I am...W̢e̛̕ ̡҉a̵̕̕ŗ̀e̵̛... for…'_

Thoughts of his team above, of his family kidnapped, of the mission he was supposed to be on were soon lost as the black form of a Grimm charged at him, and he responded in kind, stepping under its arms and taking off its leg while one of the tentacles pierced through its chest, coiled around its back and tossed the creature off to hinder the advance of other Beowolves that begun to swarm through the darkness and rubble at him.

He saw as the werewolf-like creatures were joined by snake-like ones, and even few _massive_ scorpion-like Grimm began to scuttle towards the battle.

It wouldn't matter. He would grow- and even as he dodged one of the larger Beowolves he felt as his back lengthened, and he balanced himself on his new bone-spiked tail.

The mask shaped itself anew to better fit his face as it grew in size as his four eyes opened to gaze into the inferior mass, and his jaw extended, his teeth lengthened and his maw closed around his still-living kill.

' _Yess̶̛s͠s̴͜͞ss̶̕͠…'_

…

"W-what happened?" Weiss let out a shriek as she woke to the rumble and crash as one of the old and worn walls of the building they had picked as camp site gave way and crumbled to the ground.

"Is the building crashing down?" Blake asked loudly as she reached to grab her weapon from under her pillow made of spare clothes, and she looked ready to jump off if the ruin even when she was still blinking sleep off her eyes.

Ruby turned around in her bedroll and gave a loud yawn before shaking her head. "Whu… Whut's going oOo- ohn?

"Ah… I think the K- mr. Arc has gone berserk!" Cinder waved them off before the girls could do anything too hasty. ' _Dammit, he just... He just shapeshifted and jumped down after hearing that recording...'_

"Berserk?" Weiss blinked in confusion.

"Yes, can you… urgh, 'calm' him down? Preferrably from a distance?" Cinder asked, fighting back the annoyed twitch of her eyebrow when she realized _how_ Weiss would calm the creature down. "He jumped off the building."

"Why did he go berserk?" Weiss asked as she turned to pull her equipment belt from beside her bedroll and tie it on her waist while the other team members were getting up and readying themselves for combat. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I had trouble falling asleep so we talked…" Cinder explained as she tried to come up with a good excuse. "We talked about mr. Arc's sisters, and he went berserk during that speech!"

"Oh come on…" Weiss groaned. "Fine, let's go and fetch him. Which way did he go?"

"Uh… I think we can just follow the holes on the ground. And in the buildings" Ruby said while munching energy chocolate as she leaned over the destroyed wall to trace the trail Jaune had left. "He wasn't subtle."

"You seem awfully calm about this?" Cinder asked as the three girls were getting ready to chase their teammate while Cinder packed her things and got her combat equipment ready. ' _Huh... Is him snapping off the Schnee's control a regular occurance?'_

"Eh, this isn't the first time this has happened." Weiss sighed in annoyance. "Mr. Branwen? Wake up, please."

' _Hm… I might be able to use this chance to get 'lost' and head towards the White Fang camp in Glenn's metro station where Torchwick has stored the stolen Dust… '_ Cinder thought as Weiss started to shake their unconscious Professor. She wasn't too worried about the man as he wouldn't wake up for few hours, and the knockout drops would give him so massive headache that he'd probably think it was just hangover. She had sloshed some of the contents of his flask down the man's throat to reinforce the image and then poured the rest off the balcony to make it seem like he had drank it all. ' _And I can use this chance to see just how the Schnee girl is controlling the Knight...'_

"Seriously! Wake… Up!" Weiss shook Qrow by his chest, and Cinder started to wonder if she should have bothered camouflaging her traces after cracking Qrow's Scroll since it looked like that the white-haired girl would likely end up snapping the man's neck by shaking him, or by slapping him across the cheeks in _way_ too spirited manner when it seemed that he wouldn't respond.

"Is Uncle drunk again?" Ruby sighed.

Weiss sniffed the man and dropped him instantly, and he slumped lifelessly on the floor while giving a loud snore.

"Yes, yes he is…" Weiss's eyebrow seemed to have a life of its own as it twitched in annoyance. "What a _great_ teacher… I bet this wouldn't have happened if Winter was overseeing us."

"Yeah, but she isn't." Blake said while writing something on the wall. Cinder glanced up and saw that Blake was writing a message for the huntsman detailing what they were about to do. "I'll leave a message here, just in case if we have to go underground since our Scrolls might lose connection with those above ground- the concrete and steel layer between upper and lower parts of the city is going to be thick, and CCT likely had signal reinforcers going through the layer back when Glenn was still operational."

"Good thinking. Ruby?" Weiss turned to the red-clad girl. "Can you scout for us and try to find where Jaune has disappeared to?"

"Sure…"

"You aren't worried that he might turn on you?" Cinder asked warily. "He's gone feral. Or is he still under your control? Can't you just… use whatever you use to control him and have him come back?"

' _...Come to think of it, I wonder if I could somehow get the cargirl to leave as well, so that way I'd be alone with Weiss… I could overpower her and take her with me after I wrestle the control of the Knight away from her'_ Cinder thought as Weiss mulled over her answer. ' _While it would not be good idea to get her in contact with mother, I'm confident that Mother could pump the little princess's secrets out of her indirectly.'_

"No, unfortunately not. It requires something of a… well, close proximity to work." Weiss told her. "I'd also prefer if you didn't observe the uh… 'ritual of control' or… er that thing which makes him obey me. Just for security's sake. Ozpin's orders."

"Very well, if that makes you happy." Cinder rolled her eyes while scoffing internally. ' _Of course I am going to watch… even if I don't particularly want to see him getting taken advantage of, again.'_

"Right, I'm off, see you soon!" Ruby waved her hand and hopped down the crumbled side of the building and begun to run downwards on top of a intact steel beam that held the building together, before she made a sharp turn and begun tracing the path of ruin that the Knight had left behind it.

"Alright. Follow me. If we're fast, we'll catch him, get him back to his senses and figure out what happened before sunrise." Weiss sighed as she prepared a glyph that would lower the rest of the team down to the ground level like a makeshift floating elevator. "I'm certain that Qrow, since he is a professional Huntsman, can keep himself safe until we return."

' _We'll see.'_

.

..

…

"I guess Jaune fell down there." Ruby said as she leaned over the edge of a sizeable hole in the street. She made sure to maintain at least somewhat ready pose so she could sprint off the edge if it made any indications to crumbling off and falling while the rest of the team waited a dozen feet away from the hole.

"Can you see him?" Weiss asked.

"There's some sounds coming from there but I don't think I could shout loud enough to get through. The fall must be hundred feet or so, and I don't see him anywhere near the bottom..."

"Hundred feet?" Blake asked suspiciously. "That's a tall underground system…"

"The caves were naturally huge and were only expanded after the buildings above Glenn's ground became too dangerous to inhabit due to constant Grimm attacks and security breaches." Cinder reminded them. "If what I've see- read is correct, then the underground area was sizeable enough to house up to seven or six floors tall complexes in some spots. It might as well be a second city within a city."

"I see. Do you think we could attach some ropes or something like that on the edge of the collapse so we could climb up afterwards? I don't think I can cast a glyph that could propel us upwards so accurately that we'd actually hit our entry hole." Weiss asked as she pondered the situation. "Dammit, why did Jaune _have_ to fall through the street…"

"Well, we won't catch up to him if we just stand and ponder." Blake said. "I already left a message for Qrow, so we can hop down and then after we recover Jaune, head towards the metro station which has the exit from the underground complex. That was our original goal anyway, so we're just approaching it from a different angle."

"Sounds reasonable. It would also complete our mission, assuming we don't run into Grimm, and we could focus on finding a landing zone for the Bowhead after that and getting out." Weiss nodded. "This is going to be a fairly quick mission. I'm honestly surprised."

"Yeah, I thought this was going to be like, hard, if it was a second-year mission." Ruby agreed.

"...We still need to catch up to Jaune." Blake reminded them. "I can see well in the dark, I'll go first."

"Wait, Bla…" Weiss started, but Blake had hopped down the hole before she had finished her sentence. "Grrhh… Fine. Follow me!"

Cinder sighed as Weiss jumped down as well, and she lifted her eyebrow at Ruby who was still on the edge of the hole.

"So... after you?" Ruby said as neither of them moved.

"I was planning on using a rope, thank you very much…"

"You don't have any…" Ruby squinted her eyes at Cinder. "Are you afraid of heights?"

"No. Well, go ahead. I'll come after you."

"Let's jump together."

"Certainly. Three… Two… One… Jump?"

"..."

"..."

"You didn't jump."

"Neither did you."

"... _Stop arguing and get down here or I'll fire a ice lance at the hole and collapse you two down!_ " a echoing voice that most definitely belonged to Weiss shook the pair out of their argument. " _Sheesh. This place smells like sewer, a really bloody sewer, and if I have to smell this, so will you!"_

While Weiss's words were not exactly convincing, Ruby ran next to Cinder in a red flash and took her hand reassuringly.

"We'll jump together!" Ruby said, and before Cinder had managed to recover from her sudden dizziness that was suddenly caused by the silver-eyed girl's close proximity and gaze, the girl had also taken her by the waist and jumped the pair of over the edge.

' _Damn! Damn! That was my best chance…'_ Cinder cursed as she twisted in the smaller girl's grip and prepared to land while contemplating on just setting the red-hooded girl on fire and being done with it, but before she could do either Ruby had unfolded her scythe and had started to fire downwards to halt their momentum and the pair landed on the now-cratered pile of rubble with a thump.

Their surroundings were mostly covered in complete darkness, but a weak moonlight coming from the hole far above them gave their immediate surroundings a faint shimmer and allowed them to see at least each other's forms.

"Right, we're down. Weiss? Where are you?" Ruby told her while detaching from Cinder, leaving the older woman to wonder just what had caused her earlier dizziness.

' _Gah, this place smells horrid… did something die and rot in here?'_ Cinder thought as she leaned on what she believed to be a collapsed rock, but she pulled back as the rock let out a squishing sound and her hand got covered in some sticky liquid that caused it to start itching almost instantly. ' _W-what was that? Urgh… my head…'_

She was still suffering from the lack of focus that had started prior to the dance, which had also made her slip and tell the Knight about the Fall Maiden, but the lack of focus had suddenly spiked as the smaller girl had come close to her and looked directly at her with her… ' _...Silver eyes. Wait, is it because of the earlier parasite? Could there be something still burrowed within me?'_

Cinder masked her sudden paling and near hyperventilation by pretending to be recovering from the fall while Ruby was getting tongue-lashing from Weiss, who had apparently shoved Blake aside before taking cover when she had realized just how Ruby was planning to land, and that Weiss and Blake had been quite literally just below Ruby's high caliber rifle-scythe.

' _The Silver Eyed warriors… The remnant bloodline of yore. The delivers of soulfrost, the Wild Hunt. Their eyes give them sight that lets them invade the very essence of things not from this world, freezing them with soul-frost in their passing.'_ Cinder braced herself as she recalled what her mother had told her, and her heartbeat grew wilder while her eyes seemed to lose focus. ' _It shouldn't affect regular living beings, so the only way it could affect me is if I had something Grimm-like within me. I was never close enough for her eyes to affect me back when I still had the Gift… However if the earlier parasitic... thing's parts are still inside me somehow... Dammit, it grew so big in just a day… But where is the new one? and how big is it already? ...Wait, I haven't noticed a loss in my Aura ever since cutting the old parasite off, so it couldn't have grown too big yet, there might still be a chance...'_

"Cinder? Are you alright?" Ruby asked nervously, and Cinder noticed to her shock that the girl had walked within touching distance of her while she had been lost in thought.

"Ah… I'm… I'll be alright. Give me a moment." Cinder breathed out as she felt odd coldness in her spine after meeting the girl's eyes. ' _Dammit, that proves it. There's something in me. D_ _id that jump just now trigger the thing's growing in me?!'_ "Th- that jump took more out of me than I realized."

"Ah… sorry…" Ruby shuffled her feet guiltily. "I thought you had a fear of heights so I figured I'd help you get over it, kinda like how mom helped Yang get over her fear of dancing…"

"Yang had a fear of dancing?" Blake's voice sounded amused through the cloth she had likely tied over her mouth and nose to block out the smell. While their surroundings were dark, the faunus girl was likely able to see through it fairly well which she demonstrated by walking closer to the pair. "That sounds like something I want to hear."

"Er… Nevermind. You didn't hear that from me." Ruby shuffled nervously.

"Oh, I won't tell anyone." Blake didn't sound like it, and Ruby leaned suspiciously towards the black-haired girl. "I swear."

"I'm not sure I wanna trust that, since I can't see if you have your fingers crossed or not..."

' _Hrgh…'_ Cinder withdrew a bit further from the group as the two girls derailed from the earlier conversation. She was grateful for that as it gave her a moment to gather her wits- or what was left of them. ' _Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! This isn't happening. This can't be happening…'_

The fear that she might not be in a state to make _any_ kind of report when she would return to her mother suddenly became a _lot_ more real than it had been a day before, and the written report she had made the day before and recorded in a microfilm hidden inside her choker made the piece of fabric feel like it was quite literally choking her.

The thought about crawling back to her mother as some drooling lobotomite, a horrid shadow of her previous self, only to deposit the microfilm detailing her failure and then perish afterwards made her stomach cramp...

"Right. Cinder? Can you make a light?" Weiss's voice broke her out of her thoughts before she could go too deep into them, which was for the best.

If Cinder was being completely honest with herself, the darkness and the nauseating smell around them didn't exactly help with the way her thoughts were going, so she lifted her hand and called to her Semblance.

A bonfire-like flame burst out of her hand, illuminating the dark… and the light flickered almost instantly as her heart was filled with terror.

Dead Grimm.

The ground, the ruins, all of them were littered with broken, gnawed and mutilated forms of dead Grimm, covering the floor with their blood.

Cinder lifted her hand and saw that the form she had leaned against earlier was a _rotting_ Beowolf, and her hand was covered in its dark-red blood.

Her breathing became far more labored as she recalled a startlingly similar scene that she had witnessed mere days ago. ' _It's… It's like when.. that 'thing'_ _ate the_ Gift… _in the vision..._ '

Her plight went unseen as the other members of the team turned to look at the scene before them, Weiss masking a gag, Ruby shivering and Blake just reaching to tie the cloth covering her mouth tighter.

"I… I'm really glad that Jaune came before us, you know." Blake told them quietly. "If these had been waiting for us…"

"We'd have walked right into a ambush, and died." Weiss finished her teammate's thoughts. The girl was as pale as Cinder was as she realized how deadly their decision to jump down could have been. "R-right, we can worry about that later. We need to find Jaune, and see if he's alright- although I imagine that if he's not amongs the dead in here, then he's going to be _big_. Really big."

"Like that huge thing from before?" Ruby asked, clearly distressed. "I… didn't like that, but if that means he's okay…"

"It's going to be fine. Just… let's do that thing from before, it helped to get it… uh, taken care of." Weiss glanced at Cinder as she spoke, with Ruby and Blake nodding as they received their orders.

Cinder didn't like the implications of Weiss's speech, but she could only allocate a portion of her mind to feeling disgusted at the thought.

There was something moving- no, _slithering_ within the mass of the dead, and Cinder shivered as her Semblance flickered once more and failed alongside her resolve- like it had failed her once before. ' _No, no, no no nonono…'_

"Ah. that makes it easy. He's coming to us. Makes sense, he must be able to feel our emotions _really_ well right now." Weiss's voice was calm as she lifted her rapier, but the shaking of the weapon's narrow tip betrayed her inner feelings.

A blood-covered, nightmarish form burst through the rubble and corpses while tearing what looked like a massive scorpion-like Grimm Deathstalker in two.

The creature, far larger than anything with such infernal features should be, looked down upon them with its four red-glowing eyes, lighting the corpses around it with eerie crimson glow.

The bone-white, stained inhuman mask bore a blade-like upwards protruding horn, and the four eyes focused on the group as the creature's butchered kill fell on the pile of its dead kin.

Cinder's vision swam.

" _ **W̸̢͘̕͝R̷̶E͏̢̛͟Į̵́͟I͜͢͡S̡͢͟S̵̶̡S̴̢̡͜͟S̸͏̨͏S̸̢̛͞s̛͡s̵̕͝͠͞s̷̴҉̛s̵̷̕…**_ " A mouth full of forearm-length blood-soaked teeth opened wider than _any_ maw should, and the creature lunged at the group- at Cinder.

Her feet gave and the world went black as her spine felt like it had caught fire, spreading _pain_ through her body like if someone had poured molten metal down her back.

The last thing she heard was her own mouth screaming incoherently at the approaching void.

.

..

…

' _It hurts._

 _It hurts. It hurts. Make it stop._

 _Make it stop._

 _Stop. Stop._

 _The medicine. It didn't help._

 _It hurt. It hurt._

 _He ate everything he saw. The food. It helped a little._

 _It didn't help for long. They stopped him._

 _His leg hurt._

 _The medicine was running out, but he ate it, hoping._

 _It didn't help._

 _His leg burned. It burneditburneditburned…_

 _They cut it off. It burneditburneditburned…_

 _The burn spread._

 _It hurt. His back hurt. His stomach hurt._

 _IT was so hungry. He needed to eat._

 _One of them tried to stop him. So he ate._

 _He didn't know what happened._

 _His leg was back._

 _He was happy, but it hurt._

 _It burned. It hurt._

 _He wanted to keep it._

 _They cut it off. It was beautiful._

 _Bone and black flesh._

 _Black blood and goo._

 _They cut him. Poked him with tiny bits. It hurt. It made him angry._

 _He cut them in return. It was only right._

 _He wasn't hungry anymore. Red blood was sweeter._

 _It didn't hurt anymore._

 _The cutters were afraid. He could feel it. THEY could feel it._

 _The black blood came and rend and tore._

 _They ate the pieces. He ate the bitter black blood, he had grown hungry again._

 _He could grow back what he lost. They could not._

 _They grew ill as they ate. He grew stronger as he ate._

 _They grew weak. He grew stronger._

 _They grew hungry as he grew stronger._

 _T̛́h̢͝e̛̕Y ̛͡W͝e͘R͘͠e̷ h͢Un͡͝͠g͝R͜Y̕ ͟҉̶T̀ò͡ó̴̴o̸̸҉.҉͠.̸.́͢_

 _._

 _.._

 _..._

Cinder woke up with a gasp.

"Ow…" her attempt to get up came to a stop as her spine felt like it had been dipped in molten lead, and left to stir.

She opened her eyes and realized that she couldn't see and couldn't get up as her muscles didn't respond to her will.

The immobility caused a surge of panic to flood her mind as she remembered the moments leading to her loss of consciousness, and she began to spasm and twist instinctively in an attempt to get up and run away from the uncomfortably hard and cold surface she lied on.

Away from the monster in the dark.

"Ah… You're awake. Thank goodness…" a familiar voice came from nearby before a pair of strong hands caught her shoulders and held her still until her uncontrollable spasms went away, leaving just the painful, scorching feeling in her spine. "Cinder? Are you… well, awake?"

"Agh…" her throat felt hoarse from screaming, and a flask of water was brought to her lips.

"Drink, it's just water but…"

"I can take it from here if you want to." a quiet female voice came from nearby.

"Don't worry, I got this." the male voice spoke again. "This… this is my fault, so I should be the one to make it right."

"...Don't hold it against yourself too harshly." the female voice said again, sounding sadder. "We knew that this might happen, but… I don't think Cinder did."

"Yeah, I think it's time to stop with the deceptions. Weiss?"

"...Fine."

' _Deceptions?'_ Cinder thought through the haze of pain and ache. Having something else than the pain to focus on helped her think, helped her focus.

A pair of hands touched her head, and she realized that she had been blindfolded.

"Oww…" the light stung her eyes as she regained her vision with the removal of the cloth.

"Cinder?"

She focused her eyes on Jaune Arc- no, the Knight in his human form, who was leaning over her with a concerned and guilty look in his eyes.

She was too tired and too hurt to stay courteous, and her throat felt like it had been torn from her, smeared in acid and then stuffed back in her. "...Ghr… What."

"Ha…" Jaune shook his head in relief. "At least you're, well, you."

"...What ...do you ...mean?" Cinder ground out. She noticed Weiss looking at her from a bit further away, and the white-haired girl looked a bit worse for wear and her clothes were far dirtier than they had been before Cinder's loss of consciousness, which meant that they had managed to kill the Grimm that had attacked the group, found the Knight and had bent it to the girl's will again.

"W-well… A thing happened." Jaune told Cinder, breaking her from her thoughts.

"...A ...thing." She hissed as speaking hurt. Everything hurt, but she had to focus on something that wasn't the pain. Her Aura was empty again, and her stomach growled, making her feel weak and vulnerable.

She didn't like that.

Jaune hesitated for a while before pointing at her waist.

She followed his eyes… and saw a pair of black-feathered wings folded neatly over her stomach, with the wings apparently coming out of her lower back- out of her spine.

The soaring heat in her spine intensified as she looked at the small wings with wide open eyes.

She felt something twitch in her spine and one of the wings twitched in response.

Cinder let out a sound that was something between a shriek and gasp before falling unconscious from the pain and the shock.

…

"Uh… I think I should have kept the blindfold on." Jaune said as he fiddled with the piece of cloth nervously in front of the unconscious woman.

"You don't say." Weiss sighed. "Dammit… why did that happen? Just how?"

"I don't know…" Jaune said somewhat unconvincingly, and flinched as Blake glared at him from the side. ' _Oh. Oops, I did it again.'_ "I mean, I have an idea but nothing concrete."

"And that is?"

"I… I can't tell. It was something I promised to Cinder." Jaune said, flinching again as Weiss glared at him in turn. "I mean, it's not my secret to keep, its hers."

"Is she similar to you?" Weiss asked as Ruby walked close to Cinder who had started to twitch and shiver again as her consciousness had fled her, and helped Jaune to wipe her sweating face and neck with a somewhat clean piece of cloth.

"I don't think so, even if it would explain why she feels so… familiar. But something must have happened that made her this way." Jaune told them honestly. "And… I'm sorry that I went berserk."

"It's alright. Like Blake said, I doubt it was because you _wanted_ to go berserk." Weiss shrugged her shoulders. She looked incredibly annoyed, but oddly enough she didn't seem angry at him. If he guessed her mood right, the anger was directed at someone else entirely but he couldn't tell who had irked her so.

Well, he didn't envy whoever it was.

Jaune looked at their surroundings and sighed. ' _Well, I guess we were heading here anyway but… Not exactly like this'_

The team's three conscious members had once again subdued his berserk form, with Ruby using her eyes to hold him still while Blake and Weiss quite literally slapped some sense back to him.

It seemed that the larger he grew, the stronger Ruby's eyes effect was on him, effectively nullifying the Shadow's power and also making him _incredibly_ uncomfortable in her presence while the inner devil was retreating to its lair in his head, oddly enough seeming somewhat content after its rampage and Jaune could swear it had been _almost_ docile for few hours afterwards before its whispers returned, stronger than they had been for months.

The time after the 'battle' had been spent trying to look for a temporary shelter while the Glenn's Grimm population was still recovering from its encounter with Jaune's altered form- although luckily the travel hadn't been too difficult since Jaune had been used as sort-of pack mule, a massive, now almost twelve-feet tall, monstrous, and heavily armored pack mule as the girls had mounted on his back and helped him tie Cinder to him with few thick tentacles that had grown from underneath the chitin-like bone plates on his hunched back. The fact that the woman had been screaming ever since the moment the 'fight' against his team had started and had continued as a horrible gurgle after the woman's voice had given _had not_ helped the travel, so the girls had gagged the woman with a piece of cloth both to protect her, and to keep them from causing more ruckus than they were already causing in the silent city.

He had done his best to move and remain conscious while Ruby had been literally sitting on top of his elongated head and looking down at his eyes to keep him under control during their travel to find a temporary shelter.

The girl had hopped to his back after he had accidentally crashed to few buildings both because he hadn't been able to see past her and because of the fight against the odd freezing sensation had taken his concentration away from where they had been going.

Eventually they had spotted a relatively intact-looking housing unit comfortably far away from the earlier battlefield, and the girls had unloaded Cinder from him while removing her gag.

As Jaune had 'disembarked' from his other form few blocks away and the left the large shell of his Grimm form to sizzle and rot, the girls had discovered that Cinder's clothes were bulging oddly and they had found that her lower back had started to grow _extremely_ odd stumps.

She had been stripped by the girls (but not before herding Jaune into a closet to preserve Cinder's modesty) and her clothes had been modified so they allowed the stumps to grow out. Ruby had wondered if they should try to cut them off or do something to them, but Weiss and Jaune had overruled her as attempting bootleg surgery with the items and knowledge available to them would likely end up doing more harm than good.

During the next few hours those stumps had grown into a pair of small wings that came from her lower back, each as long as her arm and covered in black feathers not unlike those on a crow-like Nevermore. Ruby had poked at them with her finger and pulled one of the feathers, which had detached and shown to have quite hard, sharp and hollow core, again much like how Nevermore's wings operated as both as means of flight and ranged attack.

Since they were somewhat rooted in place waiting for Cinder to stabilize and regain consciousness, they had started to loot the houses nearby for usable items to improve their shelter. Blake had found few dining chairs while Jaune had torn apart some of the broken wooden furniture so they could start a fire and light their surroundings. The cloth on most of the furniture, curtains and closets had been largely eaten away by bugs, and after Ruby had discovered a hand-sized spider in the stuffings of a what had once been a comfy leather chair, the simple wooden chairs or the flood had become the preferred mean of resting one's legs.

The ominous feeling Jaune had felt above the ground was ever stronger, and it seemed that the Shadow was feeling it too as its attention started to gradually shift outwards rather than into making him do something he didn't want.

"Well… Cinder's unconscious again so should we uh… wait for Qrow here or try to do something?" Jaune asked as the silence stretched in the small abandoned house. Blake had apparently prepared ahead as she still had her book handy and had been forced to shoo Ruby off whenever the smaller girl had started to peek over the black-haired girl's shoulder to read as well.

Weiss was walking in circles in the middle of the room, and Jaune could swear that she'd dig a trench on the floor with her heels if her strut was any indication. It seemed that she was deep in thought and wasn't really registering what she was doing, which was likely also the reason for her odd walking style. It made Jaune feel slightly bad for the girl since he could guess what kind of life Weiss would have lived before Beacon if strut had become unconscious walking style- extremely controlled one.

He broke off his thoughts as he realized that he had been staring at her when Weiss lifted an eyebrow at him. "S-sorry."

The girl huffed and resumed her walk.

' _Well… we're stuck.'_ Jaune thought as he turned to clean sweat off Cinder's temple with his cloth wipe, ignoring the fever-like mumbling that escaped her mouth as a result. He heard one of the words that came out of her mouth, and it made him instantly more depressed than before. ' _Cinder's muttering about her mother… Gah, I can't get depressed now or I'll go on another rampage. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts...'_

It seemed that his inner plight was answered as Ruby flopped on his lap and looked up at him. "Booooreeeeed."

"Heh… thanks, Ruby." Jaune reached to stroke the girl's hair. "I needed that."

"What, me saying I'm bored?" Ruby blinked. "Wait, oh. You were talking about my eyes, right?"

"Y-yeah, but this is nice too." Jaune tried to salvage the situation as he pat her stomach, causing the girl to squirm a little. ' _I mean, it'd sound bad if I just told that I wanted her to... g̨o͢ ͘awa̧ý̀... look at me… It'd make it sound like I was just keeping her around for her eyes...'_

"I-is… well, you know, _it_ , fighting against you?" Ruby focused her attention solely on his eyes, but she didn't seem offended by his choice of words.

"Yeah… The Shadow's kind of… well, erratic would be the closest thing to say." Jaune sighed. ' _...Haah… it's nice to be a bit more free with my words. I suspect Blake would have taken offense already.'_

He paused to blink off the mental image. ' _Blake isn't like that though, not really. Or not entirely. Is the Shadow making me more negative as well? That isn't good...'_ "It wasn't this bad back in Beacon. The Shadow, I mean."

"Huh." Ruby tilted her head. "What changed?"

"Well, the atmosphere is pretty oppressive here, for some reason, and Cinder's feeling really bad at the moment, which doesn't help, and… I'm not sure what else is there." Jaune shrugged.

"Could it be because of what happened just now? You know, you running off and all? You ate a lot of Grimm flesh." Ruby asked curiously and it seemed that Blake was listening to the conversation as well since one of her cat-ears had turned to their direction. "Also, we didn't ask earlier since we didn't really get a chance, but what happened that caused you to go berserk?"

"I can't believe I forgot to ask about that." Weiss said as she stopped as well and turned towards Jaune. "I was too busy trying to murder our observer with my thoughts, so it slipped my mind. What happened earlier?"

"Uh, why were you trying to murder uncle Qrow with your thoughts?"

"Ruby, he got so drunk he literally wouldn't wake up after I shook him around and slapped his cheek lightly."

"Weiss, you almost broke his neck like, six times…" Ruby complained.

" _Lightly_ , I said."

"Right…" Ruby pouted at Weiss before blinking as she seemed to recover from her momentary loss of focus. "Anyway, Cinder said earlier that your berserk streak was because of something relating to your uh, lost sisters?"

Jaune felt his blood starting to boil again as the bandit queen's hateful words returned to his head, but this time he took hold of Ruby's cheek and turned her to look at him. It seemed that Ruby got the clue and focused her attention to him fully, allowing him to remain in control while he processed what he'd learned.

"I… I got some information about my sister's condition- those that were captured during the raid on Shion. They are alive." Jaune told them quietly.

"They're alive? That's wonderful!" Ruby cheered and Blake smiled slightly while Weiss just nodded, urging him to go on- as Weiss no doubt realizing that the story wasn't over yet.

"Raven Branwen had them raped and tortured, and then bent to her will." he ground out as he got himself under control again.

The cheerful mood Ruby and Blake had gained disappeared with a 'thud' Jaune could not hear, but feel in his very soul as the negative emotions brought forward by the news caused his ability to sense emotions to go haywire.

It seemed that the news affected Ruby the hardest as she paled so much her face resembled the colour of Weiss's hair and she began to shake while tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

Blake just tightened her hold on her book while her expression hardened, but the sudden surge of hatred from the girl took Jaune by a surprise in its intensity.

Weiss's face twisted, and she turned away from the group to mask her reaction from them- but if the emotions from her were any indication, the girl was both extremely disgusted and appalled.

' _Wait, come to think of it, have I told Weiss about my lost sisters?'_ Jaune blinked "Uh, Weiss, there's something I need to tell you…"

"Uh… I told her about them… Your lost family and sisters." Blake said quietly while hiding herself behind her book. "I'm sorry…"

"Ah, good." Jaune sighed, causing Blake to relax. "I'm sorry I didn't tell about that to you in person, but two years go during raid on Shion, I was separated from three of my sisters, Sapphire, Coral and Jade, who were caught…"

"...By the bandits that attacked your village." Weiss finished his speech. "I understand if you didn't feel like telling me that in person. We all have our own private…"

"No, it's alright. Besides, Blake told you anyway so it doesn't matter." Jaune waved her concerns off. "I don't mind. You didn't do it out of malice either, right Blake?"

"I… wanted to see if Weiss had ideas to help you with it…" Blake muttered quietly. "I haven't told anyone else."

"Anyway, Cinder found out… uh, through her methods what Raven Branwen did to my sisters, and told me what she found." Jaune said while stroking Ruby's cheek as she seemed to be on the verge of crying. ' _I… I don't think I should tell them just where Cinder found that info in, though. Not before I ask her about it. I'm not sure if Ruby could keep the secret either- that Cinder had broken into Qrow's Scroll, or that Qrow was withholding information he promised to obtain. The worst case scenario would be Ruby confronting Qrow and him figuring out that Cinder had accessed his Scroll, and then she'd be arrested… or worse, if Cinder's story about her lost loved one is any indication.'_

"...What are you planning on doing with that information?" Weiss asked carefully.

"I don't know _where_ exactly Raven is in Mistral." Jaune confessed. "I planned to ask for Cinder if she had any leads, but… well. This thing happened." He waved at the shivering and sweating unconscious woman.

"And if you found where this Raven is?"

"I'd… What I would want to say is go out and save my sisters, but I'm not sure if I'm strong enough. I told Ozpin of my plans, and he said that Raven is far stronger than me and me attempting to confront her would lead to my death." Jaune sighed. He wanted to howl his sorrow out, and the feeling of powerlessness turned to foreign rage in an instant as the Shadow realized his mood, realized that it had a chance to contest his control again.

Ruby reached to turn his face towards her, and the rage froze in his mind as her eyes met his. He felt as a tear fell down his cheek and onto Ruby's face. "I just… I just don't know what to do to get them back."

"And the headmaster? Can't he help?" Weiss asked quietly as Blake put her book aside and came to rest her hand on his shoulder.

"I promised that I'd stay in Beacon and train to become a hunter, and he promised that he'd find what happened to my sisters. He sent Qrow to search for them. But... " Jaune paused. ' _I can't tell about Qrow's Scroll yet… I'm sorry…_ "I… I don't think he held onto that promise as much as he told me he would. Qrow is Raven's brother..."

"How did Cinder find out about the sisters then?" Weiss tapped her feet. "Surely if Raven is so well hidden then Cinder couldn't have just… I don't know, stumbled upon them?"

"That's not my secret to keep. I'll have to ask Cinder if she's willing to talk about that, but let's say that Ozpin… he isn't as honorable and trustworthy as I thought." Jaune said, ignoring the look Ruby sent him.

"But… Dad says Ozpin is practically the leader of the Hunters, you know, the good side. Uncle Qrow believes in Ozpin too…"

"I…"

"You should make your own decisions, Ruby." Weiss crossed her arms and sent Ruby a scolding look. "I believe we've talked about this before."

"Right… I'm sure this is just be a misunderstanding though." Ruby said, clearly not as convinced as she could be.

"Regardless, we'll have more time to talk about this, and I want us to talk about this _in full_ with miss Fall present and conscious once we return to Beacon." Weiss clapped her hands together. "I know that the situation of your sisters is tragic, but we need to focus on completing the mission at hand first before we focus on our future actions."

"So what should we do?" Jaune asked as he realized that Weiss was right, and he pushed the painful memories to the background of his head. ' _It's coward's way out, but not thinking about it helps with the sadness and hurt, even if for a moment… But Weiss is right, we have to get out of here first.'_

"If miss Fall won't wake up soon, we might have to repeat what happened earlier and have Jaune transport us towards the metro station while scouting the area. We'll use the metro's connection with the surface to get up, and afterwards we'll meet up with Qrow, if he has woken up, and see if we can secure a ride out of Glenn." Weiss told them while pacing back and forth. "I think Jaune took out a sizeable part of the Grimm population nearby, so I believe our mission has been completed successfully anyway."

"Alright… I'll see if there's anything nearby" Jaune nodded and he stood up. He reached to the presence in his head, and brought forth the heat of his Semblance to focus his radar outwards.

The surroundings were quiet, almost serene if not for the odd, violent and painful emotions coming from the direction of the metro station "It's odd… Huh."

A small hand was shaking his shoulder, and he opened his eyes to see Ruby shaking his hand. "J-Jaune?"

He blinked before realizing that his nose had started to bleed profusely. "Oh."

"What happened?" Weiss asked as Blake tore a strip from a pile of old cloth they had gathered as firestarter and wiping cloth for cinder, and the black-haired girl offered the cloth to Jaune so he could wipe his face after his Semblance recovered and fixed the bleeding.

"There's something… odd in the direction of the metro. Do you remember when I told that something was off in here, back when we were still on the surface?" Jaune said as he wiped his face, feeling somehow light-headed.

Weiss nodded, and Jaune continued. "It's coming from the metro station. I haven't felt anything like that before- I don't think it's human, or Grimm."

"We'll have to tread carefully then." Weiss nodded. "We'll move in a hour."

"...By the way, Weiss?" Blake seemed to notice something.

"Yeah?" The white-haired girl turned towards her.

"Did Cinder just repeat what you did when you met with Jaune's tyrant form the first time?"

"What, scream and pass out?" Jaune asked, before realizing his mistake as Weiss turned bright red and started to glare daggers at him.

* * *

"So. Are you ready?" A white-clad man asked while taking off his hat and letting his bright orange hair spring free. "It's showtime soon."

He was sitting on a luxurious, soft leather chair while a short woman was sitting on his chair's armrest and eating her newest favorite dessert from a ice cream bowl.

Neo nodded to Roman while placing the bowl on top of his head and picking up her Scroll to show a picture she'd taken. The picture showed what looked like the interior of a metro compartment, with a mirror hung on a wall and windows polished to a mirror-like cleanliness. "..."

"You have a entry point. Good." Roman nodded while checking his own Scroll. Neo picked up the bowl that Roman had been balancing on his head, and continued eating the ice-cream- which to her horror had started to melt from the heat of the man's forehead.

"The orders from Cinder haven't changed, except that she sent me a message that she'd be in Glenn during the operation. The White Fang in Glenn is supposed to send a metro towards Vale, blow the seal holding the metro tunnel between Glenn and Vale closed, and have the Grimm come flooding into the city. I am supposed to stand against the Grimm tide with few White Fang supporters, beat few of the Grimm back… and then get arrested by Ironwood, making the entirety of Remnant think of Atlas as the villains who would let Grimm run rampant in a city and arrest her defenders."

"..." Neo lifted her eyebrow at him as she tried to salvage her poor ice cream.

"Cinder has been suffering from poor health recently, if my 'contacts' amongst the students of Beacon are to be trusted, and Cinder has departed to a 'mission' in Glenn, which I guess is her checking up on the two other brats and the White Fang before the metro-bomb leaves." Roman continued, reaching to pat Neo's thigh. "This is where you come in. You can teleport to place where a mirror that has reflected you as long as that reflection is in place, so you can enter the metro since you have been in that base once before during a Dust haul… and you know how to start and stop the metro."

Neo nodded while looking bored, as he had gone through the plan three times already."I'll hazard a guess that Cinder, being the control freak she is, is going to want to check up on the bombs while she's there… that's your chance to start the metro and set it to stop before it hits the Glenn-Vale barrier."

Neo nodded.

"Now, once that woman is aboard the metro, I want you to use the metro's controls to set the carriages under lockdown, and send the metro on its way- that means by the time Cinder and co. break out of the carriage, the metro is already half-way to Vale, chased by an army of Grimm, and the carriage is set to blow since the final explosives will trigger once the metro comes to a halt." Roman finished. "She's trapped with no way out. What a shame if our one-sidedly profitable relationship with her ended so abruptly."

Neo smiled vindictively, and Roman reached to pull a cigar from his pocket. "And if that fails to kill her, then she will blame White Fang for the betrayal, since you'll leave no evidence of your interference and the Fang were responsible for setting the whole thing up in the first place- win-win for us."

"...?" Neo thought about something for a while, before reaching to make a bun-lookalike on top of her head and lifting four fingers up.

"Cindy's new team? Don't care. Either they miss the tram or die alongside her in it." Roman shrugged. "If I guess correctly they aren't on Cinder's little plot yet, so chances are that Cindy will try to sneak away from the team alone and meet up with the emo brat and the sycophant girl anyway. Assuming the emo brat is still alive." he added after Neo pat her shin and then made cuttion motion over her throat.

She shrugged once more before seeming to realize something and she lifted her hair in a bun once again, and pointed her other hand in commanding way.

"The Schnee brat. Good thinking. If she's in the metro when it leaves then she will be able to take command of the Grimm that'd push Cinder into a corner." Roman nodded. "Do you think you can ambush and kill or at least severely wound the Schnee girl? If you disguise yourself as one of the White Fang then even if Cinder notices you do it, she won't know it was you who did it."

Neo thought for a while before nodded in a somewhat reserved manner, which told him that she'd keep an eye out for the chance but won't commit if there's a chance she'd get revealed.

"...Come to think of it, what _did_ you give to the emo kid as anti-infection medicine?" Roman added after a while, and Neo showed her Scroll to him. "Pain-inducing tablets as inflammation meds and coloured salt water as disinfectant? You really are a sadist…"

Neo smiled and pat his head cheerfully before picking up a White Fang mask from Roman's desk and putting it on.

Before long the woman, now looking like a fox-eared girl with deep brunette hair and fairly modest profile, left the room.

' _Thought you could control me and turn me into some sort of boy scout mascot, did you Cindy…'_ Roman smirked. ' _We'll see. Oh, we'll see.'_

 **Next chapter: Soon-ish(tm)**

 **Review-a-day keeps the doctor away.**

 **No but seriously, I like to read outside thoughts as well, since mine might not always work as well as they should.**

 **Split chapter once again since the Glenn is going to be around 40k words, which is a bit steep for one chapter.**

 **I recently read through the last few chapters again and noticed that the 'sorta-nothing-except-Weiss-angst' got stretched too long and repeated itself too much, which was a result of me practically ctrl+c ctrl+v'ing the 'Roman and paladin' part to just before Glenn, which was originally planned to happen _after_ Glenn, and it caused a lot of material which was supposed to be only used once to repeat itself multiple times. I might look into editing and cutting those chapters a bit in the future, since I'm going to have more time to dedicate to the story as the summer is over, and I go back to ~8 hour workdays.**


	38. Underground City of Glenn pt2

**Warnings:**

 **Grimdark(?) content ahead.**

"Right, careful now... " Weiss fussed as Jaune adjusted Cinder's weight on his back.

The woman had not woken up in the hour Weiss had given her, and after the team had been forced to defend their position three times against various Grimm stragglers Weiss had made the decision to not prolong their stay in the abandoned apartment they had picked as their shelter in the city below Glenn's surface.

Fortunately for their very limited rations, the attacks had been a blessing in a disguise as it allowed Jaune to shapeshift himself into his 'knight' form using the dead Grimm as fuel and the group had disbanded their camp soon after his transformation was complete.

Because of the difficulty of having the unconscious woman as luggage when she was almost as tall as him Jaune had focused slightly more on the bulkiness of his form and as a result grown to almost seven and half feet tall, with the shoulders to match, which made tying the woman to his back far easier- even if the sight of the unconscious woman tied to his back and covered in tentacles had made the rest of the team incredibly uneasy.

"Alright, Blake, take point. Ruby, stay behind and keep an eye on Jaune just in case something happens. Jaune, follow me." Weiss gave her orders and pulled up her Scroll to show the map of Glenn's underground facilities which had been given to the team alongside local topography maps, city maps and other locationing tools before their departure from Beacon. "The metro station is just few miles away, but stay on your guard as we'll have to pass several tunnels before we reach it. Jaune?"

"Ye͝s?""

Weiss paused to shiver slightly from the hiss that came with his voice. "R-right, your role is to keep yourself stable, and try to help Blake with the scouting by using your radar. She's not going to be far from us, and we'll have info-link with earpieces so say something if you feel Grimm approaching or identify whatever that's making you feel uneasy."

"Of͜ co̵u͠r̛s̡e͡.̛..̷""

"Bhrrhg." Weiss shivered once more. "Also, can you stop hissing like that."

"W̨e̵l̡l..̶.͜"

"Fine, I get it, let's go." Weiss shivered one last time before she turned and waved at Blake to set her on her way. "The faster we get out of here, the faster we get Cinder off Glenn and get her to a hospital- and figure out just _what_ is happening to her."

"Yeah." Ruby said as she took her position in the convoy and unfolded her sniper-scythe. "Let's go."

"Ghh… It hurts…" Cinder whispered as she twitched, and Jaune nodded to the girls.

' _Cinder needs a doctor… Weiss is right. We need to get out.'_ Jaune thought. He was keeping the Shadow down despite the painful emotions coming from the woman, but the fact he was feeling what she felt made him acutely aware that Cinder wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

The walk towards the metro started in silence.

.

..

…

Their journey went for almost an hour without big incidents (beside dealing with few Grimm that had approached the team, likely attracted by the pain Cinder radiated). However as they reached the city sector where the central metro station was located Jaune waved for the team to stop.

"What is it?" Weiss asked quietly as the team gathered in a shadowy alleyway that provided some cover and limited possible avenues of attack. "Is something wrong?"

Jaune coughed and undid a part of his new form to limit the effect his transformation had on his speech. "There͜'s̡...̢ hum͢a̵n-like ͢life͠ ahea͟d. A͝nd ͠a lot̕ of G̕r͜im͏m."

"...Human-like?" Blake asked quietly and her eyes widened slightly as she seemed to realize something.

"Blake, do you have an idea what that might be?" Weiss asked as the faunus went still.

"This might be just guesswork, but back when I was in White Fang they used to take over abandoned settlements and other temporary shelters which would work as our... their bases in the wilds until better shelter could be found." Blake told them before turning towards Jaune. "When we… first met, I guess, the Fang had been staging from an old settlement, or rather it's ruin which had just reclaimed, pitching up tents where buildings used to be and rebuilding parts of the old wall that had kept the old settlement safe until whatever caused it's eventual abandonment."

"So you think that White Fang or some other bandit group like them could have settled into Glenn." Weiss nodded.

Blake opened her mouth, closed it, hissed quietly and then huffed as she processed Weiss equating White Fang to bandits before she finally sighed and nodded. "Yes, something like that."

"Why would they settle underground?" Ruby asked. "I mean, they're just normal people- that is, not Hunters, so by building their settlement underground wouldn't they just get attacked by the Grimm more and more until they are overwhelmed?"

"Chances are that if they had settled on the surface, then the Grimm attacks would soon follow as well like it did back when Glenn was still intact- and unlike underground, they would be under attack from air, from ground, and from all sides at once which was the original reason why Glenn's surface was abandoned. Our trek through the surface-Glenn was fairly fast one so it is possible that the majority Grimm just hadn't found us- or the few that had come from the mountain had been cleared by the Fang. It would also explain why there's so many Grimm underground since the beasts would be converging on the settlement and largely ignoring the surface." Weiss nodded as pieces seemed to click in place. "But how would they manage the logistics? They cannot be self-sustaining as they have no access to Dust and can't grow food underground effectively."

"...T͟h́e Dus͢t̶...̛" Jaune growled as he remembered the White Fang hideout in Vale which had been sending Bullhead flights out of the city. "The ͟s͠to̕l͡e͝n ̵Dust͢.҉.͘"

"...Ah, that's right. The amount of Dust that we found in Torchwick's warehouse _could_ be enough to sustain a fairly large settlement." Blake blinked. "But didn't Cinder say that the Bullheads couldn't enter Glenn without being attacked?"

"The Fang would clear out aerial Grimm nests throughout city to allow supplies to land, and retreat underground before the Grimm could detect them and flood the surface, which would explain why we didn't get attacked by aerial Grimm during our flight!" Weiss snapped her fingers. "I originally wondered if the Dust was going to be used to feed the power needs of a settlement since Torchwick and White Fang were stealing so much of it, and the Bullheads could ferry food, water and necessary commodities as well as Dust- Do you think that those criminals were trying to restart Glenn with the stolen Dust? Make it a stronghold of theirs?"

"A bąn̡di͜t ͘se͡ttl̡e҉m͜en̷t..͡." Jaune growled as the implications hit him.

Ruby reached to pat his shoulder (although because of their respective heights she ended up patting his chest instead.

"While Glenn is a criminal settlement right now, It's not _that_ monster's settlement." Weiss reminded him. "Can you keep yourself from going berserk if we sneak past the camp? While the idea of breaking that White Fang settlement and reclaiming the stolen Dust sounds appealing to me, breaking the camp apart would likely end up being a death sentence to the faunus within it- even assuming that your… combat methods wouldn't kill them all."

"I didn't know you cared." Blake pointed out a bit coldly.

"I am not a monster that would condemn an entire settlement to death." Weiss answered equally coldly. "Even if they are White Fang scum, thieves, terrorists and what else, I'd rather have them arrested and tried for their actions than scattered to the wilds where they would be hunted down and killed by the Grimm. I say that we record the settlement's existence, and report it forward. Remember that our mission is to do a force recon around Glenn, and force recon only. The Bowhead can only take sixteen passengers at maximum capacity anyway so chances are that we couldn't take the entire settlement with us even if we broke it apart- if we could break it apart."

"...Right." Blake sighed. "Sorry."

"Anyway, we need to scout the place and see if we can tell how big is it. Since it has been able to clear a spot within the center of the city it is possible that the settlement is so fortified that we couldn't break it even if we wanted to, and I for one don't want to get captured by the Fang scum. I have no illusions as to what they would do to a _female_ Schnee should they get their grubby paws on me." Weiss clapped her hands together quietly as Jaune began to growl protectively after hearing her words. "Jaune. You have that emotion-radar of yours. do you have any idea how many Grimm and faunus are there?"

"..." Jaune closed his eyes and focused his senses outwards. Few of his free tentacles rose to wave in the air as he tried to feel ahead… and felt as his earlier lightheadedness returned when he sensed the same odd, _wrong_ emotion. "Th̕ere's sǫmet̴h̢in̛g ̢od̴d..̡."

"Is it something related to the faunus or the Grimm?" Weiss asked while tapping her feet against the street.

"...N͠o, ͘it'͝s som̴eth͘ing e͟lse̶"

"We'll find out what it is then. We can't linger and wait for you to figure out what that thing is, but stay on your guard if it approaches." She said with a tone of finality. "Blake, you're the stealth expert amongst us. See if you can find where exactly the settlement is. You're faunus, so even if you get spotted you can get away with it."

Blake lifted her eyebrow at Weiss, and Weiss lifted her eyebrow back at Blake.

"Fine, I'll go…" Blake sighed, but Jaune grabbed her hand before she managed to move. She pat his arm with hers reassuringly before slipping off his grasp and unfolding her black cloak from one of her pouches. "I am a persona non grata amongst Fang though, and I am fairly sure most of them know who I am since I was Vale's branch's leader's… I guess 'friend' would be appropriate term, so counting on me infiltrating the hideout is not an option."

"I see." Weiss lifted her eyebrow at Blake's speech but didn't seem too surprised by Blake's old position amongst the White Fang. "We'll discuss about that later, but thank you for the info. Try not to get spotted.."

"...Reassuring as ever." Blake sighed as she finished clipping her cloak on her shoulders and pulling the black hood over her head.

"Be ca̧refu͟l̢..͏. ͞I do͟n't̕ like ̷the͜ s͜tr̵angé s͝our̕ not͝e ah̸e͘ad.."

"...I'll be fine. Thanks." Blake spared a rare smile at Jaune.

"Ruby will follow after you and she'll act as a link between you and the the three of us- she has the speed to move between the two of us and the range to support both." Weiss continued while addressing her words to Blake and Ruby. "That way you'll have instant backup if something happens, with the three of us coming soon afterwards."

"Okay…" Blake nodded before disappearing into the darkness that covered the streets.

"Well, let's go." Weiss let her hand rest on the pommel of her rapier and begun walking after Blake while Ruby tied her red cloak tighter around her shoulders before running up a nearby set of emergency exit ladders to get a better look on their surroundings.

* * *

She rocked back and forth as she sat on the cold concrete floor.

The slick red liquid covering half the room didn't faze her anymore, as it had been hours since their… no, her hiding spot had been discovered, and what had been five faunus within had been reduced to one.

The black beasts had come, and two of them had tried to fight. Three of them had already lost the will to fight and were merely huddled together, waiting for the end.

The fight had been one-sided, and the two faunus had been ripped to pieces in mere seconds after the first Grimm had entered the room by breaking the door soon followed by another crashing through the very wall they thought could protect them.

She had just sat still as the beasts had approached

Everything was calm as the terror she had felt had gone over her scale of fear, and rendered her unable to feel anything as the deer-horned girl next to her had been torn away from her, her guts hanging out of her stomach and her unfeeling eyes had watched as the Grimm beast had torn her apart.

At that point the only living being in the room beside her had been a unconscious dog-eared boy who had been injured during their escape from the Metro station settlement, and had fallen to coma soon after the group had pulled the pieces of shrapnel and Grimm-bone out of his back when they had taken refuge in one of the somewhat still-intact apartments under Glenn. The second-floor apartment had seemed like a good, comfortable spot but in the end it had been their downfall since when the Grimm had found them, the group had been trapped.

The beasts had torn the comatose boy apart, although she had witnessed him waking up briefly during the violence only to scream something before expiring.

The Grimm beast had begun to feed on the boy's dead carcass but as the creature had torn his stomach open with its claws, the boy's entrails had not slumped on the ground like they should- and instead had shot out like rope from cannon, entangling the beast and beginning to darken and grow from organic-looking red to more sinister black.

The Grimm beast had roared in defiance while clawing at the disgusting flesh that constricted it, however the twitching corpse begun to drag itself closer to the beast before _gluing_ itself against the Grimm- which began to twitch in equal measure as the corpse seemed to be almost _fusing_ with the living Grimm creature.

The second Grimm had intervened which had caused the two beasts to clash as the constricted Grimm started to behave not unlike sleepwalker would, resulting to the two of them crashing against the wall of the apartment and falling down to the ground level.

She had just stared at the violence unfolding around her with unfeeling, emotionless eyes as the violence had gone over her scale of terror a long time ago, and had not yet shown any signs of coming back down.

After all, there was nothing she could do to influence her fate.

She was not a Hunter. She was not a soldier. She had been just a waitress who had gotten fed up with the way she was getting treated in the service of her previous employer, and had sought for a new direction in her life.

She had found one soon after leaving her old employer, and everything had seemed to work out perfectly. The promises of good salary, good working conditions and non-discriminating co-workers had been fulfilled, but soon after beginning her new job she had gotten a feeling that her new employer wasn't exactly law-abiding, and later she had discovered that her employer was definitely _not_ law-abiding, but at that point it had been too late to quit. However like a miracle a convenient way to escape materialized when she had been hospitalized alongside the rest of the worksite crew after the warehouse she had been working in had been busted by a group of what she later learned to be Hunters-in-training, followed by Vale's police- with no charges pressed against her despite her 'job' being to handle and package stolen Dust.

However what had looked like a miracle turned out to be a curse in disguise as the hospitalized faunus workers had been rounded up by her employer's other workers before most of them had even woken up, and sent off Vale with doctors getting paid under the desk to release the still injured faunus into their employer's 'care'.

After all, White Fang had a motive to get their injured workers out of Vale where they could still confess their crimes and mud the faction's newfound fame. That made them a liability.

So as a result the injured faunus had been told that they would get sent to 'the countryside' where they could 'recover from what has been a mentally scarring event'.

She had not believed them, but in the end she had no choice but to go with them. She realized later that she had made a mistake when she objected to the transfer and opted to stay in Vale- A demand made far too early, in wrong place, and in presence of wrong people.

As a result there had been something in the hospital food that evening which had made her groggy and tired, so she had been unable to resist when the white-masked men and women had rounded up all those who had objected to their new housing and carried them off to the airships that flew them off Vale.

She had not known where they had been unloaded at first with the exception that when the blindfolds that had been placed over their eyes had been removed they had been greeted with a sight of what looked like a camp build around defunct metro station.

Almost immediately afterwards the faunus who had objected to the transfer had been pushed to work 'for a cause greater than themselves' as the drugs had worn off during the travel. Those who had come willingly were given more lenient and less dangerous tasks while the ones who had resisted were given repetitive, dangerous tasks often involving going outside the settlement with a armed escort to gather building materials from the dead underground city around them.

Not long afterwards she had overheard one of their armed 'coworkers', or rather guards, talking about where they were: the city of Glenn. The knowledge had been enough to chill her spine as she knew that Glenn was a abandoned city overrun with Grimm. Or so it should have been at least as far as her history knowledge held up.

She realized that she should have been able to realize where they were based on the extensive underground building network alone- but her conscious mind had refused to make the connection as them being in there meant only one thing- the faunus workers from Vale had been rounded up and sent to Glenn to get rid of 'evidence' from the Dust trafficking.

Permanently, if the way the guards kept sending glances at the faunus who had come unwillingly were anything to go by.

She didn't know how many days she spent crying herself to sleep after realizing that it was likely that she would never get out of the dead city alive, and that her relatives and friends would likely never know what would be her true fate. Not that she had been the only one as the vast majority of the Dust warehouse workers had been noncombatants- just civilians who either worked for White Fang because of the salary they offered, or because they had thought they were genuinely helping other faunus with their actions.

She had seen her first Grimm almost a week after her relocation when she had been moving dislodged masonry through the abandoned city to a wall they had been building to keep the beasts away. The Grimm beast had decapitated one of their guards in a blink of an eye after leaping at the group from the cover of one of the ruined buildings around them.

The beast had then torn into one of the workers, a faunus girl who had been working part-time in the warehouse back in Vale during her studies, before their guards had managed to bring up their arms and unload their guns into the Grimm. While the beast fell, the girl it injured was far beyond saving with what they had at hand.

When the girl had panicked after being told that she would not survive the guards had refused to carry her or give her pain-reducing medicine- instead stating that the pain and fear she would radiate would attract the Grimm nearby to her and away from the guards and the workers while they evacuated the area. She was told to be honored that she could give her life in service of their cause.

The next few days her nights were not only filled with tears but also nightmares of the terrified cries the wounded girl as they had been forced to leave her behind.

Soon after that a pair of _humans_ of all things had appeared into the settlement. One tanned girl with green hair, other pale and sickly-looking man with silver hair.

She had seen the two of them speak with the settlement's leader, a large man wielding chainsword with his face always covered by a intricately detailed white mask, before disappearing again.

She had barely registered the oddity until things had gone _wrong_ in the settlement, which she had used to her dubious advantage by grabbing few other faunus who wanted to escape the White Fang's hold and fleeing the settlement- even though in retrospect it was almost as foolish move as trying to stay within since even if they hadn't gotten attacked by Grimm in the apartment, they wouldn't have had the combat ability, gear, supplies or knowledge to get back into Vale alive..

A faint sound from nearby shook her out of her thoughts and she lifted her eyes from the bloodstained floor of the apartment to look at the hole in the wall left by the Grimm.

' _So, the Grimm are back? Let's just get this over with…'_

…

Blake tightened her hood around her shoulders as she moved towards a oddly-shaped form on the street, making sure to stay behind buildings, broken billboards or whatever cover she could find. If there were faunus lookouts in the area it would be useless to hide in the shadows alone, as they would see in the dark just as well as she would. The shadows wouldn't matter to Grimm either, as they would seek her out based on what happened in her head rather than what they'd see- or didn't see.

Blake glanced backwards discreetly to see a faint trace of red cloth disappearing into one of the windows of the buildings behind her. She knew that the red-clad sniper would be watching over her back, but she wouldn't do something as foolish as nod to let Ruby know that she knew about her as that would reveal Ruby's position to whoever _might_ be watching Blake.

' _I'm going to have to see if I can teach Ruby something about stealth after the mission though… A bright red colour is not exactly best possible pick for a sniper, even if it doesn't exactly matter for Grimm-hunting.'_ Blake thought as she came closer to the odd shape and saw that it was a pair of half-evaporated Grimm Beowolves which had died into a curious pose- it looked almost as it the pair was hugging each other, with the exception that one had sunk its jaws into the throat of the other. ' _Hm? There's something under them…'_

Before she managed to turn the carcasses around a thin tendril shot out from between the corpses towards her leg, and she jumped back immediately to avoid getting hit by the appendage.

' _Wait, what… what is that?'_ Blake pulled her new Gambol Shroud off its holster and snapped it into its short sword form while backing away from the corpses. ' _Are Grimm killing each other?'_

The Grimm pair begun twitching on the ground before rising up in unison, still tied in their death-hug but with the exception that more and more of the blood-red tendrils begun to flow from between them in some sort of perverse display of loving hug.

A sharp bang from behind Blake signalled that Ruby had seen it as well, and the neck of the Grimm that had bit the other's throat exploded in dark-red mist as Crescent Rose hit it's mark, sending the head of the creature flying.

It didn't seem to deter the hybrid monstrosity as it begun to wobble towards Blake, somehow using all four of its legs.

' _What the hell? That's not normal…'_ Blake thought as she swapped Gambol Shroud's mode to pistol as she realized that the Grimm creature was a complete unknown, and she wasn't sure she could fight it in close combat without risking getting hit by one of the black tendrils waving around the monster. The way it acted reminded her eerily of Jaune, but she really, _really_ didn't want to get entangled by the monster in front of her despite what she might have thought once or twice regarding Jaune and tentacles.

' _Time and place, brain…'_ she added in her head before opening fire on the creature.

It seemed that the small caliber of her pistol wouldn't do much good against the creature's main body however so she aimed for the joints of its legs to slow it down- after all, she had heavier guns to support her. A few sharp bangs later the hybrid creature's other head exploded and the back of the Beowolf that was facing towards her now bore sizeable craters as the high-caliber anti-material scythe-rifle of her red-clad sniper support barked its payload.

"It's still not down?" Blake hissed as the creature kept wobbling towards her despite losing _both_ of it's heads, one of the four hugging arms, and having row of holes on both of its knee-joints. "Ruby!"

" _What?"_ came from Blake's earpiece.

"There's something odd with that Grimm… It won't die!"

" _I can see that! What are we going to do?_ " Ruby's answer seemed frustrated and she heard a clink of metal against metal through the earpiece as the red-clad girl reloaded her rifle.

" _Bl͜ake̸… T̶h́er͏ȩ'̛s somet̢hing nea͞r͏ ͢you͢… ̷be͝ ̷c̴àr͢ef͢ul̛… "_

"I know, it's like, ten feet in front of me!" Blake hissed to the radio as Jaune's late warning reached her. She ran around the creature in circles as it seemed to wobble blindly after her, so she lured it back in Ruby's field of fire.

Blake's pistol-shots were soon accompanied by sharp bangs from the distance as Ruby opened fire again.

The creature's two waist froze and cracked as two high-yield Ice-Dust rounds hit their marks, causing the monster to topple on the ground.

For a moment Blake thought that it would be over as the creature's twitching seemed to stop- until the creature formed of two Grimm _tore_ itself off the hug it had on its own body, opening itself like a clam and something red and slick shot off from between them like a huge tentacle-sprouting missile aimed at Blake.

She dodged it, if barely, and the red missile hit a wall with a wet thunk.

A bang rang once again in the silent district. The red missile flash-froze and cracked apart as the Ice-Dust round hit it square in the middle.

' _I forgot to ask how much ammo Ruby is carrying… damn, I've gotten careless after leaving 'Fang.'_ Blake cursed as she rolled away from the odd creature and its projectile, bounced back on her feet and readied herself to open fire again. ' _Those tentacles were swinging so fast that I can't risk getting close or I'll get tangled up by them, and Gambol Shroud doesn't have the caliber to take that thing down so if Ruby runs out of ammo I'll have to flee…'_

It seemed that she wouldn't have to resort to evacuating the area however as the headless twin-creature, now bearing massive craters, lost limbs and a exposed raw flesh, had slowed down and was deathly still on the broken pavement after using what had likely been it's last strength to fire its projectile. The exposed flesh of the Grimm-creature sizzled quietly as it began to evaporate into cold underground air, and Blake turned her attention to the object the Grimm had shot her with.

The tentacled red object was slowly defrosting after getting hit by the Ice Dust and shattering, which revealed something that looked _incredibly_ disturbingly like a human torso with all its skin removed and its limbs and guts replaced by hairy-looking black tentacles. It's eyes had melted off, and it's mouth had opened wider than any human mouth could with its teeth having turned into short, sharp spikes instead of human's flat teeth- but luckily it seemed that it was dead after getting deep-frozen and shattered by Ice Dust.

' _What… what the hell is that?'_ Blake resisted the urge to retch as she observed the odd, disturbing projectile and the dead Grimm-creature. ' _Some kind of super-Grimm that uses a corpses as a bullets? Just what the hell is happening in Glenn?'_

" _Blake_?" Weiss's voice came through her earpiece. " _What happened? We could hear gunshots from your direction, Jaune is restless and I could swear that Cinder would have started to scream again if Jaune didn't stuff a tentacle down her throat."_

"Ah…" Blake breathed out as she fought back the urge to retch and focused on the task at hand. "I… I found a Grimm. A very strange Grimm, you should come here and take a look."

" _Is it something like the one we found yesterday? The half-rotten Grimm?"_

"Sort of. Just come in here and take a look. Ruby?"

" _Yeah?"_

"Do you still have ammo? Come to think of it, how did you see that thing? It's almost completely dark in here."

" _Ten fire rounds, five electric, six ice and fifteen armor-piercing. Also eleven high-explosive ones, I swapped ammo mid-fight since explosive didn't seem to have much of an effect."_ Ruby's voice was accompanied by rustling of metal as she likely shifted the ammo around under her skirt. ' _Also, Crescent Rose has thermal and night-vision integrated into her scope so don't worry about me not seeing you.'_

Blake had no idea how Ruby managed to stuff so much ammo under her skirt but if she was completely honest she didn't want to find out either, even if she was fairly certain that Ruby would likely have a long and successful career as shoplifter if she ever got the idea to do it. "Right, anyway, I'm going to investigate the building. The second floor wall has a hole and the Grimm was lying right underneath so it must have fallen through there. Can you cover for me?"

" _I'll have to get closer. Wait a second…"_ Ruby's voice was accompanied with rustle and clanking and Blake saw as a red shape burst out of one of the high rises and disappeared only to reappear at the end of the street Blake had walked earlier, and few seconds later Ruby paused next to her, accompanied by a cloud of dust.

"I'm here!"

"No, Ruby, I meant that as 'can you cover me from afar? You know, subtly?'" Blake hid her face in her hands momentarily as Ruby cocked Crescent Rose with the subtlety of a berserk Jaune in porcelain shop and lit a handheld flare so she could see better in the dark. ' _Then again we just had a gunfight so if there's someone in this city block, they'll know we're here. Luckily though the underground city is separated into blocks of dug-out caverns with the metro at the center, each block sealed from the others by floodgates and doors so even if one of the blocks were to fall to Grimm or get filled with water it wouldn't destroy the entire city... '_

Blake blinked as she realized that she was revisiting the guide to Glenn Weiss had sent them and focused on the task at hand. ' _Anyway, if the White Fang don't have lookouts or outposts in this block then they don't know about the firefight just yet…'_

"I mean, how am I going to support you if you go into a building? I don't have x-ray vision." Ruby tapped her forehead, shaking Blake out of her thoughts. "I mean, yeah Crescent Rose shoots through most walls but I'd have no idea where to shoot, so wouldn't it be better for me to come along and see what's up?"

"Didn't you say that it had thermal scope?"

"It doesn't work like that! Thermal scope can't see through brick walls!" Ruby pointed out while lifting her eyebrow at Blake when she looked surprised. "Sheesh, even Weiss knows that!"

"Right, let's get this over with…" Blake grumbled and turned to walk towards the ruined apartment building in front of which she had found the odd Grimm monster. Ruby shrugged and turned her flare-light towards the Grimm-monster's corpse, took one look at the odd projectile it had used, and promptly almost puked. "Ah... Sorry, I should have warned about that."

"Wa- wawaha… what's that?" Ruby stammered as she stared wide-eyed at the half-decomposed corpse as she saw it properly. "Is… was it a person?"

"I'd say so." Blake said, feeling disgusted as she pulled her Scroll up and took few pictures of the scene of battle. Their job was to scout the area after all and she was fairly sure no-one would believe what they'd seen without picture evidence. "It's probably one of the White Fang who got caught and eaten whole… I don't know how it looked almost _alive_ when the Grimm 'spat' it out though. Or why it has tentacles for guts."

"...Uhhh…" Ruby let a low-tone whine as she shivered. "Let's go, I don't like this…"

"We'll need to check the building in front of which we found it, it might be a White Fang outpost. It looked like the creature had fallen off it since it had concrete dust all over it, so it might have just finished destroying a outpost White Fang might have set to monitor this area. Grimm don't just break buildings randomly." Blake said. "So if there's any survivors, although I doubt it, we can interrogate them for what has happened here."

"R-right, we can still save them…" Ruby seemed to find her courage and she brought up her Crescent Rose. "L-let's go."

"Follow me." Blake nodded to Ruby while bringing her finger to her earpiece to let Jaune and Weiss know what happened.

After a brief conversation with their fellow teammates the pair set off towards the building the Grimm had been found in front of and Blake's theory was further reinforced as they discovered a severed feminine arm lying in front of the apartment, looking like it had fallen from above rather than being torn off on the spot.

"On my mark, three, two… one… jump." Blake grabbed hold of one of the broken steel support beams protruding like bones from the building wall and used it to propel herself up. Behind her Ruby hopped on a similar beam and the pair jumped to a second-floor apartment that had its wall broken, rolling on the landing and the two brough their weapons up to see…

...A scene from hell.

The apartment was covered in blood.

The floor was slick with blood and spilled guts, torn and mangled red flesh covered what broken furniture remained in the room, and three torn-apart bodies lied in unnatural poses all over the room with one intact-looking body lying sitting against a wall, looking at the devastation with hollow, lifeless eyes.

Ruby fell on her knees while Blake stared at the devastation in front of them in shock.

She was no stranger to violence. She had seen people die during her time in Fang, most prominently during her first fateful encounter with Jaune's transformed state, but the absolute, one-sided devastation in front of her took even her by surprise- not to mention that were no signs of the dead White Fang around them fighting back against their attackers. On closer look the corpses, or what was left of them, they didn't even have weapons. ' _It's… It's almost as if these people were just civilians, not soldiers… but why would Aura-less civilians volunteer to man a outpost? Didn't they realize that they could- no, that they would be attacked?'_

A retching sound beside her let Blake know that Ruby would be out for few minutes as she emptied her stomach on the blood-soaked floor, prompting her to action. ' _Damn. Well, the outpost was wiped out before we engaged the Grimm that did it, so chances are that the outpost didn't get a chance to send out for reinforcements or alert the central settlement that we're coming… although this doesn't make me happy.'_

"So… You're behind all of this then."

A voice coming from somewhere in the room caused Blake to nearly jump out of her skin and she twisted around to point Gambol Shroud at the direction of the voice.

She blinked as there was nothing except for the corpse that lied against the wall.

"Lady in Black and Lady in Red…" the corpse whispered, causing the hairs on Blake's neck to stand on their ends. "Why?"

"Ah…" Blake practically felt her skin crawling as the corpse that looked vaguely familiar moved, revealing a fox-like tail that was gray from concrete dust and lank from dirt. "Wait, you're the faunus from the warehouse!"

"Why? Why did you do this?" The faunus girl asked, unfazed by the recognition. Blake flinched from the lifeless tone of her voice, but mustered her courage and reminded herself that the fox faunus was a White Fang soldier, and would happily capture and present Blake to her masters given a chance.

"Did what? What happened here? Where are the rest of you?" Blake asked while pointing her gun at the girl. The threat didn't seem to faze the girl though as she just looked lifelessly down Gambol Shroud's barrel. "Speak!"

"Are you going to kill me too? You don't have that tentacle-Grimm with you this time though… I'd have preferred if you told it to kill me…" The girl pulled her legs against her chest and begun rocking back and forth. "Well, go ahead. I don't want to die, I don't want to... but I don't want to… I don't want to become one of _those_ …"

"'Those'? What are you talking about?" Blake asked, lowering the Shroud as it seemed that threatening the fox faunus wouldn't work. However didn't seem that her words would work either as the girl just continued rocking back and forth, completely lost in her own world.

Blake sighed and glanced briefly behind her to see that Ruby was still recovering from the sight of the mutilated corpses. ' _Well… That fox girl knows something, so I should try to get as much out of her as I can. I wonder if Jaune could help? He did get her to speak back when we interrogated her in that warehouse where Roman stored the Dust he stole…'_

"Hold still. Uh… _It_ … will be here soon to interrogate you properly." Blake tried to make her voice sound as intimidating as possible and the fox-girl nodded mutely. ' _Damn… she looks so miserable… But she must have rejoined the Fang immediately after getting let out of hospital if she's here so I shouldn't feel sympathetic since she brought this upon herself…'_

' _Get here fast, Jaune, Weiss…'_ Blake thought as she kept eye on the shivering faunus and rubbed circles on Ruby's back at the same time. ' _I don't like this…'_

.

..

…

"Urgh, can you… _do that_ a bit gentler?" Weiss grumbled while running behind the boy. She kept eye on Jaune who had stuffed one of his now-smooth tentacles into Cinder's mouth to keep the unconscious woman from screaming.

The woman had started to shiver and twist as they slowly approached the center of Glenn- and her fever-like shivering had grown even stronger as Jaune had paused their travel to inform Weiss that something was seriously _wrong_ ahead of them. Their conversation had paused as gunshots began ranging from ahead, prompting Jaune to send a message to Blake, which in turn let them know that Blake and Ruby had engaged some kind of strange Grimm-creature. Cinder had started to scream again just before the message had been sent, causing Weiss to worry even more.

The engagement had ended soon afterwards with their two scouts informing that they had engaged and killed the creature, but there was something odd with it so Jaune, Weiss and Cinder (even if she had no say in their decision) had turned their course away from the most direct route towards the metro station and towards what Blake suspected to be a White Fang outpost.

"Eugh, nevermind, just… don't put that tentacle deeper uh… in her." Weiss cringed a little as the tentacle that went into Cinder's mouth slid out of it a bit, causing the unconscious woman to let out a gurgle that would have turned into a scream if Jaune didn't immediately stuff the tentacle down again. As it was it just caused the wings the woman now bore to flap a bit before returning to their place, covering her waist and stomach partially. Almost immediately after the wings had calmed down a new tentacle disentangled itself from the living cloak that Knight-form Jaune bore and tied itself around the wings to keep them still, much like how he had used multitude of other tentacles to tie the woman to his back.

The whole interaction reminded Weiss _too much_ about what had happened to her during Mercury's assassination attempt, with the exception that the tentacles 'Jaune' had used to tie Weiss to him had bore a distinctly more disturbing appearance. Not to mention that the tentacle Jaune had stuffed down Weiss's throat during the whole incident had looked like something straight out of Blake's books.

Not that Weiss had read any of them, of course.

She shivered and exercised the thought as the three of them arrived to a otherwise unremarkable street, with unremarkable apartment complexes save for something that looked like half-decayed Grimm corpse. Weiss took a look at it, noting that the creature looked curiously like two Grimm trying to copulate, and promptly slapped herself to drive the thoughts out of her head. Seeing Cinder tied to Jaune must have caused her thoughts to stray somewhere uncomfortable, but she needed to focus herself to more immediate concerns.

Not that she wanted to think about such perverted things anyway.

Regardless the odd Grimm looked curiously like it had been eaten away, with their chests exposing raw, mangled flesh- although the oddness might just be a result of the mountainload of holes the body sported, or from the fact that it had halfway evaporated already.

She shook her head and lifted her finger to her earpiece as Jaune pointed at a apartment building and she turned to look at it, noting that there was light coming off it which made it quite obvious that it was manned. "Blake?"

" _...Just calm down, Ruby… yeah I'm here."_

"We're in the location. Where are you?" Weiss asked as she took in the scene of devastation, noting that there was something red and chunky-looking thing plastered into a wall nearby. "You're in the apartment with broken second-floor wall, right? Second floor?"

" _Yeah, come here. There's a White Fang survivor in here that we'll need to interrogate and figure out what to do with."_

"We'll be there in a moment." Weiss ended the call. "Well, let's go see what's going on. Jaune? Did you figure out what the odd thing you felt was?"

"It disapp͠ear͘ed… ̕Th͠e͞re i͘s ̨s͏till ͡unnat͝u̕r̀a͢l̕ pr̕es͘ence in͘ ͝the ̨air,͝ ̧bu͡t ̨it's͟ ͜n͞owh̨ere͝ aş çl̴o̵se n͞ow̴ as it̡ ̛was bef͜o̷re͢." The boy hissed. "Blake m̀u͞s͝t ̢h̷a͝ve ̴destro͜yed i̶t͜'s ͏ten̡dŕil…"

"Tendril? Destroyed? Do you mean that Grimm?"

"No..̕. the̢r͜e ͢was someth̷i͜n͞g m̢o͏re...́"

"Well, for Oum's sake, try to find out what it is or stop being so nervous about it." Weiss huffed. "Let's go up."

Jaune nodded absentmindedly while bringing his free tentacles up- and before Weiss had a chance to object or steel herself, the appendages had tied themselves around her waist and a second after that flung her towards the apartment where Blake and Ruby must have been.

She twisted mid-air and landed on the interior wall of the apartment as the throw was surprisingly accurate if not consensual, and she plopped down on the oddly soft, cushioned floor like a sack of potatoes as her attempt to bounce off the wall failed due to the fact she was momentarily blinded by a handheld flare that illuminated the room.

"Uh… Welcome, Weiss?" Blake said and Weiss looked up from the floor.

"You will not talk about this."

"Right… Weiss, before you freak out, there's been… an incident."

"An incident?" Weiss asked while fumbling to get up from the pile of soft things that had cushioned her fall and tried to blink to get her eyes to adjust to the flare-light illuminating the room. A squishing sound came from under her arm and Weiss looked down to see something odd... "Wait, is this…"

"Yeah, it is. I tried to clean up the bodies away a bit but uh…"

Weiss's body froze completely as she realized what her cushion was. And that she was now practically soaked in blood. "Wha… A… hurk!"

Jaune narrowly avoided getting a disgusting shower as Weiss fled to the crumbled wall they had used as entry point and promptly emptied her stomach.

…

"...Right, I should have warned her." Blake's voice seemed apologetic as Jaune dodged the gastric assault and stepped into the room.

He extended one of his tentacles to grab the ex-heiress's hair and pull it out of the way- her white dress had been soiled beyond any salvation by blood but at least he could try to make sure her hair wouldn't suffer the same, or worse fate as she departed with her half-digested food.

He took a look around the room, noted the state of it and spotted the pile of corpses with telling drag-marks on the floor which explained the current state of Weiss's dress, and turned towards Blake who was rubbing Ruby's back while pointing her pistol at one of the corpses which was on the other side of the room for some reason.

Jaune felt concerned as he sensed Ruby's state of mind and noted how the girl was sitting on the floor with her knees hugged to her chest, much like the corpse of a faunus girl that was…

' _Wait, is that actually…'_

"So, you're here too." the corpse spoke, causing Jaune to jump a little as he had not sensed the girl's presence at all. "Figures. It's rude to choke a girl and then just leave. At least you could have called afterwards."

"Uh͘.̕.͞."

"I mean, you _are_ a Grimm so I'm being a bit silly assuming you could use a Scroll, but at this point I don't really care." The faunus continued. "You need to take responsibility when you do something like that to a girl, you know."

Jaune turned towards Blake to lift an eyebrow at her, forgetting that he still had his Grimm-bone mask on and fussing a little as he undid the transformation.

"Huh, you're actually pretty handsome under that mask, I suppose. For a Grimm at least. I didn't know Grimm could take off their masks." the fox faunus noted. "Is it just like a piece of clothing?"

"I don't know what's up with her either." Blake shrugged to Jaune as the bits of crumbling bone fell off his face. "Can you… uh, make her talk? She's got to know what happened in here."

"...Is that going to be my fate?" The fox faunus asked melancholically as she spotted Cinder who was tied to Jaune's back, and noticed _how_ the woman was tied. "Well… at least it won't be worse than what happened to the others. Go ahead then, do it. Gently, if I can ask that much."

"S̵o̴ ̀u̶h.̕.What's g̴o͘ing̀ ͢on?́" Jaune hissed a little as he set Cinder down, twisting his waist a little so he could guide her carefully to a slightly less bloody spot on the floor and put her down on it gently. Luckily the woman had stopped trying to scream a while ago so he could pull the tentacle out of her mouth, cringing a little as he heard a wet plop as a result which seemed to echo in the small room and cause Blake to send a glare at him for some reason.

"We found this outpost, I think it was wiped out by that odd Grimm outside just before we made it here. That girl's the only survivor." Blake waved her pistol at the fox faunus's direction..

"Luna Silvertail, if that's something of importance. Guess not since I have a inkling about what's going to happen to me." The fox-girl said mutely, making Blake to lift an eyebrow at the girl. "Yeah my tail isn't silver but I can't fault my mom for being hopeful."

"She's a bit more talkative now that you're here, it seems. I couldn't get anything out of her earlier." Blake shrugged at Jaune. "Anyway, she's the only White Fang survivor I found in this outpost so I'd figured we should interrogate her and decide what we do with her before we leave."

"Can you take me with you if you're leaving? I know it's silly to ask since I'm about to be tentacle-choke-fondle-molest-murdered, preferably in that order, but I figured I'd ask…"

Blake promptly blushed completely red and her grip on Gambol Shroud began shaking after the fox faunus's words registered in the cat faunus's head.

"Should I undress or are we doing this as is?" Luna added while rocking back and forth drunkenly on the floor. "I don't mind either. Just get it over with."

"Urgh… Gah! Sheesh! What happened in here?!" Weiss entered the conversation as she recovered from seeing the pile of body parts piled on a corner of the room and throwing up over the broken wall enough to stomp to Blake and Ruby. "Also, Ruby, are you alright?"

"They're all dead…" Ruby whimpered while continuing to rock back and forth on the floor, eerily in synch with Luna with her movements.

Weiss wiped her hands on Jaune's living cloak before reaching to slap Ruby few times. Before Blake or Jaune could interfere the manhandling ended, leaving Ruby staring up at Weiss with a look of pure shock.

"Yeah, those guys are dead." Weiss growled at Ruby while pointing at the pile of corpses in the corner of the room. "And so are we if we start to mope and wail. Grimm are attracted to negativity, remember?"

"Oh." Ruby's answer was lifeless.

"If… When we are going to get out of here and into Beacon, we're going to sit down, talk, perhaps eat something sweet. We can't do anything to help the dead, but we can keep ourselves from joining their ranks." Weiss shook Ruby's shoulders lightly. "But to get to that point we'll need to get out of here. We need you to stay with us for it. _I_ need you to stay with us. Even _Cinder_ needs you to stay on your feet, she can still be saved."

"Ah… Okay." Ruby nodded sullenly.

"Right, you didn't like Cinder… But, gah, nevermind. We'll talk about that later." Weiss grumbled. "Just… Think how sad Yang would do if we all died here? Get up, she'd want you to be strong!"

"Yang…" Ruby mulled over the word. "Yeah, I'll have to be strong…"

"Ruby.͏.͏. Wha͟t͞'s͘ wr͜o͏ng͠.͏..́" Jaune tried to join the conversation as well but Weiss sent him a glare that told him to vacate the immediate area or risk imminent destruction. "Right̴.̡."

"She's smaller than I remember. The Lady in Red, I mean. And worse at keeping her lunch inside her." Luna noted calmly from where she was sitting with her back against the wall. "Lady in Black is as aggressive as ever though. Who's the Lady in White? Or… I guess Lady in blood-stained White?"

"Weiss Schnee, thank you very much." Weiss growled at the faunus girl. "And no, no-one is getting… uh, fondle-choked."

"A shame."

"Wait, do you _want…_ Gah, nevermind. Who are you?" Weiss shook her head violently as the fox-girl's words took her off guard. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm Luna. And I got kidnapped and forced to work in here."

"A likely story." Blake hissed quietly, causing Weiss to lift her eyebrow at the cat faunus.

"I thought I would never see the day when Blake of all people is distrustful of faunus." Weiss commented dryly to no-one in particular.

"White Fang wouldn't kidnap faunus and force them to work! That's what the Sch…"

"You don't want to finish that sentence, Blake." Weiss's eyes flashed with warning and Blake fell silent mid-word. "Did you happen to forget what happened the last time you were caught by White Fang?"

"I got kidnapped from the hospital where I was after she told him to choke me." Luna tilted her head glumly at Jaune while Blake blushed deep red and looked away from Weiss, clearly ashamed. "I mean, at least he didn't eat me. And according to the doctor, he didn't molest me either. So I guess it's the least of all evils. Even though I think I liked the uh… nevermind."

"And White Fang kidnapped you? Just what happened here?!" Weiss tried to turn the conversation away from the fondling and other relevant subjects while Jaune tried to make his tentacle-cloak stay still without much success.

"We all got moved to Glenn after the Dust warehouse was busted and the hospital staff got bribed. Some of us were willing, most were not. It didn't matter." Luna told the tale of why she was in Glenn. "...And then finally stuff… happened and I fled the settlement with few other faunus who… well, are in that corner over there. Grimm found us almost instantly."

"You were kidnapped by White Fang, forced to work as slave in a unsafe illegal settlement, without Aura and under constant armed guard?" Blake's voice grew more uncertain as the abuse directed at the fox-girl came to light. "Did they hurt you… in other ways?"

"They didn't touch me or hurt me, if that's what you're asking, Lady in Black." Luna shivered. "I guess I was lucky. There were a couple who… weren't so fortunate. I guess they were examples for the rest of us."

"Beasts. Worthless beasts." Weiss hissed violently while Blake looked ill. Ruby just kept rocking back and forth mutely.

"What ̵hap̕penȩd?̕" Jaune asked and regretted it immediately as the hostile glares directed at him by Weiss and Blake were enough to cause him to back away. "So͜rry͡."

"Haa, nevermind, it isn't your fault, Jaune." Weiss sighed and turned towards Luna. "I said this earlier, but rest easy. We won't let that happen to you. In fact, if what you're telling us is truth… Jaune?"

"Ì ̕d̀on'̶t ͟know̷.̀.. ̶I͝ ͡ca͡n't̀ ̕sense ̶an̨yt̴h͜ing̶ f̡rom ̀h͘er."

"...Fine. If you're telling us the truth, rest easy knowing that we'll do our best to evacuate you from Glenn." Weiss finished her speech to Luna who didn't look too convinced.

"Mhm." Luna's eyes followed one of the tentacles that were closing towards the spot where Cinder was lying- or rather where she was twisting and shivering from her fever and pain. "Who's the Lady in Pain?"

"Why are you giving us names like that?" Weiss growled in return before calming down. "Anyway, our names or her condition is not important right now. You said something was going on in that White Fang settlement?"

"People started disappearing soon after a sickly silver-haired boy and a green-haired girl came to the camp. I saw them by passing." Luna recounted half-heartedly while keeping her eyes on Jaune's tentacles. The look she gave them made Jaune somewhat uncomfortable.

"Mercury and Emerald." Blake nodded and Weiss motioned for the fox-tailed girl to continue.

"The people who disappeared… I don't know where they went. We had our hands full with Grimm and maintenance tasks so I think the disappearances were written off as casualties to the Grimm, but I was practically slave so all info I got was from overhearing the guards." Luna told them quietly. "Our food stores must have also dwindled quite bit since our daily rations were cut in half… speaking of which, c-could I ask for something to eat? I haven't eaten in two days…"

Her quiet, stuttering request was granted as Jaune stopped rubbing Ruby's back to pull a package from the belt he always wore (which he had discovered could fit him even in his Knight form), pulled a bar from the package and offered it to the fox-girl.

"A… Ah, thank you." Luna stuttered slightly with clear hunger in her eyes. She unwrapped the energy bar shakily almost as if she was waiting for it to get snatched away at last second. As it wasn't the girl stuffed the entire thing in her mouth in one go and began chewing it quickly.

Jaune put a second bar in front of the faunus before turning to offer one to Ruby, and offering one to Blake and Weiss as well after they gave him a look which he presumed to be signalling their interest towards a snack.

' _Well… that leaves none for me but it doesn't really matter since I should try to keep myself fed with things that are non-edible to normal humans.'_ Jaune sighed as the group paused for a quick snack before continuing the interrogation.

Fortunately the spirits of the group were lifted by the sugary snack, making it easier for Jaune to stay in control of himself when earlier both Ruby and Cinder had been radiating negativity, which left just Cinder after Ruby cheered up slightly.

It seemed that the snack also helped the fox faunus open a bit more as Jaune could feel miniscule blip of hope from her direction as she gulped down the second energy bar, although the emotion was oddly muted, almost as if she wasn't really feeling anything.

"So, what happened?" Weiss asked while Ruby got up on her feet and wobbled over to Jaune to took hold of his hand. The interaction caused the fox faunus girl to tilt her head at Ruby while Weiss just glared at Jaune.

"Well… people started to disappear. Soon after that the silver-haired boy appeared again, but this time he looked… really ill. Like, about to die-sort of ill." Luna continued her tale. "It was odd since he had intact leg and I could have sworn that he had prosthetic one since when he appeared in the settlement, he had torn clothing that showed a robotic leg."

"And what happened to that bas... Mercury?" Weiss asked warily.

"He wandered off somewhere. I didn't pay much attention to it, but later that day the guy in charge of the settlement made a big search for him since apparently he was supposed to be locked up." Luna shrugged. "I told them what I saw. No-one found him though."

"So… The White Fang didn't like Mercury." Blake noted. "Still, why were those two in here in the first place, the Fang don't take in human refugees… unless they were working with Torchwick all along!"

"Anyway, the disappearances continued after that, and we made a rule that no-one could move alone in the camp. There were patrols night and day, and for a moment it looked like the disappearances ended after the patrols fought against some odd Grimm creatures which had apparently infiltrated the camp and drove them off." Luna continued as Blake fell quiet. "But then the people who got wounded in the process started to get sick."

"...What happened to them?" Weiss's voice was carefully neutral, but Jaune could sense the feeling of dread coming from the girl. "I'm guessing that wasn't the end of that."

"The sick people… well… died, I guess. But not really." Luna hugged her ankles tighter against her chest. "We buried them under the building rubble a few blocks away from the main camp. I was one of those who handled them… and I could swear some of them were still moving or breathing when we buried them. But what was more concerning was that the graves were empty when we returned with more corpses."

"The graves were empty? Could it have been wild animals going at the bodies?" Blake asked quietly with clear undertone of disgust but Weiss shook her head.

"What wild animals would live in a underground city like this? Grimm don't seek out and eat corpses either." the white-haired girl focused her attention from the cat faunus back to the fox-girl. "Do you think some of the White Fang could have done that? Dig up the graves and use the corpses somewhere else?"

"Why would they do that?" Blake challenged. "I mean…"

"Weren't you saying that you were running out of food?" Weiss asked Luna bluntly, which caused Jaune to tilt his head at the white-haired girl thoughtfully, Ruby to stare at Weiss, and Blake's jaw to drop open.

"Yeah we were… Are you saying that the corpses were dug up and fed to us disguised as rations?" Luna's eyes grew even more lifeless and she continued to rock back and forth while hugging her knees closer to her chest. "Haha… Maybe… I… I've become a cannibal… Mom, I'm sorry, I don't think I can go on…"

"Ẃel͝l,̕ it w̴o͢u͡l̶d ́sol͝ve a food pr͟ǫb͢l̀e͟m.̵..̢ wh͟a̴t?" Jaune noted before Blake and Ruby sent equally horrified glances at him.

"W- Weiss, I didn't uh… think that uh…" Ruby shivered as she looked at Jaune and Weiss. "Uh…"

"What, I wouldn't put eating their dead past those 'Fang scum." Weiss lifted her eyebrow at Ruby, ignoring how Blake bristled and Luna shivered.

Jaune felt bad for the fox faunus so he moved a bit closer so he could pat her shoulder reassuringly while Blake was letting Weiss know how she felt about the accusation, but his patting it didn't seem to help as the fox-girl froze up completely. ' _Uh… well, I did attack and choke her the last time we met so I guess she's still wary of me. I can't really fault her though...'_

"So putting the mystery of disappearing corpses aside, what else happened? You said something about not wanting to become one of 'them'?" Weiss moved on while Ruby and Blake were still recoiling. "What or who are 'them'?"

"After few days… some of the dead came back."

* * *

"And with that, I believe we've come to a conclusion."

"Yes, it seems that it is the only way since you maintain your stand against using a blank Penny model." Ironwood sighed at Ozpin. "So, when are you planning on informing her?"

"As soon as she returns from her mission." Ozpin nodded to Ironwood.

The headmaster's office was dimly lit, which was fitting as the occupants thought about the subject at hand. Ironwood was sitting on his chair in front of the headmaster's desk, Ozpin was sitting on his usual seat with his elbows on table while leaning his chin against his clasped hands and Glynda was sitting next to Ironwood with the last member of their group, Qrow, being away from Vale to supervise team SABR's mission.

"Yes, we've agreed on who the new Fall Maiden would be, but Ozpin, surely we could at least _try_ Ironwood's suggestion, and if the Maiden starts rejecting its new body then we can try transferring it back to her... new host." Glynda adjusted her glasses. "Amber Fall was incredibly bright when she was a student who got the Maiden's power before she was ready for it, and I dread placing the burden she bore on the shoulders of another ill-prepared girl."

"However, when the Maiden is extracted from her, it might be also possible to cure Amber Fall." Ironwood added. "Of course, we're dealing with 'if's and 'maybe's' here, but doctor Polendina assumes that what threatens Amber's life currently is _not_ the wounds she has suffered, but whatever has agitated the Maiden within her to such erratic condition. However on the same note we have no guarantee that the state our current Maiden is won't also transfer over to its new host."

"Have you told doctor Polendina about the Maiden?" Ozpin's voice came out cold and suspicious. "I believe that when we introduced you to this…"

"Yes, yes, you requested me not to speak of what we discussed with anyone not part of your circle of confidence. I have not told doctor Polendina about the true reason for Amber's state, instead I sent him the files detailing Amber's current physical condition, with the additional note that her… 'very unique Semblance' was acting erratically. You do not need to fear that I will betray your secret." Ironwood sent a glare at Ozpin. "I requested doctor Polendina council only because he is the leading scientist in the field of Aura engineering and automata, and even he agrees that Amber's life could be saved by transferring her Aura, and by extension, the Maiden to a blank Penny shell, followed by physical reconstructing of her body's injured parts."

"A curious way of saying that, noting how your own body is…" Ozpin noted. "However, I have created the Maidens in the first place, so I would like to believe that I should be the one to decide matters such as this. I mean no offense towards doctor Polendina when I say that, as skilled as he is in field of Automations, I doubt he has much experience with the field of supernatural."

"Supernatural remains supernatural only until its rules and underlying mechanics have been researched, after which it turns to natural phenomena." Ironwood countered. "After all, I believe that before mechanics behind Dust were researched, people believed it to be tears of gods crystallized into solid substance as they wept for the state of humanity during the dark ages, and sent a blind angel to Remnant to teach her people how to use it against the Grimm?"

"Yes, yes…" Ozpin waved Ironwood's concerns off. "Regardless, it all hinges on whether or not our new host is willing or not. Maiden's powers should not be forced upon someone unwilling to take such burden, as we witnessed with Spring Maiden who, unfortunately, fled Mistral after the power filled her."

"Ozpin, I am not done talking!"

"We cannot delay the transfer any further, barring miracle falling on our hands." Ozpin focused his attention fully to Ironwood. "Unfortunately, I must confess that I may have been too slow to react in the past, but the time that manufacturing Penny models with suitable strength to withstand the Maiden's power would take too long even by my standards and I repeat my earlier point, should the transfer fail, we will lose the power. We cannot take such risks. I cannot take such risks."

"You are not the only…"

"I have made them. They are like my children to me, and I refuse to risk any of the Maidens to fall into that horrid _witch's_ hands if I can help it." Ozpin cut Ironwood off with a clear tone of finality. "I ask you to trust me. I have tread this world far longer than any other, and I believe I have learned much during that time. I now ask you to trust that knowledge."

"...Glynda?" Ironwood turned towards the woman that had been silent during their argument.

"...Neither of the options available for us is good. However, we must pick the lesser of two evils, and if what I've heard and witnessed of the Fall Maiden's power are true, we absolutely _cannot_ risk her falling to the enemy's hands." Glynda spoke the words like they burned her tongue like acid. "For that, if we must sacrifice a _willing_ student… It might be the lesser of the two."

"You do not truly believe that, do you." Ironwood asked quietly but Glynda had turned away.

"The Aura transfer machine has arrived to Vale according to your report, and the installation of it should begin today. These are trying times for our alliance, but we must persevere and not fall prey to infighting." Ozpin said. "I have always believed in principle that we must move together as one, so I ask, will you help us?"

"...Very well." Ironwood ground out. "But if the new host is not willing…"

"Then we may try your suggestion with Penny model." Ozpin nodded.

For some reason Ironwood doubted that it would be the case and he dreaded what Ozpin would suggest next should the new host of the Fall Maiden refuse what would be offered to her…

* * *

"So… And... "

"...But are…"

"I'm sorry…"

"D̷on͜'t w͟o͢r͟r͘y, ̀I'̴l͘l̢ ҉m̕ake ̨sure̕.͠.."

Cinder started regaining her consciousness slowly though the dull, hot pain that laced through her spine. Oddly enough she could swear that the pain had been far more intense before her loss of consciousness, even if she berated herself internally for losing her self-control over such petty thing as pain.

Although she soon remembered why she had passed out in the first place as a twitch rang up her waist when one of her new 'additions' flapped slightly.

The familiar panic returned in a flash and it took all her self-control not to set herself on fire with her Semblance to purge the impurities in her body- something that she had done once when she had been younger, just after unlocking it. Needless to say, it had not worked as it had manifested its presence during her training to withstand spiders crawling over her, and her self-immolation had only succeeded in setting both her surroundings and her mother's long dress in fire, even if the surviving Grimm-spiders had likely developed a lifelong phobia of fire.

The resulting punishment had been both fitting and severe, and caused Cinder to flinch whenever she thought about it. Luckily that memory combined with her iron will allowed her to suppress the desire to do something she might regret as she lied on the hard surface while trying to recover from her current condition.

"Cinder? She's waking up!"

"...Lady in Pain is waking up?"

"She has a name, you know…"

"Çinḑer̨.̷.. ̛"

The gaggle of voices that had woken up moved closer, signalling that her awakening had been noticed. ' _Damn… well, there goes the chance to eavesdrop. I better get up before they get suspicious…'_

Cinder very deliberately pushed the presence of her wings out of her head as she opened her eyes slowly to see the Knight, curiously without it's mask for once, looking down at her with concerned, balefully glowing red eyes.

Cinder liked that look. It reminded her of home.

"...I'm awake. What happened?" she turned her head slowly to see Weiss kneeling beside her. The white-clad girl looked like a butcher as both her front and the tip of her hair was soaked in blood.

The Knight looked as immaculate as ever, even if the cloak of tentacles he bore was disturbingly lively despite the fact that the Grimm was being subjected to the silver-eyed girl's look.

Oddly enough the silver-eyed girl looked somewhat shellshocked, almost as if she was undergoing some great turmoil. Cinder turned her eyes away from the girl as Ruby turned to look at her. ' _C-cold… Dammit, the silver eyes are affecting me. That proves that the Parasite within has grown… I need to get away from here. Fast. Mother can remove it, I'm certain she can… she must be able to do it...'_

Cinder tried to get up so she could sit as the cold, hard surface she was lying on was hurting her back and squishing her new wings, even if she refused to believe that the appendages had sensation already. Or that they existed in the first place. Even if they flapped slightly alongside her exertion, almost as if they were alive.

Almost immediately after she thought about that the tentacles flowing from the Knight's back coiled around her arms and shoulders, and the Knight helped her up on her feet. A supporting hand tied itself around her waist, and she instinctively reached to open one of her wings and put it behind the Knight's waist to support herself while the other flapped slightly before coming to rest on her stomach.

A odd faunus in the corner of the room looked at Cinder like she had grown another head, and Cinder focused her attention on Blake. "Who is that fox-girl?"

"She's a survivor from…"

"...A White Fang settlement in the center of Glenn." Weiss finished Blake's sentence, causing the cat faunus to tilt her head at Weiss in confusion. "It appears that the scum have gathered the Dust they have stolen from Vale and Schnee shipments to Glenn, and have set up an illegal settlement inside Vale's borders. I am glad to see you're up though. How are you feeling?"

"I… In… I see. I'm alright. Or I hope so, these… _things_ notwithstanding" Cinder got out as she thought furiously while attempting to pointedly ignore her wings. ' _Dammit, just how much does that fox girl know? Is it too late to just set her discreetly on fire? Do I even have the Aura to do it… No. Dammit, I'm out of Aura still… That Parasite must be eating my Aura...'_

She took a steadying breath. "So what happened?"

"Apparently your old teammates, Emerald and Mercury were spotted in that settlement." Weiss told her bluntly. "I thought you'd like to know. Perhaps you can shed some ideas for what might be behind their actions? They don't make sense to me."

"Oh?" Cinder asked carefully while trying her hardest to feign surprise. She hoped the Knight wouldn't be able to pick up on her lack of shock on the news under the shock she was still in from the Parasite's growth in her spine.

"Mercury apparently got into a fight with the White Fang…"

Cinder fought back a groan by coughing loudly.

"And we suspect he might have killed some of them before stealing a load of Dust…"

Cinder felt like certain someone had kicked her in the stomach.

"And then a… thing happened, and apparently the settlement is all but destroyed."

Cinder felt many desires. Desire to throw up, desire to set everything around her in fire, desire go to her mother and cry, desire to find a certain pair of people and choke them so hard their necks snapped..

Weiss stared at her.

' _Oh no. Did that show up on my face?'_ Cinder's confidence faltered as she realized she hadn't controlled her expressions. ' _Dammit, that's not the appropriate reaction to those news at all!'_

"I... I must confess this is slightly confusing." Cinder managed to get out before the white-and-red clad girl commented anything which would damn Cinder for her slip-up. "A… Are you saying that my subor… Old teammates joined forces with White Fang?"

"I know that it's shocking, and it appears likely that they have. Were you aware of their connections?" Weiss's voice was suspicious.

' _Dammit, yes or no questions are not good…'_ Cinder glanced at the Knight discreetly to see that it was observing her quite keenly. ' _I have to be careful when the Knight is around and under her command… but on the other hand, if I can seize control of him then those girls will believe whatever I say…'_

"Cinder?"

"I… I had a feeling they might have dealings of shady nature, but I didn't know Mercury would do that." Cinder spared a discrete glance at Knight who nodded to Weiss in a way what she guessed the Knight thought was discrete. Cinder made a mental note that she needed to work on that when she eventually got control of the creature.

"Why didn't you report that!" Blake hissed aggressively and Weiss reached to pat her arm to calm the faunus down. "If you knew they had…"

"I had my own reasons. Kn- Mr. Arc knows about those already, but this is not the right place to talk about them."

"...Jaune?"

"S̴he̸'s ̡righ͜t.͘"

"...Fine. For now." Weiss sighed. "There's something that doesn't quite fit, but we will find more about that later. For now let's focus on getting out of here."

"Ah…"

"Luna over there told us about what has been happening in the White Fang settlement and let's just say that it's not pretty. Or logical. In any way." Weiss nodded towards the fox faunus who was cowering with her back against the wall.

Cinder noticed that the walls and the floor were bloody as she looked around the room to become more aware of her surroundings. A pile of corpses decorated one of the room's corners like some sort of macabre art project, and one of the walls had broken away to reveal a dark city. "I'm sorry, but… where are we currently?"

"A city cavern-block just outside the metro block." Weiss said. "We planned to get to the metro station and make our way to the surface with the exits it has, but... "

"But what?" Cinder asked. ' _If we take the route through the metro I can regroup with Emerald if she's still in there, and set the bombs towards Vale after detaching from the team… assuming the Fang got them prepared before getting wiped out by Mercury. Dammit, just how hard is to find competent help?'_

"I believe that with the new information available to us, avoiding the metro station seems the best option." Weiss said while glancing at the fox faunus who started to nod furiously. "The alternative is that we seek out one of the smuggling routes White Fang constructed to the surface to ferry supplies down here. Luna has promised to lead us to the nearest one she knows of."

"Ah… But…" Cinder cringed internally. ' _Dammit, I'm so close... '_

"Seeing that you have troubles even standing, we should get moving before your state deteriorates further. The Vale's doctors can surely find out what's wrong with… uh, those wings." Weiss continued, unaware of the cold dread coursing through Cinder's veins.

' _Yeah, as if Ozpin would let them. He already suspects me and the moment he sees these wings I'm off to a chopping block.'_ Cinder thought furiously. "So… so what happened in the settlement? Surely we should investigate since our mission _was_ to scout Glenn after all!"

"It… If Luna's recounting is correct, and Jaune told us that she wasn't lying, then what happened in the settlement is far beyond our ability to contain. We need actual Huntsmen, or preferrably aerial bombardment, to deal with it." Weiss's voice was somewhat uncertain.

"Uh… Weiss, how are you planning on aerially bombarding a underground city?" Ruby pointed out, causing Weiss to snip something in return. Cinder didn't bother to listen as she thought about the dilemma.

' _Maybe… No, that wouldn't work, but what if… No, no, she'd just… Ah, maybe… Yes, that should do it…'_ "So why would there be need for a Hunter team if the settlement was wiped out? Surely there's nothing to…"

"There is!" The fox faunus chimed up. Cinder turned to look at the fox-girl with a look which conveyed that she did _not_ appreciate being cut off- but the sheer look of terror in the girl's face caused Cinder to pause.

"So… should we not investigate it then?" Cinder moved to a next plan in her list. "Our mission was to scout it after all. Or are you telling me that a recounting from a clearly paranoid faunus is enough for you to call our mission off?"

"But…"

"Plus, when we report our findings to Glynda Goodwitch, just imagine what she would say- 'Yes, we encountered something possibly dangerous in Glenn, no, we didn't investigate despite our orders, please send a team of fully qualified Hunters to do our job?'"

"Why are you so adamant that we _must_ go there?!" Weiss glared at Cinder, and Cinder glared back at the girl, mustering all of the sneer she was capable of in her current state.

"Because this mission is my chance to redeem myself, _Our_ chance to redeem ourselves, and I will not have us waste it by chickening out at the first sign of trouble!" Cinder hissed.

"You are wounded, somehow, and…"

"My health is my own concern!"

"It is us who have to carry you arou…"

"So leave me behind if I am too much of a burden!" Cinder cut Weiss off.

"C-can we not fight…" Ruby pointed out shakily.

"I will not leave _anyone_ behind unless _absolutely_ necessary, but thank you for the offer!"

"What do you mean 'necessary', Weiss?" Blake joined the conversation.

"G͏ùys͞.̢.̴.."

"Am I going to get left behind? I'd rather not, if possible. You can carry me in that tentacle-thing, right? I promise I'll make the appropriate noises…" the fox faunus chimed in as well.

" _S͘̕H̷̸͘U͞T͞҉ ̧̧U̧̕P̢͢͡Ṕ̴p̸̨̀̀͝p̸̡̕͘p̕͜"_ Jaune's scream echoed in the small apartment, causing everyone to flinch away. "W͞e͏ can͘'t͡ argùe͡ like ̀t͝h̵is̀! W͡e ̵are attrac͡t͟ing ͡Ģri̶mm!̛"

"Ow." Weiss covered her ears as she tried to recover from the tinnitus caused by the scream. "Jaune, you…"

"He's right." Cinder spotted the opening Knight made and moved immediately. "We can't infight like this, or the Grimm will soon follow. They may even be on their way, and should we prolong our stay in here we only risk getting swarmed."

"True…"

"The metro is just a block away, right? If there is something shady going in there, we _need_ to scout it as it is our mission, and at the same time it is the closest exit from this Oum-damned hellhole!" Cinder pressed the attack while Weiss was disoriented. She disentangled herself from the Knight so she could take a shaky step forwards under her own strength to show that she was recovering from her earlier weakness. "With the Knight on our side we can surely push a route through the settlement!"

' _Although I doubt Grimm would be a problem for her because of her ability to dominate them. I need to guide her thoughts away from that...'_ Cinder thought as she observed the impact her words had on Weiss.

Cinder ignored the tentacles that reached to tie themselves around her waist to support her as she wobbled slightly. "We can find out what has happened in Glenn, document our findings, break to the surface and extract with _actual evidence_ of what we've seen. At best a single incoherent faunus's ramblings will not convince Beacon to send a team of actual Hunters, and at worst our evidence-less report would result in our expulsion!"

"Why would Ozpin expel us over a failed mission?" Ruby chimed up.

"Why should he commit more resources and training on us when all we've done is proven that we're unreliable, disrupt the peace of Beacon constantly, and will flee at first sign of any trouble, abandoning our mission while we are at it?" Cinder hissed while looking past Ruby to minimize the uncomfortable cold that settled in her spine from the girl's gaze.

"Fine, right, just… fine. You've made your point." Weiss hissed in return. "I get it."

"Good."

"We'll go through the metro. But if any of the human-like shape-shifting undead Grimm attack and eat us, I'm holding you responsible."

"The what?"

Weiss thumbed to the direction of the fox-girl wearing tattered White Fang uniform. "She told us the Grimm had somehow… evolved or something. Suddenly the dead come back to life, and… yeah actually you might have a point." Weiss blinked. "That does sound pretty unbelievable, now that I think about it."

"The what what?" Cinder asked, confused. ' _Wha… shape-shifting undead Grimm?'_

Weiss rubbed her eyebrows. "You know what, nevermind. If we find any then we'll… find out, I guess. If not, then you were right."

"I am not a liar!" The fox faunus waved her hands futilely in protest. "I saw them, I swear!"

"S̶h̀e̷'s̴ n͜ot ly̨in͏g, yo҉u know̶.̨" the Knight supplied helpfully.

"Let's just move on. I grow tired of this argument." Weiss turned to walk towards the broken wall. "We need to get moving. We'll either find some of those Grimm, or we do not. Until then the point is naught. Just… Jaune, tell us if you see or sense something being wrong?"

"Of̧ co͡u͢r̡se…"

"Wait, wait, what is this about shape-shifting Grimm?" Cinder felt dread settle uncomfortably in the bottom of her stomach like one of Emerald's cookings. ' _Don't tell me that the Schnee's creations have been set loose in the wilds?'_ "Hold on."

"Don't worry. Chances are that they are nothing, and if they are, I guess they aren't a big threat." Weiss shrugged petulantly and Cinder realized what was going on.

' _Oh you can't be serious. At time like this? Childish tantrums over leadership?'_ Cinder felt like punching Weiss in the face, which caused her even more confusion and dread as she was normally above such petty retributions. ' _Don't tell me that the parasite's corruption is spreading… Dammit, shapeshifting Grimm or not, I need to get going.'_ "Right, we should go. I'm sure it's nothing."

"It is something…" Luna complained from her corner, and the Knight reached to pat the girl reassuringly with one of his tentacles. "...Fine. Anyway, is the Lady in Pain going to get tentacled again? Can we change places? I volunteer."

Weiss sputtered.

' _Deal with it, deal with it…'_ Cinder ground her teeth while reaching to pat the Knight's arm to signal that he could let go of her waist, and that one of his tentacles was approaching a place where it really shouldn't be considering the circumstances.

"Right, right…" Weiss masked her confused blush under stern leadership and turned to address the rest of the team. "Let's go, Blake and Ruby, you're up front again…"

.

..

…

"...It's quiet." Ruby told the group from her spot on top of a makeshift wall after looking through her monocular at the darkness ahead. The fact that the wall had broken apart at the middle, leaving a pile of concrete rubble and haphazardly upwards poking metal pipes, made the ghastly scene of the abandoned White Fang settlement within the central underground cavern of Glenn even more haunting.

The group had moved through the silent city and reached the flood-gate like structure that separated the metro block from the apartment city-block, saw that it looked both abandoned and overrun, and moved through it to start their trek towards the metro itself.

The closer they got the stronger the odd feeling of _wrongness_ that perpetuated the city became, making even Cinder doubt the wiseness of entering. The place seemed almost _alive_ somehow- despite the buildings being dark, abandoned and by majority, broken down to ruins.

The feeling of wrongness was further strengthened when Cinder started to feel increasing headache with each step taken, and the Knight started to act more and more agitated. Weiss had to call both Ruby and Blake back to the group to keep the Knight in check with the red-hooded girl's silver eyes, and the group agreed universally that sending a single scout would be incredibly unwise so Blake returned to the group as well.

That of course left the team relying exclusively on the Knight's senses when it came to their scouting work. However, the unnatural presence around Glenn was enough to disrupt his senses, if Weiss was to be believed, which left Cinder somewhat conflicted on whether she should consider it a blessing or a curse. On the other hand should she find a opening to slip away from the team, preferably with a convenient excuse like falling off a ledge or something, there was no way the team could give a chase as they would be too busy saving their own skin.

' _Although if there are shapeshifting Grimm… No, I should probably not try to confront one of those. I no longer have the Gift mother gave me, so I cannot issue orders to Grimm anymore. Getting the information about the Knight, the Schnee's and my loss of the Gift is more important right now anyway. With the fact the Knight can shapeshift between human and Grimm forms, I shouldn't be too surprised that the Schnees might have created more of its kind either.'_ Cinder thought as Ruby climbed down the pile of rubble and joined the team. ' _Also, I wonder if I can get rid of that fox twerp while I'm at it?'_

The said fox twerp was currently following Weiss like some sort of pet, which was making the Schnee girl incredibly uneasy for some reason. Cinder guessed that it might be the fact the fox was practically copping a feel of the girl while hanging to her back like a newborn baby.

Cinder had _wanted_ to just leave the fox faunus behind (even if she wouldn't say it aloud as she realized how tenuous her position in the team was) but after even Weiss had told them that they would protect the White Fang survivor, the fox faunus had practically glued herself to the blood-covered ex-heiress, and Cinder was smart enough not to argue about the decision when her spot in the team was wavering enough as it was.

"So, it's all clear then? Jaune, can you stop waving those… _things_ around like that? It's making me nervous and I think you almost concussed Luna when she got too close." Weiss asked while tapping her feet nervously against the broken pavement and tracing the movements of the tentacles that the Knight was waving around. Cinder could also swear that the Knight's appearance had become more… beastly after they entered the metro with black fur starting to grow from cracks of its armor and it's back had started to hunch more, with its smooth mask starting to grow quite frankly disturbing features while elongating and growing sharp teeth that forced its otherwise-hidden mouth to open.

"Yeah, I saw nothing moving over there." Ruby said while staring at Jaune intensely, causing the creature's wavy tentacles to calm down and the creature stopped growling hungrily. The red-clad girl seemed to have gathered her courage as the group moved out and she had regained a measure of determination in her steps after the blood-stained apartment disappeared from their view with its only remaining survivor in tow.

Cinder glanced at her surroundings while she gulped down another dose of painkillers for her ever-growing headache and slowly diminishing spinal pain. The buildings around them showed clear signs of recent use, although they had been abandoned. Some of the walls around them showed signs of claws and gunfire, but bodies were curiously absent- the Grimm didn't go out of their way to eat their prey when new targets were available, which meant that there should have been at least _few_ bodies around.

Cinder didn't like the atmosphere one bit, and neither did the Knight.

"So… So… That used to be the barracks. The metro entrance is just ahead, these are just the storage buildings that were used to unload things back then the metro was active, I think." Luna said with a oddly lifeless tone while moving sluggishly like a sleepwalker. "There's a old elevator shaft which leads to the surface. It was restored with somewhat makeshift contraption that should take us up when we reach it, assuming it still works."

"What are the chances of that it's no longer functional?" Weiss asked somewhat carefully. "Is there alternative route?"

"Well, there are the spiral stairs up, but they collapsed a long time ago. Figures that a hundred foot tall ladder wouldn't last long without maintenance." Luna noted. "Or at least I was told that they had collapsed. Could have been justs a smokescreen to keep us at work and not thinking about escaping. It would make sense for the stairs to be reconstructed though, it would be silly to just rely on one way to get out in case… well, if this happened."

"Possible. Anyway, we'll check the elevator first. Jaune?"

The Knight just nodded.

"Right… Well, this was somewhat underwhelming. I thought we'd get attacked ri…" A slap rang in the quiet street as Blake put both of her hands over Weiss's mouth.

"Please don't say that ever again…" The cat faunus practically pleaded.

Cinder sighed and only barely managed to stop herself from reacting in any way as she spotted a faint flash of green at the end of the street while the other girls of the team exchanged cordial and non-cordial words. ' _Emerald?'_

She spared a brief glance at that direction again, and saw Emerald's distinct green hair in the distance again before she disappeared. ' _...Haah. Good. Maybe she knows what is going on in here. Now for a suitable distraction…'_

"Should we search the buildings? There might be survivors." Cinder asked, fighting back the urge to throw up as the pretend-energetic tone of her voice caused a spike of pain in her back, which then caused her new wings to flutter slightly. "After all, the presence of Miss Fox-whose-face over here demonstrates that some of the White Fang might have survived."

"I really don't want to spend more time in here than necessary…" Ruby said quietly but she was clearly conflicted while Luna protested weakly against her new name and the idea. "...But maybe we should check few houses, just in case. There might be someone still alive and we could rescue them..."

"I'll go with the Knight, perhaps you two faunus could team up, which leaves just Weiss and Ruby to form the third team?" Cinder motioned for the assigned people to move together while she slid closer to the team's enslaved Grimm. "That way no-one is alone and we can cover the ground more effectively? If we don't go too far from each other then we can easily move to assist if any of the ehm… Grimm come and attack?"

"...Fine, we'll check them but we're going to pull out at the first sign on trouble." Weiss sighed, ignoring the rapid head-shaking coming from their tag-along fox-girl. "Just a preliminary scan. Don't go too deep, don't stay too far away from the street. And we'll talk about the leadership of this team once we return to Beacon, _Cinder…_ "

"I look forward to it." Cinder acknowledged cordially. ' _Considering that I won't be returning with you, that isn't even be a lie…'_

"Right. Let's go." Weiss turned to grab Ruby's hand and the pair set off towards the nearest abandoned building which had signs of haphazard repair and its windows had been boarded off- except for one which had been broken down from the inside.

"Come then." Cinder motioned for the Knight while maintaining a tentacle-length distance between her and it- unfortunately for her to be able to return in Beacon at some point the person accompanying her would need to stay alive, otherwise she'd just pick the Schnee girl, have Emerald assassinate her while Cinder went and triggered the bomb-metro and then the two of them would make their getaway from the whole mess.

However if she did that then there would be no-one to inform the rest of the team about Cinder being 'abducted', thus it would be quite unlikely that she'd be able to return to Beacon to complete her true goal after a quick trip to her mother's place to re-implant the Gift and remove the foreign parasite. After all, should she just disappear without a trace while her 'companion' was murdered, it would raise questions- questions she'd rather not have burdening her already wavering place in Beacon once she returned to claim what was hers.

The Knight was the slowest of the group, and with it being distracted by the place somehow, it would be the least likely to be able to give chase, even more so should Emerald use her ability to misdirect him.

' _Any second now…'_ Cinder thought as the pair entered a building that might have been a souvenir shop once, but now looked more like a overrun checkpoint with broken windows, shattered and overturned furniture and a desk that looked like it had been used as cover from gunfire.

The Knight flinched slightly before looking out of the window in confusion and then turning around on the spot to look somewhere else. "Is something wrong?"

"G̵r͝i̴ḿm? ̕No, ͏Yes?҉ ̷N͏o͟, ͞it do̶es̢ń't́ ̴f͟ee҉l ͢r̴igh̵t͞..͏.̸" the Knight muttered more to himself than to Cinder, and she took the chance to creep slightly closer to a door that led deeper into the building. The Knight didn't notice it, confirming Cinder's suspicion that Emerald had started to use her Semblance, Misdirection, to confuse the Knight. It would be unlikely that it would completely lose track of his surroundings since Grimm had uncannily sharp senses, yet a moment would be enough for her.

Cinder opened the door slowly, and turned her back towards it. "Kn- Jaune?"

"C͢įnder?" The Knight turned towards her… and Cinder felt as a arm tied itself around her throat from behind while a gunshot rang in the small room.

One of the Knight's red eyes exploded in mist of blood as Emerald's chain-scythe-pistol unloaded itself while her other arm tied around Cinder's throat and pulled her away from the creature. ' _Good, good… now to make a getaway…'_

The Knight hunched forwards to protect its remaining eye, and charged… into a wall.

Broken bits of masonry and concrete accompanied the creature's furious howl and Emerald dragged Cinder quickly away from where the creature was fighting intensely against a trash bin after crashing through the building's exterior wall with enough ruckus to ensure that everyone in the near vicinity knew about it.

She tapped Emerald's arm to let her know that she could let go now and they could flee properly without needing have Cinder dragged around.

'... _Em?'_

The arm around her throat didn't let go.

"...Em.. erg… lef... go!" Cinder tried to groan out as her vision began to dim from lack of oxygen and she fluttered her new wings in panic as the message didn't go through to the green-haired girl whose grip tightened even more as Cinder struggled. ' _Oh you can't be serious… Why can't anything go like I plan for once?!'_

"Ah… Mistress…" a soft purr-like hiss was the last thing Cinder heard before consciousness fled her once again. "You came for me, I'm so happy..."

' _Crap…'_

 _._

..

...

"Oh you _got_ to be joking." Weiss groaned.

"I told you. I told…"

"Yes, I am aware." Weiss hissed to Luna as the group gathered to review the situation they were in after he massive crash and sounds of fighting had drawn the exploring sub-teams to a scene of one-sided devastation- since they had found Jaune fighting against a wall and a trash bin.

Jaune's blind, raging assault had come to an end as he had realized he was attacking a inanimate object after somehow thinking it was a Grimm assaulting Cinder before losing his eyesight to few pinpoint gunshots, during which Cinder had disappeared completely. They had later found traces of struggling, dragging and black feathers on the back-street of the building, and after quick chase had found that the trail cut off as it reached a cliff opening to a open cave-in below which looked odd. The cavels looked almost as if they had been made by a big, broken and uneven drill bit burrowing through the cement and rock to form a tunnel network like worm's nest. Luna had no idea what it was either as it had not been there when she had fled the settlement a day or so ago during the height of its downfall.

The tunnels were too dark and too far below them to make out specific details, which meant that the only real way to search for clues about Cinder's whereabouts would be to jump down and start combing the tunnels since Jaune's ability was malfunctioning and Cinder's Scroll had disconnected from their team-level network which also enabled earpiece communication.

A pounding, scratching headache in Jaune's head did not help his ability nor did the fact that somehow his radar was not only unable to pinpoint emotions properly, it was malfunctioning to a disturbing degree- He could point emotion-sources to fairly accurate degree nowadays, but now it almost seemed like _everywhere_ around him there was a odd, painful and irritating emotion he couldn't recognize.

"Who took Cinder?" Weiss asked Jaune. "Did you see what happened before you bravely charged a inanimate object instead of whoever was assaulting her? Or did Cinder attack you?"

I͞ d͝on't know… S͜ome̷o͠ne capt́u͡r̷ed her̵ ͜an͟d ḑr͢a͞gg͜ed ͟her a̴way." Jaune focused his will on his transformation, trying his best to reduce the hissing that accompanied his speech. "My̕ eyes wer͜e ̴definete̕ly n͝ot gouge̡d ̵by ͟Gri̴m̸m"

"And you can't just poin-point where she went, right?" Weiss sighed at Jaune who nodded. "Figures. Well, Grimm don't drag their victims not waste time to pull them away before killing them, so we can safely rule out Grimm just killing her. Someone did this, and if I were to guess, it was one of her old teammates or, if unlikely, some White Fang survivor."

"What should we do?" Luna asked carefully while looking at the tall structure reaching to the ceiling of the cave at the distance. "The elevator to the surface is there, and we could get out."

"I hope that wasn't a suggestion to just leave Cinder behind." Weiss ground out.

"Well, she said that if she was a burden we could just…"

"No." came from both Ruby, Weiss and Jaune, albeit Jaune's response was more akin to a hiss, and Luna lifted her hands up in surrender. Blake stayed silent during the exchange while looking like she was deep in thought as she looked at a torn White Fang flag which had been strewn over one of the shopfronts.

"We're pursuing. Jaune, are you sure there isn't any way you could track her with your ability?" Weiss turned to Jaune who shook his head. "You can turn to a Beowolf. Dogs have a keen sense of smell so..."

"Be͞ow͞ol̀ves͝ ca̧n't sm̛el͡l."

"They can't… oh." Weiss blinked before turning to glance over the edge of the cliff. "Damn. So the only way to find her, or if she's even alive, is to comb through that tunnel network since her Scroll is unreachable and we can't trace it."

"She's dead. There's no way she isn't. Those _things_ don't waste time, and they must be the only things left at this point." Luna whimpered while tugging Weiss's sleeve. "We need to go, like seriously, right now, before anything else finds us. _They_ must know we're here now."

"...Jaune, grab Luna and tie her up like you did with Cinder earlier and get ready to jump. We're going to see if we can at least find some traces of Cinder down there- there were feathers lying around back where she was abducted so there's got to be traces down there as well." Weiss ignored the fox faunus's plea- but turned to give her a glare as the girl whimpered. "Or perhaps you'd prefer to wait here?"

The fox faunus went silent instantly and shook her head rapidly while her eyes were as wide as saucers. She maintained that silence as Jaune's tentacles creeped over her, pulled her off the ground and tied her to his back, but he could have sworn that the girl let out a odd sound when he tied one of the tentacles around her neck to cushion her head.

"Jaune, keep your senses sharp. Ruby, keep your eyes on Jaune, keep him stable. Blake, with me. We'll see if we can find a trace and follow Cinder. We could get more ground covered if we split up, but doing that would just leave us vulnerable for the attacker to repeat what they did earlier." Weiss pulled her rapier and made a motion for Jaune to go first. "You're our assault expert, charge!"

"This is totally a revenge for that 'leave the Lady in Pain behind' comment, righhhhhhhhhtttt…" Luna's words gained a hollow echo as the pair jumped off the cliff into the dark (Or rather, Jaune jumped and Luna quite literally tagged along), although luckily the girl didn't panic even though the situation must have been quite stressful for someone who was practically a civilian.

' _Cinder, please be alright…'_ Jaune thought as he prepared to land while fighting back the rising desire to go feral the deeper he went underground…

 **Next chapter: In few minutes.**


	39. Underground City of Glenn pt3

**Warning:**

 **Grimdark ahead**

 **Character death ahead**

 **Lewd ahead.**

 **Not neccessarily in that order.**

A mirror reflected a empty room.

A mirror reflected a shape of white.

The shape of white tilted her head at it, and reached to wipe a layer of dust off the shining surface and tilt it slightly so it would be suitably irritating for whoever entered the metro carriage next, likely some poor faunus worker who had to haul stuff from one end of the metro to another, thus had to pass by the subtly irritating mirror multiple times during their job in the White Fang settlement under Glenn.

Neo smiled and curtseyed at the inanimate object and the woman clad like White Fang soldier curtseyed back through the layer of glass, even if the droll grey interior of the recommissioned Glenn-Vale metro gave the graceful act a dull background.

She turned away from the mirror and begun walking towards the passenger compartment of the metro with carefree steps while maintaining a aura that said ' _I am busy, don't interrupt me'_.

She had learned young that if you wanted to infiltrate and stay unseen, the best way to do that would be to be as visible as possible, but no more than how a regular to the place would be. After all, someone might confront a hooligan painting graffiti to the side of a train compartment in the dark, but who would confront a state worker painting a wall with appropriate equipment and signs? It was all about being what was expected of her, and not being something that others expected of a infiltrator.

Granted, the security checkpoints that would lie outside the metro might pose a problem, but she figured that she could find a suitable target for her to 'hijack' a identity for herself, which would mean a quick stab in the neck of her unfortunate target followed by quick change of ID's and disguises, and she'd merge into the community for as long as she needed.

After all, the faunus within Glenn wouldn't bother checking their already established staff too deeply during the hussle and bussle of setting the bombs towards Vale and breaking up the camp, so Neo knew that she wouldn't need to maintain her disguise for long. However she got slightly curious when she moved through three metro carriages and there was no-one to be seen, although there were some signs of struggle like torn furniture and strips of bloody clothing.

Neo tilted her head at the wall which had a claw mark, making her wonder if the settlement was still standing or if the faunus fools had gotten themselves overrun by Grimm ahead of the schedule.

After all, it wouldn't do to have the faunus reveal what they had done in a fit of guilt after the Grimm would pour out and start a massacre in Vale, and if Neo was right, Cinder had never planned for the White Fang to extract from Glenn so they could have a chance to speak.

Of course the signs of battle could have been something left over from the time when Glenn had been abandoned in the first place- the Metro had been the city's last line of defence as it had allowed the remaining survivors to be ferried to Vale quickly. The historians 'believed' that the metro was overrun when it had returned to the station, and Vale sealed the tunnel behind it to stop the Grimm from flooding into Vale- although Neo personally knew that the tunnels had been sealed because Vale had hit the cap of people it could hold without causing a massive outbreak of famine and homelessness.

Unlike Mistral, Vale didn't have abundance of settlements on her borders mainly thanks to the terrain which not only protected Vale by forming natural barriers against Grimm, also worked against expanding settlements by putting them quite literally back against a wall while facing onslaught of Grimm- and as a result, any populace surplus in Vale had to be either shipped into the few coastal fishing villages that had managed to survive far away from Vale, most of which were naturally against the idea of having to accommodate for more people and putting themselves to bigger risk of Grimm by expanding more than they could defend, or Vale had to simply let the surplus people starve to death, or send them away to die on some far-fetched pre-doomed expansion attempt, one of which Glenn had later turned out to be as well.

Facing that choice, the council of Vale had decided that it would be mercy, or rather easier to wipe under the rug, if they closed the Glenn's metro tunnels before the majority of the refugees could evacuate and pose the problem in the first place.

It didn't matter to Neo, even if it was a amusing thought. She had grown up in Glenn, and met 'Roman Torchwick' back when they had been just delinquents, extorting the locals for money and running small time thefts. Later 'Roman' had enrolled to become a Hunter, but had quit half-way while faking his own death by being 'killed' by Grimm during one of his missions- with the entire 'training' having been just a excuse to get training to fight against the police and to gain basics of mastery over Aura and Semblances and to get rid of his old name to be reborn as 'Torchwick'.

He had then unlocked Neo's Aura, and the two of them had begun their new criminal careers in Glenn as it had the easiest prey around, being full of hopeful, modern and gullible people. From basic burglaries to scams to drug and Dust dealing, the years were good.

Until Glenn had fallen. After that, the years were positively _brilliant_.

All she and Roman had to do was stay behind when the people of Glenn fled towards Vale, and thanks to Neo's newfound Semblance, the two of them could start from blank slate by faking their deaths as being left to die in Glenn since they had grown somewhat infamous in the underground and police circles- and they soon found that Vale was full of people who were afraid, desperate and more importantly, gullible.

She smiled as she remembered the times of selling snake oil to the sick who could not afford the already overpopulated hospitals of Vale, or scamming the belongings of the who had money and propertiesoutside the City but could not get housing in already choke-full Vale when the value of roof over your head at winter would trump trinkets and valuables. Those fools would not need their money nor could complain about the broken promises when the winter took them.

Neo blinked as she realized she had fallen to her memories while looking at the claw-mark in the metro's interior wall, and fussed with her mask a little to hide her embarrassment and slightly reddened cheeks. She had work to do after all.

She adjusted the collar of her White Fang uniform and head off towards the passenger carriage which would open to the settlement proper.

Neo looked out of the window while projecting the aura of ' _I'm busy, move on and don't talk to me'_ just in case someone was around and spotted her, and she saw that the Metro station was looking a _lot_ more messy than it had looked the last time she had been around and the place seemed to lack people.

She shrugged. Perhaps they were on break or something, or they had gotten wiped out by the Grimm. The latter might pose a problem from infiltration standpoint since Grimm would instantly call bullshit if she attempted to camoflage as one of them, but she could just turn to stealth and wait for Cinder to arrive and set the bombs away.

Thinking of bombs, Neo turned to walk towards the bar carriage which was supposed to hold the main stockpile of Dust and explosives designed to set them off. At least she could make sure that the bombs would be there and the detonators worked as they were supposed to if she was going to have to set the metro off without the 'Fang being present.

She huffed as she moved through the abandoned underground train until she reached the compartment which was supposed to hold the heart of the metro- its engine, its fuel, and conveniently next to it, the Dust-bomb.

The compartment's reinforced metal door was locked, not a big surprise there, but the familiar smell of rotting flesh coming from the other side of the door made Neo sigh and reach for a nearest window-curtain and rip a strip from it to tie over her mouth and nose before reattaching her White Fang mask, just in case.

Of course one of the animals would crawl to the engine room and die in there- although the smell reaffirmed her belief that the settlement wasn't just taking a simultaneous hide-and-seek break but was in fact wiped out.

A kick to the door didn't budge it, and neither did a shoulder-ram although it made her angry at it.

Neo grit her teeth together in annoyance as she glared at the door while swearing bloody vengeance for the trouble it gave her, and she reached for her utility belt for few Red Dust vials. Luckily the White Fang uniform came with ample amount of utility pockets, which was pretty much the only redeeming quality of the rough and irritating clothing. Neo had made sure to equip herself for the worst, even if she could escape with moment's notice as long as she had Aura to use her Semblance.

She poured the contents of one military-grade vial on the spot where she guessed the reinforced door's hinge was, and one on the spot she guessed to be the door's lock, stood back, and threw a small crystal chunk at the impromptu breaching charge to ignite it.

The specifically designed 'melting' Red Dust ignited with a sound of breaking glass, before it gave a loud, continuous hiss and groan as the volatile substance bit into the metal door like thermite and burned through it.

As the reaction slowed down she kicked the door with all her (naturally somewhat short) might. The door gave one last groan before falling inwards and Neo charged into the room while checking the room briefly for threats, of which there were none, and immediately afterwards she hurried to sprinkle Ice Dust over the molten metal and burning Dust that still bit into the doorframe to freeze it and stop it from sparking too much inside the room which contained a Dust bomb. Granted everything _should_ be contained and sealed so sparks shouldn't set the bomb off, but you could never be too sure.

After ensuring that the Red Dust was neutralized in a puff of steam and shattering ice, Neo looked up and took in the status of the room in more detail.

The earlier rotting smell came from a large, clearly rotting male form next to the Dust bomb which barely fit into the otherwise barren room with the sole exception of a small safe weld tight against the steel hull of the compartment. The safe was open, but looked empty sans for a notebook on top of it.

Neo saw that the notebook had 'ANYONE WHO REACHES ME, READ THIS FIRST' written over the cover in massive, bold letters and she picked it up, curious if the pages within could shed light on the last few moments of the man- or more importantly if the bomb was operational. The smell of the dead was rancid and deeply ingrained into the walls of the compartment but Neo was no stranger to the smells of the dead and of rot so she didn't pay much heed to it.

She maneuvered past the dead faunus to sit on top of the small safe, opened a random page in the notebook and gave it a glance.

' _...The sick people are dying. I've ordered a quarantine, no-one gets in, no-one gets out. There were few groups of the indentured workers who escaped during the initial contact with those… things, and I sent groups to collapse the routes we used to get up to the surface outside the one in the main metro station. Those men and women were sworn to the cause, and understood this is greater than us. None of them returned, but I can only hope they succeeded in their tasks before Grimm claimed them.'_

Neo blinked and opened the book from earlier chapter that seemed to contain notes about something.

' _We found the solution after few fights. We needed to use fire- the creatures regenerate, wounds close before our very eyes and cut limbs grow back, but if we set them on fire, and keep them burning they will eventually die, or failing that, keep hacking at their limbs until they wither to nothing...'_

She shuffled few pages forwards and continued reading as the next few pages seemed to just contain logs.

' _...it has become clear to us. We must not allow any of those things get out. Whatever they wound, they corrupt… it is growing like a cancer upon flesh and bone. We tried to fight back, and while we could fight the creatures off like Grimm could be beaten back, the wounded would soon fall ill and turn on us in a frothing, insane rage that could not be calmed nor controlled. We began calling the illness Black Rage for the blood of those infected would turn dark red like that of a Grimm while they succumb to the fury of the sickness.'_

Intrigued, Neo gave a glance towards the dead body lying on the ground before flipping few pages over which seemed to detail something about biology of Grimm or something like that, she didn't really care.

She finally arrived to the last few written pages of the notebook, which looked like they had been written in one go, likely detailing the faunus's last moments.

' _...It all began from those thrice-damned fools who came to 'oversee' our preparations to deliver our manifesto to the people of Vale. The boy was infected, but at the time we did not know about the severity of his illness or we would have put him down instantly. Yet we had no such foresight as once the boy fell to the Rage, we tried to apprehend him, foolishly believing that he could be saved. We thought that his furious assault was just his fever-induced rage._

 _It was not._

 _Trying to save him was a mistake and many died that day before the boy slipped from our grasp. Those deaths weigh heavily on me, knowing I could have prevented all of this… but it had started, and we had no idea what we were up against. The boy's companion pursued him to bring him to justice, and I should have known better than to take that as a mere gesture of goodwill and responsibility for the actions of their flock. I was naive, as one cannot ever expect such honor from humans._

 _The third mistake I made was to keep the incident hidden from the workers- The decision was made to keep panic at minimum, to keep us hidden from Grimm, but it backfired._

 _The disappearances started soon afterwards, targeting the workers who moved alone, and moving to those who were weak or sickly once I ordered for people to move in groups. They didn't know what hunted them, and they were afraid._

 _Those corpses that we were able to recover… I should have ordered them burnt in hindsight. But I adhered to the old doctrines, and gave the Dead their proper rest under Her ground. It was yet another of my mistakes, as it allowed the creature to feed after digging up the corpses- or so I assumed, considering the graves had been robbed as soon as the patrols moved on._

 _It was unnatural how quickly the creature moved around the camp, and we were forced to defend ourselves against waves of Grimm as the fear and panic grew in our settlement in proportion to the rumours that began spreading of shapes moving in the shadows. After few days I realized that we were not fighting one creature._

 _It had reproduced somehow._

 _That revelation came too late for us as not long afterwards our dead came back to us- but they were not the ones we held as our comrades, but instead perverted shapes of Grimm and Faunus mixed, engulfed by the Grimm's rage but with the cunning of a faunus._

 _The creatures attacked, and fell after we discovered their weaknesses, yet for each that fell a five of ours were either wounded or dead. It was only then we realized how it reproduced- infection by flesh and bone. The creatures would deposit shards of themselves like how a honey bee would leave its stinger upon a wound, and it would grow like cancer in the host's flesh, draining the host empty while shaping itself anew- and attacking those nearby once its host perished._

 _We didn't know how many of our own fled during the clash as some of our indentured workers overpowered their guards during the confusion of the creature's attack and the subsequent incidents with the wounded, and the workers fled to the city. I can only hope they faced their ends at the jaws of Grimm and had not been pursued by the creatures._

 _However I realized the threat the infection could pose not only to us, but the rest of Remnant as well, and I sent few teams, loyal and wise, to collapse the routes we had built to allow us exit to the surface. I hope for Oum to bless their immortal souls to heaven for their sacrifice. I personally collapsed the elevator leading to the surface, and had the stairways broken apart so nothing could escape to the surface._

 _That we could not escape and risk bringing it with us_

 _We could have escaped, some of us argued. I argued that we could not risk the creatures following us and escaping to the world above. Some panicked and tried to flee after learning of the truth about the situation. Normally I would have allowed them to leave, but I could not afford to give the creatures even more food, so the protestors joined the wounded and the dead._

 _The Green-haired human who had accompanied the creature told us nothing when we questioned her. She left me no choice, but I knew she was strong. Stronger than any of us, and we could not afford fighting her up-front, so I ordered her food drugged and then executed- if she was anything like her companion, then she would be a ticking time bomb waiting to detonate and wipe away what remained of us._

 _She was cunning however, and must have checked her food since she disappeared that night. We could not find her, so I assumed she joined her comrade, proving me twice right- both of her true allegiance and of her true shape._

 _The night after that, the Grimm struck once more and the Changed followed soon after, reaping terrible havoc on both sides. I saw many of ours get dragged screaming from their positions to the darkness, and the pure Grimm fell upon their corrupted brethren with fury that took even the veterans amongst us by surprise._

 _After the battle was over, none of us remained unwounded._

 _We had no choice after that, for we knew what would follow. I told those who were capable of walking and carrying to show mercy to the badly wounded, and gather the dead into a great funeral pyre behind the buildings._

 _We were too few to venture out of the metro anymore, but it would do. I ordered us to make merry and unlocked the last of our feeble supplies and the emergency rations for we would not need them anymore and not eating them would just strengthen the creatures that would soon overtake the settlement. It was a meager last meal, but since we had been suffering from lack of food ever since our main storages were raided by the Changed, the little food we had felt like a feast- and those who were still able and willing even held more sensual event during and after the meal, even though we were all somewhat held back by our wounds for such physical activity._

 _The moment couldn't last however, so we gathered once more in front of the pyre- and I was elected to be the last one to leave this world so I could light it and venture into the metro to detonate the Dust._

 _Our message would never be delivered into Vale, for the risk was too great. We would die destroying whatever had born in the heart of Glenn- no sacrifice would be too great to protect everything we held dear._

 _The rest of the survivors fell upon the pyre once the poison or the blade took effect, and I stood alone with a torch in my hand. I confess my heart was wavering then as I stood before the corpses of my comrades as their faces burned themselves to my memory, some of them pained, mutated… and others at tranquil peace, knowing that I would finish off what had been born underneath the surface of Glenn- and that moment would be my last mistake._

 _Before I could set the pyre alight as the final service to the dead, the ground shook beneath my feet and a gaping maw broke apart the very pavement I stood upon like a sinister bone-clad worm-god of underground, reaching through the very ground to swallow its offering whole._

 _The creature devoured the dead, and I could only flee in despair as dark shapes emerged from the shadows. The metro wouldn't be too far away, and if I could detonate it, the entirety of Glenn would collapse, burying the dread that had awakened in her underground womb with millions of tons of granite._

 _When I reached the carriage… the detonator was gone._

 _The Dust alone would not be enough. The explosion would be need to be set in motion through the Dust simultaneously, or it would just burn and create a shockwave and fire instead of creating a massive, destructive blast- strong enough to perhaps destroy the metro station itself, but the slow burn would not be enough to collapse the entirely of Glenn._

 _The detonator used to be in the safe next to the bomb, to which only I held the key, but to my horror the safe was unlocked, and when I reached for my key I discovered that it had been replaced by a fake one. I could only guess one person capable of that, and I regret once more that I had not killed the green-haired thief-girl when I had the chance._

 _I had no choice. I heard noises outside the cabin, as the Changed had no doubt chased after me, and I locked the door. The door, alongside the entire fuel compartment, was made to be sturdy enough to withstand a crash at Metro's full speed to keep the Dust fuel tanks from rupturing, but also designed so that it could be torn apart from the inside relatively quickly and with minimal force to allow the tanks to vent should the Dust inside ignite. The compartment was thus the ideal place to store and detonate the bomb even if it meant we had to take away the extra fuel tanks so we could stuff the entire bomb in._

 _I heard the Changed clawing at the door and the walls, but they didn't get through. They had the cunning of a faunus to augment the Grimm's fury, but they were not able to operate power tools or set breaching charges either due to lack of intelligence or knowledge, and they gave up the chase soon afterwards._

 _I could not allow them to get their hands on the bomb however, or I'd risk them partially detonating it by accident. I did not open the door even after everything went quiet._

 _The door could only be locked from the inside, making me a prisoner of my own making._

 _I knew I was infected as well, so I would not last for long. The medicine in my safe contained enough poison to kill the infection within me, or so I hope, since I don't dare setting myself in fire in such contained space, much less next to the very bomb I sought to protect._

 _My vengeance for the death of my beloved lies unavenged, but I have moved that grudge onward, and I know my leader will carry it out in my stead when he learns of my death._

 _I composed this journal in the hopes that whoever finds it, will know what to do to fight that abhorrent creature and its spawns._

 _Remember, the Bomb needs collapse Glenn, or all will be lost._

 _Let my deeds be recorded in history not in my name, but in the name of my comrades, our resistance against the oppression._

 _Hail White Fang._

 _-Lieutenant of the White Fang, the leader of White Fang's Vale cell by grace of Adam Taurus.'_

Neo closed the journal thoughtfully.

She had two options from her point of view. Option one: Drop the notebook, get out, instantly, right now, and never speak of the thing again. Unfortunately that meant _if_ Cinder ever made it to the metro she'd release the 'Changed', as the notebook called them, right in the middle of Vale and more importantly, on top of Roman who would be waiting outside the entrance just in case Neo _didn't_ manage to blow Cinder to ash with the Dust bomb.

If the Changed assaulting Vale resulted in similar scenario the dead faunus on the floor had described, the destruction the creatures would cause might be enough to cripple or wipe out Vale altogether, but more importantly Roman would likely die. Of course she could just 'mirror' herself to Roman's side, thanks to the flip-up pocket mirror the man always carried (which had been installed with a vibrate function so she could call him in advance to let him know that he needed to open the mirror, she had popped out of the mirror into the man's dress shirt pocket once and it had been harrowing enough experience for Roman to warrant the precaution), but if Roman wasn't present when the breach happened, Cinder would likely see it as a betrayal and send her _other_ contacts, which Neo was fairly sure Cinder had, to hunt and kill the two of them.

What worried Neo more than that was Cinder's motive concerning Roman's supposed role during the breach.

If Neo read the situation correctly, Cinder had set Roman out against impossible odds deliberately, to make him a martyr- since he was currently a heroic figure to the people of Vale, against all odds, so his very public death and 'failure' to protect the citizens of Vale would demoralize the populace like no other.

Suddenly the pieces clicked together in her head, Roman's forced publicity stunts, embarrassing or dangerous errands, and all the other seemingly insignificant things Cinder had set them to do like stealing _all_ of the Dust stored in Vale's shops and shipments- and Neo had to brace herself against the nearby wall for a moment to stop herself from doing something she would instantly regret when she realized both she and Roman had been led like sheep to slaughter.

After she calmed down she realized that her only real option would be the option number two- to stay in the metro and its immediate area, try to keep herself hidden from the Changed, if they existed, wait for Cinder to come, and then lock the doors of the metro while setting the bomb to explode, or rather, stick to her original plan.

The problem was that the bomb's detonator was gone, which meant that if it went off, Glenn probably wouldn't collapse, not to mention that the metro would be half-way to Vale as well so it would just blow up the ground above it and send the Changed free upon the countryside. Neo thought about the dilemma for a while and came to a conclusion that it didn't really matter to her. 'Changed' or not, it would not be a problem as far as she was concerned- after all, wiping out Grimm population was a job for hunters, not for Neo, unless the Vale's council forked over all of its Lien to pay her for her services- and if they tried, then naturally she would just take the money offered as initial payment, steal the rest, disappear and throw row of middle fingers at the crowd of easily misled naive old fools who tried to hire her like some expensive hooker to go do some dirty work for them that they wouldn't dare to even think about doing.

Neo sighed as she pulled few small fingertip-sized mini-cameras and started attaching them all over the metro's entry- and exitways so she could keep an eye out for Cinder and her possible ragtag of followers when or if they eventually arrived, and she began steeling herself mentally. After attaching the cameras it would be time for the part of the job that sucked the most: waiting and watching the cameras until the time was right for her to strike, while simultaneously trying to keep as low profile as possible so she wouldn't end up attracting Grimm to herself.

Roman was _so_ going to buy her so much ice-cream when this was through that she'd start to resemble a helium balloon about to take flight after going through the entire stack, and another similiar helping after she told what hoops she had to jump through to kill the Cin-bitch.

That was the kind of reward she preferred.

.

..

…

"Is it just me or do these caverns look _incredibly omnious_ and like they are… uh, not natural?" Ruby asked as she walked behind Jaune while trying her hardest to not think about Luna who was currently experiencing something dangerously close to what Ruby had read once or twice in a book she had borrowed from Jaune's shelf. Even if Blake had heinously stolen the book from her, after which she had just picked the book's sequel from Blake's shelf and resumed reading.

Regardless of what she thought about the contents of the books concerning the subject of tentacles, the way Jaune kept behaving the deeper they went into the cave network made Ruby concerned not only for the fox-girl's modesty but also for whether or not Jaune would go berserk despite Ruby's eye's calming effect.

Not to mention how the dim light coming from Weiss's Scroll wasn't enough for either Ruby or Weiss to see properly, leaving them relying on Blake's and Jaune's night vision to guide their path with Jaune taking the lead and Blake being the rear guard. Luna could see well in the dark as well, but with her being civilian they didn't want to risk her getting snatched off the group and killed, so they placed her in the safest possible spot on the team.

Or what they hoped to be the safest possible spot, that being Jaune's back.

The dim light was the only source of illumination for them as they didn't want to use flares since the hard red light of the flares would reveal them far ahead, forfeiting any advantage of surprise if whoever had captured Cinder was paying any attention to their surroundings.

The walk gave them ample time to dwell in their dark thoughts however, specifically so when Weiss had ordered everyone to be quiet so their voices wouldn't echo off the tunnel's narrow walls.

Ruby still had no idea what caused the effect her eyes had on Jaune, although she had entertained her own theories that he was simply as smitten with her as she was with him, which naturally caused him to calm down upon seeing his beloved's eyes. A moment of massive blushes and nosebleeds later her critically thinking part had kicked in when she first got the idea back in Beacon, and reminded her of the fact that he was dating Blake, Pyrrha and her at the same time which meant that if her eyes had such effect on him, then it should be the same for the other girls as well.

The realization had shattered her fairy-tale idea fairly quickly even if she had worried for a moment if Blake and Pyrrha had just forced themselves on Jaune since he didn't seem to be able to tell people just 'no'. Well, before Yang had 'taught' him anyway.

That however left Ruby completely clueless to her newfound ability.

Not that it had mattered to her much since she was more sort of 'if it works, it works' kind of person rather than one who worried over things needlessly, even if it made Weiss incredibly frustrated whenever she was theorizing for a reason why Ruby and Jaune's Semblance had such unique interaction- and more importantly, how Weiss could replicate it so she too could quite literally give the boy's Semblance a cold shoulder.

The way Jaune convulsed occasionally and the way Luna squirmed as the tentacles held her tightly against Jaune's back her made Ruby regret her decision to ignore researching into her ability though, as she realized that if her ability suddenly stopped working they'd end up with berserk Jaune in the middle of a hostile zone, likely surrounded by Grimm at all sides, and underground where no help would find them. In addition to Cinder being either dead or captured.

Ruby tried to not think about it.

She had done a great job on it after recovering from seeing the mutilated corpses in the hidey-hole where they had found Luna. She had never seen a scene so… violent, although she knew that Grimm killed people and she knew beforehand that it was likely she'd see people getting killed by Grimm during her career as Huntress or even get killed herself, but it had been just a 'thing that happens' in her mind, and the pure shock of seeing dead people in so bad shape after Grimm had killed them had been enough to push her over her threshold, but she had to be strong. She had to just walk over the corpses, because if she broke down then she'd bring the team down with her or force them to leave her behind, and she knew Weiss wouldn't leave anyone behind so Ruby needed to stay strong until they got back to Vale. After that she could talk to Yang, and Jaune, and she could try getting a grip on the ugly, black feeling that had woken inside her chest when she had seen the death and destruction the Grimm had wrought, and felt like chain tied around her heart.

"Shh! Do you hear that?" Weiss motioned for the group to stop and they paused to listen to their surroundings. A strange hiss and slithering sound came from somewhere nearby, and they all paused for a moment, even holding breath to hear it better.

The dim light coming from Weiss's Scroll flickered slightly and the sound stopped.

Then the screaming began.

Gurgling, hollow, pained screeches echoed the tunnels and Weiss lit their first flare.

"Right, they know we're here. Limit the use of explosives, I don't want to collapse this cave on top of us!" Weiss yelled over the sound and Ruby flinched slightly as Jaune gave his own scream to join the cacophony around them. "Jaune! Control yourself!"

Ruby focused her attention on the boy while hoping her eyes still worked and reloaded a magazine of Electric Dust in her rifle-scythe. It would be too cumbersome to swing around in the tight tunnels, but she could use the fact electricity arced to send chain-reactions through whatever came to attack them- as long as she was careful not to fire too close to her own teammates. Friendly fire wasn't friendly after all.

Luna's limp form caught Ruby's attention and she saw that the fox-girl had passed out, which was likely for the best as the first of the hostiles burst into their sight- through the tunnel wall.

Weiss recoiled as a thin, claw-tipped arm-like appendage reached for her but Blake turned around to cut it off before it could reach the blood-covered white-clad girl. "Weiss! Duck!"

The tight space however caused Blake to collide with Ruby as the blade severed the appendage, and the two of them almost fell over as Ruby was preoccupied with keeping Jaune in check. The boy gave one more monstrous howl before the tunnel in front of them was filled with dark shapes, and Ruby saw something she would remember for the rest of her life.

Faunus and Grimm forms intertwined in insane, cruel and tortured shapes. A half-fused face that was half deer-horned faunus half Beowolf leered at Ruby before a blood-red blade separated the halves once more. As one shape fell however, the tunnel filled with others, and the tight, claustrophobic space was filled with tooth and claw, leering, screaming faces and flesh and bone pushing against each other into a bloody, claustrophobic melee.

It was lucky that they had Jaune with them, as without him being a bulwark against the assault they would have gotten overwhelmed within seconds since the tight space didn't allow them any room to maneuver or dodge attacks, forcing them to trade blow for blow. Weiss and Blake turned their attention to the shapes that attempted to burrow through the tunnel walls to them while Ruby kept her eyes firmly on Jaune, looking for a chance to use her rifle to help him as the group realized they couldn't effectively fight as one front without risking shooting or hitting each other with their weapons.

The twin blades the boy wielded were soon joined by another pair as Ruby saw that he was rapidly changing from his 'Knight' form to something else entirely, and she shouted a warning to Blake who almost got entangled in the boy's tentacles that had started to sweep, twist and turn almost as if they didn't care who they hit as long as they drew blood with the cruel-looking spear-like tips they had grown.

Ruby paled as she saw that Luna had new, bleeding wounds on her face, likely originating from when one of the tentacles coiling around her had torn into her unconscious body- and as Ruby looked at her, another tentacle passed by the faunus while slicing a long gash on Luna's arm. The red-clad reaper had to only hesitate for a fleeting moment before she burst into motion, narrowly avoiding a long, serrated blade-like claw one of the Grimm-hybrids tried to skewer her with before Weiss's rapier pierced the creature's White Fang mask and poked out of the back of the creature's head.

Ruby used the moment to grab hold of the tentacle that had tied itself around Luna's throat and pry it off. Before she got it away however the boy's slithering appendages had tied themselves around Ruby's waist, and she joined Luna's cocoon of slithering appendages.

Ruby had Aura, however, and could withstand the tight hold and the occasional sharp slash from the growths that started to decorate the black, squirming appendages, most of whom were by now covered in dark red blood of the creatures that still tried to push through the tunnel-block that was Jaune. As another deep gash opened in Luna's chest Ruby realized that she was out of options if she wanted to save at least _someone_.

' _Dammit, how did dad do that ritual… uh… er… ah! Got it!'_ She thought furiously as she struggled to get her arm free from the cocoon to place it on Luna's forehead. It didn't quite reach because of the awkward angle she was in, and she placed her hand on Luna's chest instead. "Er… Ahem. Whoa! Watch out, Weiss!"

Ruby paused her preparation to shout a warning to the white-clad girl that attempted to dodge a clawed human-like hand breaking through the tunnel wall, but the warning came too late as it caught the girl's long white hair and begun dragging her towards the wall while another of the monstrous appendages grabbed the girl's rapier-hand and third, pincer-like hand clasped itself around Weiss's waist. "Dammit! Blake, help Weiss!"

' _Crap…'_ Ruby focused her attention on Luna as Blake disengaged from the Grimm-like thing that tried to stab the black-clad with a vaguely spine-like dagger by twisting the creature's arm and making it stab its partner, both of which had broken through the tunnel wall behind them, and the black-haired girl rushed to aid Weiss after stabbing the remaining creature in its stomach to slow it down. The cat faunus's charge gave Ruby enough time to focus on saving Luna from a unintentional death, and she took the chance she was offered as she trusted Blake to be able to help Weiss. "Right, uh… _Through our knowledge, we build our homes, through our…_ uh… _love, we build our families, through our strength, we defend our friends, through our conviction, we vanquish our foe, and through our faith, we achieve immortality!_... I guess?"

The feeling of hope that was kindled in her heart was amplified tenfold, casting aside the doubt she might had of the ritual's success as she felt _something_ flowing through her hand into the unconscious faunus who twitched few times before slumping against the cocoon of tentacles covering her, and for a brief moment Ruby feared that her impromptu Aura unlocking had accidentally killed the fox-tailed girl.

A faint shimmer of light glowed from the girl's skin for a brief moment before disappearing, and the bleeding from girl's wounds began slowing down, signalling that the ritual was success and her newly-unlocked Aura would protect her from further harm- or at least it would protect the fox faunus until it ran out. Luna was still a untrained civilian so her Aura stability would not be anything to write home about.

Ruby had more important things to worry about however, and she let go of the girl's left breast to try to disentangle herself since Blake had been caught by the monster she had disabled earlier which had somehow regenerated its wounds and had lunged at the girl, and Weiss had disappeared half-way into the tunnel wall with only her waist and legs showing, both of which were kicking furiously as a testament to her will but Ruby knew that it would be only matter of time before she disappeared completely- and unlike Cinder, there was no question whether or not Weiss would survive getting dragged off the group and into a swarm of _very_ hostile Grimm-like beings.

"Grhh… Jaune! Weiss is in trouble!" Ruby shouted as disentangling from the 'protective' cocoon was harder than gettin in it, but to her horror it didn't seem that her words had much effect on the boy who kept howling in bloodthirsty rage at the creatures swarming him while cleaving through bone and flesh of his attackers with frightening ease.

She knew Weiss would be out of time soon, so Ruby resorted to drastic measures. Luna had Aura, and she still had more than half of hers after transferring some over to the fox-girl, so Ruby pulled Crescent Rose closer to herself, aimed it just past Jaune, and fired into the center-mass of the swarm of Grimm-hybrid creatures.

A massive, buzzing bang echoed through the narrow tunnel, causing Ruby's ears to immediately burst in tinnitus and she felt electric jolt coursing through her entire body as the high-voltage electricity induced by the detonation of the round arced through the crowd. She fired another shot as soon as her hands stopped cramping, and this time the crowd of creatures screamed in definite pain while she felt her Aura dipping radically as the Dust-induced high-voltage arced once again, and again, and again as she emptied her rifle blindly past the boy while feeling every single jolt in her own body.

"J-Jghth… Jghaune… Whegis!" Ruby stammered through her convulsions and it seemed that the shocks, combined with the effect her eyes had on him, had been enough to bring Jaune back from his bloodthirsty episode and the tentacles that had been tearing into the Grimm-shapeshifters reached for Weiss who had been dragged so deep into the wall that only her knees and shins were visible, and her furious kicking had slowed down to occasional twitches- making Ruby's heart jump as she realized the peril Weiss was in.

Ruby screamed for Jaune to hurry up and a additional pair of tentacles shot out towards the girl and into the hole Weiss's limp form had now completely disappeared to.

For a moment it seemed that everything came to a halt, until a slick, wet sound came from the background as Blake stabbed her machete-form Gambol Shroud into the Grimm-hybrid that was trying to eat her face, but Ruby's attention was solely in the appendages going into the small hole in the side of the tunnel wall Weiss had disappeared into… and the tentacles tightened, almost as if something was pulling them from inside the burrowed hole, causing Jaune to take a step backwards. A wheezing, exhaling sound accompanied Jaune unloading a flurry of his unique projectiles at the remaining Grimm forms from all four of his arms, nailing the remaining Grimm-hybrids in the tunnel in front of him with the spine-like darts that burrowed into their victim's flesh in a flash.

The havoc wrought into the Grimm's ranks allowed Jaune to disentangle more of its tentacles and join them into the swarm that struggled to find Weiss. Ruby took the chance to reload armor-piercing rounds into Crescent Rose as she didn't want to collapse the tunnel or block it entirely by using explosive or ice Dust, and she start shooting over Jaune's shoulder into the few surviving Grimm-hybrid forms that writhed on the ground to make Jaune's job of finding Weiss easier- although she soon discovered that the high-caliber rounds were almost completely ineffective since they just penetrated the creatures cleanly, and the Grimm-creatures regenerated almost instantly from the small wounds in startlingly Jaune-like manner.

She glanced behind her to see the tentacles having pulled something red and white from the hole burrowed in the wall, but before she could focus on it more she swerved around and shot a Grimm-thing made of three headless faunus fused to a Beowolf that was attempting to pull Blake away from the group after hitting her leg and causing the girl to fall over. The Crescent Rose blew a clean hole through the creature's single head and it gave Blake an opportunity to slice at the black hand that had gripped her hair as it was dragging the faunus away.

The creature let out a horrible, gurgling shriek before fleeing as Ruby to shot one of the headless faunus the creature had fused against its chest like some sort of disturbing, perverse lover-slash-meatshield. The wounded not-faunus begun to twitch and the creature limped away before Ruby could finish it off.

The last Grimm's escape brought a eerie silence to the tunnel that was now filled with hybrid corpses, some hacked into pieces by Jaune's blades or fallen to Blake's and Weiss's attacks.

The thought of the white-haired girl shook Ruby out of her after-battle shock and she squirmed against the boy's grip as she saw the blood-covered and unmoving form of Weiss that Jaune had dragged out of the wall. "Dammit… Jaune, let go of me! Weiss! Are you alright?!"

The girl didn't respond and Ruby ran to the girl as soon as he got out of Jaune's hold.

"Weiss, are… oh no…" Ruby whimpered as she saw the condition the white-haired girl was in.

Her Aura was clearly gone, and her normally immaculate dress had been torn into shreds, showing bloody and torn flesh underneath, and there were pieces of something white that Ruby didn't want to think about embedded in her flesh. Weiss's face bore deep gashes, and one of the deep, long slash-wounds on her face had split both of her lips in two and cracked her teeth while another had sliced into Weiss's left eye which was now a bloody mess. Luckily she still breathed, even if a wound near her throat made a horrible, gasping sound every time she took breath, and blood pulsed grossly out of her torn left eye along her heartbeat.

Ruby got out a medical kit from her waist-pouch with shaky hands, trying her hardest to remember her medical studies with the white-haired girl's guidance, but the fact Rube could feel herself being on the verge of panicking once again made the job of trying to find the correct way- _any_ way to help Weiss much, much harder.

"Ruby, is Weiss oka… No! Weiss!." Blake limped to the pair as she had apparently dislocated her leg during the brawl, and the black-clad faunus slumped to the ground near Weiss so she could take the medkit from Ruby's shaking hands, take a Aura-booster from it and put it against Weiss's neck. although the black-clad girl's hands were only marginally less shaky.

"J-Jaune, can you make sure the Grimm are dead, and Ruby can you… make sure Jaune's alright?" Blake told them as she took over the field medic's duty since Ruby wasn't able to keep her hands from shaking like leaves during tornado, although her orders were ignored since Jaune had only now noticed Weiss's condition and wobbled over to her to push his snout against the wounded girl's hand in startlingly dog-like manner- which may have been explained by the fact Jaune's face bore a Beowolf-like mask and snout, with the exception it was entirely made of bone unlike the half-mask of a natural Grimm werewolf.

Ruby vaguely noticed that Jaune was completely unwounded, with the exception of scorch-marks and burns that had likely come from the electric Dust rounds Ruby had fired.

Ruby didn't worry too much about it though, as she knew Jaune could and would regenerate as long as he had enough food or mass to rebuild himself, and with the hybrid corpses all around them, she was fairly sure he'd manage even if his oddly unwounded state made her curious- it was almost as if the creatures hadn't harmed him _at all_.

Weiss had no such luxury however and it looked like Jaune realized it too, even if his attempt to nuzzle the blood-covered girl wasn't helping Blake who was trying to give Weiss first-aid. Ruby guided Jaune carefully away from their unconscious and wounded team leader to give Blake some breathing space, since Jaune's new form didn't help the space or the stability of the corpse-filled tunnel since he had grown far larger during the conflict.

The boy had grown in width and armor instead of height, and as a result his chest was far wider, his legs were further apart and his relatively sleek armor plates had turned to thick, wide slabs of bone while the upper pair of his arms looked strong and bore heavier armor than the lower pair, which looked almost atrophied in comparison. The changes to his his appearance made him bear an uncanny resemblance to something that was between a roadblock and a walking tank, which in retrospect was probably the only reason the team hadn't been overwhelmed in an instant and died when the Grimm-hybrids clashed against them in the tight, confined space.

A groan coming from Luna let Ruby know that the fox faunus had woken up, still tied to Jaune's back, and was not feeling too good after the battle which Ruby attributed to the wounds the girl had sustained. Ruby was fairly sure she wouldn't be telling the fox-girl how she had gained her wounds though. "Oof… Ow, ow… something cut me? I'm bleeding?"

"Yeah, we all are. Hold still, I'll patch you up." Ruby sighed as she reached for Jaune's belt to pull his medkit and take few long bandages from it to slap on Luna's wounds.

She could do at least that- she may not be able to patch up Weiss as the severity of her wounds far surpassed her medical skills, but the forx-girl's wounds weren't too serious in comparison. Although she would have likely bled out and died during the combat if Ruby had failed to unlock Luna's Aura.

"Do you have painkillers? These wounds kinda sorta _hurt_." the girl squirmed a little as she tried to get her arm free from Jaune's hold so she could hold to her face which had a long, diagonal slash-wound over her nose bridge and over her cheek.

"No, Weiss needs them more." Ruby said quietly, prompting Luna to look at Weiss's mangled form. She turned away quickly while nodding, and she plopped unceremoniously to the ground as Jaune's grip on the girl slacked so he could move closer to Blake.

Ruby offered her hand to the fox-girl that had started to mumble something ominous while lying face-down on the dirt. Ruby didn't hear all of it, but it sounded something like 'it needs to take responsibility' and 'I wanna go home'.

Meanwhile Jaune gestured towards Blake's leg which was still dislocated, and the pair exchanged few words before he reached to grab the girl's leg.

Ruby looked away as she heard a sickening, bony crunch and a muffled, sharp inhale as Jaune reset the black-clad girl's leg so she could get back to bandaging and field-stitching Weiss together in the limited time they had before the Grimm would regroup and attack again.

"Are we still going to search for Cinder? Weiss won't hold for long like this. She needs to get to the hospital." Blake noted as she did her best to patch the hole Weiss had in her throat, which seemed to work somewhat as the horrible gurgling sound the girl had let quieted down even if she had visible problems breathing, and Blake had stripped her dress from waist up so she could bandage her torso and reveal the extent of damage the Grimm had done to her- which was something that almost caused Ruby to repeat her earlier episode in Luna's old hideout, and her earlier resolution was the only thing keeping her from breaking down in tears in front of her friend's mangled body.

Blake noticed it, and looked up from her work. "Ruby, look at me."

"Y-yeah, I need to… I need to stay strong…" Ruby hiccupped slightly against her will. "We need to stick together, or… or…"

Jaune tied all four of his arms around Ruby and she hugged tightly back, trying her hardest to channel strength from the hug. She felt herself calming down as she listened to Jaune's heartbeat, even if it was erratic and somehow _off_ , but it was his heartbeat regardless, and it made her feel isolated from the hostility and devastation that surrounded them, even if for a fleeting moment before they detached from each other so they could plan their next move.

"...I think we need to go. If we don't find Cinder soon, we'll die in here." Ruby said as she accepted the Aura autoinjector Blake handed her and she stabbed it in her own neck, ignoring the sting of it injecting a concoction of stimulants, combat drugs and refined Dust into her bloodstream as it worked to regenerate her Aura and flood her body with strength, allowing her to go on despite what had happened. Blake gave herself a shot as well before using the last one on Weiss, even if she risked overdosing the girl by doing it twice in short succession. "How's Weiss? Is she going to..."

"The stimulants should keep her from slipping to coma for some time, and if we're lucky, the Dust will boost her Aura enough to allow it to start healing her wounds. She should survive until we get out of here and into the hospital, but if she gets infections she'll be in trouble." Blake said as she tossed aside the empty shell of their last medkit since bandaging and medicating Weiss had taken all their first aid equipment. "Her left eye is beyond saving, I think, and she'll likely come out of the ordeal with far more scars than just the one over her eye."

"What if Cinder's in bad shape as well?" Ruby asked quietly. "Do we have enough to help her?"

"I have one more Aura booster, it should help a bit. Outside that, I don't know." Blake said. "Jaune, I think you should carry Weiss since Luna can probably walk by herself now. Even if she catches a glancing blow from Grimm she should be okay with her Aura."

"Oh… okay." Luna reluctantly moved away from Jaune, and Blake lifted Weiss carefully so Jaune could coil his tentacles around her and tie the bloody white-clad girl to his back protectively.

Ruby reached to pat his head as Jaune gave a miserable whine not unlike what Zwei would give when distressed. She also noticed that Jaune looked completely unhurt, which was somewhat odd considering the state of the rest of the team and Jaune's susceptibility to damage even if he regenerated fairly quickly from it. There should have been at least scratches from the Grimm's claws on his armor, but it seemed almost pristine sans the blood that covered it.

To Ruby it looked almost as if the Grimm hadn't even tried to kill Jaune, despite him massacring the assailing swarm. She shook that thought out of her head as she realized how ridiculous it sounded. "Come on. We have to keep going. Cinder and Weiss are counting on us."

"Y͝ea̶h͏..̢."

…

Cinder felt herself waking up to find herself lying on a soft, warm surface for once. The comfort was welcome and for a fleeting moment she wanted nothing more than just to go back to sleep and let the warmth engulf her… until the first, massive bang of a massive migraine caused her to almost twitch and turn over while holding her head in pain.

But the moment passed and she remembered what had happened seconds before her loss of consciousness, and she kept pretending to be sleeping while mentally contemplating her situation and trying to stay from moving despite the hammering inside her head that sounded like thousand snakes playing a crazed version of a rock song using only high explosives as medium.

She probed her Semblance to discover that she was out of Aura, which was likely caused by the next item on her list.

Her new wings didn't hurt anymore but they wouldn't help either as she was incredibly sceptical to their ability to actually fly, despite their appearance. It took more than just a pair of wings to make a human fly after all.

Mercury had apparently deserted their cause, and something was up with Emerald as well, and the White Fang base was destroyed. A uncomfortable thought entered Cinder's head as she remembered Weiss talking about 'shapeshifting Grimm' and for a moment she wondered if Emerald wasn't truly the Emerald she knew, but discarded the idea as unlikely. She knew the green-haired girl was skilled in evasion and stealth, so it was unlikely a Grimm would catch her so easily.

"Ahh… Mistress, you're awake." A soft purring sound came from near Cinder and she realized Emerald had likely waited beside Cinder for her to awaken.

"Emer… Em. It is good to see you." Cinder said as she sat up and noticed that everything was pitch black. "Would you mind giving me some light?"

"Of course, mistress."

"Haven't I told you not to refer to me as Mistress?"

"Of course, mistressss…"

Cinder tried to suppress a shiver as she heard a odd hiss in Emerald's voice.

Something cracked and Cinder blinked as a red glow-stick illuminated the area they were in, casting dim glow on the oddly organic-looking cavern all around them...

And Cinder realized that she was not sitting on a oddly warm bed or couch, but on something living that undulated softly under her rear. She tried to stand up instantly but a pair of strong arms pushed her back down against the bed of flesh and then tied themselves around her waist in almost loving manner, which also locked her arms to her sides. "Mistress, you can't get up, not before I ssshow you what I've dissscovered!"

"Emerald, what are you doing!" Cinder put as much sternness as she could into her voice while she tried to push Emerald away. The green-haired girl was acting _very_ creepy, and Cinder had a bad feeling about the entire thing since Emerald had been nothing but subservient in the past once they had gotten used to each other.

"I need to show! It'sss glorious!" Emerald hissed happily while hugging Cinder. Cinder would have pushed the oddly eager girl off, perhaps slapped some sense into her, but without her Aura she had to rely on her muscles alone and that didn't go very far since Emerald apparently had grown far stronger during her time in Glenn- suspiciously so.

"Emerald, stop babbling and start making sense! What happened? Where are we? Tell me, where's Mercury, where are the White Fang, and what happened in Glenn?!" Cinder hissed, and would have continued were it not for Emerald changing her hold on Cinder- and pressing her lips against hers.

"Mmbh! Ghmb!" Cinder's eyes widened as she tried to struggle against the girl's advance, but found herself unable to shake her off, and the moment she opened her mouth to try to say something Emerald slipped her tongue into Cinder's mouth- her _unnaturally_ long tongue that slid its way down Cinder's throat and deposited something in her stomach before continuing the disturbing extreme-deepthroat french kiss. ' _Wha- What the hell? Emerald!'_

"Pwah… ahaha, you're delicious, mistress… oh how I have missed you." Emerald purred as she pulled off the kiss and licked saliva off Cinder's lips while the woman just stared at Emerald in pure shock while attempting to breath as Emerald's performance hadn't left her with many chances to fill her lungs. "I can't wait to taste you more… ahaha…"

"Emerald! Stop! What is _wrong_ with you!" Cinder howled as Emerald's face closed again. Cinder closed her mouth instantly as she _didn't_ want another deep-throat exploration episode with the girl's odd tongue, but it seemed that Emerald was just intending to just kiss her jaw and neck this time. "Stop! How the hell do you have that tongue?! _What_ the hell is that tongue?!"

"Oh, it was horrible at the start, you know. Mercury was in such pain when we left, and while I initially couldn't care less about what happened to him, my eyes opened soon after he… _ascended_." Emerald drawled as she pushed Cinder's arms over behind her back and she heard a metallic click of handcuffs closing around her wrists. "Oh, my lovely mistress, you're out of Aura. Feeble, weak, vulnerable, but I see you've already received a blessing. Don't worry, your weakness will change soon to might. _He_ 'll make you strong."

"Emerald. Concentrate, what happened?" Cinder tried to make her voice sound soothing and friendly to not provoke the girl who was clearly unhinged while her stomach curled in fear, and her head started to feel dizzy. ' _Em... put something in me? …Drugs?'_

The fact Emerald had begun fondling Cinder's new wings wasn't helping.

"Ah, Mercury… He was wounded when we left Vale, you know. He kept it secret from all of us until we reached the White Fang base, but... he had been blessed. At the time I thought it was gross, tumorous growth that looked like his leg had grown a spine under the flesh of his thigh, but I was wrong… I was so wrong…" Emerald whispered as she reached for Cinder's jacket and undid the buttons. Cinder didn't like where it was going, but she needed to know more and Emerald was apparently feeling talkative when she cooperated.

"What happened then, Emerald?" Cinder asked in her usual sultry voice while cringing internally and managing to only barely hide the disgust she felt from the way Emerald's fingers crawled over her body. She'd make her pay for it once their roles were reversed.

"The White Fang fools tried to remove it, and failing that, contain Mercury. But he could not be contained. _He_ bore a gift, he was a messiah of a coming new world, and he needed to show us the way. Make us whole." Emerald giggled as she pulled Cinder's jacket open and kissed her collarbone, slipping her long tongue in Cinder's shirt and coiling it around her breast like some sort of slithering, disgusting snake.

"Em… focus, tell me more about… uh… _messiah_ , as you put it." Cinder fought back a shiver as she tried to push herself away from Emerald to no success.

"The Fang fools died, as foolsss do. But Mercury was kind and generous, and he ssshared the gift with them in death even when they resssisted in life. They too heard _his_ voice speak through Mercury, commanding… oh, mistressss, you _must_ hear it too!" Emerald purred as she slipped her arm into Cinder's pants, causing the woman to freeze completely. "Ah, I've never felt more alive... Most of the White Fang have already become one with Mercury in preparation to join our Lord, and he had even shown the glorious unity to the Grimm which dared to attack us!"

Cinder's breath caught in fear and disgust as Emerald continued her movements, but she forced herself to go on through grit teeth as the girl felt around somewhere where she _really, really_ shouldn't. "And… gh... what did the voice… hn... say?"

Emerald looked up with a blissful expression while Cinder tried to keep her thighs together with all of her remaining strength despite the tanned girl's insolent actions, and despite the fact her fingers had entered a place where they should _never_ enter. Cinder made a mental note to cut the offending appendages off once she got on top of the situation.

The green-haired girl didn't seem to notice Cinder's mood or didn't care as she continued her ministrations and giggles. "Consume. Survive. Breed."

Cinder most definitely did _not_ like the sound of that.

"That sounds… intriguing. Just how… grr... exactly do you- hngh! ...manage that?" Cinder grit out, before realizing that it might have been the wrong question to ask as Emerald's long tongue slithered out of her mouth again to show its full length, and Cinder noticed that it was dark red instead of healthy bright red like human's. It reminded her eerily of Grimm's blood, and Cinder shivered as she realized that the Emerald she knew was likely dead already, if the two-foot long Grimm-like tongue and insane rambling wasn't a clear enough of a sign. ' _Don't tell me that the fox twerp was right…'_

"Aha… ahaha, let me ssshow you!" Emerald sounded happy that Cinder was asking the questions and she turned around to show her back to Cinder while pulling her hand out of Cinder with a wet slick, sending a shiver through the older woman's frame. "I wanted to foolissshly get away from him when White Fang felt hisss might… but he caught with me, and ssshowed me the way!"

Cinder felt her skin crawl even more as she saw that a creature of segmented white bone had burrowed into Emerald's back, resembling a malformed, blade-like second spine. Tendrils of black reached from the spine-looking growth and sank into the girl's flesh to form a nerve-like network, and Cinder to her horror noticed an eerie similarity to the tendrils she remembered having torn off from the parasite within her hand, even if the creatures they came from were nothing alike.

"I got caught, yess, and he gave hiss blessing to me." Emerald warbled happily, unaware of the the effect her words had on Cinder. "I helped him convert more of the flock by kidnapping faunusss from the camp while maintaining appearance of helping them… They caught onto me finally, but it wasss too late, I already knew what they planned."

"And… what did White Fang plan?" Cinder asked. She had a fairly good hunch that the plan the 'Fang had was to try to flee to the surface and save their own skin, but she tried to buy herself time to come up with a plan to escape.

"They planned to collapssse Glenn on usss by detonating the Dussst Bomb in the metro." Emerald giggled.

Cinder paused. ' _What? And die in the process?'_

"I sstole the bomb's detonator, they won't be able to sset the chain reaction without it." Emerald continued while pulling a cylinder approximately the size of her hand from her waist-pouch. "They realized the glory of our coming unity ssoon enough though, and offered themselvesss to uss in a grand ceremony of consssumption, breeding and flesh, and we accepted their ssacrifice with joy…"

"R-right…" Cinder kept edging slowly away from the crazed green-haired girl while trying to come up with a good conversation subject. "So… ah… well..."

"Ah… I can't wait for us to share it… we'll be together, forever…" Emerald started to crawl towards Cinder on all fours. Cinder hastened her crawl away from the girl, but Emerald caught her and pushed herself between Cinder's thighs while pulling at her pants from her waist to her thighs, and Cinder realized what Emerald was about to do.

Emerald's long tongue lolled out of her mouth grossly and Cinder prepared herself mentally for what was about to happen… until Emerald's head snapped to the side in a sudden, erratic motion that sent her tongue slapping against her own cheek. "Ah…"

Cinder used the girl's distraction to her advantage, and kicked the girl away. The kick didn't do much to throw Emerald off, but caused Cinder to slide away on the slick, soft organic surface the pair lied on.

"Ahhh, he's here! Come, we must make preparations while the subservient ones greet him!" Emerald purred as she hugged herself with expression of rapture on her face, her tongue lolling grossly out of her mouth… until her expression did a complete shift, going from insane pleasure to wide-eyed horror in an instant. "Wait… no, are we unworthy? My lord, why are you rejecting us? Please, no! No! Nooo..."

Cinder used the chance to crawl away from Emerald as the girl doubled over and squirmed pathetically while pleading insanely to some unseen figure and sobbing.

' _Dammit, what in the burning hells is going on in here?'_ Cinder thought as she fled after grabbing the red glowstick Emerald had tossed away and pulling her pants up hastily. The fact her hands were handcuffed behind her back did not make getting up any easier nor did it help her attempt to show the light ahead of her so she could see where she was going in the cramped, organic tunnel.

The organic-looking walls undulated softly under her feet, which did not help the dizziness and nausea that rose from her stomach as the drug Emerald had put in her started to hinder her thoughts which were already suffering from major stress overload combined with migraine.

A shiver went through the organic frame, followed by a sharp roll which made her lose her footing and fell over as what had been a floor turned to a wall. Her vision swam and the glowstick fell from her hands but she tried to push herself up with her wings as soon as she regained her balance on her new footing. For some reason the organic tunnel seemed to be almost _moving_ , but she attributed the delusion to her increasing dizziness and nausea.

"C͝in̶de͞r...͏"̛

A familiar, hissing voice came from nearby and Cinder let a relieved breath as she recognized the voice.

"Ah… Knight, you made it?" Cinder slurred, and turned around while kneeling on the ground to see dark form against the end of the organic tunnel- which signalled to Cinder that her little escape had failed since she had reached a dead end. The shape in the wall didn't quite fit the Knight's profile either, so Cinder picked the glowstick up from the organic floor and illuminated the form.

"Help.̷.͟."

Mercury let a wail from the wall as Cinder looked at him with blurry eyes. The boy's atrophied upper body was combined with a grossly inflated fat tissue around his waist and legs- both of which had sunken up to his thighs to the wall that curved down to meet the floor. Meshes of small bones and tendrils criss-crossed from his sides as his back was sunken into the living wall, and the 'tumorous growth' Emerald had talked about was clearly visible in the boy's leg- except calling it 'spine' was gross understatement as the thing looked more like sentient creature that had grown from the boy's leg and burrowed into his flesh only to come out of his stomach and then disappear into his chest where his heart _should_ be.

A closer look showed that the creature had gone up Mercury's windpipe based off the protrusions showing through his pale skin, and likely nested in his head.

Cinder noted that the boy's chest wasn't rising or falling as she waited for him to do something beside twitching and mumbling something incoherent.

She realized that there would not be a escape for her.

A slither and stomp from behind her told her that Emerald had likely noticed Cinder's escape and was moments away from recapturing her.

However, with Cinder being trapped at a dead end, barely conscious from the combined effects rolling in her head, and powerless because of the parasite's effect, she knew there was nowhere she could go and nothing she could do as she felt a pair of arms tie themselves around her shoulders and a long tongue coiled around her throat.

"Ahh… ssso hassty… You musst want the ascension already…" Emerald hissed to her ear as Cinder felt her arms and legs tingle and she heard Emerald's insidious whispers as consciousness threatened to flee her once more- although not before Cinder reached for Emerald's pouch to remove the detonator from the girl's possession since the girl was rubbing herself grossly against Cinder's back. The girl's distraction provided a good opportunity for Cinder to do her final sabotage. "We are unworthy, our lord rejected uss… I do not know why… so we musst make preparations… ah… Mistressss, how I love you... Don't worry, I'll come after you..."

Something sharp hit her and Cinder lost consciousness.

.

..

…

A crunch rang in the cave as a heavy bone-clad feet crushed what appeared to be human or faunus bone under is weight.

"Are you sure it's coming from here?" Blake whispered while trying to keep quiet despite Jaune's advance being anything but. The whispers in the dark had only become stronger, almost as if they were calling for Jaune. The white noise that had permeated the entirely of Glenn had grown to a point where his ears felt like they would begin to bleed at any second, yet he had to go on while trying to shift through the sensory overload.

The overload had peaked during the Grimm-hybrid's assault where Jaune had completely blacked out, only to wake up to a electric jolt shocking him back awake.

The thing that made Jaune both curious and apprehensive of approaching the source of the static was not his increasing lack of control over his body, but the fact he felt almost as if he wasn't _alone_ in his body, beside the constant raging of the Shadow circling the edges of his mind, and he could feel brushes of skin against dirt and flashes of vision from places where he wasn't. The odd out-of-body experiences had only grown stronger as he approached the core of the _wrongness_ in Glenn, becoming less coherent and more invasive.

He could swear he had felt brushes of wings against his chest, seen something green flash and felt incredible pain in his stomach and chest, but Jaune pushed on regardless, no matter how badly his thigh hurt.

He had no choice but to push his discomfort, pain and mental chaos aside and advance if he wanted to get out, if he wanted to save Weiss who was barely hanging to her life while tied to Jaune's back, if he wanted to save Cinder who was captured and held somewhere… if he wanted to save everyone.

Just, only if, he wasn't feeling so _hungry_ despite snacking on the corpses of their earlier battle while the girls got themselves ready...

"Well, there's a lot of skeletons and stuff in here... " Ruby's voice broke a little as she commented on Blake's earlier words from behind Jaune. He ignored it in favor of putting one feet in front of other, and again, and again, and again. "Wait, what's that? Jaune, ahead of you!"

He glanced up and saw… no, _felt_ something slithering towards them… him slithering towards them... like how he felt his living ammunition slithering within the flesh of his arm, burrowing through ground as he felt his creations burrowing within his flesh.

The girl behind him let out a sound as he looked at himself with almost blind, red eyes…

He was so _hungry..._

…

"Jaune! Jaune!" Blake hit the boy in the shoulder as he had frozen completely while locked into a staring match with a _massive_ , horrendous bone-covered worm-like Grimm that approached them with frightening speed through the tunnel- making Blake realize just how, and _what_ had made the tunnels.

And that the massive bony Grimm worm was approaching them at frightening speed with its lamprey-like mouth gaping open, wide enough to fill the entire tunnel.

Ruby let out a gasp.

Luna almost fainted.

Jaune stood still.

Blake froze. ' _No… It can't end like this!'_

There was nowhere for them to go to avoid the worm. They could not outrun the worm, they could not out-burrow the worm… so they had only one way they could go.

"Jaune, Ruby, Fox-girl we're going in! Kill it from inside!" Blake screamed over the harrowing sound the worm gave as it came at them, and a split second later she pushed everyone forwards, throwing Ruby into the open maw and jumping in after her with Luna in tow.

"Jaune!" Ruby cried out as the boy didn't move, and Blake felt her stomach sink as the boy remained unresponsive in face of the massive Grimm.

The boy tilted his head as shards of bone broke the skin of his temple and begun forming a crown-like growth eerily similar to his Tyrant form's crown.

The worm came to a stop centimetres away from Jaune, its maw wide open almost as if it was asking for him to enter while Blake and Ruby stared dumbfounded from their spot inside the worm-thing's mouth just beyond the rows and rows of small, sharp teeth with Blake holding her Gambol Shroud up at the roof of the thing's mouth and Ruby had posed herself ready to shoot down the creature's throat.

' _...What?'_ Blake blinked at the sudden change in the worm's behaviour.

The moment passed as a swarm of tentacles shot out from Jaune's back and impaled themselves into the worm's mouth interior, slicing into the soft, black flesh and biting into the creature in gross display, much like some sort of slithering tendril entering a pulsing vein and splitting apart to invade the creature.

The Grimm worm let out a hollow roar and Ruby used the chance to fire her Crescent Rose down the creature's throat while Blake drew a circle around the creature's mouth, sending dark red blood spraying all over the three girls standing in the worm's mouth.

The Grimm bone-covered worm trashed and started to pull away as Crescent Rose's Ice Dust detonated within the creature, and Blake heard as Jaune gave a pained roar as well while his tentacles undulated and coiled together to form a singular, thick cord that sunk into the worm's flesh.

"Ruby! We need to kill it quick, I think it's doing something to Jaune!" Blake told the girl while grabbing Luna by her tail and dragging the girl deeper into the worm, out of the thing's mouth where the teeth were. "Get in! I think we're just making it angry by hitting its mouth, we need to go deeper!"

"Right!" Ruby nodded as she swung her Crescent Rose upwards and hit the creature's maw so the rifle-scythe jammed the maw open, giving them access to air. "Give me the scabbard!"

"What, Shroud's?" Blake ashed before realizing that Ruby was intending on leaving her Crescent Rose behind as a door-wedge. "Are you…"

"I don't have room to use her inside that _thing_! Jaune! Jaune! Make sure Crescent stays okay, alright?!" Ruby howled over the creature's roar that joined Jaune's defiant one. "Dammit, Luna!"

"She's unconscious!" Blake thrust Gambol Shroud's scabbard which doubled as a machete to Ruby and she grabbed it and instantly stabbed it in the Grimm-creature. "We need to find the heart, or something that makes it hurt! I don't think Jaune can hold it for long!"

"Ą̧́͟͠A̡̧͝͠à̢a͏̛҉à̸͞͞a͢͝͞áh̷̡̢̡h̀͝͡h̶̡̧͘h͘͘͟͝!́́̀!"" A pained howl coming from the boy proved her words as Blake slashed at the creature's flesh near the entrance of its throat to make it slacken, and Ruby nodded as the pair began cutting their way deeper into the worm, only to see the flesh part before their eyes- and Blake dodged a scythe-blade that hit Ruby in her throat as the red-hooded girl stood still almost as if she didn't see the blow coming before it hit.

"HERETICSSSS!" a raging, hissing voice bellowed from inside the massive worm, and Blake was forced to dodge a chain of furious swings from a tanned, green-haired girl that burst out of the undulating flesh like some sort of living bullet aimed at the two of them- or one of them as Ruby kneeled on the ground while holding to her throat.

Blake realized she stood alone as Jaune was pinned by the bone-worm creature, Weiss was out of action, Luna was unconscious and Ruby was either wounded or had been knocked out by the blow.

A streak of green steel arced at Blake from above her, and Blake parried it with Gambol Shroud… only for the blade to go through hers while pain flared in her stomach as she felt something kick her despite not seeing the green-haired girl lift her leg.

Blake felt as her back slid painfully against the sharp gravel-like shards of rock that covered the tunnel floor, and she flipped herself up so she could stop Emerald from killing Ruby and Luna as they would be likely the next targets for the crazed green-haired girl, all the while she tried to not think about _why_ Emerald had been in the Grimm in the first place, or why the girl was fighting with just one hand-scythe when Blake could have sworn Emerald had carried two in the past.

But it didn't seem she needed to do anything as Emerald had fallen on her knees while looking at Jaune and whispering something insidious Blake couldn't hear over the sounds both Jaune and the Grimm Worm made as Jaune kept pushing his cord-like tentacle-swarm into the worm's flesh. Weiss was motionless in the cocoon of flesh that surrounded her as she hung in Jaune's back, but Blake couldn't distract herself from her foe by worrying over Weiss's health at the moment.

Blake used the green-haired girl's distraction to her advantage by charging her and grabbing her head, and pulling her out of the worm, away from Jaune, Ruby and Luna. A swift kick reversed their roles and Emerald flew deeper into the tunnel, but she landed on her feet and sprung at Blake at frightening speed.

As the two exchanged blows, or rather Blake tried to fight despite Emerald somehow constantly passing her defences and landing hits, the battle behind them came to its conclusion as Jaune let out a blood-curdling howl while collapsing on his knees.

Blake collapsed as Emerald kicked her feet from under her, and stomped on her chest which knocked the air out of Blake's lungs.

Emerald lift her scythe to deliver the killing blow as Blake's guard was down… and a pair of tentacles hit the green-haired woman's chest with the force of a jackhammer, causing a loud, wet squelch to rang in the tunnel and flinging Emerald aside like a broken toy.

"Lord! No! Am I unworthy?!" The insane green-haired girl wailed as she crashed against the tunnel wall while Blake rolled over weakly and tried to get on her knees. "Lord! Why?! Why do you reject me!"

Blake fired few shots at Emerald's general direction as her vision swam, and the green-haired girl gasped as the bullets hit their mark. ' _What the hell is she on about?!'_

"I am merely trying to help! I've been a good girl, Masssterrr! Pleasssse grant me passssage to your gloriousss unity asss well!" Emerald wailed although she had to pause to give a wet cough, which made Blake confused. ' _Isn't Emerald's Aura protecting her?_ _Did my shots just puncture her lungs?'_

Boldened by the girl's lack of Aura Blake reloaded her pistol with practised moves and began unloading round after round to the green-haired girl's blurry form, and she heard soft, splashing sounds indicating that she was actually hitting and dealing damage to her foe.

Emerald gave one more gurgle before she fled the tunnel, and Blake hesitated for a moment before refraining from chasing the girl in favor of helping Jaune who had doubled over on the tunnel floor. The movement caused Weiss who was tied to his back to arc her body like a bow in a display that was incredibly disturbing mainly thanks to the fact that Weiss's face, or what was visible of it past the bandages, was strewn into a painful frown and her mouth hang open in a silent scream while a cord made of tentacles flowed from Jaune's neck into the worm-creature's flesh.

After the battle and it's screams and howls, the sudden silence was incredibly eerie and ominous, making Blake shiver before she burst into motion.

"Jaune! Are… is everything alright? Wait, Ruby!" Blake rushed past Jaune as she saw Ruby falling out of the motionless worm-creature's mouth. She saw that the girl had a bloody wedge over her throat, but her Aura had mostly tanked the earlier hit by Emerald's hand-scythe and just left the girl unconscious from the shock of her Aura breaking. Blake made a mental note to suggest Weiss that they'd train Ruby in withstanding the shock better if they even got out of Glenn alive.

She dragged Ruby off the creature and returned briefly to fetch Luna as well. Blake contemplated grabbing Crescent Rose as well, but she had no way of knowing if the creature's mouth wouldn't just snap shut the moment it was removed, trapping her within, so she let it stay in the Grimm monster.

"Dammit… what to do, what to do…" Blake hissed to herself as she tried to comprehend the situation. ' _I have no idea what to do… should I try to get Jaune to wake up? Ruby's out for a while, I have one more Aura booster, Weiss is stable but that won't last…'_

A twitch ran through Jaune's frame and Blake hurried to help him get up to a kneeling position. "A̶hh..͏. ͠E͏verýt͢hin͞g͘ hur̀ts͜.͞..̵ M͠y le͟g͜s h̡urţ,͝ H͘e͞l̸p͏..̵."

Blake glanced at Jaune's legs. They were unharmed. "Jaune, your legs are fine, what's wrong?"

"I͜t̨ hur̨tş,̛ ít ͘h͠urts,͜ ít hurts,̕" The boy whimpered while leaning against Blake, causing her to almost topple over as the boy's mass came to partially rest on her chest. She begun to scratch his new dog-like ears just like she had scratched hers in bewilderment.

' _Dammit, Ruby could wake him up with her eyes, but she's out... '_ Blake tried to think furiously. ' _Right, that cord looks a bit like the one he had back when we practised with his Tyrant form, so it must connect to the worm… did Jaune take control over it? Can he even do that? Wait, is his tentacle actually not a tentacle… well, octopus-tentacle, but some kind of neural tendril?'_

Blake shivered as her thoughts went to dark places, but she didn't stop petting Jaune as the boy's shivers and whines seemed to calm down slightly. Or it should have calmed down, but the boy crashed down on top of Blake, trapping her under his bulk and he began sniffing her neck while saliva formed between his long, wolf-like teeth.

Blake froze instantly like a cat cornered by a dog and her ears shot up in fright. ' _Crap, is he losing control over himself? Not now, please, not now!'_

Her hands reached for Jaune's belt and Blake contemplated on using their last Aura booster as a growl came from deep inside the boy. ' _He said he's struggling to control himself in presence of negative emotions or when he's hungry, which causes his regenerative Aura to destabilize so pumping him full of energizing Dust could work, but what if… Oh dammit, I don't have time to argue!'_

She picked the booster and stabbed it in a unarmored part in Jaune's neck. The auto-injector pushed all of its fluids into the boy's system before he could react, or thought to react as he was too busy nuzzling Blake's cheek while disturbingly hungry-sounding growls came from in his throat… and he froze.

The injector's empty shell hung from the boy's neck and Blake could practically _feel_ the silence within the cave. The shell of the autoinjector detached from the frozen boy's neck and fell against the sharp gravel with sharp clack which shook Jaune out of his stupor like pin dropping against a tightly-strewn skin.

The primal howl Jaune gave almost deafened Blake, and he looked down at her with burning red eyes.

' _Is this over? Like this?'_ Blake thought numbly as the long jaw of her boyfriend closed towards her face. "Come on, Jaune, I know you can do this! Wake up!"

A soft 'fluff' sound came from above and Blake felt something soft land on top of her face.

"No! _...Cough..._ Bad Jaune! ...Ow..."

' _...What?'_ Blake blinked at Ruby who was partially slumped on top of Jaune while staring at the boy with hazy, unblinking silver eyes and her long red cloak was strewn over the three- or technically, four since Weiss was still tied to Jaune.

The red-clad girl had a bloody wedge over her throat, but she looked defiantly into Jaune's eyes over the top of his head. Blake noted numbly that should Jaune decide to just fling his head back, he'd likely end up impaling Ruby with the crown-like spikes he had grown off his mask, but as it were the boy and by extension, the worm were frozen in place.

"Ru͡b̢y̛? B͟lak͡e?..̶. "

Blake let out a sigh of relief as she slumped against the sharp, gravel-like floor of the tunnel and held her face with both of her hands when Jaune's red, glowing eyes seemed to regain their focus and he called out for her and Ruby, signalling that he was back in control. "Aha… ahahaa…"

"B͟lak͡e?..̶. "

"I'm alright, I'm just incredibly relieved you're back… what about that worm?" Blake sighed as Jaune lifted himself up, even if Blake had to help him do so without hurting Weiss too much all the while Ruby kept staring at the boy with tears on her cheeks, albeit Blake guessed that they were from the pain her wounds caused her and not because of some emotional outburst.

She checked the girl's wounds quickly up as she was doing that, and after that Weiss's condition. While she was clearly in pain, the white-and blood-clad girl didn't show signs of being about to die. On the contrary, she looked like she'd heal from her wounds fairly quickly even if her skin around the bandages had started to turn a bit more dark.

Blake guessed it was because of the bruising, but she didn't have too much time to worry about it.

"I͏..́.͏ ͜I͘ g͞ue̶ss.͞ I ͟d̕on't kn͢o̡w.͞ ͡It̵'̀s...̕ ̶in̢cr̛e͝di̸bl̕y p̢ai̡n̸ful͘. Í di̛d͡n't̡ ͜s̷o ̷muc̶h ̴t͝ak͠ę ͜i̢t̷ ơv͟er̸ ͟th̵a͘n j͟ust̸..̡. ̸becomin͏g o̧n͟e̢ w̢i͝th́ ͟it, ̧and...͠It's̢ b͘rok͝en. " Jaune tried to growl out.

"Broken?"

"Yea͞h́.͝..̵ it'̧s ̧mind̸ is g͠one̵..̢. I ju̕s͢t̶ r̵em̡emb̵er.̴.. i̶ncredib͏l̡e͏ pain, m̀y̛ ͟l̷eg̶s.̕.. ar̴e mý ̕le͘g͠s ̀s̛ti͜ll̢ ͜in̴t͝act?" Jaune whimpered and Blake sighed.

"Yes, your legs are still intact… why are you so insistent on that?" Blake reminded him as she checked up on Ruby to find that she was slowly regaining consciousness, although the girl was incredibly dizzy. "You know what, nevermind. We still need to find Cinder."

"Ci̸nd̵e̡r.̀..͡ I ͞ca̕n͟ s͡e͝n͡s͝e ̵he̕r̵.͢ ̛I͜ can..͘.̧ ͝fee̴ļ he͠r..." The boy's voice sounded distant and the Grimm-worm's mouth opened wider, almost dislodging the Crescent Rose that was the only thing holding it open and causing Blake's hair to stand on ends as she lifted her gun instinctively. "T͜h͜e no͘i̶se ̧ìs ģone͏..͞.͢ ̸th̀è ̶p̵ain, it ̀re̕m͠ains̛, ͏b̨ut̴.̸.͏.̨ ́I̕ c͏an ͞h́e͜ąr͢ ͠ag̕ain..̡."

"Great, so you know where Cinder is?" Blake asked carefully as she kneeled next to Luna to check her pulse "Your… 'radar' works again?"

Jaune just nodded somewhat cheerfully, or Blake guessed it was meant to be cheerful to keep her from worrying too much.

It looked incredibly unsettling however when coming from someone with a elongated, wolf-like bone-mask, massive slab-like bone-armor and who also had a girl tied to his back, with a thick cord of tentacles going from him to the worm that essentially blocked the other end of the tunnel.

"S͜he͢'͏s ͜i͞n̴.͠.. th̴er̢e͞." Jaune motioned for the worm, causing just about every possible warning sign to lit at once in Blake's head.

"You're saying we should enter that thing?" Blake asked carefully and Jaune nodded. ' _What if… What if Jaune was the one who got taken over?'_

"Oww… _cough_ Oww! Coughing hurts even more…" Ruby complained while Blake kept an eye on Jaune so the red-clad girl could reach out to Luna in turn and shake her shoulders gently, and after that didn't work out, slapped her cheek few times to get her to wake up in imitation to how Weiss had attempted to wake Qrow up, and to same amount of success. "What happened? When I was out, I mean?"

"You got knocked out, Jaune took control over that… creature, and Emerald fled." Blake said as Ruby's attempts to knock the unconscious fox faunus back into consciousness failed. "Cinder's apparently _inside_ that bone-worm-thing."

"Like, she got eaten?" Ruby's face fell. "She's dead?"

"N̕o̸.͠.͡.̀ Sh͟e'́s not..͞. ̵bu͠t ҉I͠ ca̕n ͏f̢e̴el͠ ̕h̶er ̀f͡ad͏i͠ng̸..̵.̵" Jaune grunted something while sniffing the air, and before Blake managed to react the boy started wobbling towards the worm and disappeared in it with Weiss tied to his back.

"You can't be serious… Blake grumbled before sheathing Gambol Shroud, grabbing Luna's body and hoisting it up on her shoulders. Ruby stared wide-eyed at the exchange, and Blake was slightly uncertain if her bewilderment was aimed at Jaune casually walking into a Grimm or Blake carrying the fox faunus in such brutish manner.

Ruby shook herself out of her stupor though and took few uncertain steps towards the worm which had now regenerated majority of its wounds. "We… do we have to follow?"

"I guess we don't have a choice." Blake said while sighing internally. ' _Jaune, please be yourself…'_

…

Jaune felt his steps squishing smoothly on his body as he walked down his throat. He felt something squirming in the back of his head and he shoved the Shadow away, which was almost laughably easy to do now that the oppressive, chitinous growl and scream had died down. It left him sensing everything around himself, and he could tell that Blake and Ruby had followed him into himself with the fox-girl in tow.

A blip of sorts was getting away from the group at impressive speed, but Jaune didn't have the interest or time to chase after Emerald, not when half of his team… his _pack_ were wounded.

They took priority, so he walked deeper into himself in search of the painful, despaired sensation he knew to be Cinder while he closed his mouth so he could start slithering towards the surface. They needed to get out, soon.

"Jaune! Slow down!" Blake hurried after him with Ruby and Luna in tow, or carry as it were with the fox-girl. "Where are you going?"

He stopped while he kept slithering up the tunnel network, crushing few forms that had come to greet him under his bulk while he turned towards Blake.

"Th̢e͝ ͜h̷ȩaŕt"

"The what?"

Jaune nodded deeper into him. "C̴inder̕'̀s̕ ņear"

A wall of his flesh parted before him and Jaune stepped to a long cavern making most of his length.

"This doesn't make sense… doesn't this _thing_ have any internal organs? Anything?" Blake noted as she followed warily. Ruby just shivered as she looked at the hollow walls of the creature.

"..͝.No͏ ͡ne̶ed ͠fór̴ them.̴" Jaune whispered mainly to himself as he tried to think about the oddness of his body. His legs had started to ache again, although he didn't quite know why except that he was… angry at something, even if he was by majority just in pain. The pain was good without the buzzing madness though, it allowed him to focus his thoughts. ' _I… no, When It roamed these tunnels, it needed to just burrow through it, having organs would have made displacing the rock harder than it should have… is it why it doesn't have organs? I feel it has more to it than just that though…'_

A painful tinge made him hurry his steps and discard the useless thoughts in favor of moving through his new body to where he felt Cinder to be… and soon, they found her.

"Oh… come on." Blake sounded resigned.

"No…" Ruby's voice was weak.

Cinder was lying motionless against the living wall with a green hand scythe stabbed through her stomach which pinned her to the living wall.

And beside her the bloody, torn and dead body of Mercury Black lied half-submerged to the living wall with a bony Grimm-like creature coming out of his thigh, which was bleeding dark red blood from between the segments of its spine-like body. It's sharp edges and centipede-like legs were stained in deep crimson almost as if it had come alive and attacked the silver-haired boy in blind fury before dying as well, or Jaune realized, the creature had been driven to blind rage when Mercury had ceased to be in control of the Grimm Worm...

Which made Jaune incredibly unseasy as a thought popped in his head while the two conscious girls behind him were recoiling from Mercury's fate and Cinder's current state.

Jaune started to slowly feel that the presence… the _feeling_ of torment and pain had not been a regular Grimm. It felt too human, too anguished to be purely Grimm in suffering, and while the mind of the creature had been broken beyond repair, it seemed to be almost… familiar.

While the thought of killing someone didn't faze him anymore, the silver-haired boy's changed shape made him curious as to what could have caused his change, and why the Grimm Worm had seemed so incredibly familiar to him ' _It's kinda like as if I reverse-exited my Tyrant form, except more, well, Tyrant that was worm-like. Could it be that Mercury is… or was like me? Did he know more about this ability, are there more of... me?''_

"Argh… Blake, help me get Cinder out of that wall and get that thing off her!" Ruby moved past Blake and grabbed the hand-scythe that pinned Cinder against the wall and pulled it off the woman, allowing her to slump down on top of Ruby and knock her over. "Don't you have one more Aura booster? Give it to Cinder, quickly!"

"I- I used it!" Blake let Luna fall down on the meaty ground with a thump. "I… I used it on Jaune when he was enraged, I thought he'd… I thought he'd come back if…"

"You… Right, did Cinder have her med-kit with her?" Ruby rummaged through Cinder's pockets in search for the small, fist-sized medkit which would unravel to contain much more than its size gave credit for. Unfortunately however when Ruby found the kit, it was disappointingly empty sans for a bandage roll which would likely only barely cover Cinder's bust if she ever decided to go again with her original choice of top for their Glenn mission. "Wha… Did Cinder use her medkit already?"

"I don't know… She's not going to survive at this rate!" Blake hissed at Ruby as the woman coughed blood and Jaune reached to put Weiss down on the flesh of his larger form. "Check for whether or not you have the medical stuff to patch her up _before_ you pull a blade out of someone!"

"Ah… I'm sorry!" Ruby seemed to realize her mistake as she held Cinder's wound closed with both of her arms, but it wouldn't last as blood began flowing from the wound while the woman began to spasm.

"Jaune, do you have anything you could use to stabilize her?" Blake asked as she tried to help Ruby keep Cinder from bleeding out by tearing Luna's White Fang uniform off the girl and ripping it into bandages, leaving the girl with just a thin black t-shirt. However the strips of cloth bled through almost instantly after Blake tied them against Cinder's wounds, all the while Jaune was trying to come up with _some_ idea to help the wounded woman.

He lifted his hand in wonderment as something seemed to click, which ground the worm itself to halt as he concentrated his thoughts on the matter. ' _Mercury… he was stuck in… me. No, perhaps it was the other way around, some of me was stuck in him? …Could it be that my Semblance is not a Grimm shapeshifting exactly, but something more?'_

He grasped his hand into a fist. ' _If… Yes, if I could merely shapeshift, my forms would need to be more static, set in stone, but I can grow so much more… so, could I grow something to replace what's broken inside Cinder? I may be able to sustain it for limited time only, but as long as we get her to the hospital... '_

"B̛l̷a̛ke..̵.̶ let ̵m͟ȩ try...̴" His breath came out as a soft hiss, causing Blake to lift her eyebrow and pull away from Cinder.

Jaune put his hand on top of the wound, feeling the blood soak his hand. A familiar, sickening heat echoed through his back and chest as his hand's form changed and bled into the wound, darkening it in the passing and he felt tendrils of himself spreading inside the woman's body.

He forced himself to stay together though, as he was trying to _create_ something, making his attempt a stark contrast to his further ones, all of which had been focused on different ways to consume and destroy.

Jaune wanted Cinder to survive. He wanted everyone to be happy, be together, alive and well… and he focused that feeling into the blob of black flesh and tendrils which he pushed into the woman's flesh, entwining it with the already existing web of nerves, tissue and bone.

The wings the woman bore gave him similar familiar feeling as Mercury's form had given him as he brushed his consciousness against it, and Jaune made a mental note to ask Cinder about it later. Perhaps she'd know something about it, or his ability.

A wet, squishy sound accompanied Jaune extracting his hand from the woman's wound, and he saw as the wound began closing almost instantly.

"Huh?" Ruby blinked in confusion while Blake shared the surprise in silence. "What… what did you do?"

"I.̸.. ͘ģave̷ ͠h́er̴ ͡p̡a̛r͡t of̷ m҉ys͜ęlf̡,̧ to ̕h̕eal͟ ́h͘er.͏ ̵I͠ re͡g̀en͢e͘r̷ate, r͡ig̵ht͏?" Jaune tried to form complex words, and focused again on his snout to undo his wolf-like face. He used the chance to focus on his exterior shell and the Grimm Worm restarted its advance towards the metro station through the tunnels it had dug under it.

"So… you essentially put a piece of yourself… into her… lower stomach… without permission" Blake recounted. "Okay. Alright. I'll… I won't tell her if you won't."

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head while she moved next to Weiss so she could see if she was still alright. "What do you mean? _Cough_ … Ow..."

"No, ignore that. I think I'm just starting to go a little insane…" Blake's voice came with almost hysteric quality while Cinder let out a tortured groan and Ruby rubbed her throat carefully. "Ahaha… ignore me, ignore me... "

Jaune reached to hug the black-clad girl to calm her down as her eyes had gained a maniacal look and her cat-ears were practically giving turning signs, while Ruby shrugged and walked up to the pair and joined the hug, avoiding the thick cord that came from Jaune's neck and disappeared into the Grimm Worm.

"I'm not dead yet? Surprising, since I half expected that chokehold to kill me. Or it was just a dream, and I saw a nightmare about some tunnel-wide eel." Luna commented idly as she woke up while lying face-down on the flesh. "Well, there's always another day, another tentacle monster to bravely face and get defeated by…"

Blake sighed.

.

..

…

Far above them, a certain huntsman woke up from his drug-induced sleep to a morning sun shining through a massive hole in the side of a building he had picked as his sleeping spot.

He took a look around while recoiling both mentally and physically from the pounding headache that currently attacked his skull from the inside, and he saw the writing on the wall.

Literally.

"Shit."

 **Next chapter: in about week or so. Ish. Likely less.**

 **There's gonna be 4 chapters of Glenn.**

 **Probably a little less grimdark(?).**

 **Review and stuff.**


	40. Underground City of Glenn pt4

"Is she stabilizing?"

"I guess… Jaune, are you really alright?"

"Y͟éah.̀.. Ẃe͡ should arr͡iv̷e t͠o ́t̡he m̨etr̴o͘ ̴s̵o͢òn.̢ Ẁh͘at ͢happ͏e̵ns th͘en..͞.̴ we'͘ll҉ find o͠ut.̕"

Cinder felt herself waking up after losing consciousness after Emerald, that crazy maniac, stabbed her hand-scythe through Cinder's abdomen and lower stomach in what Cinder guessed to have been a 'loving manner' from the viewpoint of the insane girl. The pain had been enough to cause her to black out instantly, but curiously enough the wound wasn't causing her pain anymore, even if her migraine hadn't let up as she gradually returned to the land of the living.

Instead there was a slithering and incredibly hot sensation around the area Emerald had stabbed, encompassing a big part of the organs around her stomach and lower abdomen.

Cinder didn't particularly _dislike_ the sensation, after the pain and embarrassment she had been forced to go through having something that didn't cause her instant pain was a welcome thing, even if she mildly noted that she'd likely come to regret her words once her mind woke up properly.

' _Thinking of waking up, I wonder… was that the Knight's voice just now or am I dreaming again and Mercury's wailing is just making me hallucinate?'_ Cinder opened her eye slightly to take a covert look at her surroundings… and saw a pair of silver eyes staring at hers with unblinking intensity.

She barely suppressed the desire to puke as her stomach cramped instantly. She doubled over on the soft, organic floor she lied on while retching stomach acid on it.

"She's awake! And… uh… unwell, I guess?" Ruby's _incredibly_ annoying, cheerful voice bounced around Cinder's skull in a way that felt like someone had hit it with a jackhammer from the inside before submerging it in ice-cold water.

A pair of strong, warm hands tied themselves around Cinder's shoulders and lifted her up against the downwards-curving organic wall, and Cinder latched onto the source of warmth with almost feverish grip as she noticed who was moving her. The Knight's glowing red eyes felt reassuring on her skin, and for a moment she wanted to just lean forwards and fall asleep on the warmth… before her conscious mind kicked her subconscious desire in the metaphorical tits and reminded her that she had no idea what was happening around her, and she was not behaving rationally.

Except that the team had apparently found Cinder in the organic tunnel and had rescued her- or gotten trapped inside as well.

"Cinder, how are you feeling?" Blake asked from beside the Knight and Cinder focused her attention on the black-clad faunus. "Is something hurting you? Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm… I'm okay." Cinder got out as the freezing sensation in her stomach disappeared gradually and the slithering warmth returned. "I… Did… I was wounded, I think. What happened? Where's… " she stopped herself just before she said 'Emerald'.

"...Emerald. She fled." Blake narrowed her eyes as she finished Cinder's sentence. "We found you pinned to the wall beside Mercury… or rather, beside Mercury's corpse. Do you know what happened to him?"

"He… He was alive when Emerald kidnapped me and brought me here." Cinder said while grabbing hold of the Knight's arm as it began to pull away. She wanted more of its warmth.

The feeling was addicting and while her conscious mind practically screamed for her to start analyzing _what_ caused the odd effect while distancing herself from it, her subconscious instinct proved stronger and she pulled the Knight closer, making even more silent alarms light up in her head as there was no way she'd normally ignore her rational self in favor of impulsive decisions.

The Knight didn't resist and its hand came to rest above her heart, sending pleasant warmth through her body, even if it earned him a _incredibly_ harsh glare from the cat faunus. The silver-eyed girl wasn't looking though and Cinder noticed that Ruby was leaning over a bloody white-clad form lying few feet away from Cinder. "Is that… Weiss?"

"Yeah, she got hurt when we rescued you." Blake's eyes flashed with hostility but the cat-girl forced the feeling out with visible effort. "We… we got ambushed."

"I see… and where are we right now?"

"We're in… in a Grimm worm." Blake told her with a straight face. "To be specific, we're inside its gut, I guess. Jaune's in control of it though, so we should be good for now. He's moving it towards the metro."

"Ah." Cinder's mind clicked empty as she tried to process the thought. "We've been eaten... by a Grimm?"

"Yes."

"Aha." Cinder nodded numbly. ' _Well. This is unexpected... Damn, I can't get distracted right now if I still aim to escape the team and get out of Glenn. I need to find a way to grab the Knight and head towards Mother… No, I mean, I need to shake off the entire team and then head towards Mother alone… But why is the thought of separating from the Knight so… incredibly unpleasant?'_

"We'll get you and Weiss to a hospital soon, so don't worry." Blake mistook the fear Cinder must have shown on her face and begun reassuring her. "We ran out of first aid supplies when treating Weiss so we had to… use 'unconventional means' to patch you up though. How are you feeling around… uh, over 'there'?" the cat faunus finished her speech by pointing at Cinder's lower abdomen.

The slithering sensation grew slightly stronger. ' _Wait, don't tell me that…'_ "Ah… what exactly did you do to…"

"Jaune put a piece of himself in you."

' _Oh no. No, no, no, no!'_

"It healed the wound but… are you feeling anything different?" Blake asked with clear concern in her voice as Cinder froze completely still.

The Knight moved his hand down her body to the spot where Emerald had stabbed her, earning him a sharp hit to his shoulder from the cat-girl.

' _So. I am pregnant with the Knight's Grimm parasite.'_ Cinder thought numbly as the Knight held his comfortably warm hand on her lower stomach above where her womb would be, and from where the slithering sensation originated from. ' _And for some reason the thought doesn't horrify me as much as it should.'_

The lack of horror from the thought made her even more horrified at the thought.

"A-and… is that all? I saw… I saw Mercury, what happened to him?" Cinder asked. She didn't really want to know what had happened to the boy, but the question would give the black-clad faunus something to think about while Cinder was processing the idea of the Parasites growing in her. ' _P-perhaps I can get mother to remove them all? But… Do I want to remove it? Yes, yes I do, stop arguing with me, me!'_

Unaware of or choosing to ignore Cinder's internal breakdown, the cat faunus stood up on the shaky and undulating organic floor and started to walk in circles. It reminded Cinder of the way the Schnee girl had walked in circles during the few strategic meetings they had, but she pushed the thought away as she couldn't afford getting distracted when the oddly seductive voice was echoing around in her head, telling her to stop worrying and embrace her fate.

Whatever that fate might be according to the voices, she didn't know, and didn't want to know. ' _I wonder if it's too late to try that 'setting myself on fire' thing again? Then again, I'd need Aura for that… and it's empty. Unsurprising. The parasite must be using it to grow...'_

"I… I don't know. Mercury was… fused into that wall over there" Blake said while pointing at a spot in a wall that had a deep bump and new-looking flesh on it. "We found you stabbed into the wall beside him, and Mercury… he was in a bad shape. There was a massive Grimm creature coming from his thigh that had torn his stomach, chest and throat apart."

"So he's…"

"He's dead, and he submerged into the wall soon afterwards. Jaune said he pulled him into the worm's uh… interior to be… uh… dealt with, since Ruby _really_ didn't like seeing a corpse wobble around in that state once the worm started moving and had time to look around. Not that I liked the sigh of him it either." Blake explained as she noticed where Cinder was looking. The faunus looked at her with a thousand-yard stare like a war-veteran, which made Cinder momentarily worried for the girl's mental health (but only as extension of wanting to _not_ be murdered for association with Mercury should the black-clad girl snap).

"I see." Cinder sighed. ' _Well. Mercury is dead. Great, as useless in death as he was in life, so at least he stuck to the form. And apparently he killed the settlement and derailed my entire plan before dying as well, showing his incredible incompetence for one last time, before getting fused into a Grimm worm… somehow. At least his death was painful, or so I hope.'_

"So… what should we do now?" Ruby asked the group quietly as she wiped Weiss's temple. The unconscious girl was starting to suffer from fever, if the sweating was anything to go by, signalling that some of her wounds might have infected. "Weiss is out, and…"

"Then listen to me." Cinder said through the haze that tried to tell her to crawl over to the Knight and curl into his hug. Instead she just knocked the Knight's hand aside, although with great difficulty. "I used to be a team leader, despite what happened to my old team. I'm wounded, but at least I can think. If you follow me, I will be able to get us out. First we need to head up to the metro, to get out of these tunnels."

"The̛ m͡e̷tr̸ò ͘i̶s̕ ̧aba͘nd͏o̷ņed...̸ ̛I ̨sen̸s̸e ̸some of ͞th͘e a͟b̴om͜i̡na̷t̴ions̛ ͝ar̕ou̶nd́ us̕..̨." the Knight murmured in a tone that should _not_ be as reassuring or alluring to Cinder than it was. "I̷ ͝do͜ubt th͝ey wi̷ll͞ pos͘e a̴ ̢p̷ro͠blem w̛h͞eņ I ͝a͘m ͜b͡ack̨ i̸n c̵ontr͜ơl̸ ǫf ̴m̛ys̛elf."

"Did you figure out just what might have caused the whole thing?" Blake asked while Luna gave a soft whine from the background. Cinder looked past the girl to see that Ruby had moved to adjust the fox-girl's bandages.

She could have sworn the fox-girl had worn White Fang uniform before, but now she just had a form-fitting T-shirt- or rather, a size too small T-shirt that clung to her form _too_ tightly. Cinder shook her head again as she realized her thoughts were _not_ going where they should have gone, and she had no idea why.

Or rather, she had an idea but it was too terrifying to contemplate. The parasite had gained reinforcements after all, and was in a spot that would likely have a severe effect on her hormonal balance...

"The elevator should be still intact, so we can get up…" Luna pointed out but Blake quickly cut her off.

"And risk those abominations following us? What if they escape to the wilds?" Blake asked. "We should try to see if we can send a message to Vale and ask for reinforcements. This is way out of our league."

"What abominations?" Cinder asked warily. "You mean to say that you encountered the… shapeshifting Grimm you told me about before? They exist?"

"The creatures attacked us. Freak combinations of Faunus and Grimm." Blake said while a shiver ran through her frame. "I… I have no clue as to why they are her, or how they even exist."

"Those things weren't natural." Ruby joined the conversation and Cinder looked away, feigning interest in the bloody bandages that were tied around her waist to dodge the girl's silver eyes. "They looked like something straight out of a horror movie."

"I first guessed that Lady in Black and Lady in Red made them, but I guess not if even they don't know how they were made. Would Lady in Pink know?" Luna chirped from the background.

"Pink?" Ruby asked, baffled.

"White dress plus red blood on it equals pink, right? Red and white?" Luna blinked. "I mean…"

"You know what, nevermind. She's Weiss, by the way." Ruby rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"I… I guess Emerald was one of those creatures, then." Cinder sighed while she realized an option available to her. "Anyway, Emerald told me about a Dust bomb in the metro. We could set it off and bury the Grimm under Glenn."

"You do realize they had a worm like this?" Blake pointed at the flesh below her feet. "I doubt burying a worm alive would accomplish anything."

"Have you seen more of its kind?" Cinder challenged, before she paused as she realized a small issue at hand. "Come to think of it, just why aren't we dead since we've been eaten?"

"Jaune is controlling it." Blake pointed at the boy and Cinder blinked in confusion as something didn't match up.

' _Wasn't Grimm-controlling the Schnee brat's speciality? Come to think of it, she's out and from the looks of it, she might as well be dead. How is the Knight still under her control?'_ Cinder pondered as she pat the hot, slick, living floor with her hand. ' _I wonder… Is Knight still under her control? He had a personality mesh inside him, one of 'Jaune Arc', so could it be that he was a Schnee-created Grimm-human hybrid all along? It would explain at least why he's capable of functioning without the Schnee giving her constant stream of orders. The human personality is what's controlling his actions, and the Schnee girl is just keeping the Grimm part of him suppressed so the Arc part can control it… '_

She felt something close to relief and anger as she realized another possibility. ' _What if.. the Schnee girl was pretending to be Grimm controller all along, and it was all because of the Knight choosing to side with them, not because of her forcing him? But how did he come to be, did the Schnee's create him?'_

"Cinder? I'm talking to you." Blake waved her hand in front of Cinder's face and the woman realized she must have ignored the cat faunus's rambling while she was contemplating her theories.

"Yes, I mean, we should get up to the Metro as soon as possible and see if the metro is still functional." Cinder said.

"I was saying´just that. We should seek out the communication line in the metro and see if we can communicate with Vale." Blake tapped her feet against the floor, causing the Knight to shiver. "Oh. Sorry, Jaune."

"Ug͝h͠.͞.. don'̧t ̡wor͡r͏y" the Knight replied while rubbing his throat.

"We should check if the metro is still functional though." Cinder pointed out.

"Why?" Ruby asked as she sat on the organic floor after patting the spot. "I mean, the Vale end of the metro tunnel is blockaded so even if the metro worked, we couldn't get to Vale that way."

"W-well, Emerald told me that the White Fang planned to send the Dust bomb to Vale." Cinder figured that truth might be better than a flat-out lie or avoidance since the Knight was next to her and she didn't want him to become suspicious with his lie-detector thing. "If the metro is operational, we should see if we can either drag the bomb out of it or disable the metro so it can't get sent towards Vale remotely. I know the White Fang are probably all dead, or worse, but there's no guarantee they didn't make some jury-rigged trigger for the metro before perishing."

"Really now?" Blake seemed sceptical. "Although… I guess you might have a point there."

"So we get to the metro, establish communication with Vale and dismantle the bomb." Cinder instructed. ' _And with luck, we might have a 'accident' with the metro which sets it towards Vale… with the rest of the team onboard. Except Knight, who will come with me. Somehow.'_

She shoved off the odd feelings of disgust, dislike and hate she felt for herself after thinking of her plan, as well as the odd, instinctive desire to _save_ the annoying children that made her current team. ' _The parasite is affecting me, making me think about protecting those idiots… I have to get away quickly before it gets too powerful, before I can't push those thoughts aside. I wonder it that's how the Schnee's made the Knight in the first place? Just inserted a parasite in him, which bent him to her will? The fact he ran amok earlier tells me that the control isn't absolute so there may still be hope for the Knight and me both...'_

"I wonder what uncle Qrow's doing though." Ruby asked and Cinder detected a miniscule hint of annoyance in the girl's voice although the red-hooded girl hid it well. "I mean, we left him sleeping in the apartment building on the surface…"

"I imagine he's drunk and sleeping it off." Cinder said as she spotted a chance to add fuel to the fire. "Once we get communications with the world above online, after we check the metro train or course, we should be able to call him and see if he's alright, although I imagine he is going to be just fine. Drunks have all the luck in the world, or so I believe the saying goes."

"Uuhhh…" Ruby let out a small whine before conceding to Cinder's points.

' _Now, how do I get them to the metro and set if off remotely…'_

.

..

...

" _Are you sure?_ "

"Yeah, that's what was in the message. Plus, how else do you explain that?"

" _True. And I assume you are absolutely certain your… state is not from alcohol?_ "

"Oz, you know me. I am not going to get completely smashed if I drink one flask of sharpened malt beer. Nor will I get a massive, pounding headache with chemical taste in my mouth afterwards."

" _You were drugged, so your Scroll is likely compromised… which one do you believe responsible?_ "

"I dunno. According to the message left for me, the Arc kid ran off and the gang followed him. And yeah, my Scroll has been accessed, since there's this small pin I have in its physical lock that needs to be reset every time its opened, and it wasn't reset."

" _I see. Do you believe mr. Arc would have tried to access the Scroll and then escape to deliver the data to someone else if he managed to bypass its defences somehow? Was miss Fall active during the time your Scroll was broken into?_ "

"No clue, but I kind of doubt the Arc kid would do that. Cindy however… I don't know. She seems dodgy. Wouldn't it be better to just send the data off through CCT though? Glenn's surface is in range to it."

" _True, however I would be able to see and inspect the data exchange, thus reveal who it was sent to and by whom ...I'll reset the Beacon's camera system access codes regardless, and I'd suggest you ensure that there isn't anything extra in your Scroll- possibly viruses or other means that could infect our main network._ _Did you find where the team went?"_

"I traced them to a hole on the ground so they are probs down there. I flew down and checked the area before returning to the surface to call you. The place has a _lot_ of _rotting_ Grimm corpses."

" _Rotting?_ "

"That's what I said. We found one of those in the surface earlier and I got a sample from it."

" _...That is a worrying sign. The Grimm are changing fundamentally if they leave a physical body that doesn't evaporate after their deaths. Do you believe the team is alive?_ "

"They better be."

" _Ensure that they all make it to Vale in one piece. I will make preparations._ "

"Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all…" Qrow sighed to his now-disconnected Scroll before putting it to his pocket and looking down the hole in the Glenn's street. "Rotting Grimm… "

.

..

…

"...Are we there?" Luna asked as the worm came to a stop, sending the fox-tailed girl sliding a forwards as she lied on her back on the warm flesh with her tail tied around her waist like a blanket. "Aw. This was oddly comfy though. Not that I would like to spend the rest of my life in here, just putting it out there."

"I guess, I guess, and me neither, in that order. I just wish the smell was better, or the air was less stale." Blake sighed as the meat surrounding them shuddered and a slit opened in the end of the tunnel where the mouth of the worm should be, giving them a breath of fresh air to the passengers of the Grimm Jaune-Worm-express. "I just wish that we'd be all intact."

"Yeah…" Ruby let out a quiet sob-like sound as she stroked Weiss's cheek. The girl's fever had only grown stronger as time went on and she had started to sweat profusely, making all of them even more concerned for her health, while Cinder had sat down on a spot near Jaune and pulled her knees against her chest and tied both her arms and her new wings around her legs.

The winged woman seemed to be deep in thought but didn't seem to have long-lasting ailments from her earlier near-death state, although Jaune caught a odd emotion from her direction every so often.

' _...I wonder if I should try healing Weiss like I healed Cinder? ...Although I haven't tried to do that with anyone but Cinder, what if there are side-effects? I don't want to accidentally kill Weiss… I should probably reserve that until there's no choice.'_ Jaune thought as he kneeled on the surface of his throat while pushing out of the tunnel that he instinctively remembered once burrowing into the 'floor' of Glenn's metro station so he could open his mouth and let himself and his team out of his gut. ' _Argh… Trying to exist in two bodies at once is so confusing… Or I guess one huge body with a lot of limbs and eyes and feelings…' 'Eating the corpse of that boy… no, Mercury, didn't help, although I don't think I should tell Cinder about it… but does the worm feel so odd. Too human, almost as if it's a human trapped in a body of Grimm… Bah, I can't get sidetracked. I'll try to heal Weiss with that lump of flesh I put in Cinder if Weiss slips into critical, but until then… I'll have to just hope.'_

"Jaune?" Blake asked as the group prepared to move out and he shook his head to clear his mind in preparation for seperating from the Grimm Worm. "You are looking really serious… is something wrong?

Jaune cleared his throat, causing everyone to fall flat against the Grimm-flesh. ' _Oh. Whoops.'_

"S-̸So͜r͏r̢y͝. ̶Wrong b̷o͟d́y͜."

"Grhh… Fine, Nevermind." Blake growled as she got up again. "We're at the metro station, right?"

"Ye͢ah̛..̛. T̨h̷er̷e'̀s ̴s̀ome Gr̸i͏mm ͜am͜ass͏i͏ng̷ o̶ùtside th͟e̷ s͢t͟at̵i͢o͝n͏,͝ bu͠t͢ ̸i͟f ̀wé'̷re͢ ͏fa͜s̕t͜,̀ ̵we ̸sh̡o͡ul̷d ͘g̢e͝t to t̛he eleva͘t́or͢ a͠n͞d get out̢ b͟efo͠r͠e̸ they̛ re̴a҉c͞h t̵he m̴e̢t̴rò.̡" Jaune focused his attention outside his body and felt for signs of life. "A̕l̨t͠h҉o̸u̢gh̶..͡. Ther͏e̡'͘s͝ ̨s͞omeòn̛e ͠in ̷t̛he̴ m͡etro."

"Someone… a human? Or faunus?" Cinder broke out of her stupor.

Jaune nodded while he rubbed his throat on his free hand while he offered his other one to Cinder who took it and used to to get up. The faster they were out of the worm, the faster Jaune could sever thick cord that formed the connection between him and the Grimm Worm and stop the constant stream of confusing stimuli invading his senses, from the way the team kept walking on the interior of his body to the sharp, crushing feeling of him slithering on the pavement that broke under his weight as his exterior body advanced towards the Metro station's exit after emerging from the ground.

"W͞é'̶ŗe̴ her̢e." Jaune sighed as he opened his mouth wide, allowing the team to exit from within his throat. He tried to keep himself from gagging on his smaller self as he walked on his teeth until finally landing his feet on the hard, broken pavement.

The worm had small, fuzzy eyes but were sharp enough that he could see himself and his team exiting through his circle-shaped mouth into the ruined underground city. ' _Right… Now to just sever the connection... '_

' _Come to think of it, what is going to happen to…'_ He blinked as he did a final check to make sure nothing was in him before he closed his mouth around the cord while the red blade swung and severed it.

A sharp, _wrong_ feeling rang through his frame as he felt something detaching from him, leaving a oddly hollow, empty feeling. Like something was incredibly wrong.

He blinked with his small fuzzy eyes while his massive body curled around the building nearby in pain, sending shover of concrete and steel flying while he saw someone standing beside the team he remembered being part of.

No. Something was wrong.

Something was _incredibly_ wrong.

Nothing. There was nothing, he was alone. He _knew_ he was alone, severed, purposeless.

A shock caused the flesh to spasm before something cold, freezing and _hopeless_ waxed over his long, hollow frame.

There was no reason for him to stay. The team had been delivered to its destination. He had protected everyone.

That was right. He had protected them. They had reached their destination and would depart to the world above.

That was right. He had done what he needed to. But what would he do after that?

He didn't know. Nothing made sense. Would he just crawl back underground? It wasn't his home. He remembered a burning building, and a woman with eyes like fire looking at him.

His legs hurt. He wanted home- and at the same time, he wanted away from it.

The feeling of wrongness caused him to retch up pieces of half-digested masonry as his body turned against him, sending feeling of static up his body.

' _Am I dying? Like this?'_

His eyes couldn't see anymore.

He couldn't feel anymore.

His mind was waning, flickering like dying candle in a storm.

' _Oh… No. I don't… I… Want to save… Revenge? But… I like dad… why did… why did I kill him? But... that bandit killed him?'_ A odd thought passed by his head as his mind unraveled itself into a cacophony of images, smells and sounds.

A long, whistling sound escaped his long, hollow body before consciousness fled him for one last time, engulfing him in colourless black while his thoughts failed him, sending disjointed mess of burning images of people he used to know through his mind before flickering out.

…

"W- what happened?" Ruby asked, clearly frightened as the massive Grimm Worm began to trash and coil around the rubble covering the streets of Glenn's Metro station as the connection between it and Jaune was severed, before finally coming to rest against a now-ruined shopfront they recognized as the one where Cinder had gotten ambushed in the first place.

The massive worm crushed the remains of the shop under its bulk and let out one last wheeze-like sound before going deathly still.

"I... I͘ ̷d͟o̵n͝'t ͢k͘now̡.́ T̵h̀a̛t ͠didn'́t̸ ha̧pp͠en ̵w̶it͏h t͠he̴ T̶yrant ̡for̀m…" Jaune said while holding to his forehead. The migraine-like headache and pain he felt whenever he detached from his larger forms made his head fuzzy and made thinking hard, which wasn't helped by the Shadow banging on the gate of his metaphorical mind-castle. ' _...The Tyrants just keel over and start to disintegrate… Odd. Why was this one so… violent?'_

"Jaune, is... is everything under control?" Blake's voice was concerned and he felt her hand touching his shoulder gently.

Jaune focused on his ability to undo his transformation, causing the plates of armor covering him to fall off and his complexion returned to healthier skin-tone from the pale, black-veined white of his transformed state. Blake took hold of Weiss as his tentacles retracted into his body, releasing the girl from the cocoon of flesh that had tied her to his back. "Yeah… Yes. I'll… I'll have to take a break from being a Grimm though, that was… very taxing."

"I see." Blake sighed as Jaune reached to take Weiss from Blake, cradling the surprisingly light and fragile-feeling girl against his chest in princess carry.

The black-haired girl seemed very concerned though, and Jaune lifted an eyebrow at her. "Is something wrong?"

"It's just… Are you sure it's dead?"

"The worm? What do you mean?" Jaune asked in turn.

"The Tyrant, back when we first trained with your ability…" Blake mumbled to her hand as she seemed to realize something. "Are… are you sure you aren't actually creating dying Grimm when you detach from those big erm… Grimm forms?"

"Eh?" Jaune turned around as he felt a _massive_ pang of fear from beside him, and saw Cinder staring at him with a look of shock plastered over her face. Jaune went instantly on guard for an attack- but a check of their surroundings revealed to him that the Grimm approaching the station were still far away. "Cinder? What's wrong?"

"A- Ah, N-no, nothing, I'm just… You're _creating_ Grimm?" The woman stammered. "Excuse me, but I thought…"

"Yeah…" Jaune would have rubbed the back of his neck sheepily if that wouldn't cause Weiss to fall off his arms. "I'm… well, We're sorry for lying but… Weiss doesn't actually know how to control Grimm. It's been my Semblance all along. Sorry."

"..." Cinder opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it and put her hand over it.

"My Semblance, It's a thing that allows me to turn into Grimm, using uh… biological mass for fuel, I think." Jaune said while feeling guilty for Cinder's shock. They had deliberately kept the information from her after all. "S-should we get out before talking about this?"

"A-and what was that about creating Grimm?" Cinder asked weakly as the group started moving through the ruined building, with Luna and Ruby working as their scouts. Cinder had pulled one of their few handheld flares and was using it to light their surroundings as the underground structure was powerless and dark, likely as a result of the inhabitants having left or died and thus not refilling the Dust-based power generators.

The metro station interior was impressive, if terribly colourless except for few White Fang banners still holding feebly to whatever connection they had to the building fronts. Out of the six tracks for metro trains, five were unoccupied which signalled that the metro trains that would have transported people into the city-districts of Glenn had either been broken or had never gotten out of their respective substations when the city fell. A wide, long walkway between the tracks to a pair of massive steel sliding doors which showed signs of recent use, signalling that beyond the doors would be the main cargo elevator which was responsible of heavy cargo lifting between the surface Glenn, the subsurface Glenn and the Vale metro tunnel. A collection of robotic loading arms that had frozen in air above the metro reinforced the image of the metro station being once a bustling hive of activity and trade- although only Grimm and ghosts occupied the city.

The imagery didn't help the team's mood, although at least their sort-of captive-slash-rescued civilian fox faunus seemed to be in good mood since her fluffy tail waved back and forth energetically as she and Ruby moved twenty or so feet in front of the rest of the team, and Ruby seemed to gain energy from the other girl's good mood.

Jaune spared a glance at the metro train itself which was oddly enough still intact-looking as they moved past the boarding platform towards the elevator, even if the train had wooden scaffolds bolted around it almost as if someone had tried to fix the train, and had left the job half-finished.

"Creating Grimm? Well… uh…" Jaune stammered, but he got cut off before he could think of anything intelligent to say.

"I saw the Tyrant move after you exited it, back when we first trained." Blake turned to talk to Jaune and Cinder. "And that Worm moved… It was _alive_ , I think, after you severed the connection."

"Wait, it was alive?" Jaune asked, baffled. "I… I didn't know. Why- no, _how_ was it alive and why did it die just after?"

"I sort of figured you'd know…" Blake lifted her eyebrow.

"...What was the purpose of that creature?" Cinder asked quietly before shutting up, almost as if she hadn't spoken on purpose. Jaune got a feeling that told him the woman was hiding something as well, which made him somewhat suspicious.

"Cinder? Do you know something about this?" Jaune asked. "My uh, 'condition'?"

"I… I may know. Yes." Cinder said. "My… family, I suppose, has… a history… with Grimm… research."

Jaune wondered why the woman kept pausing constantly, almost as if she was looking for right words. ' _She's not lying though…'_

"Shouldn't we check the metro train? For the bomb?" Cinder waved towards the train after a considerable pause during which she doubled over while holding her stomach, almost as if her earlier wounds were still present. Jaune did his best to keep her up though.

"We should probably check if the elevator is intact first, and then check for information lines." Blake countered while looking suspiciously at Cinder. " _If_ there is a bomb…"

A gasp, followed by a wave of despair alerted Jaune and he crouched to put Weiss down in preparation for combat. However a second later it became obvious that he had no need to fear that Ruby or Luna had been attacked as the reason for their state of mind became clear.

The elevator was broken beyond repair. No, it would be better to say that it had been collapsed as hefty stones and rubble piled on top of the elevator platform and the shaft leading upwards was blocked tight with crumbled stone.

Signs of soot and burning told Jaune that the lift had been deliberately sabotaged, instead of collapsing naturally. "Someone's done this on purpose."

"B-but how are we going to get out?" Luna whimpered.

"We'll have to just contact Vale and have them dig us out." Blake pat the shocked fox faunus in the back. "While they send reinforcements."

"If they send reinforcements… We should check on the bomb in the meanwhile." Cinder said while motioning towards the metro train once more, making Blake lift her eyebrow in question for the woman's insistence. "Just in case?"

"Haah… sure. What's the harm?" Jaune shrugged. "I should probably stay here. I'll look if I can find a way to clear up the elevator shaft… somehow."

"In that case Cinder and Luna will take care of Weiss while Ruby and I go and check out the train." Blake said. Cinder to opened her mouth but Blake cut her off before she got a word out. "I can see in the dark. You can't. Stay with them. Ruby can provide support."

"The train is like, thirty feet away, you know?" Luna pointed out while throwing a pebble at the train, which hit it with a clang.

"Shh! Don't make noise!" Blake hissed at the fox girl who cowed at the sound.

"Sorry, didn't think it'd make that much noise…"

"I think I should go and investigate, since I doubt I'd be helpful moving broken masonry around since I'm recovering from my wounds." Cinder noted while cutting Luna's apologies off. "Plus, would you even recognize the bomb?"

"So how would _you_ recognize it?" Blake's eyes narrowed even further. "You're acting awfully suspiciously…"

"We shouldn't fight each other at time like this" "Can we please not fight?" Jaune and Ruby spoke over each other in attempt to stop the conflict that was about to erupt in front of them, followed by turning to face one another and apologizing in unison for interruption. "Sorry"

"While I was being… seen to, by Emerald, I managed to ask her few questions and got few answers. She wasn't overly detailed, but I should be able to find the bomb." Cinder said while crossing her arms. Her wings fluttered slightly behind her before folding beside her in eerily similar way to how her arms were crossed.

"..." Blake didn't look convinced so Jaune put his hand on her shoulder to reassure her- which caused the girl to sigh heavily and almost slump against him.

' _Stress must be getting to her… she's… uncertain, afraid… I think she's trying to assume the role of a leader since Weiss is out and I don't think Blake trusts Cinder.'_ Jaune thought after scanning the emotions coming from the black-clad girl. He blinked as he realized something. ' _Hold on, since when was I any good at analyzing people?'_ "Blake, how about you take a breather while Cinder and I go check the train?"

"Hold on, why are you two…" Blake lifted her head up but Jaune interrupted her before she could start again.

"Cinder knows where the bomb is, and I can see in the dark so I can help her find it." Jaune said with a tone of finality while he blinked rapidly as he force-started the transformation of his eyes into glowing red Grimm-like eyes which could see in the dark. "Sorry, but we can't waste time in arguments right now. Let's deal with whatever that's bugging our teamwork at Beacon, alright?"

"...Fine." Blake said. "I'll try to look for the communication lines, they shouldn't be far. Luna, stay here and help Ruby and Weiss"

"Right. Let's go, Cinder." Jaune told Cinder while adjusting to his new night-vision and grabbing her hand. Cinder nodded back almost shyly and looked away. ' _Huh? Wait, what?'_

Ruby let a growl that would have impressed Zwei had the dog been present (although luckily Jaune had managed to convince Ruby to leave the beast in the dorm for the duration of their mission), and Jaune hurried to turn Cinder towards the train and walk off with her since it looked there would be no end to infighting if they just stood still and only the Grimm converging towards the metro would benefit from the bickering.

Thinking of the beasts, Jaune projected his inner demon's ability to sense emotions further as he had been suppressing it to a degree after suffering so much mental strain from controlling the Grimm Worm. ' _Hm… Yeah, there's more Grimm moving towards the metro, but we should be able to fight them off long enough to get reinforcements from Vale… Some odd emotions from below and from amongst the Grimm as well, which means there's still some of those hybrid creatures still alive in Glenn, it's almost as if they're fighting though… and… and…'_

Jaune's eyes flew open. "Cinder, there's someone alive in the train!"

…

Neo fiddled idly with the metro train's controls as she looked at her Scroll- or more accurately, observed the surroundings of the metro while she waited for her prey to walk into her trap.

Maintaining a emotionless inner state to confuse the Grimm and hide her presence from the beasts while they prowled the station was not overly difficult as long as they maintained a distance from her, but it was _incredibly_ boring and dull. There were only so many times one could flick a ball of dirt from one end of the train's command console to the other before the whole thing started to make her wonder if she could stab furniture to death.

It seemed that her silent vigil would pay off however as she noticed movement through one of her miniature spy cameras she had plastered observing the metro's entryways and the train itself- and not long after that a peculiar group entered the abandoned metro station.

Neo had hard time suppressing her surprise over seeing now-winged Cinder walking _out_ of a massive Grimm Worm that had squirmed its way through the metro station-block and stopped in front of the station entrance.

That wasn't the end of the surprises as Cinder had her new 'team' in leash, with a corpse of the Grimm-controlling Schnee girl carried by a oddly armor-plated Grimm she remembered from the news report Neo had made.

It was even harder to mask her surprise when the armored Grimm began to flow and bubble like its flesh had turned liquid, and the beast regrew until the armored human-shaped Grimm had turned into a unremarkable-looking boy who stood with the group and pulled some clothes on from his belt-pouch.

Neo shook the surprise out of her head. There would be time for thinking about what she'd seen, and that time was not when she was about to spring a trap. However the group moved past the train and Neo tilted her head in confusion.

If Cinder never entered the train… well, in that case her and Roman's plan to trap their 'contractor' in the train and send it off to blow apart just before hitting the Vale's barrier would be a complete failure.

Neo sighed as she got up while keeping a keen eye on her Scroll. The group seemed to have an argument with the black-clad cat-girl looking like she was about to snap and start stabbing people if it went on, and Cinder was waving her hands towards the metro train. Neo guessed that Cinder tried to persuade the cat-girl to take one for the team and go launch the train into Vale, which was something that the cat-girl clearly wasn't willing to do.

The unremarkable-looking boy interrupted them however, and Neo looked curiously as the boy's eyes turned red and his face paled while growing black veins. She wondered idly if the boy was somehow related to the Schnee's alleged ability to control Grimm- she had written the piece claiming how the Schnee's ability existed, after all, but while the sources she had used had been dubious at best, the spectacle happening in front of her made Neo wonder just how much truth there was to the claim.

Of course it could be something that Cinder was doing, since the Schnee girl looked fairly dead, and it would not surprise Neo at all if Cinder was not-so-secretly a Grimm's whore in addition to being a massive bitch.

Neo spared a thought wondering just how the whole 'controlling Grimm' thing could be archived and if she should try to find out how it was done before exploding Cinder as the woman and her personal human-Grimm had started to move towards the train, but in the end she decided against risking it.

Controlling Grimm wouldn't do much for her anyways. At best it would make Neo a target, which didn't interest her much either.

She flicked few switches as the pair stopped just outside the train with the boy looking like he'd gone to a trance- before his eyes shot open and he looked right at where Neo was.

Neo felt her heart squeeze a bit as she realized that the Grimm had somehow sensed her, which in retrospect should be fairly obvious since Grimm detected negative emotions and her insulting Cinder internally must have caused her to show up on their 'radar', but it was clear that Neo's presence was known to them now.

The pair entered the train with clear haste and started to move towards Neo's position- which caused Neo quite the dilemma. After all, Cinder knew of her ability to teleport, and if the two of them found nothing after figuring out someone was in the train then chances are that the fiery woman could put one and one together- and if Neo failed to assassinate her with the plan, both Neo's and Roman's heads would roll.

That meant she needed to fake her death. Again.

Neo sighed as she kicked a lever which caused the train's doors to slam shut and twisted a ignition key, which sent a shudder through the train as its old Dust-powered engine sprang to life.

Within seconds of the ignition the train began moving on its way towards Vale, and with a screech of old metal and cracking of wood it broke off its temporary scaffolding White Fang had constructed to repair the metro before the start its one-way journey.

And in the no-longer sealed fuel compartment the bomb was ticking.

…

"Cinder!"

"I saw it! The door is stuck!"

"Break, dammit!" Jaune kicked the metro carriage's exit door to no effect as the train lurched and shuddered out of the metro station, picking up speed as it went. "Dammit! We have to get out! We can't leave the others out there!"

"The doors are controlled remotely from the pilot carriage which houses the engine." Cinder said as she stopped trying to rip a door open futilely. "We have to get there to open the doors!"

"Can't we try to just break them open?" Jaune asked as he readied himself to shapeshift once more and the tip of his swords broke the skin of his wrists as they started to grow from the radius of his forearms.

"The doors are reinforced to stop Grimm from getting in if the metro tunnel gets breached!" Cinder hissed. "They are quite literally designed to stop you from doing exactly what you're trying to do, but in reverse!"

"Right, then, let's go!" Jaune trusted Cinder's words and moved on but kept forming his blades. "There's someone ahead, in the front train, so they must have set the train on its way thinking that we were Grimm or something! They must be able to reverse it!"

"Figures…" Cinder grumbled while flapping her wings in annoyance before charging through the compartments after Jaune.

…

"Jaune!" Ruby cried out as the metro train let out a loud clang, followed by its doors closing.

The second after the doors had closed the train let out a screech of bending metal followed by lurching out of the station with Jaune and Cinder on board, leaving the rest of the team standing or lying in front of the platform's cargo elevator. "We have to go after them!"

"Ruby! Wait!" Blake grabbed Ruby's hand before she could run after the train. "We can't leave Weiss!"

"Let go!" Ruby tried to shake Blake's hand off, but wasn't successful and only managed to rip her sleeve in the struggle. "We can't just…"

"We don't have choice!" Blake hissed. "Something caused that train to start moving, so I'm certain Jaune and Cinder can reverse it as well! But we can't chase after it- only you could, but what help would you be if you caught it?"

"I'd… I'd…" Ruby tried to say something but Blake slapped her.

"Get a hold of yourself! You can't use Crescent Rose in confined spaces of the metro train if something intends them harm, and Jaune is best of us when it comes to very confined close quarters combat!" Blake shook Ruby's shoulders wildly, causing Ruby's head to flail from side to side- until Luna squeezed between the two and broke the two huntresses-in-training apart. "What do you want?!"

"Uh… Terribly sorry, lady in black, but…" The fox faunus started before slapping Blake who had both of her hands busy manhandling Ruby, and couldn't dodge in time.

The cat faunus's head slapped to the side and she fell on the concrete floor of the station, completely unconscious.

Both Ruby and Luna blinked in confusion.

"Eeeh?" Luna looked at her hand. "I… I didn't think it'd hurt that badly, I just kinda wanted to slap some sense into her since she was growing pretty hysterical…"

"It's.. it's alright, I think. Aura reinforces blows, so you got to be careful if you hit someone in the future. Although this might be for the best, actually, her head must have been in pretty bad shape if a little tap like that knocks her out." Ruby said while rubbing her wrist and kneeled beside the unconcious girl. "Still, that was pretty harsh… Blake? Blakeeee…"

The cat faunus twitched, but it was clear she'd be sleeping the hit off for a while still- or more likely, the hit had triggered the girl's stress-induced crash.

"Whoa, do you think that's my hidden secret power? To knock out anyone in one punch?" Luna asked as she clenched and unclenched her fist while wobbling on the spot. "Of course! Now it all makes sense, for I am the chosen one! The one who will bring balance to the world! Behold my justice, for I am… I am… uh…. a hero?"

The fox faunus fell face-down on the concrete floor with audible 'flop'.

"Out of Aura…" Ruby kneeled to check the girl's pulse and poked her with a sharp rock to see if her Aura would activate. It did not. "A textbook example of a power-trip after fully depleting Aura, followed by instant crash... Yeah, she's a newbie alright."

"Sheesh… But… but she was right. Hysteria will just lead to our deaths." Ruby complained to no-one in particular as she paced between the two unconscious teammates and the unconscious fox faunus- with Weiss squirming weakly from her fever and completely out of action because of her injuries, and now Blake taking a nap from getting hit in addition to being on the brink of insanity. "I… I don't like this… Jaune and Cinder got split apart from us, and if I leave you guys and you get attacked you'll die... "

Ruby sat down and pulled her hood over her head, broken. "I wanna go home…"

A few minutes later a movement next to her caused Ruby to lift her head, which broke her off the defeated, depressive gloom she had fallen into.

"Ohff.. Whee. I could swear I saw flying dessert trolleys circling a couple of tentacles going into… uh, nevermind. Private." Luna blinked as she woke up and promptly started to poke Blake's cheek with her finger since she had flopped over next to the cat faunus, startling Ruby since she hadn't expected the fox faunus to recover quite so quickly. "Thanks for not leaving me, by the way."

"Uh-huh. How are you so cheerful, considering the circumstances?" Ruby asked glumly as covered her face with her hands. "How'd you do it?"

"I just don't think that I can get out of her alive, really." Luna shrugged. "I'll guess that I'll crash harder than a wedding cake in a bear faunus's party if I do manage to get out but that's something for the distant uncertain future."

"That's… colourful way to put it." Ruby tilted her head at the fox faunus. "Bear faunus?"

"They're known for liking really, _really_ strong drinks during parties and uh… unsavory eating habits which mostly come as a side effect of the former." Luna shrugged. "Sorry, just something from earlier life. I was waitress after all."

"Right…" Ruby tied her hands around her legs and began wobbling back and forth in daze-like state.

Luna sat down beside her and did the same while squeezing her fox-tail to Ruby's hug.

The red-clad girl lifted her head after a moment to look curiously at the fox-girl. "Uh, this is...?"

"I heard that humans like to touch fluffy tails so I figured I'd cheer you up?" Luna blinked. "Sorry, was I wrong? Or I is it too dirty? Sorry, haven't got a chance to groom it since the escape..."

Before Ruby managed to formulate an answer to the odd statement she heard an odd sound coming from somewhere nearby and made a motion for the fox faunus to shut up.

She picked Crescent Rose up from the floor where it had fallen, unfolded the blade for form a monopod and brought it up against the hard concrete as she listened for the sound to repeat itself. "Luna, listen, if there's Grimm… dammit, you can't carry both Blake and Weiss at the same time, and there's nowhere for you to run..."

The odd sound repeated itself and Ruby heard a small zap-like sound followed by a sound not unlike hooves hitting the ground, and she brought Crescent Rose to bear on the shady target…

"Wait! Pipsqueak!"

Ruby blinked.

"Uncle Qrow?"

The man stumbled into view of the flare Ruby had set in order to illuminate the surroundings, and saw that the man was covered in concrete dust, Grimm blood and… feathers?

Ruby blinked once more as she turned her head to see Luna having taken cover behind Ruby's back by quite literally diving under her cloak.

"Uncle? Are… Are you alright?" Ruby asked while lowering her Scythe, which caused Luna to peek her head from behind the red-clad girl to look at the war-torn looking man.

"I'm… fine. Just need ta breathe a bit…" Qrow Branwen grumbled as he reached for his flask while panting almost as if he had ran a mile in a minute and fought through a Grimm horde while doing that. He cursed and tossed his flask aside as it proved to be empty. "What'd happen?"

"What happened to you?" Ruby asked in turn as her uncle's state made her concerned for his health. Qrow turned his head towards the scared fox faunus behind Ruby and she made a calming motion to stop Qrow from misunderstanding their position. "Luna's a friend… but you have to help us, Jaune and Cinder are gone, and Weiss… Weiss is…"

"I had ta fight through a horde of Grimm to break through to the metro and yeah, I can see that little miss prickly is wounded, Ruby." Qrow marched to Weiss's side and knelt down to check her injuries. "Where's the bra… I mean, Cinder and Jaune?"

"In the metro train!" Ruby waved her hand in the direction of the empty tracks. "We were looking for a way to get out, and Jaune and Cinder went to check up on the bomb that... "

"Bomb?"

"We… It's a long story, but a thing happened, and Cinder found out that there was a bomb in the metro, but the moment they stepped into the metro to go check up if there really was one…" Ruby explained in one breath and Qrow reached to stall the girl.

"Calm down. There's a bomb in here?"

"In the metro train… that just departed, with Jaune and Cinder on board!" Ruby waved her hands in the direction of the empty track with increased fervor. "We got to catch up to them, and we all got to get up and back to Vale before Weiss's state worsens!"

"The elevator's broken, by the way." Luna pointed at the cargo elevator behind them. "Know how to get up? Or out of here?"

"Dunno how to get the brat and Cindy back, but for now getting the wounded out should be priority. I'll hop on up and call the Bowhead and let Oz know what happened…" Qrow said but before he could continue Ruby's head tilted downwards and she looked like she would pass out from relief. "What?"

"No… I just thought… well... that we would die down here." Ruby whispered. "You know how to get up?"

"Yeah, I'll just uh… use my own personal ways to get up. No offence, can't reveal all my cards." Qrow winked at Ruby, but got the message as Ruby just gave the man a thousand-yard stare while being thoroughly unamused at the man's antics. Qrow walked in front of the broken masonry that was the elevator's entry and sat down on a rock. "Then once the Bowhead arrives we'll just have it blow the surface street open with its anti-air cannon and descend through the hole to pick us up from the underground… what?"

Luna sat down beside Ruby and nodded.

Ruby nodded back with a lifeless look in her eyes. "Yeah, we're all going to die."

.

..

…

"The train is picking up speed… What was that?" Jaune tried to keep his footing as a shockwave rocked the metro carriage, followed by a massive boom that came from behind them, almost knocking them on the floor.

"A bomb deton… something must have detonated behind the carriage!" Cinder told him as she stabilized herself. "It must be one of the bombs Emerald told me about!"

"One of them? There are more?"

"Yes, the small ones are there to attract Grimm and there's a big one meant to blow the Vale barrier open so the Grimm can flood the city!" Cinder told him. "We have to stop it!"

"Cinder…" Jaune narrowed his eyes as he sensed that Cinder may not be entirely honest with her words- it was odd, almost as if she both wished for the train to stop and for the train to go on. He didn't have time to argue however, as the time they had before the impact would happen was limited. "Nevermind, let's go. I can still sense someone ahead, although there's Grimm starting to converge behind us."

"Your ability detects them?" Cinder asked carefully and Jaune nodded while pulling a carriage door open, bending metal under his grip as one of his arms had grown bone-plates and strong, thick black muscle- the doors leading from one train carriage to another were only thin steel as opposed to Dust-reinforced alloy of the exterior shell and the doors which allowed them to move with relative ease throughout the train.

"Yeah. I can sense their hunger… and that whoever that's started the train is not afraid, more like... annoyed, I guess."

"I wonder who it could be…" Cinder's voice was venomous but she motioned for him to go on. "Go. We'll… 'ask' the one responsible for this about their goals once we find them."

"Right…" Jaune crashed through one more door to a carriage which had an overbearing stench of rot. A glance forwards told him that the massive, reinforced steel door to the next carriage had been blown, no, melted off its hinges and it lied against the carriage floor. "What's… what's that?"

"That must be the carriage that houses the bomb." Cinder said while covering her nose against the pungent stench as she walked into the room, carefully avoiding a corpse on the floor which was the source of the smell without so much as glancing at it.

"Look, its got to be that thing." she pointed towards a massive cylinder bolted to the floor which resembled a fuel tank with a panel on its side, from which thick wires lead up to a empty slot on the end of the tank, almost as if it was missing something.

"The bomb… Didn't you tell us that Emerald had stolen its detonator?" Jaune asked. "Is that the slot it goes into?"

"Yeah." Cinder said while moving in front of the panel. "Damn, it's rigged to blow with no way to stop the bomb from here." she said after few seconds of fiddling with the buttons.

"You found that out pretty quickly." Jaune lifted an eyebrow at the woman's back.

"Just shut up and follow me, we don't have much time… what?" Cinder lurched forward as the train's emergency brakes slammed down hard, causing the metro to start decelerating with deafening roar of grinding metal. "Wha…. the train stopped?"

"Cinder, the person ahead jumped off the train and is running away on foot!" Jaune rushed forwards to the sturdy steel door which was separating the compartment with the bomb from the front carriage- and found out that the door was locked from the other side. "I can feel it getting away… and running towards the Grimm!"

"Towards the Grimm?" Cinder asked as she moved beside Jaune to look at the door. "Stop, look at the door. The locking bolts are on this side, try to break them apart."

"Wha… oh yeah." Jaune slammed his fist against the steel bolt that was holding the door hinge in place and it slid off with ease, almost like it was designed to be broken from their side. "Right, we need to chase after the survivor before the Grimm catch...!"

A loud, hissing clang from behind them interrupted Jaune's speech, and the pair turned around almost like in slow motion to see the bomb glowing red while stream of sparks flew from the empty detonator socket, until the sound stopped entirely.

Cinder reached for Jaune and pulled him in front of her just before a flash of light blinded Jaune, followed by a sound not unlike hammer hitting flesh.

And the world went dark.

.

..

…

"What was that?" Ruby asked as she pulled her fingers out of her ears when a loud, distant boom traveled through the metro station cavern while jetting a massive gust of dust through the metro station's entryway into the streets, causing the Bowhead's searchlights to become cones of white as dust obstructed vision all around them.

The Bowhead had been in Glenn's immediate area, which Qrow explained as Ozpin sending it to investigate what had happened to the team after their dropping off comms, and thus had been ready to respond quickly instead of taking hours to fly from Vale to Glenn. The heavy air-transport had shot the surface street apart fairly quickly although not without problems of its own, mainly due to it coming under attack, and Qrow had been forced to return to the surface so he could defend the ship from the airborne Grimm that had emerged from their nests to attack the craft, attracted by the sound and the vibration.

Nevertheless the craft had descended to the underground cavern, even if Qrow had been forced to 'convince' the reluctant pilot of the wiseness of the action, and the remaining team had started to load the survivors, that being panicked Ruby, barely conscious Blake, wounded Weiss and traumatized Luna into the ship.

Qrow had promised that he'd go after Jaune and Cinder, and had been adamant that Ruby was not allowed to accompany him since the situation had gotten out of hand badly enough already without needing to risk more student injuries.

Ruby had been therefore in the process of trying to disentangle herself from the ship and grab Crescent Rose from its secure container where Qrow had put it in so she couldn't run after the man- to help Jaune. It was then the metro station puffed out the cloud of smoke accompanied by a boom which sent chills to her spine, and the Bowhead took it as a sign to take off.

"That sounded like a bomb, right?" Luna asked while tilting his head and trying to hold onto the harness that tied her to the aircraft that stabilized itself before starting to ascend up towards the hole it had made on the street, much to Ruby's dismay. "Do you think that…"

"Jaune and Cinder are in trouble, we can't just leave them!" Ruby squirmed in her harness to no avail, and Luna reached to pat her knee as the Bowhead broke the surface and Glenn's underground city turned into a rapidly shrinking hole on the street, before disappearing completely as the aircraft ascended into the crisp morning sky above Glenn.

"It's alright, it's alright…" Luna's head bobbed from side to side as the craft stabilized and began its journey towards Vale, as Qrow had ordered the flight to take them away and return for the rest of the team if they sent a radio call. "We're alive at least… and if they don't make it, I'm sorry for your loss."

Ruby let out a miserable while while slumping against her harness and tied her arms around her shoulders.

Blake let a groan as she woke up with a twitch, strapped to a similar harness with a cloak tied around her neck to keep her head still, but it didn't seem to help the fact that the cat faunus was incredibly disoriented. "Wah… what's happen… I swear I saw tunas jumping over a fence…"

Ruby didn't answer.

Luna sighed, her head tilted. "We're going to survive, right?"

"I guess." Ruby said sullenly while Blake blinked in confusion as she looked around the airship's interior.

"Somehow I get a feeling I'm going to die the moment the airship lands though… this is far too good to be true." Luna sighed to Ruby. "Or I get sent to a hospital again and White Fang catches me again… Or do you think the government will catch and capture us so they can experiment on us after our encounter with those Grimm-hybrids?"

Ruby turned her head to look at Weiss who was deathly still with a oxygen mask on her face, lying on a stretcher clamped to the floor of the aircraft's transport compartment. "I… I hope not."

.

..

…

The ringing was unbearable.

He couldn't breathe, but that didn't bother him, not really. It was more of a convenience thing, something familiar to do which reminded him that he was a human.

Nothing hurt, but he didn't really feel anything either. Something was wet, that he could tell, and there was something pressing against his back as he felt something hot against his spine and there was something constricting him, keeping him in place.

He opened his eyes, or tried to, but he saw nothing. Instead he felt something wet enter his eyes as he blinked.

A flood of something liquid entered the hole he guessed was his mouth as he opened it.

And just like that, a hunger came.

A terrible, all-consuming feeling engulfed him, commanding him to eat, to survive. consume everything around him.

His mind felt clear though, the hunger and rage swirled around him like a maelstrom, but he had already adapted to it. He couldn't claim he could control it, but it felt… natural to him.

He felt himself spreading, growing, pushing against what constricted him and tied him to place, held him back.

A sour, hateful emotions approached him, and he felt relief. To him the Grimm would mean a chance to quench the thirst and hunger he felt, the fear of the beasts had fled him long ago.

He felt something tearing as he reached through the matter constricting him in place, and he burst from where he was buried into the face of a Grimm that was approaching him, guided entirely by his sixth sense as his eyes and ears refused to work.

The hit caused the beast to fall over while clawing at both him and at its own face. It was futile, as he had already torn into the beast, infiltrating it's snout and growing sharp, rending teeth that tore the beast's face apart, guided entirely by his touch as his eyes had not opened yet, and though only unholy ringing filled his ears he felt the beast's roars through the vibrations hitting his body.

A crunching sound rang through the frame of the Beowolf as its head collapsed, allowing him to infiltrate its system, flooding through its body like disease carried by blood and nerve.

Popping sound ended the ringing in his ears as his fur-covered ears became able to hear, and he blinked as his blood-red glowing eyes started to slowly adapt to the world around him.

As he took a steadying step to keep himself standing he remembered how to think, and took a deep, wheezing breath as sheet of bone extended on the raw, exposed flesh of his snout to cover the parasitic growth on his new face with smooth, white Grimm-bone.

' _I'm… I'm alive?'_ he blinked as he tried to recall what happened. He looked around his surroundings, and saw burning, mangled form of what appeared to be a metro train split in half and crashed against the wall of a tunnel they were on.

The wreck looked like it had been broken apart by explosion, and the ground around them was covered in soot, signalling that the explosion had burned everything around them while causing a shockwave that collapsed the tunnel behind them and weakened its structure.

The problem he faced however, was that he remembered nothing of how he get in there.

The last thing he remembered was him healing Cinder who had been stabbed in the lower abdomen.

' _What… How am I here? What happened? Where's Cinder, Ruby, Blake, Weiss… Luna?'_ he blinked as he held to his bone-covered snout while doubling over both from sudden pain in his head.

However he still didn't know how he had gotten to the metro tunnel.

A guttural snarl left his maw as his eyes regained their focus fully and he looked for signs of life- only to see a vaguely human-shaped form lying in a pile of rubble.

Something cold overcame his spine as he recognized heavily burned leather boots and soot-covered and burned red shirt the body wore. Not to mention the pair of wings the body bore from the back of its waist, now scorched and the feathers it had once had were burned to ash, revealing thin boney frames.

"Ci͝nḑe͏r̷…" he approached the woman to push his snout against her blistered skin and he sniffed the air above her face. The smell of burnt hair invaded his snout and he had to pull back to sneeze, causing blood and mucus to fly to the ground from his bleeding nostrils.

A vague, oddly familiar feeling from nearby caused him to pull away from the woman and focus his attention to a suspicious-looking pile of rubble with burnt-looking hand poking through it.

The feeling caused the hunger he felt to flare up, somehow further amplified by the odd feeling of familiarity the form under the rubble gave, and he stalked to the pile and started to dig.

The first piece of burnt flesh, that being an arm, disappeared into his maw faster than he realized as his hunger resurfaced when he touched it, and the careful digging turned into feverish feeding frenzy as he tasted blood.

His claws sent rubble flying behind him as he pulled more and more of the burnt corpse out and devoured it.

A tentacle attempted to lash at him from the burnt corpse, but he caught it in his mouth and bit it apart, followed by a hard crunch as some bony worms contained within broke into shards. The wriggling of the bony worms was discomforting, but somehow it felt familiar.

However not long after that a sudden pain caused him to pull off the corpse and start writhing on the burnt ground as sharp pains lanced through his stomach.

He felt something within him rupture, followed by sensation of something _crawling_ inside his flesh, into his lungs and then through his biceps until finally settling down in his forearms while his body processed the not-so living part of his 'food'.

What caused him more pain, however, was the sudden flood of memories surfacing in his mind... and he remembered what had happened.

The rise to the surface of underground Glenn through the worm tunnels. The oddly trashing worm in its death throes. The blocked elevator.

The bomb in the metro…

The bomb… Cinder pulling him in front of her… then just fire and nothingness.

Jaune blinked in confusion as the memories slotted themselves in place so the timeline from him healing Cinder to getting to the metro tunnel made sense. ' _Wha… I… I thought I died…'_

He rubbed his snout as the confusing memories started to make sense, and a second later, he stopped as he remembered something. "Ci͝nḑe͏r̷!"

Jaune dropped on all fours as he ran to the burnt woman and pushed his snout against the side of her neck while sniffing desperately, looking for signs of life from the motionless figure. A light pat of his long-clawed paws didn't seem to wake her up either, so Jaune started going through her injuries again- and discovered something unsettling.

The flesh around her lower abdomen had ruptured and cratered, leaving a very sluggishly bleeding hole through which Jaune could see the woman's internal organs. The wound was expanded as well instead of being collapsed, which suggested to him that instead of getting hit, something had instead burst in, or from, the woman in explosive manner.

' _I… I need to heal her, like I did before... '_ Jaune felt fear for the woman's state, but felt oddly sated now that he had eaten the Beowolf that had prowled in the area earlier and also something else he sort-of remembered eating.

He clenched his black, clawed hand to a fist while he concentrated on the feeling he had felt earlier when he had initially healed Cinder, and pushed the hand into the woman's wound.

He pushed the feeling of loss and despair aside in favor of hope, and he felt as his hand started to fuse with the woman's body… and the wound started to close around the flesh that had now turned black and veiny from the two different colours, soot-stained, bloody white flesh and black Grimm-flesh, intermixing to a weird organic mass.

Soon after that Jaune's arm started to feel light and oddly liquid, and he pulled it off to see that his hand had detached from the wrist so that his hand, or what it had turned into, was left buried in the woman while the stump started to grow new flesh from the wrist.

' _Cinder… I hope she'll live… but how should I get out of here?'_ Jaune thought while spreading his radar and looking around.

The metro tunnel towards Glenn was completely blocked, and the Dust-born fire was spreading. While the explosion had dealt with quite few Grimm, not to mention blocked the flood of Grimm that had been attracted by the metro's movement from reaching them, the remaining beasts would be approaching from Vale's side of the tunnel. The Grimm Jaune had killed earlier had likely just been one of the first ones to arrive to the scene.

As he thought about the dilemma the two were in he heard a pained groan coming from Cinder, spurring him into action.

He reached to grab her in a princess carry, figuring that just swinging her over his shoulder would likely be too much strain for the wounded woman who looked incredibly fragile, even if her skin had started to heal slowly and her burnt-shaven head had started to regrow her raven-black hair. The woman seemed almosts too small in his arms, although that might have been because of his Beowolf-like body being far larger than a human.

' _Right… the Vale side of the tunnel must have some sort of emergency exit or something which a normal human could use, but a Grimm couldn't operate… Yeah, there must be something like that...'_ he steeled himself as he thought about the situation while leap-running through the smoke-filled tunnel in attempt to get as far away from the burning wreck as possible. The tunnel had smaller 'stations' at regular intervals where the city of Glenn had started to expand after the space of the underground caverns had been filled up and the surface had been abandoned, making the in-tunnel sub-stations a desperate last-ditch attempt to make more room for the people to live in- and it would be likely that the substations would now house Grimm, whom would likely be on their way to investigate the ruckus.

' _The metro is on fire so I can't dig through that… I'll have to send a message to Beacon as soon as I get to Vale so they'll know to send a fast Bullhead or some other transport to grab the rest of the team from Glenn… Please be alive, Ruby, Blake, Weiss... '_ A disoriented Beowolf that wandered towards them was decapitated in a flash as Jaune leap-ran through the tunnel towards Vale, further reinforcing his theory about Grimm converging on the wreck. He had to just hope that Vale side of the tunnel had some sort of human-sized entryway or some emergency exit he could use.

"Nnngghh…" Cinder let a hoarse groan and cough while her soot-blackened fingers reached for his hand and tightened around his regrown hand.

' _Phew… at least she's alive…'_

"Shhh… _cough_ … whhhsssss…?" Cinder let out a hissing, rough sound that might have sounded like a question, had it not come through a thoroughly burnt larynx.

"H͢ss..͏. ͜yo̶u'l̢l b͝e ̴alrig̛h̡t, ̡w͝ȩ'll be i͞n V́al͞e͢ s̢oon.͘.́." Jaune growled, which caused the woman to kick weakly against his hold. He looked down and saw that her skin had started to heal slowly, although the woman was clearly in discomfort. "W̵ha̢t's͡ ̛ẁrong?"

Cinder let a groan and a hiss before trying to open her eyes. Jaune paused to wipe her face as instead of seeing burning amber eyes, he saw something black seeping from her ruined eye sockets to her cheeks, clearly indicating that her eyes had flash-boiled in the heatwave of the Dust explosion. In regular circumstances he would have probably been a lot more shocked of the woman's injuries but if the mission had done one good thing, it was to purge him, and likely the rest of the team as well, from the shock of seeing horrific injuries.

Cinder's struggle weakened and Jaune halted their advance as he spotted a door on the side of the tunnel and tore it off its hinges with single pull. ' _Gr… Cinder can't withstand heavyhanded moving yet, need to let her heal up a bit…'_

He looked into the medium-sized room that lied beyond the door and saw that it contained surprisingly intact furniture and shelves clearly meant to store maintenance supplies, first aid items and preserved food.

' _A safe room for maintenance personnel, it must be.'_ Jaune thought as he put Cinder down on a wooden bench after squeezing in through the doorway and putting the steel door somewhat awkwardly back in its frame. The Beowolf body wasn't helping him move in the space that was nice and space-y for few humans, but felt quite claustrophobic for a big Beowolf. ' _Vale must have really gone all out when making these rooms, although I imagine that since the personnel were working in the long stretch between Vale and Glenn for extended time, any unhappiness would have instantly attracted Grimm to dig towards the tunnel, eventually breaching it…'_

He sniffed Cinder to see if there were any emotions coming off her as the woman's regeneration advanced. He saw blackened veins starting to grow on her face and body while new feathers started to regrow from her burnt wings- but more worryingly the woman's breathing grew more laboured and erratic until she fell completely motionless.

For a moment Jaune was worried if his not-really-trained 'healing' had killed the woman, specifically so since he didn't really know how it worked other than it had sort-of worked once before, and he began to pat Cinder's chest in a way he hoped would work as CPR.

He breathed out in relief as Cinder's chest started to rise and fall once again and he turned to survey the room for supplies he could use to help her. ' _Haah… Sheesh, this mission has been a massive failure... Just gotta get going as soon as Cinder can be moved, get to Vale, save the rest of the team...'_

He didn't notice a slight twitch from the woman as he sniffed a crate which looked like it could contain food, even if he had a fairly strong feeling whatever within would have rotted away long ago, and he paused for a moment to shapeshift his Grimm-like snout's internals into something like human's so he could actually smell things.

The distraction caused by his minor shapeshifting was enough to distract him from a sudden surge of hunger behind him, and a split second later a weight landed on his back. Before he managed to react he felt something biting painfully into his exposed neck, even if the dull teeth of his attacker didn't manage to break through his thick black fur and hide.

However Cinder suddenly jumping to his back and biting him was enough to surprise Jaune so much that he twisted his body, crashing against the wall and throwing the woman off his back. It didn't deter Cinder much however, as she leaped as soon as she hit the floor and this time latched onto his throat from his front, causing the pair to stumble and crash to the floor.

' _Wha… what is she doing?!'_ Jaune resisted the immediate urge to swat her away, but since she wasn't able to pierce his skin with her human teeth he refrained from hurting her. Her inability to cause damage with her bite gave him time to think, and he focused on the emotions ringing from the oddly acting, frenzied woman. And after a moment of searching, he found something very familiar. ' _Damn… she's really hungry. Is the healing… thing… not working?'_

He blinked his glowing red eyes as he realized the alternative explanation for the woman's state- by mirroring his own behaviour to hers ' _Or is it working too well? She's hungry, like I am when I'm wounded… I have to find food for her!'_

Searching the supply crates wasn't exactly easy when he had a wounded woman with her jaws clamped around his throat, so he tried to carefully extract her from his flesh. A moment of struggling later he managed to pull her off, and sort-of hoist her to his back where she continued to try to chew on his shoulder to not much effect.

' _let's see… a can? Nope, not good…'_ He picked a can of something from the supply crate he pulled from the shelf, but the container popped as it was punctured by his not-exactly delicate clawed hands and was probably rotten anyway as the room was instantly engulfed in overly sweet and oddly bitter scent. ' _Eugh… Yeah, chances are that the supplies have gone bad already. It's been what, two or three decades since Glenn was abandoned? Should have guessed… But Cinder needs to be fed. Somehow.'_

A sharp pinprick-like pain spread through his shoulder alongside a feeling of hot liquid, and Jaune turned his head to see that Cinder had somehow managed to bite through the thick hide and was lapping up the blood.

A growl escaped his long, wolf-like maw while he doubled over, but didn't pull her off as he realized that she had found her own way of dealing with her hunger. ' _Ow! Ow! Ow… Yeah, I ate Grimm too, so figures that'd work… but still, that hurts. Did she suddenly grow sharp teeth or something?'_

Few minutes passed in relative silence as his Beowolf-like body regenerated and Cinder kept drinking, making him somehow think of leeches. He dismissed the mental image as the woman's grip slackened and she slid off his back only to return to her unconscious state.

' _Seriously… She's been unconscious for the better part of the mission, not that I blame her.'_ Jaune sighed, causing a gout of steam to exit his snout as his body had heated quite bit while regenerating. ' _Right, she should be stable now… Time to get moving… wait.'_

A vague feeling of violent, distorted emotions made him pause and lift his head towards the door. ' _Grimm? Ah… so the way forwards is blocked then…'_

He sighed for one more time as he pondered his situation in the moment he'd have before the Grimm pack approaching him would reach him.

The two of them were likely not _that_ far away from Vale, as the metro had built quite the speed before getting wrecked, but they should have traveled the majority of the distance between Vale and Glenn before getting forcibly disembarked.

That meant Vale's barrier would not be far away, and he could probably just fight his way through the Grimm in front, which would mean he'd get Cinder to hospital faster, and could inform Beacon of the remaining team's situation in Glenn faster as well and get them help, hitch a lift from the rescue team and go back to Glenn to help Ruby, Blake and Weiss out.

Either that, or he would need to try to wait for the Grimm to pass and hope they wouldn't detect him or Cinder before moving on towards Vale in the tunnel, but he realized it to be a futile hope at best since Cinder would likely attract quite bit of attention from the Grimm if her earlier hunger-pangs repeated, not to mention it'd extend the time before the remaining team were rescued.

Which left him with only one option: to just brute-force his way through the Grimm. It would run the risk of getting stuck in a spot where he'd get hit from both front and back, if the Grimm that had already converged to the wreck caught wind of the fighting, but he had an idea.

They were in a tunnel after all.

* * *

"So, are you _absolutely_ sure that thing we talked about is done? Did you see, uh… the expired product?" Roman asked quietly as he sat in a unmarked van, accompanied by a gaggle of masked Faunus and a woman who was grinning so smugly that one could think she had eaten an entire sewage composting facility. After all, the unfortunate side effect of sending Neo to a mission was having to withstand her overbearing mute smugness and smirking that came whenever she was successful with her mission. The fact she was sitting on a particularly large and muscled bear faunus's lap and having another fan her with lien chips probably wasn't helping her ego, specifically since the other male faunus's were looking at their bear brethren with looks of contempt and thinly veiled envy.

Roman knew better, however, and had to resist the urge to look at the bear-boy with pity since he recognized the way Neo was sitting, and he knew that her folded-up stiletto-umbrella she carried on her hip would be quite literally pushing the bear's balls back into his body. Perhaps it was fortunate that the White Fang mask covered the boy's expression since he didn't want to be reminded of just how much it hurt.

' _Or perhaps he's into that sort of thing, who knows with the faunus?'_ Roman sighed internally while keeping blank expression and adjusting his hat with his cane. He lifted his eyebrow at Neo who was currently busy smirking at him. "Well?"

Neo made few stroking motions in the air, followed by a fanning her hands in clear indication of blowing up, causing few of the male faunus in the van to begin adjusting their collars while the females glared at Neo and Roman heard one of them whispering "Strumpet" in a muted tone.

"Right…" Roman sighed once again. He'd asked the question multiple times already, but one could never be too sure. Not that he thought Neo was lying, it was a merely a survival instinct induced tick. "The time's up anyway, we should get going."

"So… what was supposed to happen?" One of the faunus plebs piped up. He glanced at the faunus girl who had been glaring at Neo ever since her entry to the van, although it might have been because of her choice of seating. Perhaps she was feeling jealous or something. "Did you drag us here for socal call or something?"

Roman counted to three inside his head before nodding his head at the girl politely and putting a condescending smile on his lips.

He hadn't informed the crew about their purpose in the small, micro-park like square flanked by cafes and shops. A square which had been the exit of the Vale-Glenn metro tunnel before it was blocked. "And put myself in the same confined space as you gentlefolk? When you know I _so_ appreciate the smell of wildlife-in-a-box? Please, there was a very specific purpose to our little excursion, one we have now fulfilled so we may leave."

Neo nodded and stood up from the faunus's lap, causing the bear-boy to slump against the van's floor while doubling over and holding to his crotch. Apparently the other faunus males in the room either didn't get the hint, mistook it, or are into masochist play as well based off the dirty looks they gave to their 'wounded' comrade.

Roman opened his mouth… and a scream cut him off.

He blinked and turned to knock on the wall separating the passenger compartment from the driver's and the small window on the wall opened to show the driver's confused face while the screams from the outside grew louder. "Boss! There's… A Grimm coming through the wall!"

Roman blinked once and turned to look at Neo who had grown a bit pale and her aura of smug had disappeared.

She shook her head while shrugging and patting her shoulders to indicate that she didn't know and had nothing to do with the Grimm situation that was apparently unveiling outside.

' _If the metro crashed against the barrier we'd have noticed… It's hard to not notice a big fuck-off bomb going off a hundred feet away from you, but since Neo rigged the metro to blow before reaching Vale… this must be something Cinder did. Or some convenient natural Grimm breach, but I'm not taking the chance.'_

"A Grimm eh? Well, time to be a hero then." Roman pressed a button on the side of the van, causing both of its sides to slide open. "Follow me."

"W-wait! You didn't say we'd be fighting Grimm! Isn't that a job for the hunters?!" the girl from earlier got cold feet instantly and Neo promptly wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulder and back reassuringly. "Oh! O… N... I mean…. Yes! Of course! Onwards to hero-hood! Eh-eheh?"

Roman rolled his eyes at Neo who had used the reassuring gesture to press a four-inch long but incredibly sharp folding knuckle duster-knife against the faunus girl's spine without alerting the other faunus to the 'wordless persuasion' happening a feet away from them.

Nevertheless, he needed to get going so he stepped out of the van and signalled the other two vans to disgorge their passengers as well… and turned to see a positively massive, lamprey-like Grimm Worm eating its way through the Glenn-Vale barrier.

He blinked once more as the too-many teethed maw opened to spit out a familiar armored knight-like Grimm who had a cord connecting it to somewhere inside the worm, and in the knight's arms was a odd, somewhat familiar-looking faunus woman.

Or Roman guessed it was some sort of faunus, if the pair of wings growing from the woman's waist were any indication. Yet she had black veins on her pale face, and her clothes looked like they had gone through hell and come back.

A second later something seemed to click as the unconscious woman twitched on the knight's carry. ' _Cinder?'_

And instantly after the recognition a plan formed in his head as he saw her weakened state. He turned to address his 'troops' before beginning to run towards the pair, knowing that Neo would be last in the line and would lash the others to follow him (or rather, run away from Neo). "Well? What are you waiting for?! Grimm have breached Vale! Charge!"

He lifted his cane and opened fire on the Grimm Worm, hitting the creature square in its mouth with explosive shell that send splinters of teeth, dark blood and meat bits flying.

The hit caused the Grimm Worm to began wriggling around almost like it was in deep pain, and soon afterwards the shrapnel-shredded cord connecting it to the Knight was snapped and both fell down on the tile-patterned concrete street like broken dolls. Yet the Grimm Worm didn't stay immobile as it looked almost like something was pushing it forwards while it flung its body around in its death throes- and with a sound of wet plop not unlike a cork getting pulled from a wine bottle the dead worm was pushed out of the hole it had made in the steel-concrete barrier.

And as soon as the obstruction was out of the way, a wave of black flesh and white bone began flooding from of the breach and charging towards the civilians fleeing the square.

"Well... shit." Roman slowed his charge just a smidgeon to allow the White Fang to overtake him and so would be the first ones to clash with the Grimm _pouring_ out of the hole and into the city.

Sound of rotors breaking air soon joined the screams of civilians fleeing the Grimm and the roars of the black beasts- with the sounds of aircraft-mounted autocannons joining the cacophony the instant the flight of aircraft became visible over the tall buildings flanking the square.

"Oh what now?" the self-proclaimed master criminal cursed once more as he recognized the flight of air transports closing towards the barrier and realized that there would be only one explanation to the Atlesian strike team and a Bullhead Hunter squadron converging on the breach the minute it had been made.

No way it was a coincidence.

Someone had set him up.

And since it wasn't him, and he was sure it wasn't Neo, that left just one party who had knowledge of the bomb and had a motive to inform the authorities- conveniently when he would be between rock and a hard place. Grimm at front, Atlas at back.

Neo had told him Cinder had intended to kill him off by having the Grimm overwhelm him, likely while White Fang stabbed him in the back and fled but he hadn't quite expected her to go this far- to betray both White Fang and him at the same time.

Of course, with Neo behind him, the betrayal might be a good opportunity to make 'Roman Torchwick' disappear in the meat grinder that was about to ensue… again.

A Grimm Beowolf Alpha grabbed the earlier hesitating faunus girl and tore her torso off her waist like a child would tear a fruit in two and tossed the torn corpse to splat against a landing Bullhead which solidified Roman's decision. He wasn't exactly the material to go toe-to-toe against a Grimm horde anyway.

Naturally, he'd have to make his 'disappearance' as showy as possible so he lifted his cane and fired a flare-like shot from it to draw attention to himself, which would look sufficiently heroic in the cameras that perpetually observed every inch of Vale, depicting him as valiantly leading a charge in Vale's defence like how Cinder had instructed. It also drew the eyes of Atlesians and the Hunters that disembarked from their transports- who promptly opened fire on his location.

It seemed that General Ironwood of Atlas wasn't in the mood for idle conversation when he had sent his kill-team, and Atlas's extremist protocol regarding criminals like him probably didn't help. Not that he cared much about the extreme response since he had both White Fang and Grimm to work as meat shields for him.

And like that, Roman dodged a Beowolf's swing and made his way deeper into the chaotic and mainly one-sided melee with Neo following in his shadow.

Explosions and gunfire rocked the street, covering the tiled concrete in rubble blood both from Faunus and Grimm as the bloody melee and firefight raged on the square, turning the idyllic cafe's and fashion shops into something straight out of a nightmarish battlefield of the Great War between Mistral and Vale.

As the Bear faunus with probably ruined reproductive organs got a direct hit from a Atlesian shoulder-mounted autocannon and exploded in a shower of meat and disconnected limbs, Roman decided he'd 'helped' enough and grabbed a disconnected hand from the ground while pulling his white jacket off, assisted by a Beowolf that tried to swing at him and hit his back.

Neo promptly stabbed her stiletto-umbrella into the Grimm's eye while the creature's bloodied claws tore at Roman's jacket, and he quickly slotted the disconnected arm into the empty jacket while grabbing Neo's waist, causing the woman to lose the the grip of her umbrella which was now poking out of the back of the dead Beowolf's skull. "Take us out of here!"

And with a pop and crack of shattering glass, the pair vanished from the chaotic melee.

...

"Da͞mm̀i̵t!" Jaune growled as he regained his senses after getting violently disconnected from the Grimm Worm he had gradually made around himself by fighting against the Grimm inside the metro tunnel soon after leaving the in-tunnel storage room with still unconscious Cinder in his carry.

He had intended to just nibble a small hole in the barrier and push himself and Cinder through it after discovering that the barrier had absolutely no way of entering and exiting without breaking it, and then using the worm's mass to grow a bone-made block for the hole he had made so the Grimm that were following him couldn't come through as well.

Something had hit him however, and his transformation had been severed, allowing the Grimm to pour through the hole he had made as the Worm died.

And the square around them had turned into a battlefield in seconds.

He started to pull Cinder aside as some guys in white armor accompanied by bots opened fire indiscriminately on both the White Fang that had mysteriously appeared to fight against the Grimm, and the Grimm beasts themselves who were tied fighting against the faunus.

He scooped Cinder up and prepared to run off to put Cinder to some safe spot and then return to help contain the Grimm breaching the barrier (even if it would have been under control already had someone not severed his connection to the worm-body)- but before he managed to take as much as few steps a group of cloaked figures surrounded him.

And he found himself looking at various Dust-powered Hunter-grade weapons pointed at him a second before they opened fire. "'Wai̸t!̧"

' _Shit, shit shit!'_ a internal scream was accompanied by a external howl as he turned to cover Cinder with his body, causing anti-Grimm bullets to pierce his back while blades bit his exposed joints.

He dashed towards the chaotic melee while unraveling the tentacles he had grown from the severed cord to shoo off the hunters since he imagined he'd have bigger chance of survival amongst the Grimm than trying to fight an entire Hunter team- and unlike students he had trained and fought in Beacon, the cloaked figures were clearly graduated, experienced hunters.

' _Why are they here?! I mean, Grimm, yeah, but… how?!'_ Jaune's thoughts were cut short as a blade sunk into his back while another cut away his arm from the elbow, causing him to almost drop Cinder. A tentacle shot from his back to shoo away the hunter that had struck his arm with some sort of halberd-looking polearm which had a large-caliber gun attached to the shaft.

He didn't have time to regenerate his hand fully so he grew a bony weight which drooped down as his skin stretched, forming a whip-like appendage which he swung at a female Hunter who was slashing her twin sabers at Cinder. The whip didn't do much however as the Hunter merely dodged the swing and sliced the whip off, yet it managed to distract the Hunter from splitting Cinder's head open.

A Grimm Beowolf charged one of the Hunters who had ran in front of him to block his 'retreat' into the Grimm mass, buying him time as the beast managed to hit the man's back and distract him enough to open his guard a little.

He shoulder-tackled the Hunter into the Beowolf who grabbed the man's leg and smashed him against the concrete, which forced the other three Hunters to divert their attention from him to save their comrade.

And like a dam breaking, the beasts began to break through White Fang's 'line', which now looked like few ragged individuals trying to not die amongst a ocean of flesh with most of their comrades already either dead or dying from the combined pressure of the crossfire and the beasts.

However the chaos allowed Jaune to fight through the Grimm horde to a spot just beside the breach he'd made, rending and tearing Grimm on his way while using the dead and dying to regrow himself. Dark red tentacles drank deep from the flesh-coated ground, and he hastened his growth with each step he took.

He needed to plug the breach quickly- even though the tunnel to Glenn was blocked by the destroyed metro train further in, he hadn't expected there to be _this_ many Grimm habiting the substations and the tunnel itself. Luckily the biggest Grimm within, that being Deathstalkers and their cousins, couldn't fit through the hole he had made so as long as he plugged it quickly it would disincentivize any more the creatures from entering.

A red blade grew from his hand and drove itself deep into the head of a small, ape-like Grimm he vaguely recognized as malgrown Beringal from his lessons and tore its head right off its shoulders. He pushed Cinder towards the barrier as gently as he could while topping the dead body of the Beringal on top of her. It would be uncomfortable, but the body would protect her from stray bullets and blows.

And as he felt an armor-piercing anti-Grimm bullet hitting him between his shoulder blades and punch a hole through his chest, he lost himself in the melee.

.

..

…

"...And what might this be?" Ozpin asked as he walked out of his personal Bullhead transport, flanked on one side by Glynda and on other by a pair of Hunters and professor Port. He had recalled two entire teams of seasoned Hunters into the city when Qrow had informed him of the possible trickery being played in Glenn, with two standing guard in Beacon at all times and one set in front of the old Glenn barrier when Qrow had told him of the metro on its way to the city.

Ironwood had caught wind of it, likely because of having a connection to CCCT and thus having the ability to listen in to any and all calls made through it, a feature which Atlas had installed to the root of the system in a way they likely thought discreet but had been obvious to Ozpin the moment the tower had been built. Regardless, Ironwood had sent his troops, and once again, brought peace by extreme measures if the ground covered in corpses both faunus and Grimm was any indication.

Not that he could ignore the involvement of the positively massive, now nearly twenty-feet tall Grimm armored creature which was guarding the breach hole in the making of the corpses.

"Heahhmafhef! Pheafe sfay bafk, if's danfehouf!" One of the Hunters in the vanguard team shouted at Ozpin with muffled voice as he approached the combat zone. Ozpin glanced at the male Hunter's face which now bore a long and nasty looking wound from his temple to the side of his jaw, which apparently made it hard to talk and he leaned heavily on his rifle-halberd which bore signs of chemical burns. The Hunter's other three teammates were in better shape, even if the woman who carried twin sabres had apparently broken her leg since she was lying on the ground and was aiming a Atlesian rifle she'd picked off the ground at the sole remaining Grimm beast in the square.

The Atlesians were tending to their dead and injured, four of whom had been impaled to the walls of the buildings around them by almost two feet long and very familiar looking bone-darts. Few others were lying on stretchers with some having lost limbs and some bearing fairly gruesome slashes. The few lightweight combat bots the Atlesians had brought lied in ruin, some having been sliced in two and some looking like they had been crushed.

The remaining Atlesian troops had seemingly adopted a apparent ceasefire with the Grimm, and were just pointing their rifles and shoulder-fired launchers at it while the few medics the Atlesians had were trying to save their comrades. The air transports the team had come in with had departed, as while their firepower was helpful, the ranged combat potential of the massive Grimm had apparently forced the lightly armored aircraft to clear out.

Ozpin sighed as he looked at the Grimm Tyrant and adjusted his glasses. "Well then. He's grown a bit."

"Ozpin, I told you it was bad idea to take him in." Glynda whispered back as she looked at the devastation. "What should we do?"

"A big bugger, but he's not attacking and it looks like he's trying to plug the hole. Odd as far as Grimm go, perhaps the pendejos just as high as I'm about to be." The taller of the two Hunters that had accompanied them, a man from Vacuo with a pair of Atlesian cybernetic replacement arms which bore a pair of subdermally mounted mantis blades, remarked while taking a deep whiff from a inhaler. "Oof, that's the good stuff… so we gonna kill this thing or what?"

Glynda frowned at the usage of combat drugs but refrained from her usual scathing remarks as Ozpin tapped the street with his cane. "Mr Arc!"

The beast turned its head towards the headmaster and lowered its four blood-red sabers a bit, causing some of the blood that covered them to drip on the ruined concrete street. The movement caused the remaining Atlesians to tense up. However neither side made hostile motions and the situation seemed to unwind a little- a uncharacteristic move from Atlas since they had very much 'shoot first ask later' policy but the losses they had suffered perhaps had taught them a little restraint.

Nevertheless Ozpin walked forwards until his group stood between the Atlesian strike troop and the battle-worn Hunters already dispatched on the scene. "Mr Arc! Lower your weapons!"

The creature obeyed, which caused the Hunters to stare at Ozpin with wide eyes and lower their own weapons as well, likely from the shock of seeing their old mentor commanding Grimm.

Ozpin sighed as he turned to address his retinue. "You're aware of miss Schnee's research, yes?"

The Hunters nodded somewhat warily, and the woman with twin sabers blushed a bit while looking at Ozpin with wide eyes for some reason. "Yeah, I've heard… a thing like that. From a friend. Of a friend. Of course I thought it was hogwash, but... are you saying you…"

"Yes, I have assumed control of this particular Grimm. Now, I'll make it surrender and you will capture it." Ozpin instructed. "Mr. Arc! Stand down and surrender!"

In response the Grimm Tyrant slashed one of its sabers down, causing the Hunters to tense, but the motion was not made to attack as the saber toppled a Grimm corpse lying on the ground on top of something… and revealing a woman hidden underneath the corpse.

Ozpin felt his throat catch for a moment as he saw the woman's dark veins and pale white skin before his rational self caught on and noticed the pair of wings the unknown woman bore and the short, ragged-looking raven black hair which partially obscured her face.

The Tyrant let go of its sabers, letting them fall on the ground with a disgusting squelch as the cords connecting them to the Tyrant's wrists broke from the bone-made saber's weight. The monster grasped its chest, and after a moment of struggling tore its solid, armored chest-piece off with a disgusting, ripping sound that send shivers down to everyone's spines. The plate fell down with a thud, revealing a wriggling, slithering flesh that flowed and twitched like thousand snakes slithering in a bucket.

"Eyy, the bugger's a juggernaut if he can take that in a stride." the drugged Hunter commented while Glynda was recording the Tyrant with her Scroll to keep herself busy and from doing anything hasty.

"Ozpin, he's grown. See the differences?" Professor Port said with jolly tone while patting his shoulder with the haft of his musket-axe as the Tyrant keeled over, which also revealed that it had put its enlarged and now-solid bone tail into the hole in the Glenn barrier wall. The appendage had apparently both plugged the hole in it and anchored the creature to the temporarily plugged barrier. "Saw the chest? It used to be ribcage-like, now it was a single plate. A lot of the weak spots had also disappeared, like the knees. It's turned to a living tank, which is why it must have survived the Atlesian firepower..."

"We can analyze him later. Look." Glynda pointed out as a vaguely human-shaped thing fell out of the creature's chest and flopped on the ground, still attached to the creature by a thick cord which snapped loose soon afterwards.

Ozpin sighed once more at Jaune Arc's armored, knight-like form which lied twitching on the blood-covered pavement while the Tyrant gave a howl-like groan and slumped against the barrier, causing the concrete to send sharp, cracking sounds but the barrier held.

"Well, capture them." Ozpin motioned forwards with his cane, sending two of the fresh Hunters to capture the unconscious woman and armored Jaune Arc while their fellow Hunters kept their weapons trained on the pair. "Atlesians! Secure the square!"

One of the masked Atlesians nodded to the headmaster, likely a sergeant based off the design of his helmet, and Ozpin nodded back before turning towards Glynda and Peter. "Let's go back to Beacon. Glynda, send for Vale's construction team and commision a fourth-year Hunter-student team to secure the area while the construction team re-builds the barrier."

"And what is to become of those two?" Peter asked in uncharacteristically serious tone.

"We'll see. If what we saw through the camera network before we landed are anything to go by, mr. Arc, or indeed that Grimm Worm, broke the barrier and allowed Grimm to attempt to assault the city…" Ozpin said while turning towards his Bullhead while Atlesian air transports began returning to the square alongside a heavily-armored Bowhead aerial assault transport which Glynda had requested from Beacon to carry their two captives.

"And?" the stern woman asked as Ozpin's speech trailed off.

"We have containment cells beneath Beacon. Put them there while we wait for them to wake up."

"The lass looks wounded." Peter remarked. "Sure you want to put her to solitary? She could die there."

"Have a medic take a look at them, and station a guard for them." Ozpin sighed while the Hunter from Vacuo waved his hand to volunteer for guard duty. "It is time to stop merely observing. I believe we know enough, and all that remains is to… pose questions… to our new guests."

Glynda narrowed her eyes warily but didn't comment, and Peter looked troubled but chose to not say anything.

The Vacuon Hunter shrugged at Glynda as he sensed the mood. "Cheer up chica, frown don' suit so pretty face."

Ozpin and Peter both flinched a little as Glynda gave the man a glare harsh enough to freeze lava.

 **Next chapter: Soon(™(™))**

 **Work related troubles cropped up, sorry for delay(s).**

 **Not dead btw.**

 **Obligatory sellout ending phrase: follow and/or review thx.**


	41. Passing the Torch

"... _And on today's news: A Grimm invasion fought back! Roman Torchwick repels Grimm attempt to breach Vale's barrier wall: Atlesian strike team intervenes and opens fire on civilians, Police estimate over sixty civilians killed..."_

" _...Has there been any updates from the scene, Lisa?" "Yes. I am Lisa Lavender reporting from the scene: A construction and repair team found evidence that Roman Torchwick, fabled as the 'Defender of Vale', has fallen in combat against Grimm likely due to Atlesian involvement, however the situation is still being investigated and new evidence is being uncovered..." "Thank you Lisa, Back in studio…"_

" _...Civilian tape suggests a new type of Grimm spotted during Grimm Invasion: A Grimm 'King' seen protecting a wounded faunus woman while fighting side-by-side with White Fang against other Grimm…."_

" _...Mr Wattison, as an expert on Grimm behaviour, how would you analyze the behaviour of the, and I quote, 'Grimm King' during the recent Grimm invasion attempt?" "That is a very curious question, Victor, as we saw the Grimm King turning against his brethren. As unlikely as it sounds, it appears he was trying to protect a Faunus woman with wings." "A Grimm protecting a faunus makes for a very shocking twist of events indeed."_

" _...Hundreds of humans and faunus have gathered in protest against the presence of Atlesian forces in the city on account of Atlesian involvement in Barrier Square bloodbath, survivors claim Atlesians massacred citizens of Vale indiscriminately. Tensions between Vale and Atlas rise to highest levels since Great War nearly eighty years ago…"_

" _...Grimm civil war imminent? Breaking new pictures of Grimm fighting Grimm in Vale!"_

" _...Can a Grimm love Faunus? 'Grimm King's battle against its brethren during the breach of Vale-Glenn metro barrier may have been an attempt to rescue a Faunus woman, dubbed Raven due to her black wings, as witnesses claim Grimm King was seen protecting the woman and nearly sacrificing himself to protect her from Hunters, Atlas… and even his very own kin."_

" _...A memorial will be held to the brave Faunus who sacrificed their lives in defence of Vale, and White Fang spokespersons have informed that 'White Fang will continue to oppose the tyranny of Grimm and injustice against Faunus.' The spokespersons deny White Fang involvement in recent streak of terrorist attacks aimed at Atlesian government in Mantle, claiming that a splinter faction of extremists has seperated from White Fang and has taken up arms against Atlesian government in the snowy continent of Mantle."_

" _...White Fang sees a massive surge of volunteer workers- both Human and Faunus. Police advises caution as White Fang hasn't been verified as registered organization in Vale, however both sides have agreed to a ceasefire as, and I quote, 'The issue is merely bureaucracy related'"_

" _...Weiss Schnee's research sees an explosive rise in popularity as theories rise about the true origin of her 'Grimm controlling' ability as demonstrated in Vale before her demonstration was interrupted by a terrorist attack: Was her secret power… love?"_

" _...New theories are brought to light- was the Raven a Grimm controller, or as it is popularly dubbed, a Grimromancer like Weiss Schnee? Just what is Beacon hiding?"_

* * *

A pair of pale hands held a top-of-the-line Scroll-pad as news rolled on its high-definition screen.

A man kneeled in front of her, frozen completely still. Afraid of being subjected to her ire after delivering the Scroll containing the news.

Yet something far more ominous echoed in the empty, lonely halls of the blackstone castle she occupied, and the sound caused the man to shake like a leaf on a wind.

After all it wasn't often that Salem, Queen of all Grimm, laughed like a madwoman.

* * *

"Whoof, Vale's in a bit of a uproar, eh?" A man stated while looking at a news broadcast on his Scroll. "Wanna take a look amigo?"

Jaune turned on his cell-bed.

"Oh, cheer up pal. You're making me sad." the man standing outside his Cell, a Hunter based off the look and the feel the man gave off, told him while pushing his Scroll against the glass so Jaune could see what was being played on it. "Sorry, should I be calling you el Califa? Sorry, don' know how to bow an' scrape before royals, kings even less."

"I'm not a king." Jaune turned around on his bed again. He had un-grown his bone armor soon after waking up, since his attempts to talk with the Hunter while transformed hadn't gone very well. He had managed to stop the man from calling backup by shapeshifting back to his human form and telling him that he hadn't attempted to break out when he had launched himself into the glass wall and attempted to gurgle words through it.

The room he had woken in was a cold, concrete-built cell which luckily had a reinforced armor glass 'viewing wall' which opened to a cargo walkway, likely so that whoever oversaw the captives could see what they are doing without the need of cameras. The cells were detachable and could be moved in the conveyor part of the walkway without needing to open the cell which made Jaune acutely aware that the cell-block system was made to contain Grimm, even if the violent sensations from some of the cells hadn't alerted him to the fact already. The fact there were human emotions coming from above him, some of them very familiar, made him aware that he was likely underneath Beacon which made sense since the last thing he remembered was Ozpin and Glynda telling him to surrender.

Most of the cells around him were empty, presumably Beacon had troubles acquiring live Grimm to be used as training targets for the Hunter-students or something, but the fact he was in a Grimm-holding cell didn't do much to stop Jaune from feeling like he was on his way to a dissecting table nor did it help with his mental state as his earlier stays in Grimm-containment cells cropped up in his mind, specifically during when White Fang had captured him. Luckily the cell he was in had a viewing wall to keep his earlier, violent claustrophobic reaction from resurfacing.

The fact he was currently in a cell didn't surprise him too much though after he had thought about it, as he had played a hand in how Grimm had managed to puncture Glenn-Vale barrier, but he hoped that his reason for doing it would be enough to land him out of hot water once he'd been interrogated.

However his own fate was a secondary concern to him- and as soon as he had woken up and had gotten the initial surprise out of the way, he had told the Hunter guarding him about his team back in Glenn. While he couldn't go back as his captors wouldn't let him out of his cell, he could still try to get the rest of the team help.

At the start the man hadn't been too enthusiastic about his ramblings nor had believed that he was, in fact, a Hunter-student and part of a team and _not_ some sort of new Human-like Grimm, but the man had relayed the information 'upwards' nonetheless. Later that day Jaune had received info that a Bowhead had returned from Glenn with a group of female students on board without reported casualties . Considering that there was only one team sent to Glenn, it was fairly safe to assume that his team had gotten away from the hellhole that had been Glenn's underground metro station. Outside that, no-one had told him anything about the health of his team (or more specifically, about Weiss's or Cinder's condition) which had made him a bit crass.

"C'mon, I even told the highups about your 'team', and I even relayed that some chica's had returned from Glenn in a Bowhead." the man tried to cheer him up, pinpointing the reason for Jaune's sulking. "Hey, how 'bout this, you stop sulking and I tell you what's going on with your girlfriend eh?"

Jaune's ears would have perked up if he had still inhabited his Beowolf-like body, but failing that he just turned around on his bed, stood up and walked to the glass wall separating the two. Luckily the cell had been furnished with a wooden bed, few sheets of cloth one could use as bedsheets and rough linen clothes that were slightly too big for him, meaning he didn't have to prance around naked.

His guard had distinctly Vacuon features and accent, and sun-tanned skin combined with a short, partially shaved punk haircut. Both of his arms were clearly artificial, not only because of the fact they bore clear part lines but also because they were bluish-white metallic colour and Jaune could swear he heard faint buzzing as they moved.

"Thanks… so, what's happened to them?" Jaune asked, causing the man to look at him in confusion.

"Muy bien, them? I thought there'd be just that one damisela you defended in that meat grinder?" he took a step back but held his hands up to indicate that he wasn't intending on going back on his promise. "Dunno about other chica's, I assume they are resting or something, but your raven-girl's in a cell on the other side of this facility. Apparently she had woken up and was about to be examined by the doctors, but that was a while ago, according to Goodwitch anyway. She guessed that you'd ask after your raven-girl so she supplied me that info."

"And what is this facility? I mean, we're in Beacon, right?" Jaune asked, feeling somewhat annoyed at the vague answer. "Her name is Cinder, by the way. Is she alright? Has something happened to her?"

"Fiery, I like it. But sorry, can't tell what place this is, nor can I guarantee her safety. I'm just a guard conscripted from a Vale-Vacuo flight." the man told him while crossing his artificial arms. "See, Vacuo an' Vale had this agreement that said either nation can request the aid of the other's Hunters as long as they are in town, and they are to agree to help as long as the orders ain't going to cause the other nation trouble. A deal struck during the Great War eighty years go when shit was tough and only Hunters could provide relief. Bad timing on my part since I was in town when Vale's headmaster decided to conscript-call all Hunters, which means that as soon as you're out of my hair, my civil duty ends and I get to check up on me hijo, son I mean, an' get back to my return flight before it leaves since I used the guard mission as an excuse to book a free flight to Vale."

"Your son?" Jaune asked more out of habit rather than interest while leaning against the glass wall.

"A faunus boy, chica's falling all over him wherever he goes. Came to Vale to complete his Hunter studies." the man smirked proudly before waving his hand in front of his face. "Nevermind. Forget it."

"You're a faunus?"

"Na, my wife is. A feisty she-devil, but I love 'er." the man shrugged nonchalantly and bowed slightly in a playful way- although it didn't quite hide the warning in his tone. "No names, por favor. I'd prefer not to get el Grimm Rey hounding us if señor decides to be cross about his choice of temporary accommodation later down the line. You'll understand."

"I'm not a Grimm King…" Jaune grumbled once more but sighed. "Anyway, about Cinder, did you see her? Is she alright? What about the rest of my team?"

"I can ask. No promises though." the man offered and Jaune nodded gratefully. "Don' get your hops up now amigo, I heard Vale's high-sitters can be stingy fucks, but I'll do what I can do."

"Thanks… But, not that I don't appreciate it, but why are you helping me?" Jaune sighed. "I mean, I'm currently being held captive for questioning, right?"

"Well you see, ser Rey, I figured that if what's being rumored is true, I'd prefer not getting on your bad side. And if what you're saying is true you're a lil' Hunter yourself. I don' wanna bully future Hunters. Karma's a fickle bitch, never know what she brings with her, and I don' wanna step on her toes." the man showed his Scroll so that Jaune could see that he had sent a message to the headmistress of Beacon. "Plus, I'm a sucker for romantic stories, altho I don't approve of your way of entering the city for myriad of reasons, civilian casualties being número uno. Speaking of them, what'd happen with the White Fang over there? Them crazy pendejo's have been skulking around in Vacuo but they mostly keep to themselves. How'd White Fang end up in the barrier square? Know anything?"

"No… I just wanted to save Cinder when I pushed through the barrier, I figured that if I just made a small hole and quickly plugged it up it'd be okay… and I would have had the breach under control, that is to say that only I would have entered, but someone severed the link I had with the Worm I was controlling." Jaune sighed. He lifted his eyebrow at the man as he realized something. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Controlling Grimm, heh? Sure you aren't a Grimm Rey after all?" The man asked before lifting his hands up in placating manner as Jaune sent a glare at him. "Ehh… just call it professional interest. Go on, what'd happen then?"

"I tried to get Cinder to safety, couldn't thanks to some Hunters who attacked me, no questions asked…" Jaune sighed and rubbed his temple. "Well, I'll keep it brief. I figured that I couldn't nor shouldn't just fight through Hunters when Grimm were pouring into the city, so I fell back to the Grimm horde which I could actually fight. I put Cinder under a corpse and started to contain the breach. Atlas kept shooting at the mass of people and Grimm, and after I got the breach under control they kept shooting at me even though I didn't do anything to them. I shot back, missing deliberately, and stopped, but they kept shooting."

"Uh huh, I saw the Atlesian corpses. What'd happen?"

"They didn't get the hint when I missed deliberately." Jaune said slowly. "I… I didn't want to kill them, they just didn't give me a choice. Plus if I didn't plug the hole then I'm not sure the Atlesian team could hold the Grimm back by themselves, there were a lot of Deathstalkers and other big Grimm trying to come through."

"Uh huh, for the greater good eh?" The Hunter sighed. "It seems to be a common theme in Vale. So you're saying you weren't trying to invade Vale then?"

"Well… no, I just wanted to save Cinder and then get a word through to Vale about my team so they could be rescued." Jaune told him once again, before realizing he hadn't said anything about why he had been in the tunnel in the first place. "Speaking of invading, we were sent to Glenn to recon the area, a second-year mission, but it went bad and we found that Grimm had somehow started to… well… mutate, and White Fang had cleared part of Glenn so they could make a stronghold in Glenn's metro, and…"

"Hold on, hold on, what's this about Glenn?" the man stalled for time while fiddling with his Scroll. "Start from the beginning and talk slower, I can barely make out what you're saying."

"Right…" Jaune paused for a while to gather his thoughts and started to recount what the team had found in Glenn. The Hunter looked somewhat disbelieving but commented on the story every once in a while, which meant that he was listening at least.

"So a quick recap, shit went flying all over, your group got stranded without your hand-holder, found a overrun 'Fang camp, did a classical suicide move of engaging Grimm without escape plan, in their breeding ground, unsupported, and in a spot where you couldn't even maneuver around, got eaten by a Grimm Worm, spat out, then the two of you entered a metro train that had a massive Dust bomb, which detonated half-way through, you two somehow survived, and decided breaching Vale's barrier wall would be the way to go." The Hunter recapped. "Mierda, if you were under my guidance I'd slap you in the back of your head. How'd you think all that was a good idea?"

"Well… it seemed like a good idea at the time." Jaune shrugged. "So… what's going to happen now?"

"Now, I'll send the interrogation report to Oz-man who decides if your story checks out, and he'll decide what to do with you." the Hunter shrugged back at him.

"Wait, interrogation?"

"Yeah, graz, it's done, I guess. Oz might wanna ask some questions himself later but he sent me a message to get some basic stuff outta you when you felt talkative." The man shrugged. "What'd you expect, red-hot irons and torture racks?"

"Well… no, but I kind of expected sort of, kind of, well… something intimidating, like last time." Jaune shrugged and sat back down on his bed. "Do you know where professor Qrow is?"

"Interrogations a usual thing for you? My my, are you sure you ain't a baddie?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"Nor am I going to. Funny that, since Oz asked me to specifically not tell what's going on with that bloke. Didn't tell me not to tell you about his order though, so joke's on him, ha!"

"Hmm." Jaune didn't comment any further and lied back down on his bed to think. ' _At least they decided to inform me that the rest of my team apparently made it out of Glenn… but they don't inform me of their health. In other words, they want to calm me down but don't want to tell me anything- so they don't trust me.'_

' _Not to mention that Ozpin wants to keep Qrow away from me, huh… So he must know that I know that he lied to me, or at least suspects so... which means Qrow must know that Cinder accessed his Scroll.'_ He hid his clenched fists and enraged expression underneath the sheet as he pretended to sleep, having learned from Glenn that rash decisions would likely cost him, and those around him dearly so he decided to bid his time, and think of his next move. ' _They lied to me about my sisters…'_

* * *

"... So Cinder and Jaune have been imprisoned, basically?" Ruby asked Glynda Goodwitch as the red-clad girl paced back-and-forth in front of the operating section divider door which separated the surgery and high-intensive care part of Beacon's main hospital from the rest of it. She had asked to be allowed in to _be_ there when the doctors operated on Weiss, but her request had been denied. A small, rational part of her mind recognized that it was for the best since she'd just get in the doctor's way, but her emotionally driven side had done good job on tying up the rational part of her head and throwing it at the nearest trash can. Even more so since the operation had been going on for nearly eighteen hours.

Apparently there was something in her wounds that made operating hard, and the doctors had been forced to use robotic surgery tools when one of the doctors had lost a finger when _something_ in Weiss's stomach had bit him.

Naturally the incident had also lifted the priority and urgency of the surgery from a regular stitch job to a very highly documented, guarded operation with Hunters standing guard inside the operation room, weapons at hand.

Ruby didn't like any of it. _At all_.

"That is incorrect, miss Rose. Miss Fall and Mr. Arc are being held for questioning as there is criminating evidence against them which needs to be cleared up. They are not imprisoned." Glynda said while sending a glare at Ruby that caused her to stop her pacing in front of the high-intensity care wing door and stand ramrod-straight without further prompting. "Now, you will tell me everything that happened during your Glenn mission. Again. Start from the beginning."

"Are… Are Jaune and Cinder going to be okay?" Ruby hesitated to ask since Glynda looked extra angry, but she couldn't just _not_ worry about her teammates and about her sort-of boyfriend-friend. Not after it had been a day since Jaune had appeared in Vale and team SABR, or what was left of them, had landed in Beacon, and no-one was willing to tell her where Jaune was or what had happened to him.

It didn't help that Blake had effectively crashed and shut down after they landed and learned that Jaune had broken the barrier and thus was safe, which meant the girl was currently resting in the infirmary. Luna had been taken away from them and led somewhere as soon as they landed as there had been no records of her being on the mission and Vale's personnel ID system returned her as 'dead'. Ruby had started to consider the loony fox faunus as sort-of friend, and the fact no-one was telling _anything_ to her about Jaune, Cinder, Luna or Weiss was making her super paranoid.

"Fine, fine, I can tell what happened in Glenn, again… it's the same story though." Ruby lifted her hands up in sign of surrender as Glynda moved between her and the surgery wing door when it became clear she wouldn't answer while her thoughts were somewhere else than in Goodwitch's questions.

"Nevertheless, I'd... Oh?" Glynda paused as her Scroll let a 'ping' sound, and she pulled it up to read a message. Ruby tried to resist the urge to read the message through the Scroll's translucent screen, but fortunately her own Scroll let a similar 'ping' as well which worked well enough as a distraction. "Miss Rose, it appears that there is something urgent I need to attend to. Please refrain from attempting to enter the surgery wing or interfering with miss Schnee's operation. Her state is critical enough without her teammates being there to make the doctor's work more even more difficult."

"Oh… okay." Ruby's posture sagged a little as the woman turned on her heels and walked off, accompanied by the hard clacking of her high heels hitting the hospital floor.

It was incredible how the stern woman managed to make Ruby feel small and insignificant by sound of her footsteps alone.

She remembered the message she had received which distracted her from her thoughts, and she lifted her Scroll to read it. ' _Huh? Oh! Yang's returning to Vale! Team RYNN is apparently landing to Beacon in few minutes… I better reply and tell her what happened! No, more than that, I need to go greet her, tell her about Jaune… but what if something happens with Weiss? Can I leave her?'_

Ruby glanced at the surgery wing door, and at the window showing the Beacon's central walkway-slash-park with CCCT tower entrance at the center, and then glanced at the direction where Goodwitch had off, all the while holding a shaky finger above the 'send' image in her Scroll.

Ruby let a distressed, indecisive whine before deleting the part of meeting Yang in the airdock in order to type where she was, alongside a plea for Yang to come to her as soon as she could.

* * *

"Ironwood… I can't really begin." Ozpin sighed as he walked on the dimly-lit hallway beneath Beacon's CCCT with Ironwood and Qrow. "How exactly do you manage to both appear as the aggressor _and_ fail to contain the situation in Vale?"

"In Atlas similar situations are not uncommon, and we take care of them in much the same way." Ironwood told Ozpin while walking beside him. "Before we managed to upgrade our walls with newest line of combat bots and Dust-shield barriers, Grimm intrusions were a norm outside the core Atlesian city perimeter and we were forced to do what we could to contain the breaches on the outer parts of the city."

"What, contain by opening fire on the crowd?" Qrow asked.

"No, but by containing the breach by any means necessary. White Fang decided to stand between us and that goal, and paid the ultimate price." Ironwood answered.

"Uh, huh." Qrow grumbled.

The Atlesian general's hard, calculatingly precise footsteps rang on the polished stone floor. The sound made Qrow's headache far, far worse than it had been before, as his head was still sore from what had happened in Glenn-Vale metro tunnel.

He had attempted to catch up with Arc and Fall in Glenn's metro tunnel before they managed to crash the metro into Vale's barrier, but the metro had exploded before he reached it. The shockwave of the explosion, contained within the relatively narrow tunnel and seeking to release, had blasted him halfway back to Glenn, which was probably for the best as it knocked him out of the ensuing firestorm's way. The Dust Bomb had apparently cooked off prematurely and somehow non-optimally, causing the tunnel to become a walk-in cremator for few seconds as the firestorm raged in the confined space, burning and scorching everything few feet off the ground before settling into a steady firestream engulfing the tunnel from waist up.

Luckily however the Dust-born fire and smoke were lighter than air, meaning that Qrow could escape by crawling away since there had been a thin layer of air at the bottom of the tunnel he could use to breathe while his Aura tanked most of the heat damage to his lungs. He had assumed that both the Arc kid and Fall girl had died in the blast, but apparently the firestorm on his side of the tunnel hadn't happened on their side on the on account of them surviving, making him suspect that they had been in the metro train's lead carriage and the bomb had been in one of the carriages behind them, thus caving the tunnel in on the spot of the Dust bomb and causing tons of stone, concrete and rubble to separate the burning part of the tunnel from the relative intact Vale-side part.

After Qrow had escaped and delivered his report Ozpin had ordered Glynda to interrogate the rest of their survivors, that being Blake (not much to be learned thanks to the girl's mental state), Ruby (who had been more interested in inquiring about Weiss's state and where Jaune and Cinder had been) and the unknown faunus girl they had brought with them (who had been spouting complete nonsense about tentacle Grimm, White Fang having contacts in hospital and government conspiracy where a shadowy figure was holding power over all Vale, which had caused Ozpin to throw the girl into one of the solitary cells underneath Beacon 'so she wouldn't hurt herself'), after which Qrow, Ironwood and Ozpin had brainstormed to reach a hypothesis based off the information available to them before moving to interrogating to their two survivors-slash-suspects.

As a result they had reached few possible conclusions.

The first, positive theory was that Arc and Fall had triggered some mechanism while disarming the bomb which had set the metro on its way, and managed to detonate the bomb before the Metro reached Vale in act of self-sacrificial valor so Grimm wouldn't have a chance to invade Vale. However the fact that Grimm had invaded nevertheless with both of their suspects at the lead made the theory somewhat shaky.

Their other theory was that Arc and Fall had used their other teammates as expendable tools to get themselves into the metro train, and then set off towards Vale in an attempted terrorist attack, during which one of them had gotten cold feet and detonated the bomb, or the bomb had accidentally detonated on its own. The latter theory was further reinforced by the way Qrow had detailed the explosion, making it very likely that it had been either unintentional or the Dust bomb had lacked a proper detonator, and by the fact the two of them had opened a way for the Grimm invasion after the detonation, defeating the whole point of a 'self-sacrificial move' by endangering Vale regardless.

Their next dilemma had been to try to pick a motive why exactly Roman Torchwick had been waiting in the square with White Fang troop, or why they assaulted the Grimm in suicidical manner as soon as the breach was made.

Ironwood had suggested that Cinder or Jaune had a deal with Roman since it wasn't difficult to sum one and one of the recent streak of Dust robberies to someone trying to create a big enough bomb that'd enable the terrorist act. Of course after that they needed to figure out why: was Roman just attempting to look like a hero to boost his already-overgrown popularity at the expense of Vale's citizens and White Fang's lives by engineering a terrorist attack which he could then 'foil'? And if so, to what end?

The point was discarded soon afterwards as Ozpin had pointed out that the Atlesian strike team had apparently cut off Torchwick's escape route, indirectly causing the man's death based off the evidence found on-site and thus making the criminal's true motive quite impossible to find out for sure anymore. Thus all they could do regarding Roman Torchwick was to prevent him from becoming a martyr in the eyes of the public- which would be difficult enough of a task since the Council of Vale had loosened their control over the media as direct response to Ironwood's earlier attempt to suppress it.

The citizens of Vale had not taken kindly to the blatant suppression of media including Scroll communication and the response had been a full-blown Anti-Atlesian riot which had been dispersed forcefully by Vale's police before it gained too much traction. Considering the already unstable emotional state within the city and that a long-running pro-freedom mass riot might destabilize that mood even further, the freedom-riot had been squashed quickly and ruthlessly.

The resulting waves had been nearly enough to cut the ground supply lines to the city completely, as Grimm flooded the city's perimeters and prevented supply trucks and trains from entering the city. Thus, the Council gave the media almost complete freedom to operate as they pleased and it was enough to temporarily decrease the negativity and allow the Grimm to disperse from the walls. With food and resource supplies flowing again, Vale's guardians and governors had breathed easier once again.

And almost immediately afterwards the press had seized the opportunity, and latched onto the aftermath of the Barrier Square tragedy like carrions without care for truth or for the long-term effects of their publications. The papers and web-articles started to wax anti-Atlesian opinions into the general public- No doubt the journalists remembered the way Ironwood had 'investigated' the recent corruption claims towards the press and had decided to return the favor.

Giving the Press a freedom to operate had thus been a mistake from Atlas's perspective, as Ironwood had pointed out earlier, and he had done so again as the man saw the recent articles regarding 'Grimm King.' However he refrained from ordering his troops to break the anti-Atlesian riot or shutting down the press as Ozpin pointed out that it would do more harm than good, and it would be better to just let the riot run its course under Vale's police and army supervision as it was considerably milder than the riots that had resulted from the cutting off of communication entirely.

The discussion had then turned towards Cinder Fall's new… appearance, or rather why she had suddenly grown raven-black wings that had been determined to be some sort of Grimm-like material based off blood and skin tests, much like how they had found on Jaune's body back during their first encounter with the boy. The connection further solidified their theory of Jaune and Cinder being linked somehow, and Ozpin had suggested that they were likely both servants of their true enemy.

The discovery of similar foreign material in Weiss Schnee's body had come as quite a shock for all of them as Glynda had burst into the secretive meeting in Headmaster's office to tell about her student's state mid-conversation about Arc's and Fall's relation to their enemies, which threw the group's theories into question since the material in Weiss Schnee's wounds was similar to what had been in Cinder's body- And they had concrete evidence of the younger of the Schnee daughters never leaving Atlas and living a extremely tightly scrutinized life before enrolling in Beacon, thus making it exceedingly unlikely that she had prior contact with their true enemy.

The revelations had spurred the group into motion and they had set off towards Beacon's underground system where the high-security holding cells would be- with Qrow and Ironwood continuing their previous conversation, Glynda departing to prepare for the arrival of their chosen Maiden-host candidate and Ozpin pulling up his Scroll and reading something while the group walked.

It was time to get answers.

"Regardless, having my personal strike team present during the breach was necessary since Vale's rapid response teams were unavailable on account of them being sent to oversee incoming supply and logistics convoys coming to Vale City from the countryside, and majority of Hunters residing in Vale being on supervisory missions outside the city with student teams in tow." Atlas pointed out at Ozpin as the group stopped in front of a large hydraulically sealed underground door and Ozpin pushed his finger into the ID-reader mechanism. "The reason for those 'civilian casualties', as news put it, is that White Fang deliberately put themselves between my men and the Grimm, and I won't hesitate to order my men to open fire in order to save themselves and the innocent civilians fleeing the battlefield."

"Few of 'em were caught in the crossfire." Qrow remarked as he was growing annoyed at Ironwood's tone. It was lucky Glynda wasn't present, as overseeing the rebuilding effort and taking care of her students had taken her time, since Qrow was fairly sure that the woman would likely slap Ironwood for the blatant disregard of civilian lives- even if Qrow had a feeling that Ironwood was just trying to distance himself from the casualties with his cold reasoning, turning them into numbers on paper so he could live with himself after the massacre.

"The needs of many out-weight those of the few. How many innocents would be dead if I had ordered my men to not fire?" Ironwood turned to snap and glare at Qrow, which caused the sympathetic thoughts Qrow might have had to dry up fairly quickly. "The White Fang were clearly unable to hold the Grimm back or even kill them efficiently from what I gathered through the strike team's helmet camera data, and all the Fang personnel managed to do was to be a hindrance to my men."

"Uh huh."

"If I allowed the White Fang to die on their own, then Grimm horde would have had time to build numbers inside Vale until my strike team and your Hunters could no longer ensure that the Grimm wouldn't escape the kill zone and run amok amongst the civilian population!"

"Enough. It is time." Ozpin silenced the two men as they stopped in front of a large machine that had two human-sized life support capsules attached to it.

One of them was empty and the other contained a tanned, scarred woman. "While you two bickered, I read through the doctor's report, and I found few interesting… details in miss Fall's Aura spectrum."

Ironwood glanced up at the wounded Fall Maiden contained within the life-support capsule, Amber Fall, and quickly inspected the values shown on the multitude of screens attached to the Aura Transfer machine.

"What did you find?" Qrow asked since he recognized Ozpin feeling smug about something which meant someone needed to prod the answers out of him if they were planning on getting whatever the man was planning done within the passing week.

"Miss Fall… is the second half of the Fall Maiden."

"Cinder Fall?" Ironwood paused for a while before turning to look at Ozpin sceptically. "You're saying… that the Fall Maiden's lost half has been quite literally within our arm's reach, all this time? With literally the same last name? And you didn't notice?"

"Contrary to a popular opinion, I am not omniscient." Ozpin didn't seem too amused by Ironwood's implications. "Miss Fall has done well to hide her true self with forged transcripts, modified biometric scans, and likely fake blood samples as well- not to mention that she has not visited Beacon's medical wing for injuries, meaning our doctors never examined her in depth... "

"Until now." Qrow concluded. "So, what's happening to her? Do we just kill her and hope the Maiden returns?"

"I sent a message to miss Fall's guard, and to headmaster Lionheart in Mistral. He needs to know that our enemy's agents have infiltrated his school, possibly even his staff, which would explain how miss Fall gained her fake papers. Although I imagine you know about it already." Ozpin turned to observe the life support system panel while nodding at Ironwood. "I assume you have some way of wirelessly communicating with your… secretary who is guarding miss Fall?"

"While I have mechanical parts, I am not a full-blown cyborg yet. I can't communicate natively over the CCCT network without interfacing tools. Scrolls, that is." Ironwood sighed as he pulled his Scroll. "I am working to correct that flaw though. Regardless, I told Penny to ignore any requests to have Cinder Fall moved without my express permission. A double-authorization in case someone had acquired your credentials."

"A wise precaution. Now tell Penny to bring miss Fall here." Ozpin nodded. "I plan on having miss Fall… well, let's say 'return what's not hers', and then move the Maiden out of Amber to her new host."

"Hm?" Qrow turned to look at Ozpin as Ironwood typed the movement orders on his Scroll. "Why not let it stay in Amber?"

"'Her', not 'it'. Regardless, I fear Amber Fall doesn't have long to live." Ozpin said bluntly while letting his hands rest on top of his cane. "Not only is she known to the Queen of the Grimm, as displayed by the fateful attack against Amber, I fear that returning the Maiden's power to her won't just suddenly heal her wounds. The power of Fall Maiden is to control weather, not healing."

"I… see." Qrow sighed. He hadn't known Amber all too well, so he couldn't claim to be her friend or anything like that, but nevertheless he didn't like hearing that she would die no matter what- Specifically so since he had harbored hope that Amber would make full recovery after the Maiden's power returned to her.

Remnant was already full of dead heroes without needing to add more.

Qrow shook his head to pull himself out of his own ass before he sank deeper into melodrama, specifically since the true source of his depression wasn't Amber Fall. "So, I heard you picked a new host for the Maiden while I was in Glenn. Who'd you pick? How were you planning on breaking the news fto her?"

Both Ironwood and Ozpin gained somewhat stony expressions.

"What?" Qrow asked.

* * *

"...And that concludes the mission. Full marks to miss Nikos…"

"Thank you, professor?"

"...Reduced marks for miss Xiao-Long for starting a fight in a bar…"

"They asked for my rate! I am not a cheap hooker!"

"...Reduced marks for miss Valkyrie for unprofessional display when dealing with locals in a bar and for unsafe weapons handling by discharging a grenade launcher in said bar…"

"They asked for Pyrrha's rates! I am not going to let my partner become a cheap hooker! Premium at minimum!"

"...And full marks for mr. Ren for breaking the fight before it escalated further by having your team flee the scene. Other than that, the mission was successful without injuries, without mentionable property damage _to the cargo_ or casualties." Winter finished briefing team RYNN as their air-taxi landed on Beacon's airdock. The team had disembarked from their guard-duty assigned intercontinental flight in Vale's main transport hub and taken a private aircar to Beacon since the ship wasn't stopping in Beacon's dock.

"Eh… whatever." Yang huffed as she typed a message for Ruby, asking if she had returned to Vale already.

While Vacuo had been interesting at first, the 'ooh' factor of seeing sand, sand and more sand had worn off very quickly, and had been replaced with thinly veiled disgust at the open prostitution on the sand-city's streets by worn and tired looking faunus and human girls, not to mention the rampant hard drug trade advertised on every corner of the city with its ever-present companions, povery, addictions and crime. Granted, Vale wasn't a stranger to drugs either, and many mind mental stimulants and pleasure-inducing drugs were openly sold in stores- yet Vacuo had no such restraints as 'too dangerous drugs', and it wasn't uncommon to see a dead body of a overdosed addict on some corner, half buried by the ever-shifting sands.

The smell of Vacuo alone had been engrained to their memory for long time as the dune-built city had barely any working plumbing and the smell of piss, excrement and rotted meat had become very familiar to all of them in the brief time they had spent docked in Vacuo's Atlesian-made height-adjusting air-dock. The presence of Atlas in Vacuo was fairly striking as the tidy, heavily guarded Atlesian pharmacy stores, weapon shops and quality-of-living stores like prosthetics shops had been built around the airdock into a defensive ring, doubling as a well-constructed barricade with clear killzones should the city's residents decide that the Atlesian corporate wealth would be better served on other pockets. The fact Atlesian part of the city had actual infrastructure and working plumbing was particularily jarring when the rest of the city's infra-tech was deep in the past.

Atlesians had also indirectly brought a dual-currency system of Lien and Dust to Vacuo, as Vacuo had needed funds and power after it had pushed Atlesian government's Dust miners out of her land during Great War eighty years ago.

Naturally, Vacuo's warlords which made its central government at the time saw potential income in the Atlesian Dust trade, and since Vacuo's citizen army had taken over the Atlesian mines in Vacuo, it was easy to adapt the Dust mining from one master to another- all it took was shift in leadership since Atlesians had been using Vacuo's citizens as labor from the start so know-how wasn't lost as the old Atlesian masters had been chased out and killed.

Instead of stopping the Dust mining that was destroying Vacuo's already weak ecosystem, the Vacuo's new 'government' had only intensified the Dust mining as it was seen as infinite money source for the few wealthy and well armed enough to claim the mines for themselves, splitting the country into city-states build around Dust mines almost as soon as the war ended- Dust mine owners, the descendants of those old warlords who had thrown Atlas's military off the continent, formed the backbone of the new government in Vacuo.

It had soon became clear that the 'citizen-elected' government of Vacuo was made of one man who 'ruled' according to the orders he was given, reigning for the duration of his usefulness (and thus for the duration of his life) and was replaced whenever needed. The true power in Vacuo rested in the hands, or rather in the gunbarrels of the few Dust mine owners who made the cabal of Vacuo's governmental 'advisors'- self-declared gold-clad caliph's and lords who only held to the title because of the arms and Dust they and their followers had amassed, demanding tithes and taxes in exchange for Dust-generated power and protection. Not long afterwards Atlas had changed their tone and had opted to provide luxury goods in exchange for the Dust, and the past enemies turned into close trade partners almost overnight in a move that almost started a second civil war.

It had become clear to team RYNN that Vacuo's standards of living for the average citizen were _far_ lower than those of Vale as the ruling class didn't particularly care for those poorer than them as long as they obeyed to the ruling class's orders, meaning that gangs and crime families pledging servitude to the Dust Lords had become the self-appointed police of the City of Vacuo. The capital of Vacuo thus served as tourist trap and logistical heart of the country. The combination of relatively central location regarding the remote Dust mining sites and easy logistics between the mining sites, the city and other nations had grown the 'grand' city from mere roadside town over the years. With the fast, uncontrolled growth and wide technology knowledge gap came poor infrastructure and in the end, the City of Vacuo grew into scarred abomination looming over the sand.

Thus, Team RYNN had also realized that the tourists they had escorted into Vale had gone there only to get as high as they could on the free-flowing drugs, plough hookers and load up on alcohol before returning to their clean, tidy jobs in Vale. Curiously enough, such attractions were likely the only reason the city was still standing in the first place, despite Grimm being attracted to unhappiness, as the chemical and artificial 'high' the city was constantly embroiled in was producing enough 'happy' emotions to confuse the majority of the Grimm from flooding the city.

Naturally such temporary-turned-permanent measures were not enough to completely redirect all Grimm attacks, and since tall defensive walls like those surrounding cities on other continents were impossible to build on top of dunes, the life on the exterior, 'frontier' parts of the city was tough, dangerous and short in equal measure.

Grimm attacks were constant threat with most of them being sudden and coming from below the ever-shifting sands, breaking apart huts the poor build on the outskirts and killing their occupants in mere seconds. It wasn't unusual for Grimm Centipedes and Sandworms to emerge from the sand to drag homeless wanderers, withdrawal-suffering junkies, unhappy workers or drugged-up tourists who had wandered off the city-center into their deaths.

Winter had pointed out to team RYNN how similar the 'exterior city and interior city' split was to Mistral's way of handling overpopulation, while they stretched their legs in the city center after the long flight, although the comparison had clearly upset Pyrrha who had objected that while life in Mistral's frontier settlements was dangerous, it wasn't blatantly death sentence like it was in the City of Vacuo- a sentence that had earned her quite few glares from the passing crowd.

The sudden culture shock had been enough to engrave Vacuo each of team RYNN's member's memory for a long, _long_ time if the looks on Pyrrha's, Ren's and Nora's faces had been any indication- even if Pyrrha had attempted her hardest to stay level-headed and look for the bright side in the corrupt city.

Yang had to applaud Pyrrha's hope in humanity, but it was clear that unless the rest of the team was constantly watching after her, the martially strong but ultimately too trusting and weak-willed girl would get pulled aside by someone with a smile and a friendly face, drugged to the point where she forgot even her own name, taken advantage of, and sold off to 'legal' sex slavery before she even realized what was about to happen- after all, a 'celebrity' would likely draw quite the crowd and fat paychecks for whoever would have held her leash. While the unseen threat Pyrrha faced could be directed towards Yang as well too (who had been keeping an eye on Pyrrha as well), team RYNN knew that Yang had far more experience dealing with people trying to drug her or take advantage of her due to her habit of hanging around bars and nightclubs in Vale, some of which were as bad as Vacuo's regulars, and Yang knew how to keep her head on her shoulders.

Nora, however, had been clearly unhinged enough that just about everyone gave her a wide berth, specifically so once she had nearly broken a prostitute's spine after one had approached Ren on the street.

Other than that, their visit in Vacuo had gone without further incidents, barring one when the team had gone to a small tourist-favorite pub near the airdock order to celebrate the successful half of the mission by having a few non-alcoholic drinks (while they _could_ have ordered alcohol or drugs, not one of them felt safe getting drunk in Vacuo, contrary to what the tourists apparently believed), but the team had managed to get by without too much fighting and had boarded on equally uneventful return trip from what Pyrrha had termed as 'a new experience', or what the three other team members had labeled as 'trauma-inducing culture shock'.

Granted, the fact Winter had been looking over the four of them like a hawk had given them a safety net in case something happened, but the point of the mission hadn't been to rely on their guide. As thanks for her vigilance Pyrrha had bought Winter a bouquet of fairly expensive but pretty desert-flowers just before they departed from Vacuo (which Winter had accepted graciously while explaining that the 'desert' flowers had been imported to Vacuo from Atlas and were in fact just regular weed-blooms in the snowy northern continent, causing Pyrrha to blush from head to toe as she realized she had been scammed).

Nevertheless sight of the City of Vale from the airship had been incredibly welcoming and homey after their experience in Vacuo, with Pyrrha appearing stoic and supportive externally but Yang could tell that the girl was missing Jaune, and Ren having sagged visibly upon exiting the aircraft as he could stop watching over Nora's antics while also keeping an eye on Pyrrha.

"Ooh? Something's apparently happening in Vale?" Yang commented as they seperated from Winter who had left the group in order to start filing in the administrative paperwork for the mission. "There's news about… A Grimm King? Huh?"

"Something new and exciting?" Nora commented before hopping on Yang's back so she could piggy-back a ride and look at Yang's Scroll at the same time. Yang reached to grab Nora's face and pulled the girl off her back, making Nora giggle good-naturedly as Yang dropped her on the ground. Their pink-clad ball of energy was clearly too charged up after the long flight, meaning that she'd likely need to unload in one of the simulation-slash-training rooms before getting released into the Beacon's campus.

"Apparently there's been a terrorist attack in Vale while we were in Vacuo." Pyrrha said as she read the local news on her Scroll while the team moved towards the dorms so they could deposit their stuff, take a shower and change clothes before moving to the workshops so they could maintain their weapons- even if they hadn't seen much action. "Roman Torchwick has been reported as having fallen against Grimm and Atlas during a Grimm breach which happened in Vale…"

"...Ruby's saying there's been an emergency with her team." Yang interrupted Pyrrha with as tone turned serious while she read the return message she had received from Ruby. "Weiss is in surgery, Jaune and Cindy have been apprehended, and there's some girl called Luna who's apparently missing as well. Know anything?" Yang added as Pyrrha blinked like she had recognized something, but she waved for Yang to continue as whatever she realized didn't seem overly important.

That is, until she processed the news about Jaune. "Wait, Jaune's in prison?"

"Apprehended, it reads, so I guess sort of?" Yang shook her head. "Nevertheless, Ruby's waiting in front of the high-intensity hospital wing and she can tell us more, let's go!"

"Right." Ren nodded and the group did a U-turn… and nearly ran into Glynda Goodwitch.

"Sorry, prof!" Yang backed away as she had almost bumped chests with the frightening woman, but it didn't seem that her apology was enough as the woman looked mega-angry for some reason.

"Welcome back to Beacon, team RYNN." the blonde woman started, making the entire team stand in attention instinctively. "I'm certain that you are looking forwards to winding down after your mission, but I am afraid I'll have to request for the presence of one of your team members. It is urgent."

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked carefully.

"A task of utmost importance for the future of Beacon." Glynda said as the earlier expression disappeared like it had never existed, and her eyes turned towards Yang. "Miss Xiao-Long, please follow me. The rest of the team is free to go as you will."

Yang blinked while mentally going through her recent past. ' _Have I done something to upset her? Wait, she said something about importance… No, even more than that, Ruby's waiting for me!'_

"I'm sorry but I can't, Ruby's waiting for me…" Yang started, but stopped as Glynda gave her a look that somehow frightened her even more than the stern glare.

It was almost like Glynda of all people felt ashamed for some reason.

"I am sorry as well, but Ruby Rose can wait. What I have to say cannot." the headmistress of Beacon straightened her back as the moment of weakness passed and she turned towards the CCCT of Vale while motioning for Yang to follow.

Yang dug her heels in. "No. Tell me, now and here, what is more important than my sister who…"

"Who I last saw few minutes ago, in perfect health I assure you, and who can wait for your return. Unfortunately, someone far less fortunate cannot." Glynda turned to look at Yang and her eyes hardened. "Only you can help her, and your decision may impact the future of Remnant. I cannot tell more in here, but the rest of the information will be supplied once we reach our destination."

"What am I, the chosen one?" Yang growled at Glynda despite the way the woman's return glare sent swirls of discomfort into Yang's belly. The lack of information combined with urgency was rubbing her the wrong way, and the fact the headmistress was effectively blocking her from going to Ruby's side was rubbing her the wrong way times two.

"Yang… I think you should go and at least hear her out. She's the headmistress after all." Pyrrha said slowly. "We'll go and check up on Ruby and report back to you. Don't worry."

Yang glanced at Pyrrha who nodded at her, before turning her head towards Ren and Nora who looked a bit cowed, but nodded at Yang as well.

"Fine. Fine, lead on." Yang sighed and glared at Glynda.

The woman nodded at Pyrrha before addressing Yang. "Follow me."

.

..

…

"No."

"Unfortunately…"

"Not going to happen."

"Qrow, surely you understand that…"

"Ozpin. You promised me. You promised me that she would not be involved in this!"

Ozpin sighed heavily.

Ironwood stood halfway between the headmaster of Beacon and Qrow, latter of whom was not taking the news of their pick of the new Maiden well.

"Yang will have an option to refuse…" Ozpin started but Qrow cut him off.

"You know damn well she won't. Only the option to accept right now, or accept after quilt trip, or accept after pressuring her into the role- I know how you operate, I saw it happen with Amber!" Qrow wasn't yelling, but his agitated words echoed in the hall-like room while he was pointing at the wounded Maiden in question. "And look where she is! Look what good has Maiden done to her…"

"QROW!" Ozpin lifted his voice while hitting his cane against the stone floor to interrupt the agitated man's rambling. "Do not forget what you promised, and I will not forget mine. I will do all in my power to stop what has happened to Amber from happening to Yang Xiao-Long. I will prevent the Fall Maiden from being lost! Don't you even dare to insinuate that I would abandon my own childre..."

"Like how you did before? And in case you forgot, Yang is not your child!" Qrow interrupted the headmaster, although a bit more carefully this time. He had never seen Ozpin angry before, but apparently his accusations had caused the man's patience to snap which made him positively _terrifying_.

Even to Qrow, who had faced masses of Grimm, bandits and even his own sister in combat without cold sweat.

"The Fall Maiden is! And I allowed Amber to roam as she pleased while she was her host. She was allowed to do and feel what she wanted." Ozpin _hissed_. "I merely wished she told me where she was, that was her only restraint, and I will not do the same mistake with Yang."

"So you're planning on putting her in a golden cage, eh?" Qrow opened his arms aggressively, daring Ozpin to argue. "Out of sight, out of mind, as long as she's 'safe'?"

"You're being unreasonable, Qrow." Ironwood interrupted them by moving between the headmaster and the spy. "You are aware that your niece is training to be a Huntress herself. That line of work is not without its own dangers, as you are no doubt aware. The Maiden's power, for all good it has done to Amber, may even prevent Yang from facing as much danger as she would have previously."

"How do you figure that?" Qrow growled. His patience for dramatic speeches and talking around the subject had worn thin.

"No-one will be allowed to know of Miss Xiao-Long's new power. She will be deployed to missions in Vale, given a job as assistant teacher in Beacon, perhaps. Away from danger, and always guarded." Ironwood explained. Qrow guessed that the Atlesian general had seen Ozpin's mood and the direction the conversation was going towards, and had stepped in as mediator before things could have gotten more out of hand. "The sacrifice she is asked to make won't be as fatal as you make it out to be."

Qrow glared at Ironwood's calculatingly calming face before he huffed, seeing his angle. "And you're banking on me persuading Yang to accept what's going to be offered to her."

"It would help our case, yes." Ozpin re-entered the conversation, with the anger he had shown earlier having all but disappeared, sans for a wrinkle in the corner of his eye. The sudden shift of emotional state was almost as unerring as his earlier anger. "Yang Xiao-Long has her mother's stubbornness, however she has Taiyang's sense of right and wrong. We both know she will accept the burden of being the Maiden's host."

"I wouldn't be too sur…"

"In time, she will. You can help her make the transition, or leave her to get to grips with it alone." Ozpin told them with his usual infuriating vagueness.

"And Raven?" Qrow challenged once more. "You know that Yang is seeking her mother out, to get answers to why Raven 'abandoned' Yang, perhaps even take revenge for it. If I know the two of them to any depth, any meeting between Raven and Yang will come to blows and you'll know damn well the Maiden's power won't just magically guarantee her victory- even if I was fighting by her side. And her having the Maiden's power… I'm sure I don't need to spell the consequences out for you."

"Yes, and I know the answers Yang seeks. I intend to supply them to her, while you will bring Raven to her." Ozpin nodded at Qrow. "We're killing two birds with one stone: both bringing Raven to Yang so she can make her own opinions should she want to associate herself with Raven, and also to present her to mr. Arc, should we decide to try to use him for our own ends despite his apparent allegiance to our enemies. In fact, I'd suggest we fetch Raven before you meet with mr. Arc again, so we at least appear to be keeping the promise we made to him."

"You'll know damn well you'll doctor the meeting so Yang won't get along with Raven, and you'll make Raven be angry when she meets with the Arc kid so they'll come to blows, killing her in the process and hiding your lies." Qrow growled at the headmaster while Ironwood looked back and forth between the two, clearly confused. Qrow paused as he realized something. "Wait, how do you plan on even capturing Raven? I might be able to find her, but thanks to her bullshit Semblance she can just peace out whenever she wants if things get too dangerous for her."

"I have an idea regarding that, but that's for the future." the Headmaster leaned against his cane and checked his Scroll quickly. "Miss Fall will be here soon, and we can transfer the Maiden back to Amber, after which Glynda will bring miss Xiao-Long here."

"And I assume Glynda is acting as the 'instructor' for Yang, as she has enough experience with students so she can coerce Yang to consider the whole affair as necessary and positive?" Qrow growled. "So I'm supposed to represent the family, and push Yang into becoming the Maiden, Ironwood is supposed to be the voice of law and order and Oz will pretend to be the wise old wizard to Yang's 'heroine story?'"

"Quite accurate analysis of our respective roles in the coming conversation, yes." Ozpin nodded slightly. "I am aware that you do not approve, but you understand that we don't have options, which makes you lash out at me since I am a convenient target for your fear, uncertainty and rage. However, I am also aware that you'll come to respect Yang's decision in time, and support her in any way you can."

"...If only the decision was hers." Qrow paced back and forth while growling, only pausing to kick a empty box still lying on the ground after Atlesians had installed the Aura transfer functionality to Amber's life support machine. And soon after that he turned to hit a wall hard enough to cause cracks to form on the smoothed stone surface. "Fucking fine. Fine! But I demand that I will be assigned to overseeing Yang's safety. Assign her to be my assistant or something and make my job her permanent. Fuck spying, get someone else to do it for you!"

"That arrangement is satisfactory, for now." Ozpin nodded in sedantery manner while the underground labroom's only door opened again to show a cloth-covered life support pod, similar to one Amber was in, being carted to the room by a Atlesian heavy assault combat bot and followed by Penny who was carrying a tray with a pan and three mugs.

Ironwood took the tray before turning towards Qrow and Ozpin while Penny moved to pull the cloth off the life support pod.

Inside the pod, Cinder Fall lied motionless in chemical-induced sleep with her hands and legs bound together by thick restraining belts, and with her wings tied around her waist by restraining wraps.

"I'll have to take Penny with me after the transfer is complete." Ironwood said as the pod containing Amber Fall and the one containing Cinder Fall were lifted into the massive Aura Transfer machine and Penny began operating its panels. "We'll have to parse through the data recorded by the transfer machine and see how well we managed to move the Maiden, or if we managed to move her at all. Penny's ability to go through vast amounts of raw data is invaluable in that task, so someone else must keep watch over Cinder Fall during that."

"Very well. I'll send two of my Hunters to guard her." Ozpin agreed while giving his mug to the Atlesian general.

"Coffee?" Ironwood offered Qrow while pouring some into Ozpin's mug.

"Fuck you."

.

..

…

The feeling of wrongness permeated everything.

Her skin _crawled_ like something not blood was flowing through her skin, though her bones, through the fibers of her muscles, in her organs, like hundreds of small, thin worms swimming in her bloodstream.

Her Aura was flickering while her head told her to eat, that she was hungry, thirsty, and _more_. Something fed drops of nutrition-rich water to her arm, with her super-sensory body being capable of physically telling her what it was, how it was being absorbed, and that it was _not enough_.

Cinder woke up with a sound that might have been a scream, but came out as hollow wail not unlike sandy brakes grinding a car wheel to a stop- and she realized the sound came from her mouth, or rather, through her burnt and regenerated larynx.

"Aaaaahhh! Eug… Whahh hahhehed… oh…"

The words she had attempted to speak came out in coarse, rough cough- yet she felt as her throat started to grow hot, feverishly hot until she coughed something wet and swallowed, feeling somehow… refreshed? "What… what is this?"

"I must confess I didn't expect you to wake up so quickly, but nevertheless I was hoping that you would be able to provide the explanation for your own question." A familiar voice from nearby caused Cinder's body to tense up, and she attempted to gather up the strength to put up a 'distressed, confused patient' act since she recognized that she had been put in a IV, and even though her eyes couldn't see anything she realized she must be in some sort of hospital. Or prison, if the restraints tying her to the surface she lied on were any indication.

Moreover, someone was moving her as she felt vibrations coming through her bed like she was being pushed in a cart to somewhere.

Either way, she needed to act calmly if she wanted to…

 _H̢u͢ngèr..̢C̕o͘ns͟t̕rai͢n,̵ ̀ki͘l̨l͟_

Cinder blinked, even if the act caused her to suffer intense headache as _something_ commanded her to attack, to break the chains that held her in place. Yet even through the haze of violence came the odd, incredibly disturbing feeling of wrongness- like she was incomplete.

"Miss Fall. Focus." the voice pierced her ears again, and Cinder opened her eyes slowly, before blinking as something flowed from her eyes. She guessed them to be tears, but the liquid felt too thick- and that was the moment she realized her eyesight had changed. Unlike before, colours appeared muted, incomplete. Shadows no longer existed, as they were replaced by different shades of bland colours and defined shapes even if she had to focus on the details as her sight was still hazy.

Yet not hazy enough to miss the Headmaster of Beacon staring at her from outside her containment- and she realized that she was in a cramped, claustrophobic coffin-like pod which had one see-through window. "Ah…"

"Welcome back to the land of the living, miss Fall… Or should I call you, miss would-be Fall Maiden."

"Thank…" Cinder was about to return the courtesy to Ozpin's earlier words before her brain processed the second part of his sentence- and her brain effectively froze, crashed and rebooted in the span of about three seconds. ' _Oh. No.'_

Unable to properly form a counter to Ozpin's words, she went for the easiest way out- feign ignorance. "A what? A would-be maiden? I honestly hope you are joking, headmaster. My gender has not changed, or so I hope. Last thing I… _cough..._ remember is that I list consciousness in Glenn, what happened? How am I here? Where's Jaune?"

"Your partner-in-crime is locked up as well." Ozpin's tone was dry, threatening and unamused, sending cold shivers down Cinder's spine as her bluff was called. "Feigning ignorance won't change anything. I know you attacked Amber Fall in an attempt to seize the Maiden for yourself and pursued her to Vale."

Before Cinder could try to exclaim indignance or deny the accusations, Ozpin continued. "Now, in Vale there are certain things we don't do to people when questioning them. Fortunately for me we are in Beacon, and you are not going to leave here, so all restraints are off. I know _she_ has no doubt trained you to withstand physical trauma, however luckily Atlas has made strides in mind-scanning technology as of late, culminating on their newest line of human-like robots."

Ozpin _almost_ smirked, all the while making it look like he was deeply troubled and sad for what he was about to say. The farce was making Cinder look at the man with unveiled contempt. "Unfortunately, the scan is often fatal so it has been only attempted with terminally ill patients and only after giving their written and spoken consent… however, I'm afraid you don't have such luxury. And once you are… hm, 'digitized', we'll have unlimited access to your memory."

"You're threathening me with that?" Cinder tried to sound uncaring. She hoped it worked, as she could feel nervousness bubbling in her stomach.

"Certainly. However not exactly you. I imagine that whatever… organic devices has been grafted into you contain at least some degree of feedback to your master. I merely wished to state things as they stand, should she be listening." Ozpin nodded courteously. "And so I say to you: Consider this a return for the courtesy you showed Amber Fall this summer."

The glass panel of her holding cell went black, completely obscuring the view she had of the world outside her life-support pod and confining her to her unlit, cramped coffin which came to a stop. ' _...Crap.'_

"Oh, and I forgot to mention. While you were indisposed, I took the liberty of removing the Fall Maiden's power from your body." The headmaster's voice was accompanied by sounds of footsteps leaving the vicinity of her pod and a sound of door being locked.

' _...Shit.'_

The ensuing quiet and darkness surrounding her seemed to deprive her of her senses, even if she was curiously enough able to see through the dark, and she started to hyperventilate as the gravity of her situation crashed down on top of her.

She tried to instinctively hit the hatch of her coffin-like life-support pod. Yet her arms wouldn't move, and neither would her legs, making her squirm against her restraints. Almost immediately afterwards she realized that the restraints around her prevented her from moving anything other than her head.

She knew she didn't have claustrophobia as her mother had done well to purge any possible fear-states from her mind- but something had changed since her arrival to Beacon as she recognized the clear signs of claustrophobia surfacing, gripping her heart with fear… and oddly enough, hunger. "...Please… Let me out..."

A odd, hollow and terrifying-sounding growl echoed in the confined space, causing Cinder to pause. "Wha… who is… there?"

A memory of four burning red eyes shining from a monstrous head with single, upwards-pointing blade-like horn came to the forefront of her mind- and it was almost like the shadowy after-shape of the Beast in her nightmares formed into her eyes.

Yet more disturbingly, it wasn't raging or attacking her like before, but instead _looking_ at her with a psychotically unstable grin-like expression on its inhuman features.

 _T̶̢o̡͞g̴̷et̢̧h͟e̕r̷.̕..̡ ҉Ḩ̴̡a̶̧ṕp͠y̷̶..́͡.͢ T́͡ear̕͠͏..̀.͜͟ ̴̀R̴e͘n̶ḑ̧͢.̵̢ ͏̡͜_

.

..

...

"So… Weiss is injured, Jaune and Cinder are held somewhere by Ozpin, or so you suspect, and no-one can tell where they are or why no-one can talk to them?" Pyrrha summed up as Ruby walked in circles around team RYNN- or rather, team RYNN minus Y.

Pyrrha reached to stop Ruby as she was reaching dangerous levels of rotations per minute, and Nora was starting to get dizzy from trying to track Ruby.

"Yeah, that's about it. Well, there's more to it, like, like… like, how there were Grimm zombies, or something, and we almost died, and Jaune became a worm, I think, and…"

"Breathe, in and out." Ren came to Pyrrha's rescue as Ruby attempted to communicate at a rate which would put a modem to shame. "Where's Blake?"

"Moping, I guess, or suffering a mental breakdown. One or other, really-" Ruby breathed in and out for about five times in as many seconds. "She's… she kind of well… kinda lost it towards the end of the mission, dunno, but at least she's alive I guess so I imagine we'll talk to her when Weiss is no longer in danger- where's Yang?"

"Professor Goodwitch wanted to speak with her, insisting urgency." Pyrrha informed Ruby, for the third time as it had been the first and the second question the red-clad girl had asked when they had arrived to the spot where she was waiting. "How's Weiss's condition?"

"Dunno, no-one's telling me anything!" Ruby waved her hands around in frustration, causing few clanking sounds to come from behind her. Pyrrha tilted her head and peeked at the source of sound and saw that Ruby had Crescent Rose in it's holster at the back of the girl's waist, but the weapon was bearing clear signs of wear and tear- making the Mistralian champion somewhat worried for Ruby's mental state as while she hadn't known Ruby for long, she knew how much Ruby cared for her weapon and that she wouldn't leave her Scythe-rifle go without proper maintenance unless there was a good reason for it- or something had happened which had completely drawn her attention away from her weapon-crafting passion.

Ruby traced Pyrrha's gaze and quickly pulled her cloak so it covered Crescent Rose and its holster as she realized what Pyrrha had been looking at. "Uh… Well… I haven't had time to clean and maintain her after the mission…"

Pyrrha nodded knowingly. "How about we take over guarding Weiss so you can go cheer up Blake and fix Crescent Rose?"

Ren took a look at Pyrrha, at Ruby and at the hospital room. "Pyrrha, how about you go with her? Perhaps talk about what happened in our respective missions?"

"What about Weiss? Who stays to look after her?" Ruby wobbled on the spot while Pyrrha kept her from resuming her back-and-forth walking. The red-clad girl's energy was clearly starting to wane as a way 'out' materialized for her in the form of RYNN- making it blatantly obvious that Ruby was pushing herself on on the expense of her own health.

"Nora and I will stay here. We are well rested as our mission wasn't exactly difficult, if somewhat straining mentally." Ren motioned towards Nora who clapped quietly and made 'shoo' gestures at Ruby and Pyrrha behind Ren's back. "We'll let you know if something happens with Weiss."

Ruby and Pyrrha exchanged looks and decided to not inform Ren of the wordless persuasion attempt happening behind him.

"Right, In that case…" Pyrrha put her hands together and turned towards Ruby… and paused as she heard a crash of metal from somewhere nearby. "What was that?"

Ruby turned towards the surgery wing. "It came from there!"

"Has there been a complication with Weiss's surgery?" Pyrrha wondered aloud before blinking and reaching futilely for a red streak that crashed against the surgery wing doors and slammed them open before disappearing from her sight. "Ruby! Wait!"

"Come, let's go after her. Ruby's not thinking straight for some reason." Ren motioned for the group before running after the red-clad girl with Nora in tow- although Pyrrha had to wonder briefly how Ren managed to make his running look like relaxed walking without sacrificing speed. "We need to drag her out of there before she makes things worse for Weiss if she's wounded and needs surgery."

Pyrrha nodded and ran after him.

…

Ruby followed the source of the crashes to a double-doored surgery room and ran against it in attempt to force it open.

The sturdy door didn't budge, and Ruby reached for the back of her waist as she heard a gurgling scream from beyond the door, but before she could unfold Crescent Rose a strong hand grabbed her wrist. "Ruby! Wait!"

She tore her hand free from Ren's grasp and glanced at Nora and Pyrrha who were not far behind the boy. "We have to help Weiss!"

"What's happening?" Pyrrha asked carefully. "Are you sure something is happening?"

"Are you not hearing those sounds?!" Nora asked as she unfolded her Hammer, and before Ren managed to stop her, she swung it at the door which broke the door lock and the doors swung open to reveal a sight which Ruby had seen once before- and had never wished to see again.

The room was a complete mess as the two Hunters who had been assigned to protect the doctor operating on Weiss were busy trying to fend off very familiar-looking blood-red tentacles, which flowing from the wounded white-haired girl's open stomach in eerily similar way to how Ruby had seen the first Grimm hybrid they had run across in Glenn use. One of the appendages had tied itself around the operating doctor's neck and had snapped his neck as his head lolled at unnatural angle, while few other appendages had pulled the robot the doctor had used to perform surgery out of Weiss's stomach and crushed the semi-automatic arm's sterile-plastic cover.

The girl herself was lying on the operating bed, tied to it by her thighs, by her wrists and by a pair of thick restraining belts which kept her shoulders to the bed and stopped her from moving- although Weiss didn't look like she could move either way, tentacles notwithstanding, as she was deathly pale with black, invasive-looking veins criss-crossing her face not to mention that she was clearly unconscious- which was likely for the best.

"Wha- Students?" One of the Hunters noticed the team standing in the doorway and staring at the chaos in the operating room, and nearly paid for it as a tentacle lashed at his head which he only barely avoided by cutting it off with his sword while his partner was making his way towards the team, likely so he could stand between them and Weiss. "Get back! This thing is dangerous!"

"Don't hurt Weiss! She can be healed!" Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from her hip and unfolded it, although she didn't point it at anyone- yet.

"What the hell? You know this... _thing_?"

"She's my teammate!" Ruby shouted and dodged a tray full of operating instruments that one of the appendages lashing from Weiss's stomach threw at her. "Weiss! Snap out of it!"

"Ruby!" Ren and Pyrrha grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back while Nora grabbed Crescent Rose and pulled it off her hands while the group retreated out of the doorway while dodging flying surgery tools and objects the appendages were tossing around, one of which being the doctor's now-severed head which hit the hallway wall with a wet thunk.

"Stop! Give her back!" Ruby tried to reach for her weapon as the group regrouped beside the surgery room's door. However to Ruby's distress, Nora kept Crescent Rose away from her. "I need her! Like, now!"

"What the hell is happening?" The two Hunters, a man armed with a sword and a dagger and a deer-horned faunus man with a long-hafted broad-headed axe, retreated through the doorway as well and the man with the sword turned to address Ruby while raising his sword to point at the girl. "Who are you?!"

"She's Ruby. Weiss, the one you were guarding, is her teammate!" Ren moved to intercept the man, and turned to look at the red-clad girl after the Hunter seemed to calm down- or rather, his attention was taken by his partner who was trying to make a barricade in front of the door. Ren also glanced at Pyrrha, which Ruby followed and saw that Pyrrha had turned really, _really_ pale as she stared at the doctor's severed head-pieces which had been plastered over the wall and the cracked mess of it that had fallen on the floor. "Ruby? Do you know what's happening to Weiss? Nora, look after Pyrrha."

"Sort of! Luna saw it, and she told me, and I saw something like it back in Glenn!" Ruby raised her voice to get over the crash of metal and plastic as the pair of Hunters pulled a hospital bed and a sturdy-looking shelf from the hallway and propped it up against the ruined door to create a temporary barricade between them and the Weiss-creature.

"She's… changing! It's bad, like, really bad!" Ruby waved her hands around to emphasize her point as the two Hunters turned to look at her. "I think something like that happened to Cinder as well, but Jaune managed to stop it! He can save Weiss, I'm sure of it!"

"Where's Jaune then?" Ren asked, addressing his words to the two Hunters. "A boy, blonde hair, blue eyes?"

"Can tell about hundred lads with those characteristics:" The axe-wielding faunus grumbled while propping his shoulder against the makeshift barricade. "Ask some of your professors, we're just here to stop that thing from killing people while not killing it in the process, apparently high-ups have their knickers in a twist over it and want to know how it ticks."

The other Hunter glanced at the head that had splattered against the hallway wall. "Fat load of good it did for the doc but shit happens."

Ruby had her Scroll out before the man's grumble ended and she was furiously searching for Goodwitch's number… only to find it 'reserved' as she called her. "Grr… Argh! Glynda's not responding!"

One of the Hunters turned towards the girl, but before he managed to say anything the whole group braced for impact as a quite literal storm burst through the surgery wing's already tortured-looking main doors, slamming the double doors off their hinges in the wake of a terrifying-looking woman who was flanked by a pair of white, blue-eyed Beowolf Wraiths that seemed to take the entire space of the hallway.

"Where is Weiss?" the icy tone of the woman seemed to almost cause the crashing and trashing sounds coming from beyond the makeshift barricade between the hallway and the surgery room to dim down. "What has happened to her?"

Winter Schnee was not amused.

And she looked positively _terrifying_.

.

..

...

"There has been a complication with miss Schnee's surgery." Glynda interrupted the conversation between her, Ozpin, Ironwood, Qrow and Yang Xiao-Long in the Headmaster's office. Ozpin, Qrow and Yang were seated, with Qrow and Yang being in front of the Headmaster's desk, Ozpin sitting behind his desk and with Glynda and Ironwood standing together beside the desk.

"Again?" Ozpin lifted his eyebrow at Glynda while Yang looked confused- and angry, which was likely the result of the news given to her about her new duties. "Has there been a… new discovery in her wounds?"

"Something of the sort. Miss Xiao-Long…" Glynda turned towards the blonde girl who was glaring at her. "I am sorry, but I must go. I received a urgent message from Specialist Winter detailing that unless I see to miss Schnee's treatment and explain what has happened to her _in person_ , she'd attempt to, and I quote, strangle me with my own crop."

"Ha." Qrow's tone was humorless, and Glynda glared at the man before relaxing and coughing slightly to clear her throat all the while Ironwood furrowed his brows at Winter's message.

"I believe Specialist Winter also mentioned something along the lines of administering proper admonishment upon mr. Branwen for his failure to keep miss Schnee from harm when they next meet." Glynda's tone was professionally neutral, but Qrow got the message nevertheless if the paling of his face was any indication. "Now, if you excuse me…"

"You may go." Ozpin nodded to the headmistress, and she turned on the spot and walked off. "Now, before we were interrupted, we were talking about…"

"The 'Maiden', I got it. You want to make me a magical girl." Yang huffed at the headmaster and turned towards Qrow. "Is it really true? You're not pulling my leg, are you?"

"It is true." Qrow looked pained as he said the words. "I'm against it, but… it's the best possible outcome."

"That I become this magical girl you're talking about? Perhaps I'll get a tiara, skimpy skirt and a pretty pink magical staff too?" Yang rolled her eyes.

"Not quite, although if you wished I believe I could produce items of similar description." Ozpin's tone was dry. "No, Maiden's power is more subtle than that. Consider it a addition to your already existing powers, alongside some minor psychological alterations."

"Such as?"

"The desire to do what's right, protect your loved ones, safeguard humanity…"

"So standard magical girl bullshit, got it. Am I going to be fighting against Grimm with the power of love, friendship and happiness as well?"

Ozpin sighed. Yang crossed her arms and leaned back.

"Regardless, you are given the option to refuse." Ironwood re-entered the conversation after checking his Scroll for some reason. "We are not going to force the power of the Maiden upon someone not willing to accept it."

"Uh huh. And if I refuse?"

"We'll find someone else who is willing to take the mantle."

"Who?" Yang asked, out of habit rather than real interest.

"For their security, we can't tell." Ironwood's face tightened. "Just as we will not let anyone know of what we offered to you."

"Informational security around Maiden's existence is of paramount importance." Ozpin nodded his agreement. "That being said, you must not tell anyone of this, should you accept or refuse."

"And if I decide to tell someone?" Yang asked warily.

"I'm afraid we have to insist that you won't." Ozpin dodged the question, which was a answer in itself. "Nevertheless, we are running out of time. The current host of the Maiden is dying from wounds she received during the attack- she was traveling from Mistral to Vale, and was ambushed by bandits. Due to the attack's sudden nature, she wasn't able to defend herself to the full extent of her powers and was critically injured before your uncle was able to save her."

"It's true." Qrow added as Yang looked at the man with lifted eyebrow. "It was one of the reasons why I was away from Vale during the summer."

"Uh huh. Did the attack had anything to do with your Maiden being the Maiden or was she just a convenient target?" Yang asked. "I imagine being the magical girl of Vale or whatever made her some enemies."

"Your intuition is correct. Our true enemies found her, and sent the bandits after her in an attempt to seize the power for themselves." Ozpin told her while lifting himself up from his chair. "That is one of the reasons why we are asking you to decide here and now if you wish to take her power. The Maiden's power is immortal- but her host is not. Should her host die, the Maiden will move to the last female human the Maiden was thinking of during her death."

Yang lifted her eyebrow.

"Yes, I am aware that it sounds contrived. However that's how it is. Amber, the current host, said the same when I told her about the Maiden." Ozpin acknowledged. "Fortunately for us, we managed to capture one her assailants, a female who we believe was responsible for the assault, so it is possible that even if Amber died whilst still the Maiden, we wouldn't lose her power since it is likely that she thought of her assailants before she fell to coma."

"So what's the hurry?"

"Beside the admittedly small possibility that Amber may yet make a recovery if the Maiden is moved out of her and stops taxing her physiology?" Ozpin asked, causing Yang to shrink a bit as she realized what she had insinuated- that she'd be okay with just letting someone die for the sake of convenience. "The other problem is precisely that we have Amber's assailant in custody. Should she gain the Maiden's power- well, there's a very real chance that we won't be _able_ to hold her in our custody due to the very same power we seek to hold onto being turned against us. And if we just resort to the obvious barbaric solution, and kill our captive when the Maiden shifts to her, we can't assume that we can convince her to think of someone of our choosing."

"The Maiden could either move to someone we provide in similar formula to how the power would move from Amber to her assailant, or we fear that the our captive, as she is trained by our enemies, could concentrate her will enough that the Maiden moves to one of her allies at her dying moment- in which case we'd likely lose the Maiden's power to the Enemy. That is an unacceptable scenario." Ironwood finished Ozpin's speech. "The damage the Maiden's power can cause, even indirectly, is unspeakable. For example, while we have the ability to grow food in hydroponics if we have Dust to power it, the vast majority of our food comes from farms. With the power of the Fall Maiden, our enemies could cause massive famines by forcing constant rainstorm or constant scorching heat over the entire growing season for years, killing thousands with ensuing hunger as our stockpiles dry up and killing even more with the ensuing violence over the scarce hydroponics-grown food- and that is before the Grimm come, attracted by the negativity, and kill even more…"

"Yeah, I get it, weather control bad in bad hands." Yang waved her hand dismissively- but only to hide her own discomfort and fear of the scenario under a brave and uncaring facade. "...How likely is that scenario?"

"Very, if we don't find a new host for the Maiden before Amber perishes." Ozpin said. "Normally I'd give the new host candidate, you, some time to consider your options, downsides, upsides, etcetera, but we are out of time. I need an answer, miss Xiao-Long."

Yang gulped. "I have to decide here and now? Right now?"

"Will you become the Fall Maiden?"

Yang glanced at Qrow who nodded very minutely while his face was stressed, tight, clearly indicating that the man didn't like either option. A sentiment Yang echoed... but she had opted to become a Huntress after all.

And Summer had always told them that Hunter's first job is always to protect people, and killing Grimm is always the second...

"...Will I be able to go out and be a Huntress even after I become the Fall Maiden?"

"Yes, with certain constraints." Ozpin agreed. "For instance, you will have a guard around you, mr. Branwen has agreed to fulfill that role, and if you take any missions once you have graduated as Huntress, those missions must be undertaken with a full team at your back, and without venturing outside Vale's borders. Those constraints will be in place at least for now, as our true enemy must be on the lookout for the new Maiden."

"What do you mean by true enemy?" Yang asked. "You mentioned it couple of times, and I have feeling you don't mean Grimm?"

"Yes and no. That information is as restricted as the knowledge about the Maiden's existence." Ozpin said with a tone of finality. "I will be able to tell you more about it once I know your decision. So I ask you again, and please provide a definite answer. Will you become the Fall Maiden?"

"...Yes."

"Then, let us go. The current Fall Maiden is waiting." Ozpin nodded at Yang before moving past her and opening the Headmaster's office elevator with a gesture, making Yang feel a bit suspicious- the headmaster wasn't relieved over her decision, and neither was Ironwood or Qrow- in fact Qrow looked like he was angry at Ozpin if the way he was glaring at him was any indication.

So Yang hadn't had an option to refuse to begin with. It had merely been a question of how to coerce Yang to surrender.

She suddenly had a bad feeling about the whole ordeal.

' _I hope Ruby's okay…'_


	42. Through Blood and Fire

The surgery room within Beacon's hospital was wrecked beyond repair.

Dust had settled in the surgery room after a brief but brutal battle which had commenced when Winter had insisted that she'd be let to see Weiss after she had been told of the girl's current condition, and the two Wraiths she had summoned had been fairly good arguments as to why it wasn't good idea to stop her.

The two ghostly Beowolves had torn the barricade down just as fast as it had been built, and had gotten tangled up in the intestine-tentacles almost immediately afterwards as they stumbled into the room. Luckily the Wraiths were made of Dust, water and air, so the _creature_ inside Weiss hadn't been able to use the Beowolves for anything other than self-distraction during which the two Hunters assigned to guard Weiss had moved in and had started to hack away the tentacles as Ruby had reasoned that killing the tentacles probably wouldn't hurt Weiss (or the creature, since the Hunters seemed to be more worried about it than the girl). Winter had objected to the manhandling of her little sister, but after she had been forced to dodge a tentacle trying to impale her, she had joined the fight.

In the end, the Weiss-creature had been reduced to just the tied up girl lying unconsciously on the bed, twitching occasionally and with a wide-open stomach wound that contained something _not_ part of normal human anatomy. Before any of them managed to get a good glimpse of it, other than that it had a red eye and lots of teeth, the wound closed with a wet squelch.

The silence that followed the creature's 'retreat' was almost absolute, only broken by ragged breaths Weiss took and the practically audible rage swirling inside Winter.

Naturally, the woman wanted to know just what had happened, and Ruby had been courageous (or foolish) enough to open her mouth and tell Winter about what had happened under Glenn- them getting seperated from Qrow, shapeshifting Grimm, and ultimately to Weiss's injuries from being ambushed underground while navigating a series of tunnels. Ruby had let out the part where Weiss had been tied with Jaune's tentacles as she felt that Winter was close enough to snapping without that tidbit, but she kept the rest in the story.

Winter's face had turned gradually colder and colder, until Ruby could have sworn she could break out a chisel and start ice-sculpting. However as that course of action was likely to cause her immediate termination, Ruby moved on to telling about her suspicions for cure to Weiss's condition. To say that Winter was suspicious was a understatement, but considering the critical state Weiss was in and that regular doctor's care had failed in a massive, casualty-inflicting way, Winter had opted to call Goodwitch and see if Jaune's 'cure' was any good.

Naturally the call had been automatically refused like Ruby's had been, but since all professors of Beacon had a message option in their Scrolls that let them message eachother even past call blocks, she had sent the stern woman a message detailing what had happened alongside a request to have Goodwitch come to the surgery wing immediately.

Or that was what Winter had told Ruby. Winters expression when typing had told her that there may have been more to the message, but Ruby didn't really want to know the exact details.

The ensuing wait for Goodwitch was unbearable for Ruby, for Winter, for Pyrrha's stomach which was trying to empty itself to the nearby trash bin which was already half-full of bloody surgical instruments, which probably wasn't helping the girl after seeing Weiss's condition, or for the rest of team RYNN and the two Hunters who had to endure them while keeping eye on Weiss.

And the moment they heard the headmistress's hard footsteps echoing through the hallway, Winter practically leaped out to meet her- and for once, Ruby restrained her need to get Weiss help as Winters presence practically oozed violence towards anyone who gets in her way.

"Glynda! What the hell happened to Weiss? I demand answers at once!"

"Specialist Winter. I am unab…"

A loud slap echoed to the surgery room, causing Ruby, who was rubbing circles on Pyrrha's back, to cringe in sympathy for Goodwitch who would likely bear a slap-mark on her cheek for the rest of the day.

After a bout of verbal dueling (or rather, borderline fighting) the conversation between the two women seemed to die down as far as the occupants of the room could tell. And then Ruby heard Winter ask Glynda about cure for Weiss.

"We are not even sure what ails young miss Schnee… "

"Then look through your records. There was some sort of creature _inside_ her!"

"I am not at liberty to tell…"

"Weiss's teammates tell me that she could be saved. That the… _Thing…_ you call Jaune Arc could cure Weiss. Now, you will tell me where he is, and we will take her to him."

"I'll have to consult the doctor responsible for miss Schnee's surgery and… Oh."

Ruby could practically see Winter pointing her finger at the splattered head all over the hallway wall and floor.

"You will either help me find Jaune Arc and help me move Weiss, or I will do it myself."

"I… Cannot tell where he is. The Headmaster has placed him to a temporary isolation due to the damages he caused, and will remain so until we have determined what to do with him."

"You'll find how much damage _I_ can cause if you do not make an exception for Weiss. You know Atlas is already under suspicion in Vale. You do not want to have me as your enemy if your precious Beacon means anything to you. "

"...Would you truly go so far?" Glynda's tone was unreadable. "Ironwood has approved mr. Arc's confinement. You are not helping Weiss by acting recklessly. "

"For Weiss? I would go so far. And you have not yet seen me act recklessly, believe me."

Ruby waited with held breath as silence fell in the hallway where the two women were likely glaring at each other. Even the two Hunters assigned to guard Weiss were completely quiet, likely trying to not draw attention to themselves in case either of the two women decided to aim their ire at them when they entered the room.

And enter they did- Winter looking cold, enraged and determined and Glynda looking cautious and reserved. "Just what made you believe that mr. Arc could… hmm, cure miss Schnee… Ah, miss Rose. That explains the theory."

"I- It's true!" Ruby tried to sound resolute but her voice came out more like a whine.

Glynda sighed and glanced at her Scroll. "Unfortunately I do not have permission to move miss Schnee, so even if your theory…"

"Glynda. Grow a spine and pull yourself out of Ozpin's backside." Winter said simply. "My earlier statement stands."

Glynda sent a glare at the unyielding white-clad woman who sent it right back at her, before both of them glanced at Weiss as the wounded girl groaned in pain. "Miss Rose. Are you absolutely sure that mr. Arc can help miss Schnee? Even when the doctors failed?"

"Yes!"

"...Very well. I authorize the transfer in order to administer life-saving treatment, therefore bypassing the Headmaster's direct order in my capability as the assisting headmistress of Beacon, as the professor of Beacon, and as the deputy of Beacon." Glynda sighed deeply and brought her Scroll up. "However if mr. Arc's… treatment ends up harming Weiss Schnee's health, I will have you take the full responsibility for it, Specialist Schnee."

"That's all you're worried about?" Winter sent a look full of scorn at the woman before turning towards the two Hunters assigned to Weiss's protection. "Show us the way to mr. Arc. You two, remove the clamps and brakes from Weiss's bed and push it after us. Be gentle."

The two Hunters exchanged looks before deciding that trying to just leg it wouldn't work, and started to detach the mobile bed from the clamps that held it tightly in place.

"Just… hold on, Weiss. Help is coming." Winter paused to almost reach for her sister, but withdrew her hand as she seemed to remember that the creature inside Weiss might get agitated from touch. "Let's go."

"Wait! I'm going with you!" Ruby burst into motion, but Winter's gaze caused her to freeze solid mid-exclamation.

"Of course. If this treatment doesn't work…" The threat made Ruby shiver slightly, but only slightly- she _knew_ Jaune could help Weiss.

He had to know how to cure her.

He had to.

.

..

…

"So you have not only one, but _four_ girlfriends?"

"Three."

"Oh come on compadre, the raven-girl's not to your fancy? If I didn't have a wife and I'd met that gal on the street, I'd be hitting on her harder than a Goliath hits on a perimeter wall!" the Hunter-guard-conscript clapped his hands. "Okay okay, don't get mad, jeez! Didn't you just say you're not interested in her."

"I didn't say that!" Jaune complained. "I just said she wasn't my girlfriend!"

"So you _are_ interested in her eh?"

Jaune groaned. "Well… gah, you're horrible."

"Why, thank you for the high praise, ser Rey." the guard bowed playfully.

Jaune had realized fairly quickly that if he started to brood over Ozpin's betrayal he'd end up feeding the Shadow's rage, and it wouldn't take long for him to go into a feedback loop of anger that would likely send him into one of his violent episodes. He didn't want that, nor would it send a right message about his intents to the people around him specifically when he had broken the Vale-Glenn barrier in the first place, so he tried to look for a distraction.

Luckily enough, his guard seemed to be both good-natured and observant, and he picked up Jaune's distress fairly quickly while keeping an eye on him. The pair had resumed their chatting after Jaune had started to pace around in his cell, although this time their talk had been about more casual things than the recent bloodshed in Vale- and before Jaune realized it, the topic had turned to booze, and then to girls when Jaune had confessed he had not much experience with alcohol outside one occasion which had interested the Hunter greatly.

While Jaune had been reluctant to talk about the subject at the start, he had gradually opened up after the guard had told him he wouldn't need to name anyone and after offering to perhaps even provide advice when Jaune confessed he didn't know all too much about girls.

"Eh, so to recap what you told me you have _at least_ three girlfriends and all of 'em know of each other and even approve, well, somewhat. How'd you manage that?" The Vacuon man lifted his eyebrow. "Are Vale's girls lewder or are Vacuo's just so incredibly jealous that they wouldn't let their man even wink at another without tongue-lashing?"

"I… don't think that's the case. I'm not even sure how it happened." Jaune confessed.

"Uh huh. Wanna hear my theory after hearing your story?" The man lifted his eyebrow while crossing his arms. "Not gonna be nice, gonna be honest."

"Is… something wrong?" Jaune asked carefully, ignoring a spike of some odd feeling the Shadow sent him. "Did I do something bad to my pac- I mean my girlfriends?"

"Well, if what I heard is correct, your 'first' girlfriend latched onto you after you rescued her from some terrorist's hands, making her think of you like a safe haven when her life's been circling around violent guys before that. Perhaps she was after that, some ladies like a bit o' danger, but I think she got her fill and then some back then. Perhaps she saw you as safety and latched to you after getting dumped and left alone, since you said she had some ties to terrorists who could come after her." The man started counting with his fingers.

"Your 'second' girlfriend is heavily socially isolated and feels lonely, and seeks affection, friendship, and so on." The Vacuon Hunter moved on before Jaune could say anything. "When she came to a foreign land, Vale, where she didn't know anyone yet everyone stalked her, she likely felt disappointed, distressed and lonely until she met you. So when she saw you getting 'claimed' by your 'first' girlfriend, she panicked, and since she's so afraid of getting dumped after making strides in her social sphere through you, she figured she'd better try to compromise rather than compete. I'm guessing your 'first' girlfriend saw that as well, and did kinda the same as she didn't want to get 'put back' to the earlier circle of violence without your perceived protection."

"Ah…" Jaune blinked as he mentally matched the man's words to what had happened earlier during Blake's and Pyrrha's confession. "I… didn't know."

"It happens. The socially forced harems are somewhat common with the rich bastards who run Vacuo. They call it 'breaking in' the concubines, based off the few times I've worked for the mine owning calif's who have their own kingdom within kingdom." The man shrugged, causing a buzz as his cybernetic arms moved. "Basically they abuse the weaknesses of women, either verbally, socially or physically while putting them into a position where they would never escape the life as concubine even if they escaped the house that captured them. Anyway if we return to you, dunno, doesn't seem to me that you did it intentionally to your girls, but I guess you took advantage of their weaknesses nonetheless."

"I didn't do it because I wanted it! I just thought it was the best way to stop anyone from being sad!" Jaune tried to stop himself from sounding angry- or ashamed as he realized he had wronged Blake, Pyrrha and Ruby so.

"Yeah sure, whatever floats your boat." the man backed down a little. "Wanna hear about the third chica?"

"...Fine. Sure. Yeah. Please." Jaune tried to calm himself. ' _I… took advantage of Blake and Pyrrha like that? I… should have known. I need to apologise.'_

"Eh, I heard she's a bit on the young side, and has much the similar problems as your 'second' girlfriend. I figured she'd have pretty much the same situation as her, with the exception of even bigger inferiority complex. With the lack of social awareness to consider other options, I imagine she practically jumped at the chance to avoid competing, or lets call it what it is, losing, in order to reach her goal- even to her own detriment. Younger and uh… less developed girls tend to go for radical solutions when they think their spot in the table is threatened at least in my experience. Crazy buggers, all of 'em, and you got lucky she was more into sharing than getting rid of the others." The man shrugged. "Uh… don't tell my wife about that if you see her, she used to have pretty hostile reaction to my ex-girlfriend who was also my old teammate."

"I don't even know who she is." Jaune sighed. "You haven't told me her na… Oh yeah."

Jaune paused to rub his eyes as the Hunter winked. ' _Haah… Honestly, if what he's saying is true then I've wronged Blake, Ruby and Pyrrha really badly by taking advantage of their weaknesses even if I didn't realize it at the time… I hope they can forgive me.'_

"You gonna apologize to them?" the man's voice broke Jaune out of his thoughts. "Dunno if that's a good idea, you got them in a sort of balance of sorts. Break that, and they'll tear eachother apart- or tear you apart."

"So you're saying I should just continue… _exploiting_ their weaknesses?" Jaune tried to hide the disgust in his voice- disgust at himself. "I don't want to hurt them."

"Guess. Perhaps one day they'll have the courage to tap out by themselves or if the illusion of needing you drops, and when that happens, just let them go- if you want to be a good, honest man. Or don't, and become someone like one of those golden slave lords in Vacuo." The Vacuon Hunter shrugged. "Either that or perhaps they genuinely like you and eachother so much that they'll stick with you 'till the end- just try not to push them too hard. People are all different, perhaps you just landed on a bunch of really accommodating girls and they can live with themselves even when they share their hubby."

"Do you know if there are cases where that latter scenario would be true?" Jaune asked carefully.

"Dunno, I heard Mistral and Menagerie are okay with uh… polygamy so there might be some happy happy harems over there. Vacuo doesn't really give a damn, but that's a land where strength matters more than law and feelings so I wouldn't go looking for true polygamy from there. I lived my life moving between Vacuo and Vale, so in all honesty I don't know much about Menagerie and Mistral though, or about a kingdom and a deportation colony as it is."

Before the two of them could continue their chat a vibrating sound came from the Hunter's pouch and the man pulled his Scroll and answered it. "Yeha? Oh, how's it going damisela… uh, miss Goodwitch. Yes, yes, no, and I like you too. Uh… no thanks, please don't send that to my wife. Thanks."

Jaune lifted his eyebrow at the man.

"Your professor-headmistress-hottie called. She wanted to know if you were up and about, if you were cooperative and if you had gone through any violent episodes." The man explained before smirking. "She also someone you fancy? Come, be honest!"

"Don't you have wife?" Jaune huffed while blushing. "Why are you so curious about my love life anyway?"

"Yeah, I have a wife, but that don't mean I can't look!" the man winked once more. "And come on, you're so open, innocent and easily flustered nonhuman killing machine so I couldn't help but to poke a bit to see how much human you are 'neath that skin."

"That's... nice?" Jaune tried to sound not-weirded out but failed.

However elaborating further or continuing the chitchat went almost immediately down his priority list to rock bottom as he _sensed_ something very familiar and frighteningly _wrong_ approaching the two of them at relatively high speed.

"Don't think about it." the tanned guard shrugged, finishing their conversation, before turning his head towards the end of the hallway where he was standing just in front of Jaune's cage-cell as he picked up on Jaune's alert state. "Say, you heard something?"

"I feel it. I can sense Grimm and humans. Get ready. It's… It's one of those things we found back in Glenn. There's so many people above so I must have missed it earlier." Jaune clenched his fists as the Hunter turned back and forth between him and the hallway exit in confusion before finally shrugging for one more time, this time using the motion to unfold a pair of blades from his arms which appeared like arms of a mantis. ' _Huh, that's pretty cool actually, I bet Ruby would love to see that… No, focus!'_ "It's… odd though, it… doesn't feel right. Or wrong the _right_ way."

"What? What wrong what?"

The two of them didn't get to start another conversation as a loud crash sounded from the end of the hallway, and the Hunter tensed up while Jaune tried to push his face against the glass so he'd see what was going on as the cell's transparent observation wall didn't leave much angle to look around. "What's happening? Is it here?"

"Dunno, you tell me. But for the love of god, don't tell her she's a half-Grimm monster." the Vacuon Hunter relaxed and shrugged before stepping away from Jaune's cell.

' _Huh?'_ Jaune looked back where the commotion had come from as the sounds of hasty footsteps closed, and he saw one particularly angry Glynda Goodwitch walk briskly in front of his cell, soon followed by a jogging Ruby and a pair of Hunters Jaune didn't recognize… but he easily recognized the deathly pale, mangled figure lying strapped onto a hospital bed that the Hunters pushed and towed behind Glynda even if the fact Winter Schnee was hovering protectively over the bed hadn't given it away.

And as he looked at the white-haired girl, he sensed where the source of familiar, _wrong_ emotions came from.

"Weiss!"

"You can heal her, can't you? Like you did Cinder? You can do that, right? I believe in you!" Ruby reached to push her hands against the viewing panel. "We'll get you out, and… and..."

"We'll do no such thing. The order to keep mr. Arc locked up stands." Glynda crossed her arms- and almost collided with the other white-haired female outside the cell.

"We've talked about this already. You _will_ let him heal my sister, or my _promise_ will stand alongside your _orders_." Winter growled.

"Indeed. I'll open the cell next to him, and miss Schnee _junior_ and only her, will be placed there. I'll open the segment between them afterwards. I have my orders not to let mr. Arc leave the containment, one which I am not willing to bend lightly, and I am not about to break that order when there is an alternative that accommodates both my orders and your… requests, Specialist Winter." Glynda turned to push her finger against the glass which caused a holographic control panel to light up. A few swift presses of the floating buttons later the cell next to Jaune's let a hiss as its glass panel lifted itself up and slid off somewhere he didn't see. "Speaking of which, mr. Arc. I trust we can count on your… assistance with miss Schnee's health?"

"Of course, but… couldn't you heal her traditionally?" Jaune asked while keeping his attention solely focused on Weiss as the two Hunters flanking her moved her to the cell beside him, before disappearing from his view. "I… don't want to use that healing thing unless absolutely necessary- even I don't know how it works."

"Uhm… surgery didn't work out…" Ruby said with weak voice. "C-can you at least try? Be careful, there was something coming out of her earlier. There's some sort of creature in her wound!"

"I'll do my best." Jaune tried to reassure Ruby while putting his hand against the reinforced glass wall on his side, and Ruby put her hand against his. Or as close as she could with the glass separating the two.

"You better." Winter's words were barely audible and Jaune turned to look to the side-wall of his cell which started to pull back, revealing the cell next to him where Weiss was lying on her bed.

He tried his best to ignore the feelings radiating from her body as he approached her and put his hand on top of her stomach where the feelings came from the strongest. The flesh of his hand began bubbling in preparation for fusing into her like he had done with Cinder… until a massive, gaping wound opened in her stomach to reveal a… segmented bone-dart like Grimm?

Before he managed to recover a pair of short, wounded-looking tentacles shot out from her and hit his throat, penetrating his skin, flesh and muscles… and in a flash of something red, his vision went black like if he had fallen into a lake of ink.

.

..

…

' _Let me out already… please…'_

Cinder didn't know how long it had been.

The darkness of her claustrophobic cell combined with her knowledge that time was running out on her wasn't making her rising panic any easier, nor did the fact she felt _incredibly_ , sickeningly hot like as if she was suffering _all_ of the fevers she had ever suffered in her life at once.

The voices inside her head hadn't let up either, and Cinder could have sworn they had only grown stronger and stronger until she wanted to just curl to a fetal position and hold to her head in pain, as the voices commanded her to move, to seek out… something. Something it wanted. Something that made her feel alone without.

The restraints on her didn't let her move though, which reinforced her panic even further.

' _I'm going to die. I'm going to die, and no-one will never know how…'_ she felt as something hot flowed in the veins of her arms and hands. ' _I need to get out. I must get out. I need to get out…'_

 _Bŗe͜͞a̢͘͝k͡ o̴u͡ţ..̛͝.͟͏̸_

Something burst from her wrists and bit deep into the restrains holding her, severing the thick belt-like material with surprising ease- and allowing her to move her hands.

And after that, the restraints started to seem less intimidating.

A small nick, followed by small cut, and a larger cut, and before she realized it properly, the restrains holding her inplace had been torn to pieces, leaving just the steel coffin around her… and she stabbed her hands to the hard material only to find that it gave way with surprising ease as something in her hand touched the surface of the coffin-like pod's door with a hiss- and her nose was filled with sudden smell of corrosion and blood while her eyes were filled with hard, sterile light which instantly blinded her after being in the dark for who-knows how long. ' _Wha… Ow!'_

Cinder pulled her hand back as she had tried to rub her eyes, but had managed to cut her cheek with something… and as her vision sharpened she saw that a bloody knife-like bone was jutting straight out of the palm-side of her wrist like some sort of horrific hidden blade that had emerged from her forearm. "Ah…"

She blinked the black spots out of her eyes as she recognized that she was about to pass out (while fighting against the urge to hold her head with her hands to stabilize herself against the dizziness due to the obvious issue her new blades posed), and marked the sudden weakness for further study in her head as she recognized she had been passing out a _lot_ lately- something that had been almost unheard of for her before being implanted by the Knight's parasite.

As soon as Cinder's thought turned towards the armored human-Grimm creature she doubled over the prison-pod she had emerged from and fell out of it as a sudden, feverishly hot and _incredibly_ creepy sensation overcame her like a bucket of near-boiling water had been thrown on her stomach… on the exact same spot where she had been stabbed by Emerald.

And where she had been subsequently implanted with a _new_ parasite.

One that had spread _far_ wider than the first one she had attempted to remove, evidenced by her bloody hands and wings sprouting from the back of her waist. The wings flapped slightly as she fought to restrain her mounting fear- once again suggesting to her that the parasite was altering her mind somehow as she had always been analytical rather than frightful person.

' _Dammit, dammit… My clothes have been changed. This is a cell.'_ Cinder focused her attention on her immediate surroundings as she pushed her physical state down her priority list with almost visible effort, mainly in order to retain what remained of her sanity. ' _I remember the metro exploding just before I blacked out… The Knight… ow! Stop… wriggling!'_

 _.͝H̡̧͟ù̧͟n̢̧t̷̢̨.̛.̷.͟͠ T̵o̢͝ǵe̴t҉h͝er̶̨̕..̶̕_

Cinder froze and promptly made a mental note not to address the whispering voices inside her head. ' _R-right… I need to remember what mother taught me… 'never knock on any surface of you can't see through, you never know what might knock back and how hard… '_

She took a quick look around herself to figure out where she had been taken, and saw just white-walled, sterile cell around her with no visible doors or means of exit she could discern off the top of her head. Cinder also noted that she was wearing a simple hospital gown instead of her own clothes. ' _Ozpin must have taken my clothes and personal belongingss away, searched them for links to Mother. My Scroll will self-destruct if it is accessed without my codes, so I doubt he'll get anything out of that, but… I hope the microfilm I hid in my collar was destroyed in the blast- it contained my report to Mother.'_

Cinder took few steps around the cell to get herself moving and to flex her aching muscles and tendons that felt somehow unnaturally stringy and grainy to move, like if her muscles was filled with rice _._

She decided to _not_ think about it until she could get out of her current predicament, in order to avoid another of the panic episodes that had become frighteningly common of late. ' _Focus, Cinder, what else is there… Dammit. I can't risk the microfilm falling to his hands. There's no way he wouldn't search every inch of the fabric, perhaps even to molecular level… and the shell of the film is resistant to just about anything. The bomb in the metro could have destroyed it, theoretically, but since I had hid the film in my collar and I'm actually alive, then the bomb likely didn't destroy it. I made a mistake.'_

She started to pace from one end of the room to other. Her breaking out of the life-support pod must have been noticed by now, as the shell of the coffin-like pod must have been linked to some silent alarm system, and she was sure there was at least one hidden camera somewhere in the room, recording her every move. ' _I thought that the worst case scenario would be that I'd become a drooling lobotomite before I'd reach mother, so I needed to keep the film safe and made it too idiot-proof. I didn't have a contingency plan for getting caught by Ozpin with the film in my person since I didn't plan on returning to Beacon.'_

' _Dammit, dammit dammit!'_ Cinder had to resist the urge to hold to her head once again in order to not accidentally stab herself to death with her new wrist-bone blades. ' _Ozpin wouldn't order a guard to come and restrain me either, I could overpower one or two guards- he won't risk it to his underlings, he will come to arrest me personally. Perhaps with Ironwood and his pet crow and pet bitchress in tow. I can't overpower all four of them at once. I don't even know if I could overpower one as I am right now…'_

She tried to flicker her inner Flame in order to see if her Aura had recovered at least- and unsurprisingly, it had not.

However that wasn't to say that nothing happened as she tried to activate her Semblance as she felt a wave of sickening heat crash through her body until she doubled over while coughing violently. ' _A- argh! It… It hurts! Stop! Please!'_

Her stomach let a gurgling sound and Cinder threw up on the floor… except what came from her mouth wasn't vomit but something _bright_.

The floor melted as what Cinder could only describe as liquid fire sprayed from her mouth until she could stop her cramps while trying her best not to burn herself with the fire- while she was immune to her own Semblance's fire, she didn't know if she was immune to the fire-vomit and she didn't have time to start testing- although the way her insides were churning she had a feeling it wasn't entirely _her_ that was doing the fire. ' _A-argh… Just how… how badly has the parasite integrated into me? Is it using my Semblance as well?!'_

The burning floor bubbled and let a thick smoke that was starting to burn Cinder's throat, but oddly enough she didn't feel like she'd choke on it- instead she took the opportunity to dry-heave against the wall of her sterile, homogeneous prison.

The feeling of liquid building in her gut intensified once more before Cinder braced herself and a second later a second stream of liquid fire hit the wall. ' _Au! Oww! Ow! My teeth are melting! I… I'm so going to kill the Knight once… OWW! No, I won't I'll... I'll… cuddle with it? Dammit!'_

The spray hit the approximate location of the wall and floor as Cinder twitched in pain after the voices inside her head intensified momentarily to cause a painful spasm through her body after thinking ill of the Grimm-Human creature. ' _It's… Figures it's protective of it's creator…'_

The firestream ended in a coughing spasm and Cinder held to her mouth with both of her hands (taking care to use the backs of her hands as she still had the two bone-blades that had grown from her wrists) as she had felt her teeth melt during the regurgitation- and she realized that her teeth had started to regrow at speed which left her stunned when she felt the sharp pieces of bone contact with her hands. ' _I've… I've become a monster. Mother… She can help, I'm sure… but first, I need to destroy the microfilm before Ozpin finds or cracks it. I can't let him have my report… The Maiden is lost. He's either extracted the power from me, or was bluffing and was intending on keeping me alive until he could do that. Either way, he must have relocated the Maiden, or the second half of it, again... she is out of my immediate reach.'_

Sounds of cracking plastic and steel filled cell as the liquid fire burned a hole through the wall, and Cinder braced herself before running at the hole... and almost got caught by her two new appendages that clipped the wall, causing her to emerge into a well-lit but otherwise empty hallway as a ball of feathers and wildly flailing limbs. ' _Urgh… I need to keep in mind I have those wings. They will hamper my mobility, perhaps I could just cut them off?'_

A crashing sound came from the end of the hallway as a pair of men, no doubt Hunters based off the weapons they carried, rushed through a door at the end of the hallway and immediately leveled their weapons, a halberd and a pair of pistols, at Cinder. "What the hell are you… Surrender in the name of Vale!"

Cinder let a instinctive hiss through her sharp teeth before rushing towards the two Hunters- she couldn't out-run bullets in the narrow hallway, so her only choice was to try to overwhelm her enemy before they'd recover from seeing her escape.

Gunshots rang in the narrow hallway as the two opened fire on Cinder and she felt as a large-caliber shot from the halberd-rifle pierced her thigh and shattered bone while dull impacts of the pistols hit her other thigh and waist, but she flapped her wings to guide her fall-glide towards the Hunters as her legs stopped working.

A second seemed to extend for eternity as the distance between them narrowed and the halberd-carrying Hunter tried to lift his weapon to point at Cinder's chest… and she managed to catch the blade of the weapon with her hand and pull it towards her- or rather, herself towards the Hunter, using his weapon like a horizontal ladder to guide herself towards and crash onto the man.

Cinder forced herself to experience the earlier dry heave again before the Hunter's partner managed to react, and in response fire flickered once more in her belly. A stream of liquid fire poured from her mouth onto the unfortunate man, followed by Cinder using the screaming and burning Hunter and her wings as a springboard to flap-hop on top of the man's partner and start stabbing him with her wrist-blades.

The man's pistols fell down as the flurry of blows continued, breaking his Aura and then tearing his throat and face into a bloody mess

' _...Great, and now I have blood all over me and I'm practically naked.'_ Cinder felt as her leg-wounds regenerated, and she stood up while looking at the Hunter she had killed… before kneeling down to pull his jacket off and putting it on, and then repeating the steps with his pants and boots, deliberately focusing on something other than her body so she wouldn't think too hard about what was happening inside her. ' _Ugh… a bit too big, but these will have to do for now. I'll have to find proper clothes after I escape since these might be tracked, but that shouldn't pose a problem right now since they already know where I am, and if these are tracked somehow then I can just toss them aboard a train or something to throw my pursuers off my trail.'_

She didn't know _where_ exactly she was, but she had a odd gut feeling that she wasn't alone- that there were people not too far away from her.

Cinder glanced at the two dead Hunters before moving forwards into the direction from where the two had come from. ' _I got lucky, those two were off-guard… so Ozpin hasn't sounded the alarms for some reason, is not planning to, or there is something else that is keeping his attention, possibly all three at once or none of them at all. Planning anything against that man is a nightmare, so I'll just have to go with the flow.'_

She ran through few hallways and took few turns, discovering that the facility she had been placed into was almost empty but the feeling of being surrounded by people hadn't let up. ' _Dammit, I'm becoming paranoid… Is it the parasite's doing?'_

Cinder took one more turn before crashing through a large door- and emerged into a wide, shadowy and archaic-looking hallway with green holographic torches providing eerie light. ' _Wait, this is… yeah, the intel I got about Beacon detailed this to be the Beacon's main underground tunnel. A weakly kept secret, although most get told that there's just Grimm research going on in here- but I know better.'_

A small smirk almost reached Cinder's lips as she contemplated her options while picking a direction on the hallway and continuing running. ' _It is possible that the Maiden is still here, but that's unlikely. No way he'd keep it so close to me, since he must have considered the possibility of my escape. Thus there's no doubt about it- I'm observed, and he is not interfering with my escape for now.'_

' _Could it be that he sacrificed those two Hunters so I'd lead him to Mother? Is he intentionally trying to let me escape?'_ The fact the two of the Hunters had been taken off guard when the start of her escape had taken so long made her suspicious as she arrived in front of a pair of large elevator doors, and even more so when she pushed a button on its panel to call it down. ' _Wouldn't be a stretch, knowing his track record of using people for his own ends. I was unconscious while in his… care… so he might have implanted tracking devices into my body. I'll have to avoid using our safehouses until I can find out…'_

She stepped into the elevator, took a look at its control panel which showed number of floors. Cinder had memorized Beacon's layout so well during her study on the campus infrastructure that she instinctively remembered what each floor contained and what elevator she was in (although the latter part wasn't particularly hard since there was just one regular elevator moving between Beacon's surface and the underground complex and few cargo elevators that looked drastically different), and she pressed the button which would take her up.

And into the Headmaster's office. ' _He must have some sort of hidden laboratory or something in his office, since there was so much wasted space around it in the blueprints. He must have stored my gearin there. If not… then I have no idea where they are and I can't afford to spend more time to look elsewhere…'_

The elevator doors opened after some time of upwards movement, during which Cinder tried to keep herself from pacing back and forth in the confined space, and she took a quick look around the office.

The room was empty of life, and Cinder took few quick steps towards the center of the room before she heard a small 'ding' sound from behind her…

"I'm afraid but I have to request you to return to your cell." A calm voice caused Cinder to stop and turn around slowly.

"Ozpin."

"Cinder Fall. Heartwarming to see you up and about so quickly, but unfortunately I cannot allow you to rummage around my office." Ozpin said as he stepped out of the elevator beside the one Cinder had arrived in. She remembered that the office had three elevators, one of which was for accessing the Beacon's grounds and the underground complex, and two others whose purpose was unknown to her sources.

"Were you tracking me?"

"Choosing to shed the feigned ignorance and false innocence?" Ozpin lifted his eyebrow. "You won't find the Maiden here. She has moved on and her power is lost to you."

"Oh? And here I was hoping..." _Wait... He's_ _stalling. He didn't expect me to head straight to his office, which means he hasn't found the microchip yet, or didn't believe I'd know of his secret laboratory- he must have expected me to go after the Maiden, thus he was waiting with her, and he was forced to chase after me to stop me when I didn't start searching for her!"_ Cinder realized. ' _Ironwood and his other sycophants must be either busy or sent to guard other places he thought I'd go after escaping… so he's trying to buy time for them to arrive by talking."_

"I'm afraid that-" Ozpin started but was forced to dodge as Cinder launched herself at the man.

She didn't have any time to waste, and while it was unlikely she'd be able to defeat Ozpin, she had bigger chance of living by fighting for her freedom than surrendering or waiting until Ozpin's reinforcements arrived.

A beam of green energy materialized as Ozpin lifted his cane and Cinder dodged, barely avoiding getting hit. She would have attempted to use her Semblance to match the beam and shield herself, but her current bodily predicament prevented her from using her regular powers. However her mother had been diligent in training Cinder to adapt to ever changing situations, so she improvised by adapting her fighting style to her new appendages.

Her wild charge failed as Ozpin kicked himself up backwards and into the air, landing on the elevator wall and causing Cinder to stumble as she had aimed to tackle the man to the ground like he had done with the two Hunters she had killed earlier.

Cinder sighed as the headmaster somehow kept his balance while standing literally on the wall, before she was forced to roll to avoid another green beam that seared a deep wedge into the office's floor, and she discovered that her wings did _not_ make things easier… until a weird thought passed by her head. ' _These wings look like Nevermore's, and Nevermore's are a crow-like Grimm type that can use their feathers as projectiles, to a degree at least... '_

She focused on the thought while springing up on her feet and pulling her wings back, and then flinging them forwards like she had seen Nevermores use them… and she felt pinpricks of rash-like pain as a cloud of feathers detached from her wings, aimed at the headmaster who was forced to detach from wall in order to dodge a swarm of razor-sharp projectiles.

Before he managed to land Cinder charged once more, managing to land a hefty kick on Ozpin's stomach, causing him to slam against the elevator's closed door and she followed the attack with flurry of stabs aimed at his chest.

Ozpin lifted his cane and parried few of her initial blows, but she managed to land few before the man struck his arm at her, palm forward, and Cinder felt as a wave of force crashed against her chest and sent her flying.

She attempted to use her wings to correct her path, but was unable to stop herself from crashing directly into the headmaster's desk, breaking it in two while getting thrown behind it.

The stumble might have saved her life as yet another beam followed her and would have hit her square on her chest, if not for the wreck of the desk absorbing majority of the energy. A part of the beam clipped her arm and caused a horrid scent of decaying, rotting flesh to fill the room.

She glanced at the wound, and saw the the flesh of her arm had shriveled, spotted and decayed like if it had withered to take appearance like old woman's flesh while the core of the wound looked almost dessicated, like it it had aged hundred years in a millisecond. ' _W-what?_

Cinder didn't have time to think about her wounds as she felt more than she saw Ozpin moving before a shoe landed on her head, then she felt as she got hoisted into the air by a hook of a cane... followed by a flurry of impossibly rapid cane-strikes that hit her chest, her face, throat and back, struck from more directions than should be possible. ' _That's… his ability to manipulate the flow of time itself… Mother warned me about it...'_

The cane hit her stomach and pierced through the weakened flesh, causing searing pain to spread inside Cinder's gut and locking the fighters in place as she managed to grab Ozpin's hand while his cane was lodged into her body and had speared itself through her back. ' _Got you!'_

She tried to recall her Semblance once more, feeling the burning sensation light in her stomach as she prepared to spit liquid fire on top of Ozpin, but something had ruptured inside her stomach during Ozpin's flurry as a gout of flame spread not up her throat- but instead erupted through the stomach wound in which Ozpin's cane was still stuck in.

The resulting flame-liquid explosion coated Ozpin's midriff in fire and caused Cinder's clothes to be set alight while the two separated in another forceful blast from Ozpin's palm- yet Cinder held to the cane which was stuck in her stomach.

"A- Argh!" Ozpin let a pained groan as he rolled on the ground while his waist and chest was engulfed in fire, his Aura likely shielding him but getting drained by the fact the flames had stuck to his clothes and kept spreading and burning him. "D-damn you!"

Cinder felt the flames spread over her as well, but curiously enough while the heat pained her, the flame didn't burn her. ' _Ah… so it is my Semblance after all, just perverted and mutated by that parasite…'_

' _Come to me... '_

She forced herself to create more, and more, and even more fire and it spread inside her... and burst through her skin.

Flame coated her entire body through her wounds, through her skin, through her wings and hair, and she charged once more, born on wings of fire and flesh that sprouted from her waist, flying at the Headmaster of Beacon like a wounded phoenix seeking vengeance.

Cinder collided with Ozpin's prone body.

And the office exploded in flames.

.

..

…

He felt odd.

The world was spinning, and at the same time felt stable. It was like he was feeling the extreme ends of calm and raging fury at the same time, and was stuck in the middle.

Faces of people he had never met flashed by him, and he felt more than saw moments of life he had never experienced- a explosion rocking a car, waking up in a hospital with a girl he didn't know by his side, a man speaking harsh words to him while frustration filled him… a feeling of loneliness as a airship departed from a snow-covered land, and other scenes that passed by him in a flash. ' _W… wait, these are…'_

Yet at the same time, a part of him felt other scenes. A familiar pain of breaking muscles, of hatred and jealousy, which finally culminated into a scene he had seen and not seen- a scene of a burning building. ' _Stop, I don't need to see this…'_

The memories didn't stop, and neither did his confusion.

' _I… I needed to do something. Heal something…'_

A faint feeling of pain came from somewhere near his throat, and he focused his attention, his will in it as it allowed him to pull himself towards something that felt familiar, real. ' _I… I need to heal... Weiss… But... '_

A spike of pain suddenly coursed through his brain like something breaking off, and he felt a surge of panic, which turned into a burst of rage in an instant as something broke through the dam of calm confusion around him, spreading itself into his psyche like black ink would through water and spreading through the memories. ' _The shadow… It's spreading into her... '_

The moment he thought about it, he realized where he was, what the memories were and why they felt so familiar. ' _It's Weiss's memories… and mine, and others, spreading into her mind… This wasn't a ordinary wound… It had grown a piece of… me.'_

 _In͏̵v̸̶a͝d҉̴̀e͏̡.͘.̸́͠.̵͜ ͝p̡ŕ̴e̸̵s̸͘èr̀v̵̨ȩ.̴.̴. ̧l͏̢į͢͟v҉̵e̸͜.͡._

He felt confused as he had never wounded Weiss, yet he had a odd memory of her being torn into a hole in a wall by his claws, and then hit with a claw that broke and left its tip into the wound. ' _Wait, that's… that's not me… I remember that place, I was fighting against the hybrids that assaulted us!'_

The memories continued flooding from within and without, and he saw and remembered that he had been bandaging his wound in his thigh he had received during a fight with a unsightly, horrifying creature that had tied a girl into itself, and felt as that wound had begun to infect later, feeling terrible pain as he felt cramps as time went on. A tanned figure was helping him walk as his leg failed him completely, and he moved to rest after they reached a resting place underground- a memory that was further reinforced by his own memories that suddenly cropped up to the forefront of his mind, reminding of his lost legs.

' _I… never lost my legs… these are not my memories…'_

Suddenly the memories corrupted and crashed upon themselves, and the entire picture clarified into a string of instinctive memories- and he realized _how_ Weiss had a piece of him yet not him merged into her flesh. ' _I… I did that… The hybrids… were a part of me.'_

With the realization he felt as he spread into the body he possessed, or rather, he felt as he _absorbed_ himself into himself and became one with the creature that had merged into Weiss.

And with the unity reached, he returned to consciousness from the boiling-hot lake of black ink of shadows he had fallen into.

…

Jaune took a deep breath, feeling blood and visva entering his larynx, and coughed as he became aware of what was happening to his body.

The tentacle that had struck his throat from within Weiss's body had merged into him, yet was partially unmerged at the tip and he felt throbbing pain not unlike headache throughout his throat, back of his neck and within his head almost like the tentacle had reached his brain.

He didn't panic, nor did he lash out at the unfamiliar feeling, as his repeated experiences with the Shadow's savagery had left him mentally resilient to feelings of discomfort and worse, and instead he just focused his will on the appendage that connected himself to Weiss, and felt the creature that was him as well inside the girl's body. ' _Ah… I… I need to think about this later… No way this Semblance of mine is just Grimm shapeshifting…'_

Jaune had bigger concern at the moment though- Weiss's body was in _bad_ shape. Through the parasitical creature that had merged into her body he felt just how extensive the damage done to her was, and he realized that the only reason Weiss was still alive was because the parasite-flesh had been keeping her alive… and he realized why.

The feeling had been his.

He had felt that feeling when he had been ambushed by Mercury Black. And he had felt the overwhelming, all-consuming need to _survive_. The same emotion echoed from within the parasitical Grimm-like creature that was in her flesh, and he knew why it had kept Weiss alive- it needed Weiss to live as much Weiss's life needed it. ' _Yet… it is not sentient. It doesn't know how to keep her alive, it… no, a piece of me within her, just knows it needs to stay alive, obeying a primal instinct rather than reason and is just trying to survive no matter what, even if it ends up killing its host…'_

Jaune glanced to the side as a deep rumble, akin to a distant explosion, reached the cell he was in with Weiss. He saw that Winter, Ruby, and three Hunters were observing the exchange of emotions, instincts and feelings that constituted the bodily communication between him and the creature within Weiss, and noticed that Glynda had disappeared somewhere while the Hunters looked increasingly uneasy. ' _I need to wrap this down fast. The part of me in her is trying to keep her alive… so why doesn't it work like Cinder's? It must be similar in theory, I put a part of myself in her, and then… I wanted it to heal her.'_

Jaune focused on the same feeling he had felt when he had healed Cinder, and _forced_ it into the part of him that had spread all throughout Weiss's body.

The feeling spread, casting away the feeling of desperate self-survival and instead ushering the feeling of hope, unity and desire to stay together… and the very core of the creature changed. The panic-like need to survive above all else was cast away, and replaced by a different, pack-like feeling of unity, and the tendrils of black ink that were raging inside Weiss's body calmed into a stream all the while Jaune balanced himself on a rope of sanity in order to keep himself in control of the change happening within and without, suppressing the feral feelings of Shadow to keep it from infecting the resulting parasitical growth that would heal Weiss. ' _It… It's done… she should survive... no, I shouldn't think of that, it's what caused the whole mess in the first place. She will not just survive, she will recover.'_

Jaune let a deep sigh as the tendrils of flesh connecting him to Weiss withered, and he felt as his hand that was still in Weiss bubbled and flowed until it separated from the wrist, leaving part of him within her. "It's… It's done."

And with the words leaving his mouth, so did his consciousness flee his body as the strain of using his ability so extensively backlashed into his mind.

.

..

…

Wind flowed past her face.

She felt weightless, serene. The whispering voices that had permeated her thoughts seemed to quiet down as she kept her eyes closed, feeling calmer than she had been for weeks…

And her eyes snapped open as Cinder realized that she was quite literally free falling off the top of Beacon's tower, or rather, the Cross Continental Communication Tower which formed the core of the Beacon Tower, on top of which Ozpin had kept his office.

Even though she had only blacked out for few seconds, it had been enough for her to almost reach the halfway between the top of the tower and the ground, the latter of which would likely cause her to become a modern arts project unless she managed to somehow stop her fall.

Cinder started flapping her wings in near-panic, and managed to twist herself around and take a look at her wings, seeing that they had regenerated their lost feathers. Recalling the way Nevermores flew, she moved her wings to level position as she realized she wouldn't be able to truly fly with her mass being so high comparatively to her wingspan, and her free fall turned into a semi-controlled glide.

And she turned that glide towards the Emerald Forest while glancing at the tower behind her to see the fires she had lit roaring on the top floor of the Beacon Tower. ' _I can get out of Vale through the Emerald Forest… And that explosion must have destroyed the office and more importantly, Ozpin's lab with the microfilm… and if not, the fire will deal with the rest.'_

Cinder nodded resolutely within her mind, pushing back the unease gripping her stomach and ignoring the whispering voices inside her head telling her to turn back and return to Beacon for some reason. ' _Time to go back… to mother.'_

* * *

Nearly four hours later, the fire department managed to extinguish the fire that had burned top of the Beacon Tower off.

And as the search crew consisting of Ironwood of Atlas, Qrow Branwen and Glynda Goodwitch entered the scene, they found a heavily burnt and shattered cane within the destroyed office.

And next to the cane, they found the scorched, dead body of the Headmaster of Beacon.

 **Next chapter: somewhat sooner than this one.**

 **As you might have noticed, we're starting to move away from canon.**


	43. Eye of the Storm

To say Vale and Beacon were in disarray would be an understatement, but amidst all the chaos were some small signs of recovery.

The anti-Atlesian riots in Vale had run their course and outside few additional injuries and arrests, the larger riots had dispersed in relatively peaceful manner as Vale's police and military guarded and oversaw them. Even though the main riots had ended, however, the anti-Atlesian opinions still permeated through the entire city like stench of rot- a mindset that was further intensified when a Atlesian troop transport-and-repair air-cruiser arrived to Vale and docked into Beacon beside Ironwood's personal air-cruiser, accompanied by a battleship and few escort craft which had started to hover above Beacon as docking the battleship to Beacon's dock would both compromise its security and effectively block all other traffic from entering and exiting the facility.

The official explanation for the Atlesian reinforcements arriving in Vale was that a 'technical fault had caused CCCT's top to light itself on fire' and the Atlesian engineering corp had been called to repair and maintain the structure in order to ensure its operation, and that the battleship was there only to ensure the safety of the transports during their flight to Vale- a story that was for a change not a coverup for something else. After all, if CCCT or Beacon Tower were destroyed or taken down, then Vale's communication network would follow suit- and the lack of one of the networked processors within the closed system formed by the four nation's towers would send a wave of feedback to the system that would cause the networked communication towers in Mistral, Vacuo and Atlas to become disconnected from each other. Of course, the system could be rebooted without Vale's tower present, but doing so would cripple the network's efficiency and data transfer rate.

The heavy battleship Atlas had sent to oversee the repair convoy had been flanked by a flight of light skirmish-aircraft almost immediately after it had crossed Vale's border- After all, Vale needed to both ensure that the CCCT was repaired, and that they didn't appear weak while Atlesian military was present in Vale. The interceptors had thus been deployed to assist and escort the Atlesian craft- and also as a show of force.

Granted, the sleek, light interceptors would be as efficient as group of mosquitoes trying to kill a bear if they attacked the battleship which was essentially a massive chunk of flying Dust-reinforced alloy, energy shields and enough guns to level a small village in one salvo, but the general populace didn't know that, and Vale needed to at least _look_ like it was doing something to contain Atlesian military personnel on its soil even though the two nations had agreed on the troop move beforehand. After all Atlas had effectively sabotaged its position as police force of Remnant in the eyes of the citizens of Vale with its recent actions, or rather by the view the media had given it, and the battleship hovering over Beacon was seen more as frightening oppressor of free speech and independence rather than as a unyielding guardian against Grimm.

The interceptor squadron was about as strong as Vale's air power went anyway since Vale's military organization had never been big on air power. The strategic decision to not invest in aircraft had been largely due to air forces being incredibly useless in anything but logistics in the forest-filled nation as trees, valleys and foliage made it incredibly easy to avoid detection by air- which was one of the main reasons White Fang extremists (or how the White Fang's spokespersons publicly stated, 'a splinter faction from otherwise peaceful White Fang') managed to avoid Vale's Huntsmen and military after the extremists had started their string of attacks against Dust convoys coming to Vale.

Vale's military forces had similarly placed their trust their ground forces, devastating artillery, ground-to-air weapons and guerrilla tactics that would see their enemies cut off, surrounded on all sides and destroyed in small chunks (a tactic that had proven very effective during the Great War, and had been used against them by White Fang).

Of course, such cloak-and-dagger fighting style made poor propaganda compared to showy battle-mechs and air-cruisers employed by Atlas, so Vale had to improvise to 'match' them in order to maintain their air of being capable of defending Vale in the eyes of the nations people.

Naturally the arrangement had been quite strenuous at Atlesians had not been happy to have foreign fighters within poking distance of their cutting-edge aircraft, but Ironwood had voiced his opinion and the battleship's captain had eventually agreed (or rather, had been ordered to) to have Vale's fighters surround it.

With the ever-present threat of and Grimm, the heavy guard Atlas sent to accompany their CCCT repair-team to Vale had been justified- or that what General Ironwood of Atlas had told Glynda Goodwitch and the council of Vale. All in all, the tensions between Vale's and Atlas's military were high, and the general public's distrust towards everyone involved was further compounded by White Fang's increasing popularity and thus, White Fang propaganda.

* * *

"Vale is practically a powder keg waiting to explode. Beacon lost it's headmaster. Students are restless, many of them have families in Vale and are worried about their health. Beacon is essentially in the eye of the storm as far as public relations goes, and we can't really help the situation other than by ensuring that the increased Grimm activity around Vale won't end up swallowing our outposts and countryside villages." Glynda sighed as she shuffled papers around her desk with Ironwood occupying a seat on the other side of the desk alongside Port, him being their expert on Grimm. "I've had traffic both arriving and leaving Vale monitored, and students are prohibited from exiting Beacon. Well, mainly so they won't partake in the protests or riots since if the riots get violent, I don't want the students to start trashing the police and escalating the situation further- and to that effect I've paused Beacon's normal curriculum in order to remove theory classes and replaced them with constant semi-optional combat class."

"Keeping students unoccupied is a disaster waiting to happen when they are restless enough already." Port nodded his agreement. "Your decision is correct. If we let the students beat their frustration out from each other, we should be able to keep Beacon standing while the unrest settles.

"And while I finalize my position as the new Headmistress of Beacon." Glynda sighed.

The view outside the Headmaster's office- or as it was currently, the headmistress's office, was almost completely filled by the massive Atlesian battleship alongside quite few Vale-made interceptors that were currently hovering around it. The ship had been in Vale for such a short while, but the shadow of war the machine had cast over Vale made every day feel long and uneasy, like waiting for a new war to begin. "Ironwood... That toy of yours has people both afraid and angry. Yet at the same time if we appear weak..."

"I am aware that the situation is difficult." Ironwood nodded while wringing his hands. The fact the normally steadfast man was feeling nervous enough to display such emotion through his body language was either a sign of the gravity of the situation, or of the trust he placed on Glynda. She didn't know which it was, and she didn't really want to know either. "It's been almost a week since Ozpin died. My specialists have not been able to find his assailant, Cinder, and the last sighting we have is her disappearing into Emerald forest…"

"Ironw… James. I appreciate your help, but finding miss Fall is not overly high on our priorities list right now. She will be brought to justice, when the time comes, but I imagine she will be keeping a _very_ low profile for a long time after pulling the stunt she did. Finding her after a whole week of evasion will be incredibly unlikely, specifically if our 'true enemy's agents', as Ozpin called them, had helped her disappear." Glynda sighed. "Of course, I am not saying we should relax our guard, but we need to focus on getting through the mess she made of our city and school. Moreover, even if we caught her and sentenced her, I doubt the people would suddenly turn around and _forget_ what happened earlier."

"Hrm…" Ironwood let a harrumph to match Glynda's sigh. "The idea of just overlooking such criminal act does not bode well with me, but your words carry wisdom. Regardless, I'll send wanted-posters and bounties across all four nations of Remnant..."

"James..."

"...And Menagerie, of course." Ironwood coughed slightly while adding the landmass granted to faunus after the Faunus rebellions to his list of nations when Glynda gave him a evil glare. "Cinder Fall will have nowhere to go, no village will take her, and no roadside inn will accommodate her. I'm aware that it is likely that she has a few safehouses, but marking her as criminal is the best we can do."

"Agreed." Glynda nodded and paused as the headmistress's office elevator let a faint 'ding', followed by Penny Polendina walking out of it with a tray of beverages. "Thank you for the refreshments, Penny. I fear they will be more than needed during the coming hours."

"You're welcome!" Penny chirped happily before moving to stand behind Ironwood. "Attention! A new report is available!"

"Go ahead." Ironwood motioned.

"Atlesian engineering teams have finished their work in CCCT's basement and mainframe, and tech team has verified the integrity of CCCT's AI and software framework. Damage done by the fire has been repaired, a full virus- and malware sweep has been made alongside deletion and fresh reinstallation of the integrated AI. CCCT works again at one hundred percent efficiency!" Penny put her hands behind her waist and pushed her chest up proudly, although Glynda noticed that the girl's shoulders seemed a bit stiff as she mentioned CCCT's AI. "Thirty-six people, six of whom were hunter-students, have been apprehended and subsequently released for attempting to interfere with the operation of Atlesian troops."

"What did the students attempt to do?" Glynda asked while rubbing her forehead tiredly.

"Two attempted to prevent tech team from interfacing with CCCT for purpose of AI cycling and four attempted to approach Atlesian troops to demand explanations for their actions in Barrier Square." Penny chirped. "The civilians had similar attempts. Permission to move onto the next part of the report?"

"Granted." Ironwood motioned for the Atlesian android to go on.

"Personnel report: Specialist Schnee reports patient zero two's condition is stable and no postoperative altercations have surfaced after experimental treatment number six-eight-six-seven was administered upon her by subject zero-one."

"Just… Call miss Schnee and mr. Arc who they are, please." Glynda interrupted Penny. "Subject zero-two and subject zero-one makes them seem less human."

"Glynda, Jaune Arc is not human, and referring to him as such never bothered you before." Ironwood lifted his eyebrow. "Don't tell me you've had a change of heart?"

"Yes, and no. I don't plan to follow in Ozpin's footsteps. I do not approve of mr. Arc, specifically so after his decision to breach Vale-Glenn barrier which resulted in the deaths of civilians, Atlesian soldiers and White Fang operatives... But I would be oblivious fool if I believed that mr. Arc wasn't being manipulated into doing it." Glynda narrowed her eyes at Ironwood. "While I am no Ozpin and thus largely incapable of pulling insane conspiracy theories out of a top hat like rabbits in a cheap magician show, I can see that someone was, and likely is, attempting to destabilize Vale."

"And succeeding."

"Yes, which is why we don't have time to chase after pawns. Cinder Fall was likely a willing agent, since I don't see why she would _coincidentally_ have half the Maiden within her, break out and then assassinate Ozpin, but looking past my personal bias I… don't see mr. Arc to be one their agents, at least knowingly. He's strong, or rather, his bizarre Semblance is incredibly adaptable which gives him an air of strength… or rather, unpredictability."

"And?"

"...But he is incredibly naive and all too trusting from what I've observed." Glynda pulled few papers from a dangerously wobbly stack she had on her desk. The signwork and paperwork to relay between Vale and Atlas had been tedious to the extreme, which had not been helped by how Vale insisted on using physical papers for communication, likely to spite Atlesians for their preference on electronic communication. "Jaune Arc has been in his cell for the past week, although unlike the Grimm holding cell's regular inhabitants, he's been fed, allowed clothes from his dorm after thorough checking, and provided a bed. He has requested to see his teammates, which we've accomodated, and Qrow Branwen, which we've denied as he's been quite agitated when he asked for the meeting."

"Do you believe he harbors hostility for the professor who was responsible for keeping the team safe during the mission?" Ironwood asked. "He may be blaming his situation on him."

"It is possible, although after the... treatment... Specialist Schnee applied upon Qrow, I somehow doubt Qrow would be even _able_ to meet, let alone speak with mr. Arc, assuming we managed to pry him off the bed where he's sleeping off the injuries."

"Indeed. However due to Qrow's request I've not punished Specialist Schnee for assaulting our allies. A curious choice, and I assume Qrow took the assault as his punishment for failing to protect his charges- not that it was Winter's duty to determine or administer the punishment." Ironwood furrowed his brow, clearly indicating his disapproval for Winter's actions.

"Moving on, so far mr. Arc has not shown intentions of escaping like Cinder Fall, not to mention that he was both able and willing to heal Weiss Schnee. That tells me that he was a mere pawn of someone else rather than a coordinator. After all, Fall's group attempted to assassinate Weiss Schnee, so it is unlikely they'd want Arc to heal her." Professor Port brought the conversation back to its track. "Plus, surely he would have used the chance to demand better environment for healing or otherwise leveraged miss Schnee's critical state in order to get himself an opening to break out and escape, if he was in league with miss Fall?"

"What of his ability then?" Ironwood countered. "You can't deny that the ability Cinder Fall displayed during her escape matches his almost completely, as far as the camera network was able to record it. I'd even go as far as to say Arc and Fall shared essentially same skillset from transforming to self-healing."

"True. That brings us to another item on the list- Glenn. I sent three experienced Hunter teams to descend into the abandoned city after Qrow verified team SABR's story, and the teams found more examples of similar Grimm-Human... integrations that Weiss Schnee had." Glynda nodded to Ironwood. "Ozpin would likely have had a theory about _what_ had happened there, but in his absence I'll just have to take a guess at it. Well, at least until your scientists figure out just why Grimm creature allows itself to merge so perfectly with human flesh and whether or not it is a dormant Grimm subtype that has resurfaced, or a entirely new one."

"I started working on the recovered tissue alongside my Atlesian colleagues as soon as I got my hands on a sample." Port said, likely seeing his opportunity to shine. The politics and public relations-talk had likely left him feeling out of place. "We have agreed to naming the previously unknown Grimm type as 'Grimm Infiltrator' on the account that it appears to enter the host's spinal nervous system and digestive system, through which the host is essentially reanimated while remaining partially conscious…"

Glynda interrupted Port before he managed to pick up speed, which was likely for the best.

"Thank you, Peter, but I have already read your preliminary report on the biology of the creatures and I'd like to enjoy my tea without entertaining the mental image of their abilities. I already lost most of my appetite for the majority of the day when I initially read it." Glynda sighed and reached for the tea cup Penny had brought in her tray alongside two other cups, pair of thermos's and assorted sweets.

"Nevertheless it is clear that miss Schnee had been infected by the Infiltrator and thus essentially marked for slow and agonizing death or worse, at least until mr. Arc was able to somehow neutralize the Infiltrator inside her." Professor Port noted as he took his mug as well. "Curiously enough it looks like he didn't remove the Grimm, but rather somehow made it docile so that while it remains in her system it doesn't expand aggressively and has stopped growing. Instead it had started working as sort-of replacement organ for her partially ruined lungs, destroyed part of her digestive track and internal org…"

"Peter."

"Right, sorry. I got too excited again. Anyway, It is also possible that Cinder Fall had been infected as well, but the control and ability she displayed over the parasitical Grimm tells me that it isn't entirely the case. The behaviour the two of them exhibited is too far apart." Port remarked after a moment. "I would go even as far as to say that the abilities mr. Arc and miss Fall exhibited qualify as a… improved versions of Infiltrator strain of Grimm. I have a theory if you are interested."

"Go ahead." Ironwood said as he downed his coffee in one go and returned his mug on the tray.

"I believe… that mr. Arc and miss Fall are similar creatures that have been both created to a same purpose- infiltration and destruction. They are essentially assassins capable of becoming equavalent to battle tanks in moments, like mines waiting to explode. However it is likely that mr. Arc is, in fact, a failure. He can't remember his goal, has broken free of the chains that held his will, or he is waiting for some activation phrase like a sleeper agent. It would make sense, seeing that he had apparently escaped White Fang when he appeared in Vale… and we know that at least some part of White Fang is likely in league with whoever is responsible for the recent events." Port said while leaning forwards in a conspirotuary manner.

"Sleeper agents don't exactly work that way…" Ironwood lifted his eyebrow but it didn't seem to deter the slightly overweight professor.

"Miss Fall was sent to do what mr. Arc couldn't, or didn't know to do- to assassinate Ozpin. Now she's succeeded and she left to do whatever dastardly deeds she's been instructed to do while the failed one, that being mr. Arc, is left to take the blame." Peter nodded seriously while completely ignoring Ironwood. "Win-win for the other side. They assassinate a high-profile target, create unrest in Vale by having Atlas act as a boogeyman while making people confused as to who the criminals really are, have a Hunter-student take the blame for massacre to break trust in Hunters, then seeing that mr. Arc has a personal goal outside the walls of Beacon, and assuming we attempted to prison him for long, _long_ time, it is likely that they intended that mr. Arc will go berserk and break out to pursue his family."

"Ozpin told Jaune that Qrow would be seeking his remaining family out, ones that were allegedly captured by Raven Branwen." Ironwood seemed to realize something. "The recordings of Arc's cell that you shared with me indicate that Arc has been asking for Qrow to come and talk with him, almost incessantly in fact, and our biometric scanners show that he's very tense, stressed even, when he talks about Qrow before he visibly calms himself down and drops the subject."

"So I imagine mr. Arc's patience is reaching its end." Glynda sighed. "I honestly can't blame him, but at the same time he needs to answer for breaking the Glenn-Vale barrier. Innocents have died, and he killed Atlesian soldiers."

"But surely, while he was the one that cut the flesh, it was not his hand that held the blade?" Peter asked, using a old Atlesian saying about using unwitting pawns for dirty tasks. "You are aware that mr. Arc is easily manipulated, and if I may be so rude, he is fairly simple. When we recovered miss Fall she was not exactly healthy, not to mention the rest of his team was stuck in Glenn with wounded so perhaps he merely… didn't think of the consequences of his actions in order to save his own? The report you sent us about mr. Arc's interrogation would suggest so as well."

"That doesn't exactly make it better. It just means he's foolish enough not to consider the results of his actions- negligent, brash…" Ironwood narrowed his eyes.

"...And without malice. It may not have been the optimal solution, but he did what he could- or what he believed he could. I imagine he didn't intend to cause the breach, seeing that he stood to fight the Grimm back." Port noted. "I'm just offering my opinion, for what it's worth."

"Considering you left not one or two, but three of your wounded teammates behind so you could escape by yourself when you were ambushed by Grimm thirty years ago…" Ironwood told Professor Port with clear disdain in his voice, causing the slightly overweight man to freeze completely still in his chair with his half-empty mug falling off his slackened grip.

The room was deadly quiet for a moment that seemed to stretch forever until it came to an end with a sharp sound of porcelain shattering against floor.

"Ironwood!" Glynda snapped at the general as he looked at Port with unflinching look of dislike. The usually friendly professor had gone completely still while his skin had turned pallid white and he looked like he was about to pass out. "Peter!"

"I… Yes. True. I had no choice, however, or perhaps there were alternatives… and that doubt has gnawed me for all these years. That was long ago, and I was… weak back then. Too weak. Although I'm not sure you care for anything other than results." Port seemed to deflate under the Atlesian General's cold disdain. "That was a low blow, General Ironwood, although I shouldn't be surprised that you know about my past."

"You were both the weakest of your team both physically and mentally, not to mention that you were the leader of your team although you had been picked largely due to your theory scores. You should have stayed behind yourself and let your teammates carry your wounded teammate off… or tried to do something instead of giving up. Yet you failed even in giving up and dying with your team- you fled like a coward, letting your teammates die while defending their wounded while you escaped." Ironwood's words cut the air like blade and Port flinched.

"James! Stop!" Glynda lifted herself off her chair as well. "Peter's past has nothing to do with what is happening now!"

"Oh but it has. The situation with wounded teammates is all too familiar to Peter's disgraceful loss of his entire team." Ironwood told them while remaining seated, although the illusion of confidence was slightly diminished by how Penny had moved to stand just beside him in a way that made it clear she was a combat-focused android underneath her otherwise cheerful appearance. "Peter. You are biased towards Arc because when pushed into a similar situation- trapped, cut off from civilization and with teammates wounded, he chose to march forwards and carried his teammate to safety on his own arms regardless of consequences for himself or for the collateral damage. In a situation where you fled by yourself and left your team to die, and chose to fool yourself into feeling of complacence by telling yourself that you were too weak or you had no choice."

"I…"

Port's posture slumped visibly and the man looked like he aged decades in seconds, yet Ironwood didn't stop.

"Isn't it also why you pretend to be the strongest Huntsman in Remnant and share your stories, most of which are fake, to fool yourself into believing that you aren't a weak coward at your core? Now you saw someone who did what you couldn't… and you respect him for it. You are biased towards Arc." Ironwood lifted his eyebrow, and was promptly thrown off his chair in a gust of wind that sent both him and Penny towards the Headmistress's office elevator, with both of them managing a landing just before colliding with the metal door. Penny's landing was done with a spirited half-bow not unlike how a gymnast would land, and Ironwood landed in a low, combat-ready position with his hand hidden behind his waist and other braced against the floor while facing towards the Headmistress and Professor of Grimm Sciences..

"Out." Glynda commanded while pointing her crop at the man, barely keeping its point stable and her own Semblance from going haywire in the confined room despite her own fury.

"...I see you are agitated. I'll return later once you two have calmed down." Ironwood said slowly while backing into the elevator with Penny. "For now, no decision should be made in regards to mr. Arc…"

"Out!"

The elevator doors managed to close before the General's chair smashed against its metal surface, shattering the wooden piece of furniture into vicious-looking splinters.

Glynda collapsed to her chair while giving her crop a small flick that lifted Port's chair from the floor just in time for the overweight Professor to collapse on it as he had stood up instinctively when Glynda had used her Semblance.

She tossed her crop on her desk in half-frustration half-resignation as silence descended on the room.

"Goddammit Ironwood… " Glynda muttered while rubbing her temple. "Peter, are you alright?"

"I'm… No, he's right." Port said with weak, shaky voice abnormal for the normally jolly professor. "He's right. About everything."

"Only technically, and the way he approaches things is too brash and without considering collateral damage or repercussions." Glynda grumbled before moving on as she realized how badly the words had cut into the slightly overweight professor and decided that she needed to lift the mood in the room before Port would fall deeper into his memories. "Amusingly enough, while he may accuse you of bias, he himself acts much like Jaune Arc."

The arguably atrocious attempt at cheering Port didn't work as he merely shook his head. "Yet… it doesn't change the facts. I am not what I claim to be."

"Peter, stop. Both Ozpin and I knew full well what your story was when we offered you a job as a professor in Beacon. We all knew you are not a man of action, but rather, a analyzer and researcher. You have brilliant mind when it comes to Grimm Sciences, even if your pedagogical skills could use improvement, and your ability to analyze and consult students who struggle with their studies or with their resolve is invaluable for Beacon- after all, you went through the entire arc of your career by yourself without support from teachers, and after your wavering cost you your team, you dedicated yourself to ensure that no-one would repeat your mistakes." Glynda reached for the tea thermos that was against all odds still intact and poured more of the fragrant liquid for herself and for Port. Atlas took beverage security seriously it seemed. "Drink. Don't let Ironwood's lack of tact bring you down."

"T… thank you. His accusations merely came out of the blue so it affected me more than it should have. Truly unprofessional of me." Port reached for the mug with shaky hand. "I… I must admit though that while I consider Jaune Arc's actions worthy of reprimand and punishment for the collateral damage caused, a part of me admires him for what he did- rescued his teammate despite all odds, and based off his story he would have gone back to Glenn to help the rest of his team had we not captured him afterwards."

"Even though Cinder Fall was who she was?"

"I honestly doubt mr. Arc knew of her true affiliations." Port seemed to gather his strength as conversation moved away from the earlier conflict. "From the few interactions I've had with him he seemed like what one would consider 'a good person' despite his abilities, and I don't say this just because I've taken great joy from analyzing the Grimm forms he's been able to replicate or create."

"And miss Fall?"

"I can't say the same for miss Fall. I know anecdotal evidence like gut feeling does not count for much in face of hard facts, but I feel like she was definitely a schemer. I didn't think much of it as I have seen and met many types of students and while her type often ends up doing mischievous deeds, they also make for excellent leaders." Port's reached to twirl his moustache absentmindedly as he spoke. "The fact she was avoiding me both when she was in her old team and when she was assigned to a new one didn't surprise me, as the type rarely come seeking for advice unless pressured into it, and reaching for them carelessly might do more harm than good as they are a prideful bunch. Sort of like how miss Schnee, whom I also consider a schemer, came to seek my help but only after few setbacks within her team."

"Hm. What would you suggest we do with mr. Arc, if we return to our previous topic?" Glynda asked while tying her fingers together while letting his arms rest on her desk. "Ozpin in his ever-suspicious wisdom decided to keep Arc on arm's length. I feel like the time for that has passed."

"Quite. However shouldn't professor Qrow be here to help us decide in case we're deciding here and now? He was Ozpin's right hand man." Port lifted his bushy eyebrow. "Or Ironwood? While he may not be one of Beacon's staff, I feel he might have a bone to pick with Arc after he killed few of his soldiers during the fight in the Barrier Square."

"While I respect Qrow's combat ability, stealth at least when his Semblance doesn't act up, and professionalism when his rampant alcoholism doesn't prevent it, the man is so deep up Ozpin's backside he could likely tell what Ozpin ate for lunch." Glynda said with dry, unamused tone which caused Port to chuckle a bit. "As to Ironwood, I'd say that you're correct. Twice so after seeing how he reacted when he assumed you were biased towards Arc, which makes me think that _he_ is biased against Arc."

"Miss Schnee senior _has_ rubbed off on you, I see." Port hummed with good-natured tone. "I was getting worried where the old Glynda had disappeared."

"I… I must admit I was quite high-strung after the events that started this semester and after the string of catastrophes that have plagued us ever since." Glynda adjusted her glasses slightly. "My interaction with Specialist Winter helped me remember just what I was supposed to be doing- safeguarding my students and helping them to the best of my ability. She was willing to go as far as to sacrifice everything she has build in her career, in her life, in order to get Weiss the treatment she needed while I did nothing but be a object in her way. We could argue the semantics of whether or not there was guarantee that mr. Arc's treatment would have worked or not, but…"

"But you saw Winter's determination, and from what I've gathered you didn't exactly help her." Port nodded.

"Quite. I fear I had fallen to the the same mindset as Qrow, or as how Specialist Winter put it, I was 'deep in Ozpin's backside,' choosing to go with his orders over thinking of the results they could bring. I fear that had I decided to follow his orders, miss Schnee would be dead and we would have had to deal with a rampaging Atlesian Specialist which is a hazardous proposition even at best of times." Glynda sighed. "Regardless, I started to doubt the wisdom of Ozpin's orders after that and eventually realized just how… high-strung I had become ever since the massacre in Vale during that failed Dust robbery that started the whole thing."

"Implying you weren't, and I quote so I may avoid retribution, 'high-strung' before that?" Port asked with jolly tone and clear, amused twinkle in his naturally narrowed eyes.

"Oh I may have been, and will be, and you can be assured that retribution _will_ be mine in time." Glynda replied while resisting a smirk. "I'll just, how do the young people put it, 'let my hair down' a bit and see what happens, perhaps the 'old Glynda' as you eloquently put it will return."

"Oh, that will be sight to see. But to return to the matter at hand, I'd go ahead and release mr. Arc but assign a guard to him just in case. I presume Ozpin had him supervised by 'someone' but knowing Ozpin's trust in Qrow I can guess that he had been assigned for that duty. Problem of that is that Ozpin tended to use Qrow for a wide variety of tasks so I can't help but feel that the assignment was ill advised." Port nodded seriously and Glynda motioned for him to go on. "Since mr. Arc's ability allows him to quite easily overpower someone if he gets the initiative, Ozpin's decision may have been justifiable as it placed Qrow away from immediate danger but at the same time I feel that stalkin may give mr. Arc a wrong impression. Now, since Ironwood no doubt wants to keep mr. Arc under lock and chain, I'd propose we suggest him to assign miss Polendina to guard and oversee our resident Grimm-human shapeshifter."

"Hm. Not too bad as far as ideas go. Penny is a android and as long as she remains within range to a CCCT or Atlesian battleship she can upload her personality matrix and information." Ironwood said from the elevator doorway as he stepped into the room with Penny in tow, causing both Glynda and Port to jump slightly as neither had heard the elevator coming up or opening.

"I merely closed the elevator door." Ironwood noted as he saw Glynda's surprise. "I didn't take the elevator down so I could listen and wait for a time to re-enter the conversation. After all, I told you that I'd be back once you two calmed down."

"Grhg…" Glynda let out a sound that was somewhere between exasperated sigh and growl as she slumped on her chair. "Fine. You've picked up Ozpin's habits, haven't you?"

"He always told me that some situations require supervision rather than direct action." Ironwood acknowledged. "Port. I trust you will be able to function?"

"...You needn't worry about that, General."

"Good. Moving on, I can agree to sending miss Polendina to physically guard mr. Arc." Ironwood moved to stand in front of the Headmistress's desk. "In all honesty I've had her supervise Arc through series of cameras and remote surveillance devices while guarding miss Schnee, and she has been assisted by Specialist Winter. Seeing that we're moving to more direct way of handling things, I approve of your suggestion to send Penny. I shall prepare sets of viral agents and other substances and arm Penny with them to take Arc down in case he snaps, and I'll have my transports bring few spare bodies for Penny to use should her current one break..."

"James. May I remind you that our intention is _not_ to execute Jaune?" Glynda glared at Ironwood. "Ozpin's plan failed, and I plan to include mr. Arc rather than trying to keep him at arm's length or antagonize him. I plan to give him a audience with mr. Branwen, although I will be present just in case, and I also plan to give him more chances to improve himself and his unique ability. Port can also assist him directly, and we'll see if we can use his ability for something useful rather just as a oddity to observe and poke with stick."

"...Very well. But I must ask you to share your findings with Atlas." Ironwood narrowed his eyes. "If you do that, I am willing to brush off the property damages and casualties Arc inflicted upon our strike team in Vale."

"Assuming Penny isn't already recording everything and sending it to you?" Glynda noted with clear sarcasm in her voice. "Very well. I'll inform mr. Arc of this, although I doubt he'll object."

"In that case, we're in agreement." Ironwood nodded as he turned towards the elevator, but paused for a moment so he could address the Headmistress. "Glynda. I've taken care of the bodies. Both of them, as you requested."

"I see. Thank you." Glynda nodded, feeling the room's mood drop. "In that care, I'd like to go visit the graves soon. Would you care to accompany me, Peter?"

"Ozpin's grave?" Port lifted his bushy eyebrow as Ironwood walked to the elevator with Penny in tow, this time sending the pair down towards Beacon's grounds.

"Yes, his.. and someone else's."

* * *

"So the classes are sort of cancelled for the while but we've tried self-studying to keep ourselves busy. Weiss is really disoriented and suffers from headaches but her big sis Winter's been around to help her." Ruby said as she sat on the metal floor in front of Jaune's cell while chatting to the boy through the see-through observation wall. Once Headmistress Goodwitch approved Ruby's plea to visit Jaune (alongside Blake and Pyrrha, however only one could visit him at a time to keep the Grimm holding area from overcrowding) she had been visiting him twice a day to chat with him and tell him about what was happening in Beacon and Vale.

Jaune was sitting on the floor like Ruby, although he had made a somewhat comfy-looking 'chair' by pulling blanket off his bed and folding on the floor.

The cell was looking somewhat homely as Beacon had supplied some furnishing for it alongside a small refrigerator. The staff responsible for keeping the Grimm holding cells in shape as well as move their inhabitants (when they were occupied anyway) had used similar method how Weiss had been transported into the cell to move items in and out of the cell.

Jaune looked fairly calm, although Ruby could tell that he was starting to get really sick of being locked up. She couldn't blame him, if she had been locked up like he was she'd be climbing all over the walls in few hours.

"I see… I'm glad that Weiss is healing and you all are recovering from Glenn." Jaune sighed in relief. "I still can't believe that Cinder attacked and killed Ozpin."

"I can." Ruby grumbled but shook her head. "Nevermind. I imagine that this isn't the last we've heard of Cinder. The way her body… er, changed, makes me think she had something like what Weiss had inside her. So she'll have to come to you if she wants it healed… or not."

"Well, if that happens then we'll get our answers." Jaune sighed. "Putting that aside for now, how are you doing, really? The things we saw in Glenn weren't exactly pleasant and while I've sort of grown resistance to it…"

"...Yeah, we haven't. Weiss is still a bit traumatized from it, like she's refusing to be near raw meat since it makes her feel odd. It makes cooking kinda hard, but Winter has been sticking with Weiss and has taken residence in Cinder's old room. Weiss has been acting a bit uh… clingy as well, since I've found her sleeping in my bed. When I was in as well." Ruby blushed a bit. "I don't mind since she's probably just feeling a bit scared, and she's kinda fluffy and huggable so it's not like I mind… ugh. I'm turning into a pervert. I blame Blake."

"Heh." Jaune chuckled a bit. "It's good that you're helping Weiss recover. I'm sorry that I can't be there to help."

"It's not your fault. Anyway, we've had sessions with Port." Ruby turned her eyes towards the floor, although she was looking at something else entirely as the moments of raw brutality she'd witnessed in Glenn passed by her eyes. "He's been great help. I just… kinda wish we had never taken the mission in the first place, or let Cinder talk us into going."

"We can only move forwards though. If we keep wondering what could have and what should have, we're never getting anywhere and at worst, end up digging ourselves to the trench of our mind so deep we can't get out." Jaune told her, which caused Ruby to giggle a bit. "What?"

"That's a complete copy of a line from book 'Dealing (with) mindfield trauma- a comprehensive guide to battlefield psychology' which Port gave us to read. Weiss went through it in a day or so, and I've used it largely to help me fall asleep." Ruby nodded knowingly. "I didn't know you had read it."

"Er… I don't think I have. The line just came up." Jaune rubbed the back of his head while looking a bit guilty. "How's Blake? She seemed to act fairly normal when she came by to talk, although she refused to talk about Glenn. What's your take on her? Is she alright?"

"Blake's been kinda odd after she got released from hospital. She had apparently suffered a near catatonic episode after massive stress reaction, and after she got released she stays near Weiss or me almost constantly, at least when she's not visiting you. It's kinda weird since she used to be pretty independent in a way, like she went and came back like barn cat but lately she's been acting like housecat… uh, don't tell her about that though." Ruby tapped her cheek with a thumb as she thought. "I think she's recovering just fine though if we ignore her clinginess. The fact White Fang in Glenn got essentially entirely wiped out, then again in Vale, and after that 'Fang got a massive popularity and recruitment boost is making Blake really conflicted though. If what Luna told us is true, and it likely is, White Fang have been sending volunteers who learn too much into death camps like Glenn on at least in one occasion, so there's no guarantee that it hasn't happened before or isn't happening as we speak."

"On the subject of Glenn, how's Luna? You told me that Ozpin had apparently had locked Luna up like me on the other side of Beacon, and Glynda had plans for her." Jaune asked to change the flow of the conversation and Ruby nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah, Headmistress Goodwitch… gah, it is going to be hard to get used to calling her that... anyway, the Headmistress asked what Luna had been doing in Glenn and how she had ended up there. Goodwitch had apparently called Vale's medical branch and apparently Luna was supposed to be in a countryside mental care facility alongside the rest of the 'traumatized workers' that resulted when we busted Torchwick's Dust warehouse, but if Luna's story is true then the workers got taken by White Fang to Glenn instead. Plus, even the reason for the transfer was likely forged as the mental care facility in question had no idea that Vale had even sent the patients." Ruby told him. "So Glynda went through some medical logs using her authority as Headmistress of Beacon, which effectively gives her position of authority similar to police chief, and apparently some of the doctors had given Luna and the other warehouse workers to White Fang who were supposed to take her to the mental healthcare facility but had instead taken her to Glenn. The evidence matches Luna's story."

"And what happened in the end?"

"Dunno for sure, but since the news had a article that a group of doctors has been arrested for faunus trafficking in Vale, I'll assume that Glynda managed to track the doctors responsible and had them charged." Ruby continued the story. "I'm pretty sure she also wanted Luna to press charges against White Fang with Beacon backing her up or something, but seeing how the 'Fang are hailed practically as heroes at the moment, going against the flow would likely end up painting a massive target on Luna's back."

"So the whole White Fang camp in Glenn gets pushed under the rug?" the anger in Jaune's voice was echoed inside Ruby, but she pushed it aside.

"I think it'll come back up later once White Fang popularity surge passes its peak, no way the police or the military of Vale are going to let it slide. The Fang practically kidnapped Vale's citizens and used them as slaves." Ruby waved her hands in what she hoped to be calming manner. "I think the police is just gathering evidence so they can hit White Fang just once- and hit so hard that White Fang gets kicked off Vale."

"I'm fairly sure 'kicking' White Fang off is going to be hard seeing how they are practically half-paramilitary half-ideological cult." Jaune sighed. "Anyway. What happened to Luna? Is she still in Beacon?"

"I asked Glynda about her and she told me that for Luna's safety she had been given a new personal identification to make it seem like she died in Glenn so she can evade White Fang for the meanwhile and she was given a job in some safe international workplace, and her testimony was taken so it can be used against White Fang when the time comes for her to return to Vale and reassume her old identity." Ruby leaned closer to whisper. "I managed to meet with Luna before she was led off Beacon and she told me about her new job and what had happened to her between us landing on Beacon and meeting again. Glynda apparently arranged her a job as a waitress in a Vale-Menagerie passenger ship, which might sound safe, but since Menagerie waters are notoriously dangerous she might be asked to assist the ships guards in combat roles as she has her Aura unlocked. I'm pretty sure that she won't be asked to fight thought, more like she'll be carrying ammo and supplies."

"I see. At least she's going to be alright, hopefully." Jaune sighed. "How was she mentally? I mean, did she get the same help you guys got?"

"I think Port talked to her too, but it's hard to tell. Luna's a bit… uh…"

"Eccentric?"

"Yeah, I guess. She also asked me to thank you and the rest of the team for saving her from Glenn." Ruby nodded as she adjusted her sitting position a bit as her legs were starting to feel numb from sitting so long, and she crawled over to the observation wall so she could sit down and rest her back against the glass. She felt more than she heard as Jaune did the same and put his back against the spot where Ruby was leaning. "So we got that going for us which I nice, considering how much of a disaster the rest of our Glenn mission was."

"At least we saved someone, even if my entry to Vale undid much of the good we managed to do in Glenn. Breaking through the barrier was a bad idea in retrospect, but at the time I couldn't think of anything else and I thought I had the situation under control."

"Yep… I just hope we can get you out soon. It wasn't your fault. Not entirely"

The words were met with moment of silence, for the innocent casualties within Glenn and for the innocent casualties in Vale, and also to give the two of them some time to think.

"Haah… I hope Goodwitch comes to a decision soon. I can't just sit here for much longer." Jaune broke the silence after a while. "Have you heard anything from Qrow? I asked if you could ask him to come to meet me."

"Yeah I told him that but he's really vague. I think he's avoiding you. Did something happen between the two of you?" Ruby tilted her head to the side. "Not to mention Yang's been acting weird lately. Kinda phased out, or if I didn't know her better, it's almost as if she was depressed."

"Do you think Ozpin's death is affecting her? I mean, I heard Qrow and your dad were friends with Ozpin so perhaps she knew him as well?" Jaune asked.

"Nah, I would know if she did." Ruby denied. "Ozpin did pop by our house few times when we were younger but Yang never really spoke to him, and when the grown-ups talked we weren't allowed to listen. Of course that meant we did nothing but listen, although most of the time we just fell asleep in the attic, that being our favorite eavesdropping spot, since the meetings dad, uncle and Ozpin had were _so_ boring. All they did was to talk about weather or something. Dunno why they didn't want us to be present though, it's not like local weather is secret or anything."

"Hmm…"

"Oh, and apparently Yang's attending a funeral today. I think someone she knew died, possibly in the fight in Barrier square earlier." Ruby said after a moment of hard thinking. "Come to think of it that might be the reason she's depressed. She didn't tell me any of the details though when I tried to just be there for her, you get what I'm trying to say?"

"Yeah. That would make sense. Speaking of which, have you heard of anyone by the name of Am… Nevermind." Jaune cut himself off mid-sentence. "I just remembered something. Not important, nor is it my secret to reveal. I just thought of a theory why Cinder might have gone on her rampage and attacked Ozpin."

Ruby puffed her cheeks and turned to look at Jaune. "You're being vague as well."

"Don't worry about it. We can talk when I get out of here." Jaune waved his hand vaguely. "I'll have to fine-tune my theory for it to make sense. Anyway, if Yang's depressed like that you should probably try to cheer her up when she gets back."

"...True. Are you going to be okay down here?"

"I'll be fine."

Ruby nodded resolutely before lifting herself up from the floor and turning towards the cell to see Jaune doing the same. "I like you."

"I like you too."

Ruby smiled slightly before she tilted her head as a question formed in her head. "Oh yeah, before I go, why do you want to meet with uncle Qrow?"

"It's something to do with my sisters, but it's between me and him." Jaune's voice was colder than usual which made Ruby uneasy as the boy was usually really welcoming, and the cold tone made him appear somehow more feral, giving away similar frightening aura that his larger Tyrant form gave… before he visibly shook himself out of the mood. "Uh, sorry. It's just a bit serious. Didn't meant to scare you… so uh… please forgive me?"

"Oh… It's alright." Ruby sighed in relief. ' _Oh yeah, he must have realized that I got kind of scared by that tone since he has that emotion-radar of his…'_ "A-anyway, I'll get going. Want me to tell the others something?"

"Tell Blake and Pyrrha that uh… I like them too?" Jaune stumbled his words a bit as he likely realized that he was asking Ruby, his girlfriend, to tell other girls that he liked them.

Ruby breathed easier as she saw that the usual bumbling and socially awkward Jaune had returned, casting away the uneasy feeling left behind by the brief mood of coldness. "I will. Also, you don't have to be so super careful when talking like that, we have a arrangement, right?"

"Right…" Jaune sighed in relief, but it was clear he was still conflicted. "It's just kind of odd, like… well, like I am taking advantage of you three"

"Eh, I don't think of it like that. I'm pretty sure Blake would have walked right off if she felt like that, and Pyrrha too." Ruby reached to pat the glass that separated them a few times. "Don't worry too much. It's not like we're unhappy or anything, just kinda confused I think. It'll take a while longer to get used to this. But anyway, I'll have to get going. Blake and I are going to see if we can find something sweet and eat it together with Weiss, I'll uh… try to bring some to you?."

"Don't worry about it. I'm getting food and sweets here if I ask for it, plus I'm fairly sure anything coming into this cell has to go through a bunch of checks anyway." Jaune reassured her and Ruby nodded back before waving at Jaune and heading towards the lift that would take her up to Beacon's grounds.

"Oh, and I'll go tell uncle Qrow that you want to meet him. Well, tell him again anyway."

* * *

"How are you feeling, Weiss?"

"Just a headache and sore stomach, as has been for a while." Weiss grumbled as she dragged herself to a breakfast table which Blake and Winter had set up.

Or late lunch. It was all dependant on perspective after all, and Weiss had been sleeping quite bit after waking up in Beacon.

The perspective shift had been quite shocking as the last thing she truly remembered was getting her hair caught while fighting in the nightmarish tunnel network underneath Glenn, and then getting dragged into a literal sea of claws, feeling them tear and rend her skin, her face and she could have sworn something had quite literally entered her chest and stomach. After she had blacked out from the pain, all she had felt and seen were feverish nightmares that grew ever stronger, only broken by occasionally 'seeing' a ever-present nightmare of moving shadow with blood-red glowing eyes.

The surreal nightmare had grown ever stronger, ever more demanding- demanding her to survive, live and consume. As time went on and the nightmare had grown stronger to the point the instinctive desire to feed had completely overcome her… and then it had stopped.

Like if she had fallen into a vat of gelatinous lukewarm water after the raging desert storm that had been her mind, the desperate need to survive and consume had been quenched, leaving her to just float on the soft, warm surface that existed only in her mind.

And not long afterwards, the feeling had withdrawn, leaving her longing for it to return while she felt more than she knew that the earlier shadowy thing that had tormented her had not left her mind, merely _changed_ somehow so it no longer urged her to survive above all else.

Weiss had felt herself drifting back to true consciousness not long after that until she had finally opened her eyes in Beacon's hospital wing.

The days after that had gone by in a odd, lazy and almost drugged state as she had gone through multiple invasive physical checks while both conscious and unconscious. The shame and embarrassment of being thoroughly checked by crowd of doctors both Atlesian and Valean had been lessened by the fact her big sister had been there to oversee them, which let her maintain her calm through the violation of her body's privacy. Finally the checks had ended, and she had been released into her dorm under the guarding eye of Winter.

While Weiss was busy trying to overcome the continuous headaches and odd, slithering sensations that occasionally wracked her body, she had time to analyze the rest of her team sans Jaune for the aftereffects of Glenn.

Blake had been shaken quite bit, but either due to her previous experiences or because of her nature she had picked the better way to recovery and let the stress and fear she had felt out in the form of constant napping, following Weiss and Ruby around and otherwise acting like domesticated housecat. Weiss had started to worry if Blake was just using the act to recover or if she had truly snapped and reverted to her base instincts, but after a confrontation regarding the subject Blake had told her that she fully realized what she was doing, and was doing it only because it helped her ease her mind.

Ruby was the worse case- she claimed that she was alright and coping, but the problem Weiss and to extent Blake saw was that Ruby was not truly recovering- she was shoving the stress and the horror from Glenn to her mind, locking them under lock and key. Eventually it would start to fester, and Weiss knew without doubt that they would resurface at the worst of times.

So with that, Weiss had started to shadow Ruby around as much as she could, even to the point where she took it upon her to nap in her bed to provide her with physical presence. Naturally, it was just to help Ruby recover, no strings attached, or so Weiss told herself. The fact she felt oddly cold, refreshed and clear-headed in Ruby's presence contributed to the fact she may or may not have ulterior motives to sleeping with Ruby, but she deliberately decided _against_ analyzing the sensation at least for the time being.

After all, Jaune had reported the similar feeling when Ruby looked at him when he was transformed into his Grimm form and to extent when he was out of it- making the potential reason for the eyes effect on Weiss too terrifying to comprehend at least while she was still trying to come to terms with her body's current state.

Weiss sighed as she pushed the ponderings out of her mind in order to focus on the food as Blake and Winter had started to send her odd looks when Weiss had just sat on the breakfast-lunch table, grabbed utensils and fallen to deep thought.

She sighed and reached for pancakes and bacon and started to deliberately shovel both on her plate before reaching for honey and jam and applying copious amounts of both on her breakfast, causing Blake to lift her eyebrow a bit. After all Weiss had been quite conservative eater in the past, but right now she just felt hungry all the time and while raw meat made her oddly hungry in a definetely _not_ good way, cooked meat just tasted good. Really good, even to the point where she made a mental note about her newfound taste in meat and added it to the pile of 'think about later'-notes that was already the size of her old private library back in Atlas.

"Sister, please exercise restraint with the sugar." Winter noted while eating her own share of pancakes, apples and other fruits with glass of water. "While I understand that Huntress's lifestyle can cope, and in fact demand quite large amounts of calories, sugar has very little nutrient value beside raw energy."

"I am aware, dear sister." Weiss sighed as she looked out of the window while biting into her pancake.

Through the window she saw the gradually yellowing leaves of the autumn trees, detached leaves flying along the breeze of crisp air. More than that, it showed partial reflection of Weiss's own face- of what it looked like now.

Her normally pale white skin had turned even paler, giving her almost sickly look. Her left eye that had been sliced by the Grimm-fanus hybrids had grown back- but instead of being pale blue, it was deep, vibrant red not unlike how Jaune's were when he was transformed, minus the ominous Grimm-like glow (although she had noticed that her eye gave just the tiniest amount of light when she had woken up in the middle of the night). What's more odd was that the eye seemed to see the world differently- the contrast of the world she saw through the new eye was off, and while it served to make shadows lighter and objects appear sharper, it also muted and dimmed the colours she saw.

The scars left by the Grimm's claws had disappeared, healed, alongside the long scar that had crossed her left eye which had been left by the Grimm the Schnee company had provided her to fight in order to prove her readiness to enter Beacon.

How the scar had healed been quite the mystery for the doctors as the scar had become stable as her Aura had not regenerated it fully and thus had been unlikely to heal on its own during her lifetime- yet it had disappeared, alongside all other scars and skin impurities such as birthmarks and moles she had. The doctors had also commented how her muscles had grown denser and her bones sturdier during her recovery phase- and had noted much to Weiss's distress that her weight had almost doubled from the recorded one from when she had entered Beacon. Luckily her figure was largely unchanged, sans for change in her musculature that had become slightly more defined.

Overall some could even say that she had come out of the whole ordeal in better physical condition than she had been before Glenn mission- except for one thing.

Her Aura was gone, with only regenerative Aura remaining.

Weiss suppressed a hiccup as sigh as she thought about her semi-lost power.

"Sister?"

"Ah… it's nothing. I just… thought about things." Weiss tried to cover her moment of weakness. "I…"

"Weiss… you can trust me. And her as well, at least to a degree I suppose." Winter glanced at Blake who looked like she wasn't sure if it was worth the hassle to object to the definition.

"It's just… how am I going to remain a Huntress? My Aura is gone. My Semblance…" Weiss's voice broke a bit. "I mean… I can't use it without Aura."

"...Jaune is doing just fine without Aura. I'm sure we can find a way to get you back into shape, and if your situation is because Jaune healed you, he'll know what to do. Or at least Ruby thinks so." Blake pointed out. "Once he gets out anyway. It's not like they can hold him forever."

"...Right. Assuming he really knows how his Semblance works, which I really doubt." Weiss said quietly. "...Sorry. I'm not in a position to pick and choose, am I?"

"It's alright." Winter sighed. "Besides, while I don't want to say this… but you have another option."

"What do you mean?"

"It seems that the man we once called father has learned that you were hospitalized, and that you nearly died." Winter said as she pulled a letter from within her uniform. "Atlesian battle robots were responsible for patrolling Beacon Tower while CCCT repair team worked on the tower. However one approached the dorm after you were released from the hospital- alone. Naturally I took notice and after a fast check it became clear that it hadn't been sent here by Ironwood who is responsible for assigning combat bot placement."

"...And?" Weiss asked somewhat warily as she looked at the letter on the table.

"After I disposed the bot I started going through its software and hardware, looking for a reason to its abnormal behaviour." Winter explained. "Since there has been more than one assassination attempt aimed at you, even to the point where I believe that your mission to Glenn was one as well, I didn't take _any_ chances with the bot. I found this letter lodged into a compartment inside the bot's computer unit… and orders to deliver it to you once I cracked its routines with Ironwood's cruisers cyberattack proxies."

"And the letter?" Weiss asked, feeling more and more suspicious by the passing second. Blake looked much the same, except she kept looking back and forth between the two sisters, clearly debating if she should just excuse herself and leave as the conversation was turning private. Weiss sighed and turned to address Blake. "Stay. You're my teammate. Without you, Ruby and Jaune carrying me out of Glenn I'd be dead. I'm not going to exclude you… unless you want me to."

"I'll stay then." Blake nodded, and smirked few seconds afterwards. "...It's nice to hear that you trust."

Weiss reached to pat Blake's hand, causing Winter to look a bit suspiciously at the two girls (or rather, at Blake) before sighing. "Who you trust is your decision, Weiss. Regardless, the letter was from Jacques, as I'm sure you already deduced. Since you've refused calls from him and after he disowned you during the scandal about your… alleged capabilities, he had to find a way to contact you without possibility of interception by media and in a way you'd be forced to listen. Electronic communication is after all very much vulnerable to spying, much more so if the person in question is in position such as Jacques Schnee, a person can be bribed into revealing their secrets, and a letter can be intercepted in mail so the ways he could contact you must have been quite limited. A physical letter in a bot that was programmed to contact you and extract its computer core to you was likely one of the only ways of contacting you without the information reaching Ozpin somehow."

"What does Ozpin have to do with all this?" Weiss asked as she picked up the letter, and saw that it had been opened. "Did someone read this?"

"I did." Winter looked resolute, but lifted her hand a bit to stall Weiss. "I had no guarantee the letter didn't have some sort of harmful mechanism inside, or that the letter had been planted by assassins with some sort of viral agent inside the parchment to explode on the face of the reader or equivalent kill-mechanisms since the letter's exterior is unmarked and unsigned. I also read it, and I hope you don't hold that against me."

"No, it's alright. You did it to protect me." Weiss said somewhat halfheartedly as she was busy reading the contents of the letter. "...Is this true?"

"From what I can tell the seal at the bottom of the letter is real. That means either someone stole Schnee company CEO's seal ring, which I consider unlikely as Jacques was paranoid enough to quite literally implant it into his finger, or the letter is truly from him." Winter crossed her fingers.

"..." Weiss put the letter down, braced her elbows against the table and rested her face on her hands. "Seriously. He wants to do that _now_ of all times?"

"What?" Blake asked, completely confused. "Weiss?"

"Jacques Schnee, my father and CEO of Schnee Dust corporation, has expressed his desire, or if we say it the way it was meant, ordered, that I return to Atlas." Weiss growled past her fingers. "It appears that I was correct. Him disowning me was a publicity stunt for him, likely so that I can 'redeem' myself under his 'care'. I would guess that my dear incompetent little brother has either screwed up to the degree that even _Jacques_ has realized that the little shit won't be able to keep the Schnee company from crashing and burning harder than a Bullhead flying into a horde of Griffins."

"Language, Weiss. But I agree to your assessment of our little brother." Winter took the empty lunch-slash-breakfast plates and put them to the kitchen sink, filled three mugs with tea and placed them on the table. "Whitley has exceptionally cunning mind, which is very much a beneficial trait in business, but since it is combined with short-sightedness and petty malice, his good qualities are effectively cancelled out. Not to mention that he seems more interested in himself than in the company- and that all combined paints a very bleak picture of him as the CEO of SDC."

"Sounds like the stereotypical Schnee." Blake commented, before lifting her hands in surrender. "No offense to either of you. Just something that many faunus have come to think when they hear 'Schnee.'"

"None taken. Considering Jacques's antics, I'd even say the faunus have a point even if I resent the claim us Schnees have always been and will be like him." Weiss sighed while rubbing her head to calm her headache. "Regardless, he wrote that he'd be willing to reinstate my status as the Schnee heiress, but on strict condition that I quit Beacon. It seems that only after the assassination attempts and _literal disfigurement_ of his only remaining valid pick for a successor he realized that I might die before I, and I quote, 'come to my senses and stop pretending to be ammunition to be spent against the Grimm and realize you could be the gun'"

"How poetic." Blake's words dripped sarcasm. "He seems to have quite high opinion of Hunters. Figures that it's easy to talk tough from within literal fortress, guarded by best guards money can buy and armored with best weapons in Remnant."

"Still, he has a point." Winter lifted her eyebrow at Weiss. "You could do a lot more good as the CEO of Schnee company compared to being yet another Huntress. No offence towards Hunters, but at best a single Hunter is a soldier against Grimm among many, whereas the CEO of quite literally most the powerful non-government organization of Remnant can potentially change the very world we live in- within reason, of course."

"Winter, are you saying I should take up Jacque's offer?" Weiss asked, feeling somewhat taken back by Winter's words.

"I'm saying what I think. You're free to make your own decision, as you always have, but I feel that I need to also remind you to consider all options available to you before choosing." Winter's words were carefully picked. "I must also admit that I am biased towards your safety- The close calls you've had so far can only continue so long before one attempt on your life is successful. I want you to live, Weiss."

"Yet you had the very same reason for leaving the Schnee company and forfeiting the position of heiress." Weiss pointed out. "Please, dear sister, don't pretend Jacques didn't send a similar letter to you as well, although maybe via different delivery method."

"He has been sending such letters to me in various forms for better part of five years." Winter lifted her eyebrow. "You know this. You also know what I answer to each one of those."

"...True. Yet you refuse the position of heiress for the same reason I did- to be free."

"Should I really be present for this? This sounds really personal" Blake asked carefully and both of the sisters gave the black-clad girl a glare, letting her know that she needed to sit her butt down, stay quiet and drink her tea while Weiss and Winter talked. Blake lifter her hands in surrender and grabbed her mug.

"Your observation is right, as always." Winter acknowledged Weiss's words. "I am aware that this sounds hypocritical of me to say that I wish for you to be safe, away from warfare against Grimm, while at the same time I refuse that very same safety in order to pursue my own path. Yet at the same time I can't _stop_ being concerned over your health."

"In that case we're at impasse." Weiss sighed. "I need to think about this. I honestly doubt that I'll take father up on his offer, considering all the invisible hooks his otherwise 'caring' offer has not to mention he could just be planning to use me as a stepping stone for Whitley to take over as CEO by framing me as the 'bad choice' for the investors and thus Whitley the better pick for the company head."

"That doesn't change his incompetence, right?" Blake pointed out. "I mean, that Whitley guy would still be worse as CEO?"

"I imagine he'd offer me a job as some lower secretary after the whole deal and then throw Whitley's work on me while Whitley 'works' as the CEO, or rather, as a paper-signer." Weiss sighed. "After all he could assume I'm completely screwed if he gets me to drop out of Beacon and then makes Whitley the head, thus forcing me into a position where my only two options are to either accept a worse job- or get kicked out with no work, ruined contacts amongst the other companies due to my forced position as the 'bad choice', without chance to return to Beacon due to me dropping out voluntarily, and generally in bad monetary situation since my only assets are whatever I managed to salvage before my Schnee accounts were frozen."

"Uh… I guess?" Blake lifted her eyebrow as Weiss's words clearly went over her head. "I'll… just… well… I'll cheer you on?"

Weiss sighed and rubbed her head again.

The headache was getting worse as her stress levels rose, and along them she could _feel_ the squirming inside her stomach growing in intensity alongside her stress- and she could _swear_ she started to feel odd shadowy forms moving alongside her thoughts. "I… I need to rest. This is stressing me more than I care to admit. It seems I'm not recovered enough to deal with this yet."

"Very well, Weiss." Winter looked concerned. "I can call a doctor to check your condition if you wish."

"No thank you." Weiss suppressed a shudder as she remembered the invasive physical checks she had to go through before getting released from the hospital. She did _not_ want to repeat any of them if at all possible, even if it meant withstanding some discomfort. "I'll have to rest and think. Alone if you don't mind."

"Uh huh. In that case I'll just take a nap." Blake took a look at Weiss and likely saw that the white-haired girl was not feeling well, and decided to just straight-up ignore Weiss's request in order to keep her company.

"I'll work on the CCCT repair team reports in the next room over. If something happens or you need something, just let me know." Winter looked concerned as she rose to help Weiss up. Weiss hadn't even noticed that her legs were about to give as her vision swam and she almost fainted on the spot. "Weiss?"

"I'm alright. Just stress." Weiss held to her head, trying to push away a sudden need to be _together_ with something that had started to plague her head as the headache grew worse. Her stomach let a growl despite Weiss having eaten just minutes prior and she deliberately ignored it. "Going to have to lie down."

"...Weiss?"

"I'm just tired. Everything's alright." Weiss said as she took few steps towards her dorm room. "Where's Ruby, by the way?"

"...I believe she went to visit mr. Ac." Winter sighed while looking at Weiss in a way that was somewhere between suspicious and a little bit hurt- making it clear to Weiss that Winter knew she was not entirely truthful but chose to not call her out on it. Nevertheless, Winter tied her arm around Weiss's shoulders to support her walk. "Should I call for miss Rose?"

"It's alright. I just… well… she's got this odd ability to calm me down…"

"A- Oh. Oh…" Winter paused a little as she opened the dorm door to let Blake and Weiss enter, and Blake took Weiss from Winter. "Nevermind. You don't have to tell me more. Just remember, if you need anything, just make some sound and I'll come to investigate. The camera network I have set up covers essentially everything outside your room, but I've not put any inside the dorm to respect your privacy."

"Thanks…" Weiss replied as she lied down on her bed while rubbing her forehead. She saw as Blake sat on Jaune's bed and curled down on it like a cat.

Winter took one more concerned look at Weiss before nodding and closing the door carefully.

Minutes passed as Weiss lied on top of her sheets, the odd feeling of loneliness and need to be together with _something_ intensifying ever further as Weiss looked at the ceiling, before turning to look at napping Blake- and causing the slithering sensation in her stomach to grow to the point where Weiss almost threw up.

"Weiss?" Blake picked up on the sound immediately and lifted her head.

"A- It's noth… actually, no." Weiss took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm sorry to ask since you've got your own duties but… can you just… stay with me?"

"Uh, I'm right here?" Blake blinked, visibly confused.

"I meant a bit more literally." Weiss got the words out of her throat. "Like, how I kind of uh… slept few nights prior, and since Ruby is not here…"

Blake blinked few times in confusion, before the words took effect and her expression turned somewhat conflicted, then unreadable, before finally ending up in sort-of weirded-out but resigned and determined mess that made sense to Weiss in more instinctive level than just by analyzing the expressions on Blake's face- Which was hard enough as is since the feeling of loneliness was getting _really_ bad, and alongside it the whispering that had been present in her head during her unconsciousness grew.

Blake sat down on Weiss's bed and lied down somewhat awkwardly while trying to keep a breathing distance between the two of them. Weiss naturally did what she had done when she had returned from the hospital but with Ruby, and hugged Blake.

She felt as Blake froze up and her cat-ears perked up in clear sign of alert but the feeling of loneliness and need to be together with something became slightly easier to withstand, and Weiss could feel the slithering inside her stomach calming down. "Thank you, Blake."

"You're welcome, I guess." Blake mumbled. "So uh, are you okay?"

Weiss replied by hugging Blake closer while pulling blanket over the two of them. "Weren't you planning on napping?"

"Well… fine. But clothes stay on, okay?"

"I wasn't planning anything like that, but okay."

Blake closed her eyes and Weiss did the same, but not before feeling a little curious.

 _'I wonder... just what do these things feel like?' She_ reached to pet Blake's ears. ' _Fluffy...'_

"Weeiiiiisss…."

"Erk! Eh… sorry." Weiss pulled her hand away. "I just got a bit curious."

"...I didn't say to stop."

Weiss paused, hesitated, and finally smirked a bit before continuing the petting.

And after that, the unnatural feeling of loneliness was eventually overcome alongside the foreign unrest within her body, and she fell asleep beside already napping Blake.

.

..

...

At least until Ruby entered the room with her usual amount of subtlety, carrying a bucket of candy, soda bottles and sweets.

And after seeing Weiss and Blake in bed with their arms tied around each other, Ruby's only comment had been that she was happy that the two of them got along so well- before starting a literal feast on sugary and sweet things.

' _...Why did I ever doubt this team?'_ Weiss thought as she reached to squeeze Ruby and Blake into a bear hug mid-feast, and the hug was returned in full. "I like you two _so_ much."

"Er, thanks? Uh, are you sure you're alright? You're acting kinda clingy..." Blake mumbled back as her face was squished against Weiss's shoulder, which probably didn't count for much since Blake was hugging back in as clingy manner as she accused of Weiss, while Ruby just hummed something happily as her face was getting smushed against Weiss's chest.

Weiss didn't even mind that Ruby's face had somewhat liberal amount of potato chip crumbles which got stuck to her nightgown, although it reminded Weiss to put a platter of old bread to their outside windowsill for the big crow that occasionally sat on the tree outside their dorm-room.

* * *

Qrow sneezed.

"Winter is coming." Yang noted, absent minded as she looked down at a chiseled piece of rock which bore elaborate letters.

Beacon's graveyard was not a happy place, and the fact fall had begun was making the already gloomy place even more depressing. The leaves starting to turn yellow and drop served as reminder of the usual end to a Hunter's journey, and while the majority of trees had most of their leaves still attached the few that had already dropped theirs stood like skeletons of trees upon the graves they were guarding. The fact Yang had chosen to go with black, body-covering clothes with fur lining instead of her usual bright yellow and brown clothes wasn't making the image better, although it would have been tactless to wear her usual happy, vibrant colours to a funeral.

The funeral itself had been very brief affair as a very off-the-shelf looking coffin had been lowered into the ground with very little fanfare. The gravekeepers had been using Atlesian bots to do the heavy lifting and shoveling, and the 'ceremony' had been spectated only by Qrow and Yang. Apparently Headmistress Goodwitch had been busy attending a important meeting and thus unable to attend, not to mention that the burial, and the very name of the deceased, had been secret to everyone else.

Yang sighed as she looked at the words engraved in the gravestone that had been placed on top of Amber Fall's grave.

 _Here lies a brave soul who fell in defence of Remnant and her people._

"Is that going to be my fate as well?" Yang asked Qrow. "To die in order to keep Ozpin's secrets safe, to be buried amongst hundreds in a quite literal off-shelf box with a rock on top my grave- and the only mark of my passing being a cookie-cutter phrase about honor and duty in otherwise nameless gravestone so the enemy wouldn't know if I died by just looking at grave registry?"

"Sunny dragon…"

"Stop. Ozpin told me that Amber would be saved if we transferred her power to me." Yang glared at Qrow who looked conflicted.

"We've talked about this already. He said there would be a chance. But after the Aura transfer machine did its thing… well, it was not to be. Amber's wounds were too severe and without her Aura to sustain her…" Qrow wrung his hands. For once the man smelled of something other than alcohol, which might have to do with the fact he had deliberately chosen to hole up in hospital for better part of the past week in order to avoid Winter Schnee's wrath after the initial trashing he had received, which had worked to distance him from alcohol as the hospital had very hardline policy to drinking. "Amber just whittled away after both Aura and Maiden left her."

"And if I lose the power somehow the same will happen to me?"

"It won't happen. I won't let it happen." Qrow shook his head. "That girl, Cinder, was able to drain part of Maiden away from Amber and whatever she did to it caused the Maiden's power to turn against Amber while still within her…"

"That doesn't exactly reassure me. Should I go my life fearing that I'd get ambushed out of the blue, perhaps in some nightclub and then trapped into a death-coma while you, Ironwood and Glynda seek for some other poor girl to become a host and let me die?" Yang's tone was strained. "The way you and Ozpin pushed this power on me… Why did you do it? You knew that I'd take it if you pushed me into it, not to mention Ozpin and Ironwood and you didn't even give me time to think. You just dragged me up, told what would happen and then shoved Maiden into me."

"We… we didn't really have choice."

"You didn't have choice." Yang didn't sound impressed. "You told me not to tell Ruby about this, and I haven't since I don't want her to worry. She already has to deal with that… nightmare that happened in Glenn _when you failed to look after them._ "

"I…"

"I hate this! I hate all of this! I trusted you!" Yang turned around to face Qrow and stomped on the ground causing a small shockwave of air from the spot where she stood, which sent the autumn leaves flying and rustled the nearby trees. "I've become a target, just another pawn in a line, I can't tell anyone about it, and the only help I have is my alcoholic, unreliable bastard of a uncle who decided to just push his niece in a firing line and let his other niece get pushed through a meat grinder while he slept his drunk ass off in a…"

"Yang. Breathe."

"I... " Yang breathed in and out shakily as she tried to balance herself. She glanced upwards and noticed that the sky had grown darker during her outburst, and that the dark clouds had started to dissipate as soon as her tirade had ended. "What was I… I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that…"

"Shh, it's alright." Qrow stepped closer and hugged Yang. "Just let it all out. I'm sorry you have to go through this, it was never my, our, intention for this to happen. It just kind of… happened."

"I… I just wanted to be a Hunter like, like mom, I didn't want to be a… whatever that this thing is." Yang mumbled as she rested her forehead on Qrow's shoulder.

"You wanted to be like Raven?"

"Like Summer." Yang breathed out as the moment passed. "Does dad know about this? That Atlesian general knows and Glynda knows, who else knows about the Maiden?"

"Yeah, your dad knows. Taiyang's been Ozpin's supporter for as long as I have been, and we know about the Maidens and their powers, and even more." Qrow said as he broke off the hug- or rather, Yang nudged him a bit to get him off. She tried to make it gentle, but she could feel that the odd power that coursed through her body push past her own hands and reinforced the nudge to the point where Qrow had to take a small balancing step to keep himself on his feet. "We're going to have to train you so you can use the Maiden better. Amber had to take a long break from her usual life and train in solitude too, with only Ozpin to guide her. That was back when Maiden's power chose her. Before she got the hang of her new abilities we managed tracked her down fairly easily since she was going through the same arc you are going through now. Essentially, her powers had started to manifest in increasingly showy ways until it revealed her. You'd think that a passing storm wouldn't cause much of a fuss, but when a a village gets a thunderstorm, then rainstorm, tornado and few airblasts that level sizeable part of a forest, people talk. And talk even more when some Beowolves started to attack farmers and the farmers get saved by a tanned girl born on wings of leaves and rain, carrying staff that cracled with unbound power of thunder, and blazing eyes like the nature's wrath had manifested in them."

"Uh…"

"I heard that the local village elders had even gone as far as to claim that Amber was a goddess reborn and had started to worship her as such with shrines, offerings and everything, which probably wasn't helped by how she was naturally a well-wishing person and the Maiden's power probably only reinforced that instinct." Qrow shrugged in good-natured manner. "The theory is that the Maiden's power sort of intensifies the emotions felt, so a good natured person becomes even more friendly, and vicious person becomes even worse."

"So that part about me becoming magical princess of love and happiness Ozpin mentioned?"

"Unlikely unless you're that sort of person. I think Ozpin just put it out there to make Maidenhood seem more appealing." Qrow shrugged. "I guess Ozpin must have thought you'd get scared if he told that your personality traits would become stronger if the Maiden was in you."

"In other words, I'll have to go through another teenager phase." Yang sighed, before freezing slightly and snapping her eyes to Qrow. "Don't you dare to comment that mine hasn't even ended yet."

"What, me? Implying that my lovely niece would have had sudden mood swings even _before_ Maidenhood? Nooo wayyy…."

"You're a jerk." Yang pat Qrow's chest, which caused the man to be thrown down on the ground in a whirl of yellow-brownish leaves. "Oh… sorry."

"Its alright, its alright… I deserved that." Qrow grumbled as he got up and shook the leaves off himself while visually checking the surrounding area, and he turned towards Yang after ensuring the graveyard was empty of life except for the two of them. "We'll have to train your new ability to prevent it from going haywire though. I already told Glynda that and she'll sign the paperwork to have you transfer temporarily to Vacuo, and we'll be going to Mistral."

"Eh?"

"Headmaster Lionheart in Mistral had his staff investigated and he found two professors who had been compromised, and he had them kicked off the academy with forged criminal charges of illicit sexual relationship with students which should land them in a jail for long time, meaning that the people who supplied information about Amber to her attackers should be away from the academy. The Vacuo part is there just to throw off anyone who might be paying attention..."

"Wait, what about Ruby? And my team?" Yang asked, cutting Qrow off mid-sentence. "Am I going to just leave them?"

"I mean, we won't be gone for long. With how good you are at learning stuff that involves hitting things, we should be back before Beacon resumes its normal curriculum. Right now the other teams are just whacking each other over the head with their weapons anyway so you aren't missing anything study-wise." Qrow shrugged. "About Ruby, well… I've talked to her and Tai, and Tai told me that he's ready to accommodate Ruby and if necessary her entire team until they recover from the hellhole that was Glenn in case they need to take a breather away from the hustle and bustle of Beacon and Vale. Port's been doing headmining- er, therapy sessions with Ruby and she should be okay, he hasn't told me anything about Ruby's state since he's got the patient-doctor confidentiality thing going on, but she should recover just fine. About your team… well…"

"Well?"

"It gets a bit complicated. I don't intend them to come with us, but you can tell them about the Maiden- but only if you explicitly trust them, and trust that they won't spread the knowledge." Qrow's tone was serious. "Amber never had a team of her own, since she was not trained traditionally in Beacon but instead she was taught by Ozpin and few other professors in private, and as a result she wandered the world alone, helping who she could and who she met. Unfortunately, the result of that was that when she got ambushed she had no-one to help her, no team to have her back."

"And I have one." Yang blinked. "So I should tell them about the Maiden?"

"Yes, but only if you think they could become to you what Amber needed. A circle of close friends and guards, who will follow you to hell itself and whose confidentiality you trust explicitly."

"Pretty tall requirements list for bunch of students." Yang lifted her eyebrow. "'Hell itself?' You've become melodramatic. Quit it, it doesn't suit you."

"Kinda wanted to sound cool." Qrow rubbed his chin and Yang let out a sigh to hide her small smirk.

"And Ruby? She won't tell anyone."

"Yang, I love Ruby as much as you do, but let's face it. Ruby's not exactly subtle person and she is about as good at keeping secrets as a fishnet is capable of holding water."

"Point."

"Anyway, Haven Academy should be safe in terms of hostile spies right now, at least until the enemy realizes their spies stopped reporting and start sending more." Qrow moved on. "Mistral has plenty o' space where irregular weather is the norm rather than exception, so we can train your ability there. Haven has plenty of field camps scattered around Mistral's countryside near big villages, road chokepoints and some out on the wilderness. Idea is that the Hunters who keep Mistral's villages and countryside safe can rest and recover in the camps between missions, and teach the young for Grimm avoidance and old for combat against Grimm in case of the near-village camps, so we can just get Lionhart to stop assigning missions around one of the more remote camps, meaning Hunters have no reason to head there and use the camp, and so we can train in peace."

"Don't Mistral have problem with bandits? How are the camps even intact?"

"The bandits know that the only reason Mistral still stands, that our civilization stands, is that Hunters keep the Grimm population in manageable levels. They'd only set their own home ablaze if they raided the Hunter camps since if Hunters die or suffer, it will trickle down to villages and eventually to bandits, and the Hunters who go to more remote regions usually have 'arrangements' with the bandits, or essentially a ceasefire of sorts with them. The bandits raid as they please and let Hunters hunt Grimm, Hunters won't attack bandits unless specifically tasked to." Qrow shrugged. "Of course there's the possibility that the camp is occupied as bandits decide to raid it, which pretty much death sentence to the raiders unless the Hunters are severely wounded or the bandits are packing a lot of heat."

"Lovely." Yang tried to keep disgust from her voice. She didn't succeed. "Why not just train in Haven itself?"

"Haven's literally in the center of Mistral City, and don't you think people might notice if the sudden weather changes happened literally on top of it? Thunderstorm, rainstorm, chain of tornados?"

"Good point." Yang nodded but didn't stop the questions. "What about Vacuo? I mean, isn't that place basically a barren desert? Surely it wouldn't matter if I raised a sandstorm in there or something?"

"Exactly. It is barren desert, so where were you planning to camp without making it painfully visible to anyone even remotely paying attention to their surroundings, specifically if you happen to make it rain so locals flood to the place to get water?"

Yang gave Qrow a unimpressed stare. "That was weak."

"Eh? It was brilliant pun I'll have you know!" Qrow objected. "Kinda figured I'd need to start learning to fit in. Anyway, a hut stands out if its surrounded by hundreds of acres of sand, not to mention logistics would be horrible, but a field camp in a forest that gets natural storms often is easy to conceal." Qrow lifted his fist and started to count fingers, one for each nation. "Vale is out since we know the enemy who killed Amber and Ozpin, Cinder, likely has reported back and our enemy has eyes on Vale so any irregularities will get picked, located and attacked before we can even set up a tent. Atlas has a lot of natural storms, mountains and crags where we could camp and train, but their government keeps so tight leash on immigration, people movement and information transfer that if we tried to go there then we'd leave a paper trail mile wide and equally deep. If our enemy has agents inside Atlas's military, which is likely, all they have to do is to follow the papers and we're caught. I asked Ironwood if he could help, but even he is fairly powerless against the standard-driven machine that is Atlesian government in that regard. Menagerie is far away and has varied, stormy environment but its population is basically ninety-nine percent faunus so we'd stick out like sore thumb, not to mention that White Fang, who we have to consider as our true enemy's ally from the recent events, has its strongest presence in there so any rumors starting about black-haired human-guy and blonde-haired human-bombshell strutting around Menagerie would get picked up instantly."

"Oh. Wow, you've actually thought about that, like, a lot" Yang tilted her head. "Guess staying off vodka for almost full week helped your brains?"

"More like let my liver take a breather." Qrow huffed.

"You haven't told me about that 'true enemy' you and Ozpin mentioned yet. Who's the boogeymen behind everything?" Yang crossed her arms and leaned on her hip. "Or is it something that gets revealed to me in time?"

"Bingo. It's actually more like that I'll show you a some things so the truth is easier to swallow, but the enemy is essentially the leader of Grimm. Yeah, they have one." Qrow hushed his tone a bit and glanced around the otherwise deserted graveyard, likely to make sure no-one was around. "And if you want to think of how serious it is, think of it like if it was someone of Ozpin's calibre in scheming, but determined to destroy _all_ humanity."

"Oh wow." Yang blinked. "That… sounds pretty serious. And kinda like something straight out of a fairy tale, but considering Maiden is real… oh wow."

"Oh wow is very right." Qrow nodded. "I'll let you know more when we get to Haven. For now, we should…"

"Qrow! Fancy seeing you here." A jolly voice caused Qrow and Yang to practically jump off their respective boots as someone called out for the two of them, and they turned in unison to see Headmistress Goodwitch and Professor Port walking towards the two of them, clad in their usual office clothes (making Yang sort of doubt her choice of black apparel for the occasion, not to mention that on closer inspection Qrow was wearing his usual clothes as well) and with Port carrying a small banquet that looked like it had been bought from a corner store (or rather, the small boutique next to graveyard that sold candles, incense sticks and flowers for the grave visitors). "And miss Xiao-Long as well! Visiting a friend?"

Yang glanced at the rows of tombstones, and turned to look at Port.

"Alright, answer received." Port nodded heartily as he must have realized that Yang didn't want to (or rather, couldn't) talk about the reason why she and Qrow were visiting the graveyard. "A dreadful occasion, I must say. So many lives lost in Vale, and in Beacon… the loss of Ozpin will be felt through Vale for quite some time, and at the same time we lost one of our best or so I was told."

"She was outstanding not only as a Hunter, but as a person. Remnant is darker place after her passing." Glynda said as she took the banquet that Port offered and placed it on top of the grave. "How are you feeling, Yang?"

"Me? I… well, I'm fine." Yang was a bit taken back as she was addressed and couldn't quite resist glancing at Port. "I mean, I'm coping, with my new uh… situation."

Port looked at Glynda, at Yang and at Qrow while lifting one of his eyebrows. "How mysterious."

"Ah, it's a…"

"No need to tell, dear student of mine." Port lifted his arms to stall Yang. "I have worked beside Ozpin for nearly twenty-five years, and even to this day he has kept more far secrets than he has told. Most of which were for a good reason- after all, I must admit I have a tendancy to being a blabbermouth. I'm sure you have noticed, if you paid any attention to my lessons but since I mostly found you sleeping in my class at least I can take joy in that you found your own way of enjoying my stories."

"I… uh… well…" Yang tapped her gloved fingers together while trying to resist feeling like she had been caught with her hand in a cookie jar. She noted that the bashfulness in face of Port's observation was unusual for her since she had been caught in the act of sleeping in Port's lessons more than once, so feeling nervous for it seemed odd. ' _The maiden's effect… Gah, I am so not looking forwards to another teenage angst season…'_

Glynda sighed as she had been standing in front of the previous Maiden's grave while Yang and Port exchanged their greetings, and she turned towards them while adjusting her glasses. "Peter. I'm sorry that I'll have to request this after I invited you to visit the graves with me, but…"

"Oh, you needn't worry. My teammates graves are over there so this is a good time for me to visit them." Port's tone lost a bit of its jollyness and Yang could tell that what remained was somewhat forced. "Well, their memorial stones are here since the graves are empty. I'll see you three back at Beacon?"

"If you don't mind waiting a bit we can walk back together." Glynda told Port who nodded his approval and turned back towards the small boutique at the edge of the graveyard. ' _Did something happen? He's not usually shaky like that…'_

"Some bad memories came up during my meeting with him and Ironwood. Peter was slightly shaken, but is alright now." Glynda explained as she noticed Yang's expression. "Regardless, would I be correct if I guessed Qrow filled you in on your upcoming training?"

"Yeah, he told me about it."

"Good. I'd wish the situation was different, but sending you to Mistral to train is the best option we have." Glynda sighed. "The paperwork for the transfer is complete, by the way. Shade Academy received the papers and as far as they are concerned, a blonde girl with lilac eyes named Yang Xiao-Long will transfer to Shade for duration of few weeks to few months. Ironwood will send a Penny-android with customized body made to appear like yours into Shade, giving you a degree of security in case someone has infiltrated Shade and decides to check transfers. You two can leave as soon as you are ready and Ironwood will send the android to Shade as soon as you are gone. If someone asks then the official explanation for your transfer is that you enjoyed your mission in Vacuo so much you decided to transfer there for the duration of the remaining semester."

"Oh… right. Yeah lovely place, I'd _totally_ wish to go there ever again." Yang mumbled under her breath and Glynda showed the smallest smile as she no doubt heard her and got what Yang meant. "So… should I go and pack up?"

"She knows the rest, you know, about her team and all." Qrow came into the conversation. "I filled her in on that."

"Good. The decision to reveal your power to your team is yours. Speaking of decisions- I have something I need to ask from Qrow. In private, if you don't mind, but I'll be brief." Glynda nodded at Yang before turning towards Qrow, and Yang took the hint to give the two some space.

Of course, it just meant giving them enough space that she could eavesdrop on the conversation. ' _Keeping secrets again? Hah…'_

"Qrow. I have reached a decision regarding Jaune Arc, but I'd like to know something first before I set him free under observation and with additional time and funding for his Semblance training."

"Hm?"

"He has been insistent in his desire to meet with you during his time as our captive. Why?"

"Dunno, Ruby's been saying the same. No idea."

"Qrow. Your body language suggests otherwise, not to mention that I've known you long enough to be able to tell when you're blatantly lying. I feel there's more to mr. Arc's insistence than just talking, or as is likely, reprimanding you about Glenn when you being drugged left the team without professor for majority of the mission, which was the first thing that came to my mind. However the intensity of his requests and my intuition suggests that there is more to that"

"Uh… Right… well, there might be one thing other than that… You see, Ozpin came up with a brilliant idea centering around a certain… person and a… well... certain recording..."

Yang resisted the urge to walk a bit closer so he could hear what Qrow was saying as he had dropped his voice to a quiet whisper, but in retrospect it was probably a good idea she didn't as it meant she wasn't in the immediate blast zone.

"YOU AND OZPIN DID WHAT?"

 **A bit of a SABR-centric breather chapter to calm down after the Glenn arc.**

 **Follow-up chapter will be more about the Grimm and their ladies.**

 **Next chapter: Fairly soon.**


	44. Consolidation

**It should be noted that** _ **a lot**_ **of canon goes straight out of the window during and after these chapters. The majority of this story's plot, mechanics and character types were built around info revealed during show's seasons 1-4, with a lot of theorycrafting added in with new mechanics, plotpoints and such. Now as we're approaching S6's end, there has been a lot more mechanics, characters and truths revealed about Remnant's past and future according to CRWBY- however, if I were to integrate them to this story as they are, it would kick quite few chairs from under the underlying mechanics and characters in this story.**

 **So with that said, this story's plot line will start to differ heavily in terms of events and underlying mechanics specifically related to Salem, Grimm origins and the 'gods' from canon one.**

A regular Grimm Beowolf was not empathetic creature, despite its capability to track emotions.

It's main purpose was to hunt, consume and destroy. Made for mobility and swarm tactics, capable of ignoring most environmental effects such as harsh winter, heat of the desert, rain-and thunderstorms that would send regular animals running to shelter and it was even capable of moving underwater as long as it didn't strain itself too much. Much like other Grimm, it was capable of detecting emotional flux with its sense being arguably strongest, being able to sense distress from over five miles away depending on the strength of the emotion of course. It is intelligent enough to pursue weakened targets, flee when outmatched, and gather together to form packs in order to hunt strong opponents. Yet it felt no need to hoard, or gather items, or care for its packmates. Even the amount of care a Beowolf would direct at its own wounds was minimal at best, at at worst it would just wait for its wounds to close naturally before returning to its normal routine- even if the bleeding caused the beast to die in the process.

However there were few Beowolves that had been created larger and more intelligent to the point where they dominated over their smaller brethren, commanding them like how pack alpha would- giving them their name, Beowolf Alpha.

Yet while it had intelligence to survey its enemy from range, search for good vantage points, and even arrange ambushes with its smaller kin, it didn't have what one would consider true intelligence- to be able to make their own decisions based off the information available to them. That privilege was reserved for the third, and rares caste of Beowolves native to only one place in Remnant- the Beowolf Brutes.

Even though those Beowolves were only the size of a regular Beowolf, they were clad in thicker fur and covered with larger plates of bone to protect them from melee blows and deflect arrows, bullets and shrapnel. The beasts were armed with retractable claws on their long-fingered paws, giving them a degree of manipulation impossible for their less developed brethren. However more importantly the beasts had a degree of vicious intellect and self-awareness to the point where one could even go as far as to compare their intelligence to a human's, combined with all functions a human would have but chained to a heavy Beowolf-like body- yet the creatures bore a clear difference to both their less developed brethren and the humans whose intelligence they were trying to mimic. The Brutes were created solely to defend the realm of their creator, not for conquest and hunt, making them one of the only purely defensive-focused types of Grimm.

For that purpose they were given the knowledge to build fortifications, to use weapons both their own and repurposed from enemy, to mend wounds and gather medication, and most importantly as far as their human-like abilities went- to carry their wounded to safety.

And for that reason Salem, the Queen of the Grimm, was not overly surprised as she saw her scrying orb light up with vision of a Grimm Brute carrying a unmoving, unconscious form. However a moment of curious observation later she saw that the body was reminiscent of Cinder Fall's, or what vaguely appeared like Cinder Fall if one ignored her horrifyingly mutated body and all the feathers, bone-chitin covering her legs and torso like some sort of amalgamation of knight and a cockroach… Or the spinal growths through her back and extra pair of scythe-blade ended arms and the fact the vaguely Cinder-like form was occasionally coughing flames, and with that realization Salem started to pay more attention to the sight.

Her black-veined, pale and delicate arms paused their work on the delicate mass of biochemical mixture she had been working on for the better part of the past two months, causing the batch to let a quiet whine as the compounds began shifting in ways that they shouldn't immediately after the constant care was halted.

Salem took a look at another orb just in case the first one was malfunctioning somehow and the second orb confirmed extent of Cinder's injuries and mutations.

Without further clarification Salem rose from her chair, abandoned her research which gave a whizzing 'baah'-like sound not unlike dying goat before going still, and she hurried down her tower of crystal and blackstone to meet with her wounded protegee.

.

..

…

"Qrow, that… that absolute moron… Grghh…" Glynda was visibly struggling to keep herself from doing something that would be extremely unprofessional as it wouldn't give a good example for the students nor would it help to give good first impression if Beacon's newly-appointed headmistress was seen using one of her professors as table tennis ball with nearest hard wall as the opposing player as soon as she had taken up her new role.

For that effect, she had relocated herself to Beacon's underground complex and was walking towards the Grimm holding cells with Port, and _without_ Qrow as she wasn't certain if she could contain her fury should she- or in fact, she _or_ Port was left alone with the man. Glynda knew Port, and she knew that if Qrow was placed between them in a otherwise abandoned room then the professor-tennis would become a two player affair. "Really, what was Ozpin thinking? Qrow being stuck in Ozpin's backside I can stomach, somewhat, but why did he order Qrow to get a recording from Raven Branwen and order it modified it so that it appears like she commanded mr. Arc's sisters to be raped during the bandit raid on Shion? I realize the life in Mistral's 'outpost' villages is dangerous and often short, but if Raven specifically said she hadn't ordered what Qrow doctored, why would Ozpin doctor the recording to say otherwise? Or course Raven Branwen's original statement is of dubious truthfulness at best, considering her history, but surely there's no need to add fuel to the fire!"

"I guess Ozpin had some very cunning plan." Port said while fiddling with his moustache- a sign of agitation as the slightly overweight man took great pride in his facial hair. "I imagine he saw mr. Arc as a weapon above all. If I were to think like him, and assuming that how I think Ozpin thinks is how Ozpin thinks which may or may not be the case, I'd search for a… trigger, if you will, so when time came I could point mr. Arc to a direction and click-pow. I imagine Ozpin wished to set mr. Arc off to warpath when the time was right, and be in control as to who he was directed at."

Glynda sighed as Port made a finger-gun gesture and 'shot' at a ceiling light. "Your theory may have some basis in reality. However as result of Ozpin's brilliant scheme we have mr. Arc about to go 'click-pow', as you eloquently put it, while locked up in our cellar, and aimed both at Raven _and_ Qrow, and possibly Ozpin as well if Qrow's theory is correct."

"Are we sure he's as agitated as we think? We may be just overthinking it." Port asked while lifting his bushy eyebrow. "He's been behaving quite well, hasn't he?"

"Outwardly yes, but I've inspected the camera recordings from his cell to quite extensive degree as part of my decision to set him free. He is growing increasingly agitated, but seems to hide it quite well whenever one of his… friends… goes down to the cells in order to chat with him." Glynda waved her hand dismissively. "I figured it was just him showing his distress over being locked up, but it seems there was more beneath the mask. Not to mention Arc has become quite adept at hiding his emotions from inspection over the passing months, possibly as a result his improving control over his Semblance. Of course, Ozpin is dead so I doubt Arc will seek revenge on him, but that won't help our job either way as he may be hiding his aggression so he can vent on Qrow before going after Raven."

"And unfortunately I somehow seriously doubt that just telling 'it was just a prank' would help the situation." Port acknowledged. "Well, we should set him free first as a show of good faith since while communicating through cell wall might be safer, it hardly sets off a good basis for cooperation if we want him to work with us rather than trying to manipulate him in Ozpin-esque manner. Perhaps we should have miss Rose attending the release as well."

"How so?"

"While I can't tell the specifics due to doctor-patient confidentiality, she confessed that her eyes hm… had a unique calming effect on him." Port lifted his bushy eyebrow. "She told me that during one of her scheduled after-action therapy sessions. Would you know if there's anything more special to that than young love?"

"I see. I imagine it is because of her eye's… unique ability." Glynda nodded as vaguely as Port had been "Also, please don't spread that information. It's more confidential than miss Rose realizes."

"Ah, very well. One of Ozpin's secrets I take it?"

"Peter…" Glynda's tone had the tiniest sign of warning as she pulled her Scroll and brought up Ruby Rose's contact details as the two of them stopped just before the entrance to the Grimm holding cells. The entrance was made of two parts, one large double-door that could be used to move entire modular cell-blocks and one smaller human-sized door beside the larger one that would let staff move in and out of the cell block without needing to open the main door.

"Aye, I should reign my curiosity." Port nodded as he reached for the staff door but paused as he seemed to realize something. "Although… we may have alternative solution."

"Peter, if it's anything like what Ozpin would come up with... "

"No, no, it's more grounded than that. You're aware what season has begun in Beacon, yes?"

"Autumn? Or are you referring to the violent whack-a-head that the students are playing to relieve tension after returning from their first missions and after learning of the Barrier breach and the associated riots?" Glynda asked as she pulled her Scroll down from her ear and typed a message as Ruby's number had been set to 'busy' and thus had been unavailable.

"I'm referring to tension relief, yes, but not quite the violent kind. You know what happens in Beacon around this time, after the first school-scheduled missions of the year. Tensions are high, emotions flow easier and newfound or perhaps even reserved feelings get unearthed after dangerous encounters…"

"Port, don't you dare…"

"...And you're aware too, that the students have been practically having a mating season for the past week or so." Port paused and visibly contemplated option of running away as the Scroll in Glynda's hands gave a threatening crack. "I was having my scheduled staff health check-up just yesterday, and as I inquired about the hospital's supply status after the first-years missions ended... well, the head nurse, bless her soul, even went as far to say they are running low on headache pills, friction burn gel, contraceptives and dare I even mention, lube."

"Why would our hospital stockpile lube- you know what, nevermind, I don't want to know." Glynda blinked, realized what she was saying and promptly rebooted her trail of thoughts. "No, Port, whatever you're thinking _can't_ be what we're looking for!"

"I've come across information from miss Belladonna, Nikos and Rose that mr. Arc has gathered a small… hm… group of friends with benefits. Perhaps we could use that to our, and also his advantage?"

"You're saying what, that we'll just toss those three students into cell with Arc and hope they… they… they 'pump' his anger at Ozpin and Qrow out amongst themselves?" Glynda tried to keep her Scroll intact as she gripped it with enough force for the delicate device to let small creaking sounds, all the while she felt the faintest blush rising to her cheeks and far more noticeable one blooming in her neck.

"Well maybe not 'toss' them in, but rather hm… well, something of the sort?"

"Miss Rose is fifteen for Oum's sake!" Glynda hissed. "Y-you…"

"Well, obviously that is true." Port nodded. "However I doubt that what I suggested isn't going to happen either way once he gets released back into his team, outside segregating him again which would likely cause more problems. We could try pulling miss Rose aside, say sending her to Signal until the 'season' has run its course if we think it is necessary, but considering that miss Rose was approved into Beacon past her age I honestly doubt our 'protection' would do anything other than escalate things further. Moreover I get the feeling mr. Arc is considerate kind since I know for fact he has quite few younger sisters, so I doubt he'd push himself onto her."

"You really think so?"

"Indeed. I merely wish to use the occasion to set the baseline mood for our… his… coming chat with mr. Branwen." Port shrugged. "Let him puff out some steam, calm down etcetera. I'd prefer if his eventual meeting with Qrow didn't come to blows."

"...You're right." Glynda sighed and rubbed her temple. "So what should we do?"

"Let's buy ourselves some time. Qrow is going to go with miss Xiao-Long to their training session in… Shade, did you say? Anyway, if Qrow was to leave Vale before mr. Arc was released, we'd buy ourselves some time. We can use that time to calm mr. Arc before Qrow comes back, and after that we can put the two of them into same room and hope for the best. Qrow's going to be away for a week or two at most so that should't be too long for mr. Arc to become impatient. Plus we can use that time to ask Headmaster Lionheart for information regarding miss Branwen's little group of... 'friends' since I'm fairly sure that the word of a sizeable bandit group like hers is hard to hide. Lionheart's at prime spot to know everything that happens in Mistral, him being the headmaster of Haven." Port twirled with his moustache as he thought. "We could offer that info as sort-of peace offering to mr. Arc, and you know, work _with_ him?"

"Ozpin gave him a lot of that info already, but I suppose we can ask Lionheart if there's any new info regarding Raven. It's been few months since Ozpin's inquiry anyway, so there might be new information available." Glynda paused to think and after a moment rubbed her temple to quell her rising headache. "You're putting a lot of pressure on his teammates and his partners with your plan. What if his team don't do what you are saying they'd do? What if he turns on them instead? We don't need another incident."

"I honestly doubt mr. Arc would act aggressively towards his team. And regarding your concern about modesty, perhaps we can have miss Rose convey the idea to the rest of their… group?" Port asked, causing Glynda to let a low-tone growl. "Speaking of which…"

A hurried flurry of steps echoed in the hallway leading to the Grimm holding cells, followed by sound of stumble and quick adjustment until a red form practically bounced off the hallway walls in mad dash until coming to a stop.

"Sorry I'm late! I had to… uh… disentangle from Weiss." Ruby paused to collect herself as she came to a skidding halt just before Glynda and Port, causing the two of them to lift their hands to stop the cloud of rose petals following Ruby's wake from getting plastered all over their faces. "I… uh, heard Jaune was getting released?"

"Yes. I must send a message first though, one moment." Glynda nodded at Port who nodded back before taking up the role of debriefing Ruby about Jaune's release- and likely also indirectly informing of her of Jaune's apparent 'need for tension relief.'

' _I hope this works… and I just hope we don't end up becoming a new Ozpin for Arc.'_ Glynda felt apprehensive as she typed a message to Qrow, telling him to pack up and head out to Vale before their scheduled departure and prep himself and Yang to leave as soon as they were able, so they would be off Vale by the time Jaune would think to look for him. ' _We need to clear things up with both of them after the situation calms down.'_

…

Jaune sighed for what he guessed to be hundredth time that day.

Breathing in and out rhythmically was strangely calming, as it reminded himself that he was still human at heart when his head was going in circles trying to think.

Cinder's assassination of Ozpin and subsequent escape, Ozpin's and Qrow's lies, the ever-present whispering of the Shadow trying to incite him to violence and urging him to break out of his cell, and the ever-increasing feeling of walls crashing down on him were all contributing to his increasing uneasiness even though his team's and Pyrrha's visits had helped him focus on something else than his internal workings.

He didn't dare to attempt any meditation-type self-calming methods as he had already experienced the catastrophic backfire one had caused, and he didn't have enough food to start experimenting with his Semblance not to mention if he happened to run amok due to it, he'd also send a wrong message to his captors, so all he had left was to try to stew on his mind and bear with his current state.

' _I mean, they have right to be suspicious but… it doesn't make this easier to bear with…'_ Jaune's thoughts strayed back to the day when the whole team SABR, Cinder and Qrow were camping in Glenn's abandoned cityscape, and more specifically to the recording Cinder had found in Qrow's Scroll… and he promptly snapped around and whacked his head against the cell wall, causing a sharp cracking sound to ring in the confined space and pain to explode through his entire body.

Jaune slumped down on the cell wall as his control over his body had been temporarily disturbed, and he focused on the feeling of pain with as much brain capacity as he had left while his skull regenerated and the gray matter inside it regained its earlier shape. The hit had been intended to cause pain so it would be easier to control his impulses but the impact had brought him dangerously close to blacking out which would let his more instinctive side to take control. ' _A- Ae… eu… ugh… ow. Yeah d-don't hit the wall that h-hard, s-self lobotomy… oww… bad i-idea… w-well… at least the Shadow backed down a bit… Gah… sheesh.'_

He lifted himself carefully up from the floor and sat in front of his bed while looking at the spot in the cell wall he had hit his head against. The white-painted ceramic and steel wall had sharp cracks running in a spiderweb pattern from it alongside blood in the center, and Jaune touched his forehead to confirm that his head had regenerated although his face was covered in blood. ' _Damn, I need to be careful not to think of… of… Damn Qrow, goddamn Raven… Just you wait until I get my hands on you two…'_

He clenched his face as he tried to keep his thoughts from re-entering their previous track. It failed, as had become a norm as of late since his patience for lies had worn thin and the confinement wasn't helping. Luckily he had managed to keep it hidden from his teammates when they had visited him in his cell. ' _Ozpin told me that Qrow's not friends with Raven, despite being her brother... but I should have known better than to trust Ozpin's words. Ties of blood and family hold, even when the individuals are separated by ideology or life… Every Arc knows that. I should have known too… Of course Qrow would cover for Raven, keep things from me...'_

He rose up from the floor with slow, deliberate moves and tried to rub as much blood off his face as possible on the flipside of his bed sheet- until he felt source of conflicted emotions coming towards him from from the door-end of the long hallway that made the Grimm holding block's main walkway, and Jaune sped up his cleaning efforts.

And as Glynda, Port and Ruby came to view he hid the bloody cloth away. "Uh... h-hi guys? I mean, hello, headmistress, professor?"

Glynda sighed. "Mr. Arc, why do you have blood in your hair?"

"I… well…"

"And why is there a crack on the wall?"

"I… slipped and fell?" Jaune sweated a bit while latching desperately to the 'conversation' in order to direct his attention away from his previous thoughts. "Ruby? Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, It's just… really hot in here, ehe hehee?" Ruby adjusted her collar as her face was bright red for some reason and Jaune could swear there were small puffs of steam coming out from the top of her head. "N-nevermind, I'm okay, everything is fiiiineee…"

"Right…"

"Anyway if we get back on track, we've come to a decision mr. Arc." Glynda coughed to regain Jaune's attention while she pressed few buttons on her Scroll. "We're prepared to release you from your confinement if you agree to some ground rules."

"State them, then." Jaune motioned for her to continue. "I'm sorry for what happened in Barrier Square but…"

"Yes, yes. Now, if I may?"

"Sorry, go on. Please."

"You're to stay and recover in Beacon for at least two weeks, with your team, and you will be provided an observer from Atlas who judges if you're ready to be re-introduced into our community and released into Vale." Glynda stated, pointedly ignoring twitch in Jaune's arm as he heard he'd be grounded still. "I've also heard that you had expressed your desire to to meet with Qrow Branwen. I've also questioned him for potential reason for it as you've decided not to be forthcoming with the reason, and I've come to know about a certain… recording."

"I…" Jaune couldn't quite suppress a twitch and clenching of his hand as the topic was brought up, but the rising rage of the Shadow and his own mind was quenched in ice as Ruby's eyes met his, allowing him a moment of serenity.

"Mr. Arc, calm yourself. I am not your enemy." Glynda motioned for him to calm down. "I do not approve of the actions mr. Branwen took, nor do I approve Ozpin's. For that reason, I've taken the liberty of contacting headmaster Lionheart, who are looking for your sisters as we speak…"

"I've heard that before." Jaune ground out while Ruby looked back and forth between Glynda and Jaune with look of fright on her face.

"Mr. Arc… Jaune. I realize this might be difficult to believe after all that's happened, and after my previous attitude… but I am trying to help you. I have the records of Raven Branwen's actions and psych profile from her time at Beacon, and I can assure you that mindlessly charging into Mistral's forests will only result in the deaths of your sisters- Raven will not let them go easily, and if she learns what you're after, I fear she won't let them leave at all." Glynda adjusted her glasses. "The two weeks you are required to stay here are for you to do high-intensity training _and_ to satisfy Atlas's demands. You did kill some of their soldiers in Vale, and they demanded punishment. This is the easiest way to satisfy both parties."

"And if I choose to go anyway?"

"You'd likely end up on 'wanted' list for Atlas, which would spread to Vale and Mistral as well due to international obligation. Of course that wouldn't stop you from searching, but I hope you have the wisdom to consider your life _after_ the rescue attempt as well- successful or not. To add to that, you'd be also removed from Beacon's roster, and from your team as well. Naturally since you're all first years, it'd mean the rest of your team would need to redo their first year and reform their team via normal team forming ritual, likely resulting in completely different team members." Glynda said as she typed something on her Scroll, and the reinforced glass-panel between her and Jaune let a hiss before sliding up. "I am willing to give you the option to leave Beacon and Vale as you wish, right now, if that's truly what you consider the best option, but you'll have to deal with the aftermath of the decision as well."

"..." Jaune clenched his fist before taking a look at Ruby who was shaking visibly and at Port who was twiddling with his moustache, and for once one of the man's eyes was visible through his ever-present good-natured hum- and it was looking at Jaune with sharp, calculating look.

"J-Jaune... " Ruby let a quiet sound and he sighed deeply. "C-can we stay together?"

"Right… right. I'm sorry, Ruby." Jaune reached to rub his face, feeling his frustration and rage turn to tiredness. "I need to think. Where's Qrow?"

"Qrow's currently away from Beacon and will leave Vales hortly for critical mission. He'll return in a week or so and I'll guarantee you that you, Qrow _and_ I will have a small talk regarding his 'sister'" Glynda grumbled as she took a small step towards Jaune. "For now, if you wish to think about your next action I'd suggest you'll head to your dorm-room. Miss Schnee is recovering well and should you need privacy we can have her temporarily transferred to miss Fall's old room."

"Why would I need Weiss to not be present?" Jaune blinked and Glynda waved her hand dismissively.

"Nevermind, my mind wandered. Regardless, I'd prefer if you took your time to come to a decision while I and my colleagues work to help you. I realize we've said these words again, but please just bear with it for while longer." Glynda reached to offer her hand to Jaune, and Jaune hesitated for a while before taking it and giving it a small squeeze. "I've sent you the list of demands Atlas gave for your freedom to your dorm in paper. Consult to your teammates, wind down your tension, and when you are ready, seek me out."

"Right…" Jaune let a quiet sigh before stepping forwards, leaving his cell behind. "Time to go back to the team. Wanna go back with me, Ruby?"

"Y-yeah..."

…

"That went better than expected." Port commented as Jaune and Ruby disappeared around the corner. "Suspiciously so, don't you think?"

Glynda nodded somewhat uncertainty. "...I expected him to object harder. Truth to be told, I even expected some sort of physical confrontation to happen. A heated argument, at very least."

"Indeed. Either he's grown very good at suppressing his emotions, doesn't truly care about his sisters or… he has some sort of psychological ailment that causes near double-personality." Port said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Or he's mentally given up on the chance of his sisters being alive and is searching for a way to keep himself from finding the truth in sort-of schrödinger's cat situation- after all, until truth has been unearthed, his sisters could be either alive or dead. And to anyone who's familiar with how bandits operate, the latter may be more likely- I doubt he truly would wish to know that, but suspects in his heart..."

"Raven's bandit group is not generational group, at least according to my latest knowledge. They don't raise children to replace their losses, and instead they recruit additional members from the able-bodied population of villages and convoys they _don't_ raid." Glynda crossed her arms. "Recruiting someone whose family you've killed in a raid would be both foolish and suicidal, so I doubt Raven has the habit of keeping her prisoners around for long. If I were to take a guess, they either faced the fate Qrow's modified recording detailed, were sold or used as manual labor for some construction project before being disposed. My information is nearly half decade old though, so their methods might have changed but counting on it is foolish at best..."

"I am merely making observations, and you're making theories. We should however think about chasing facts, lest we turn into our previous headmaster." Port lifted his arms up in sign of surrender. "Regardless, we should try to give mr. Arc some space and seek answers his questions. I can take the role of a messenger for that as I believe you have your hands full with your new role as the headmistress even before adding mr. Arc's research on top of it, am I correct?"

"...You're right, of course." Glynda rubbed her temple. "Honestly, my workload hasn't changed _that_ much, but the amount of work I need to put in after the Arc's and Fall's stunts is starting to weight on me. Sometimes I forget how observant you can be, Peter."

"Oh, think nothing of it." Port hummed cheerfully before seemingly remembering something. "Speaking of which, I think I was planning on meeting Oobleck over cup of tea and talk about the usual suspects- Grimm, griping about students, and wondering whether or not he's planning on building a family before the sun dies. You're welcome to join in, of course."

"Men…" Glynda groaned as she rubbed her temple while Port retreated, and she brought her Scroll up in order to call for a cleaning team to empty Jaune's old cell so it could be used to house Grimm again. And also to call the head nurse, ordering her to deliver a load of contraceptives to SABR's dorm.

And hurry up with the latter if possible.

* * *

Cinder felt odd as she woke up.

The feeling of being submerged in ice combined with feeling of her internal organs burning up made strange contrast to how her head was spinning like if she had flown herself in a glider into the heart of a tornado, yet at the same time she could feel that she was completely still. As the inevitable result of the conflicting emotions she decided to stay as still as possible she while attempting to contemplate her situation while she regained her consciousness.

The days after escaping Vale had gone by in an attempt to arrange a transport towards Remnant's highest Grimm concentration- the Shard Mountains, which was basically the Grimm stronghold, or as most humans had begun calling the place, the Grimmlands. Naturally public transportation was not an option not only because of Cinder's new status as criminal and murderer in Vale, but also since the Shard Mountains were located in eastern part of Mistral. Thus there were scarce few humans or faunus foolish enough to move by the mountains or live in the area, despite vast Dust deposits both growing off the soil and residing underground. Few skeletons of Atlesian, Mantle and even earlier kingdoms army camps and mining operations bases scattered throughout the entry points to the mountainous area attributed to the hazards roaming the place.

Getting away from Vale hadn't been overly hard since Beacon was essentially halfway outside Vale's border wall, as Emerald Forest was too vast to wall in completely, meaning that the natural cliff edge facing towards the forest served the role of a border wall. Thus the spot had been ideal for her getaway, albeit she didn't manage it without conflicts. The Hunters assigned to role of safeguarding Beacon's grounds and pruning the forest's Grimm population to better suit the student's needs had stepped out to block Cinder's escape, likely thinking her to be some sort of Grimm creature judging by their foolish decisions to engage her alone. The few Hunters had gotten too used to life of ease and to simple, weak opponents- and thus had fallen to her attacks without too much resistance.

Afterwards Cinder had opened one of the secret stashes that had been premade in Vale's countryside, in case one of their agents needed to extract in a hurry, and had dusted off a Needlehead-class air-transport from one of them. The small, one-person aircraft was Atlesian special operations branch of technology, created primarily for their Specialists. The purpose of the craft had been to allow quick insertions and extractions across continents for whatever reason the Specialists had- from fast response strikes to spying to assassinations if need be.

The design template for the craft had been created shortly after the Great War had ended, as preparation for next Great War. Atlesians had seeded the small aircraft into well-hidden and well-concealed stashes across all five kingdoms, as a precaution so they would hold the initiative should the conflict reignite. As no Great War 'two' came, largely thanks to widespread Grimm attacks forcing all kingdoms to focus on internal matters over external, the seeding eventually stopped but the existing stashes had not been touched, which in theory secured Atlesian mobility in foreign continents should another war break out. Naturally after the top secret files of the stash locations had been leaked to the faction within the Shard Mountains by their Atlesian moles, the crafts had been quickly 'reallocated' to suit their needs.

Reaching the small ship had been quite difficult for Cinder, as the nearest stash had been well over two days walk away from Vale's city walls, and the entirely of that two days had been spent both walking uphill and fighting off Grimm- sometimes at the same time. And the added combat had done nothing but further stimulate her unwilling transformations.

And as the transformations grew more invasive, so did the voices in her head. Eventually she had made it to the craft and stuffed most of her inside it, and began the long flight to the Shard Mountains- the Grimmlands.

However even that was met with as much challenge and peril as her search of the craft had: Not long after embarking on the craft, her own body began rebelling against her will, and the delicate craft which was now stuffed full of wings, claws and armor could barely contain her. The fact the craft was empty of food didn't help as the hunger-cramps she had quenched earlier by eating wild greens and the occasional animals she had managed to catch started to rear their ugly head, each time worsening her grip on her already failing control over her body.

During one of the worst episodes of mental assault the craft had veered off its intended course, and she had made a not-too-gentle crash landing to mountainside just few tens of miles off the Heart of the Shard Mountains- The Heart being a massive tower made of blackstone and Dust crystals, surrounded by some of the largest and most dangerous Grimm in existence... and it was also the place Cinder called home. While most of her had survived the Needlehead's explosion, the crash had left her without a transport and had forced her to foot-wing-claw her way towards the Heart... Until she had blacked out entirely, burnt from the flames of the wreck, bleeding from the shrapnel that had torn into her during the crash, and with her body going haywire over lack of nutrition after the long flight and from the constant cycle of healing and mutating it was forced to go through in order to keep her alive...

"Open your eyes, Cinder. I know you're awake. That nightmare does not need to torment you." A familiar, comforting voice called to her and broke Cinder off her nightmare-like memories. She opened her eyes slowly as she recognized the soft tone that carried a eerie, almost disturbing level of insight to the listener's thoughts.

The sight of eerily beautiful, pale-skinned woman with burning red eyes, face framed by black veins and with her hair tied into intricate hair-sculpture was not a new one for Cinder. Yet it had never been as calming sight for her as it was now even if Salem had a concerned and more importantly curious look on her face while she was leaning over Cinder.

Cinder felt the nightmare wash away into warmth that surrounded her now that she had woken up. The feeling of weightlessness spread through her entire body and she felt like she was floating on warm, soft gel better than any bed she had slept on in her entire life, and that soft surface was trying to entice her to fall asleep again- but she couldn't fall asleep. Not yet, not when she needed to tell Salem what had happened in Vale, and only after that she could surrender herself to sleep again.

"Iiihhh… haaaa… Ih'hmh… haaa… Hngh..." Cinder tried to furrow her brow as her words came out of her mouth as a wheezy whine not even remotely close to human speech.

"Do not try to speak. Your body isn't ready for that yet." Salem said as she closed the distance between the two of them so she could lift Cinder's head by the back of her neck, all the while keeping her red eyes on Cinder's. "Hold on... "

Cinder felt as something incredibly hot bloomed inside her chest before settling down, all the while her neck felt as if it had grown solid from where Salem had touched her… and the moment passed as quickly it had come. And as soon as it ended, Cinder realized she wasn't breathing.

That she _hadn't_ been breathing.

Cinder took a deep breath and almost immediately coughed something wet from her lungs, and as she reached for her throat she realized she couldn't feel either of her arms.

Or her legs.

Or her waist.

Or even her stomach.

She looked down and saw that she had been half-submerged into thick, hot gel-like black goo that let small streams of steam into the cool air. When she tried to lift herself up her body didn't respond, leaving her looking down at her exposed chest and shoulders which were the only thing beside her head still above the surface of the gel… and she realized the shallow, blackstone-lined submerged hot tub-like recess on the floor she had been put into _wasn't_ large enough to fit the rest of her body.

Salem tightened the grip she had on Cinder's neck as she must have noticed Cinder's rapidly changing state of mind. "Cinder. Focus on me."

"I… Ahgh… _cough_ … I can't feel… I…" Cinder gave few raspy coughs as she tried to communicate with Salem.

"You were in bad shape when you were recovered." Salem put her other hand on Cinder's lips to silence her. "I'll tell you more of it once you have regained your strength. For now, I need you to rest while I rebuild you."

"I am… being… rebuilt?"

"You're essentially a head attached to half of a chest and about third of a spine right now. The… mutation that your body had experienced prior to your arrival was quite extensive." Salem lifted her eyebrow. "Did you have written report on you or something like that when you arrived so I could read it while you recover? I didn't find one on you but I kept all your… well, 'clothes' just in case."

"I… Had… one… lost… destroyed…"

"I see. Very well, nevermind." Salem sighed as she submerged her free hand into the goo on the spot where Cinder's stomach _should_ have been. The fact Cinder didn't feel anything when Salem submerged her hand and then the rest of her her arm up to her elbow into the mass what should have been Cinder's lower body made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

And when she felt Salem's fingers touch something _inside_ Cinder's chest cavity the feeling of discomfort went straight through the roof and into creeped-out territory.

"S… Shalem… M-mhom… It's…"

"Yes, this will be uncomfortable and quite likely slightly traumatic as well. Try to sleep if you can in case the treatment feels too distressing. I'll wake you up if you start to experience nightmares again. I've made it so you won't feel pain during the procedure and if for some reason you do, I'll know and stop the pain." Salem reassured Cinder as her delicate fingers kept moving inside Cinder's chest, making verbal objections nearly impossible for the flame-caster due to the extra appendage inside her chest. "The liquid flesh I submerged you in has kept you alive while I had my little ones worm into you and chip away the corruption. You need not fear death mid-operation."

Before Cinder had adapted to the earlier feeling the pale fingers reached to touch, or rather almost _caress_ her heart inside her chest in a move that felt disgusting and strangely intimate to almost perverse degree.

And Cinder realized that her heart hadn't been pumping until Salem had touched it. ' _I… I better sleep… Let mother do her work... But not before...'_ "M- moh… mother… I am s-sorry… I f-f-failed…"

"I am aware. I too have ears and eyes in Vale." Salem's fingers paused for a brief moment before their work continued as before. "You have not failed as badly as you think you have. But we can talk about that later. Rest. Rest so you may strike back. Rest… and live."

Cinder let out a long, rasping sigh as she relaxed her half-body and let Salem's fingers invade her body deeper, weaving the Grimm liquid flesh into shapes that would make her new body.

She tried to adjust to the feeling and noted that while the finger-motions had first felt creepy and disgusting they had gradually started to feel almost... loving.

" _Sleep,_ girl."

* * *

"Jaune?!"

"Hi Blake- umph!"

Jaune got barely the words out of his mouth before faunus-class tactical ground-to-Jaune missile hit his chest, causing both of them to tumble down on SABR's and RYNN's dorm corridor. "Uh… I missed you too, Blake?"

"Uh… sorry." Blake gave him a half-embarrassed look while poking his chest with her forefinger. "I… I mean… You should have let us know you were getting released! We were so worried."

"Yeah, well, the release came kinda out of the bush. One moment I was there, just thinking about… well… _things_ and the next our new headmistress, Port and Ruby pop in front of my cell and let me out." Jaune explained. "You ok? How's Weiss?"

"I'm… managing." a somewhat faint voice Jaune recognized as Weiss's came from within the dorm and Blake pulled away from Jaune so they could get up, all the while Ruby was fussing over the two of them.

"...Stop piling in the corridor and get in here so we can talk." Weiss's tone seemed mostly annoyed but Jaune picked up a strange undertone in it. He looked up at Ruby to ask about it and saw that she had once again really, _really_ strong blush on her cheeks and she looked like she would faint on the spot as she helped Jaune up. He contemplated using his ability to 'see' what worried Ruby, but after the near-losses of control he had suffered in his cell he decided against it, at least until he could calm himself down properly and view the situation with clear head.

"Weiss?" Jaune called as he entered the dormroom and saw that Weiss was sitting on a beanbag chair while reading some book and she turned to look at him…

...Only Weiss wasn't the only thing what Jaune saw as he looked at her pale face with faint traces of black veins framing her features.

'... _Mom? ...No, my mother… she had blonde hair and blue eyes… but… why do I remember….'_ Jaune reached to hold his temple as his head suddenly felt like it was about to explode, the sudden headache spreading through his mind like static.

"Jaune. I'll be honest. You're staring, and while I realize my appearance is quite bit different now, that look you're giving is making me creeped out." Weiss's blunt words quickly shattered the odd illusion Jaune was having. causing him to shook his head in confusion and embarrassment as the odd, shapely woman he almost-remembered was replaced by Weiss glaring at him, driving the headache away almost as quickly as it had come. "Thank you for healing me, I guess."

"Ah… sorry. I was just remembering things." Jaune rubbed the back of his while trying to recover from the odd vision- which wasn't helped by the Shadow banging against its mental cage in his head. "Are you… well, unhappy that I healed you?"

"No, not really… just… could you have done it _without_ giving me the worst case of pink eye in recorded history? Or without permanent face mascara comparable to some trash-tier punk rock band singer's?" Weiss sighed and paused to rub her face as Jaune stepped into the room properly and sat down on his bed, followed by Blake sitting next to him and Ruby sitting on the floor next to Weiss. "I mean… Thanks for saving me, don't get me wrong, but still… I need to adjust to this. Did you know I lost my Aura as well? I'm practically a civilian with improved healing speed right now. Plus I'm sure Beacon is considering kicking me out if I can't recover my Aura, even if they don't tell me so directly."

"I… didn't know."

"I see. Thanks for keeping it secret, Ruby, Blake, but you needn't have done that with Jaune. I mainly meant to keep it secret from the other students." Weiss glanced at the two girls before shaking her head at Jaune. "I'm just… well, seeing you just brings a lot of bad things to my head. And a lot of things I'd _really_ rather be without, so excuse me if I sound petulant and bitter."

"It's alright." Jaune lifted his eyebrow while he contemplated the possibility of using his Semblance and sensing just what was going on with Weiss. As she went on to conversing about what had been going on with her physical state curiosity overcame him and he creeped the mental door to his ability open a bit and let the swarm of shadowy shapes return their hold to his mind, sending echo to feel around him… and sensed something really, really odd from Weiss.

The earlier feeling of wrongness that Weiss had radiated when she had been brought to his cell was gone, and instead there was odd, heated and almost desperate need to stay together with something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Jaune blinked as he focused on it. ' _Wait, what is that emotion… It's like Weiss is feeling really, really alone without something but at the same time tries to suppress it, causing some kind of swirl of conflicting emotions?'_

"Jaune, you're staring again…" Weiss reached to clap her hands together just weakly enough to not produce any sound but it was enough to make Jaune blink and shake his head to break out of his thoughts. "You're starting to make me creeped out. Can you not… do that?"

"But… you're not feeling creeped out?"

"..." Weiss's eyes now-heterochromic eyes widened almost comically before they turned to narrow, suspicious slits. "You're using your Semblance on me."

"I… well, maybe? Yes?" Jaune froze up as Weiss picked up on what he had been doing. "I mean uh… It's nice weather outside?"

"I'm not going to just sit around and be probed by you. Out." Weiss hissed and turned her back on Jaune, causing all three other occupants of the room to blink in confusion at the girl.

"Weiss, Jaune just got back and uh… is everything alright?" Ruby asked carefully and froze as well when Weiss turned to give a glare at the girl, before freezing a little in return.

And the subtle motion was enough to cause Jaune to realize what was going on. "Weiss, is my healing method affecting you?"

"Oh, so you _realized_ that black veins, pale skin and _Grimm eyes_ aren't a natural side-effect of modern medicine?"

"Weiss, you're acting really… odd." Blake observed from the side. "You were really happy just moment before. Clingy even, since I remember you wanting for me to sit on that bean bag chair with you while we watched tv. What made your mood do a complete one-eighty?"

"Jaune's arrival?" Weiss motioned for the boy but it was clear that she was just trying to dodge the issue, and Jaune focused on his ability again- pointedly jaw-kicking the Shadow's rising urge to grab Weiss and run away which made him quite suspicious as the behaviour was quite different for the usually vicious and combat-centric part of his mind.

' _She's feeling… threatened? Uncertain and… uh… what is that?'_ Jaune blinked as he sensed a odd emotion that didn't quite fit into his experience. It almost reminded him of the night in Vale when Blake and Pyrrha had…

"Jaune, stop it! I can _feel_ your eyes roving over me!" Weiss's sharp, high-strung voice broke Jaune's thoughts, which was maybe for the best as he had figured out the emotion and it made him really confused.

"Weiss, are you… feeling horny right now?"

The ensuing silence was deafening- at least until...

"Salutations to you all!" A peppy voice echoed in SABR's dorm as the door opened with a wild swing. "I bring contraceptives as a welcome back gift!"

"Aeuh?" Weiss let a strange grunt that was somewhere between surprised and shocked.

Jaune blinked in confusion.

Penny Polendina blinked back as she stood in the doorway before tilting her head while holding a sizeable bag with Beacon's medical center logo plastered on the side of it. "Am I interrupting a intercourse about to happen? If so, may I join in? General Ironwood has ordered me to remain in close proximity to Jaune Arc, and to observe his every move."

"P-Penny, that's really not how… things work…" Ruby commented weakly from the floor. "We were just having a… conversation earlier. Uhh…"

"My sound sensor- erm, ears indicate that the room has been quiet except for breathing from three individuals for the past two minutes!" Penny chirped happily while helping Ruby back to sitting position as she had flopped over on her back when Penny had burst in through the door. "I believe that you are mistaken!"

"W-well, there was a bit lengthy pause in it so I guess…"

Weiss shook her head to break out of her shock and sent Jaune a _really_ cold look. "Mr. Arc. We'll have to continue our conversation later. Penny, how have you been? What brings you here?"

"I've been fantastically alright, miss Schnee!" Penno waved at Weiss despite having moved within touching distance of the girl. "Don't let me break up your conversation though! I enjoy watching fellow humans copulate!"

"Hnrgh." Weiss let out a strange grunt as she seemed to suffer a momentary stroke before rebooting. "Penny, if you are going to be around for a while we're going to have to work on your vocabulary. I swear you're doing that on purpose."

"My vocabulary libraries are one hundred percent verified and ready to adapt to new data!" Penny struck a salute. "I mean… I am ready to learn new words!"

"Just… Nevermind. I am really not in a state where I can deal with this." Weiss grumbled as she turned her back on the rest of the team and Penny.

"Is it because you're horny? Jaune, do you think you could help her with that?" Ruby asked as she looked back and forth between Weiss's back and the rest of the team, resuming the uneasy silence while the room froze completely still, again, with the exception of Penny tilting her head curiously while bobbing up and down on her heels.

"R-Ruby…" Jaune stammered while Ruby blushed completely red. "D-do you realize what you're saying?"

"I mean… Port told me just before you were released that… that… uh… that you were really tense and that… uh… you needed some way to release that t-tension?" Ruby tapped her forefingers together in way that made her look both cute and _really_ uncertain as she sat on the floor. "So uh… I figured that if you… uh… 'helped' Weiss it'd be like hitting two Nevermores with one stone?"

"I… I don't know what to say." Jaune confessed.

"Ruby, are you feeling alright?" Blake asked as she put her hand on Ruby's forehead. "...I'll go get some ice."

"I'm okay!" Ruby protested as Penny put her hand on Ruby's forehead as well.

"Miss Rose, your cranial temperature approximation shows high heat levels. Are you ill? Do you need me to install a cooling unit in your head?" Penny chirped in her normal cheerful but somehow creepy way. "I can send for medical staff. We have spare cooling units, anesthetics and neural connectors ready!"

"No, no, it's alright, please, no need for augmentations… and Penny, you can call me Ruby like all my friends call me." Ruby waved her hands around to stall both Blake and Penny, albeit with far greater with intensity directed towards Penny whose fingers were creeping towards her pocket, assumably reaching for a Scroll.

"Friend Ruby, like how your friends call you?" Penny's eyes widened almost comically to resemble neon-green saucers. "Does that mean we're officially friends?"

"I mean… sure?"

"Fantastic! I will be looking forwards to many friendly intercourses with you, friend Ruby!" Penny grabbed Ruby's hand and shook it vigorously before dropping on her knees and hugging Ruby, causing the latter to let out a squeak.

"...What happened to Ruby?" Weiss asked Jaune as the two of them exchanged a glance.

"I don't know." Jaune confessed while Ruby and Blake were dealing with Penny, or rather were trying to pry the energetic ginger-haired girl off Ruby before she accidentally snapped the petite red-clad girl in half. "She said something about Port, I think? Anyway, are you really alright, Weiss? I'm sorry for intruding your privacy but I can tell your mental state is a mess.""

"Your healing… changed something. Added something." Weiss's tone carried slight hint of hostility. "I understand you did it to save me but… I don't feel like _me_ anymore. I remember everything, feel the same things as before, but there's this constant nagging need to be… I don't know, together with something."

"Together?"

"Like ever-present half-panic attack that can only be aided by presence of one of our teammates. I tried to hug Winter when one of the panic attacks got really intense but it didn't help, and only succeeded in causing Winter to worry more about my health- more than she was already." Weiss sighed and rubbed her stomach around the spot where Jaune remembered sinking his hand during his experimental healing process. "And there's this slithering… _feeling_ , like there's something inside my body. Something foreign, but the doctors told me that the images they took showed nothing but normal organs. I… I'm scared. I don't want this."

Jaune glanced at Blake who was still busy wrestling with Penny, with now-nearly unconscious and foaming-from-the-mouth Ruby as prize. "Do you think we should relocate to speak more privately? Possibly after stopping… well, whatever they are doing?"

"No, that was just… just my thoughts about the matter." Weiss recollected herself whole hiding her shaking hands, albeit she couldn't hide her dilating humanlike pupil or paling skin. "But about your first observation, there's a grain of truth to that. When you walked into this room I started feeling… hot. Really hot, and the feeling of loneliness that I had experienced before came back harder than ever, and I… I don't want that. I don't want that to dictate what I think, and…"

"Weiss, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened." Jaune reached to pat the back of Weiss's hand as Weiss's breathing grew more labored. "The treatment was experimental, but I'm sure we can undo the side effects in time. You're good at analyzing my Semblance, right? You did it before when I was still getting into grips with my Semblance in the first place, so as long as we're around to help you cope with the side effects, surely we can learn to overcome them!"

"Right… True." Weiss turned her hand and grabbed his in hers, squeezing it so hard it hurt but her breathing started to grow more stable as she held to it. "Just… don't think too much of this."

"What, of holding hands?"

"Yeah. It's just to calm that need. Nothing more." Weiss sent a glare at him although she blushed slightly. "Chisel this into your thick skull. This. Is. Just. Professional. Need. Nothing. More."

"I can live with that."

A loud clank broke the two of them off their conversation and they turned to see that Blake finally won the Beacon Dorm Championship wrestling gold-match as she held her barely conscious prize above her head and was standing victoriously with one leg over Penny's stomach, having apparently pulled a full-on piledriver on the ginger girl while the latter had been distracted by Ruby's last-ditch move of telling Penny that Blake wanted to be her friend too.

"Are you three done?" Weiss asked while lifting her eyebrow and sighing as Ruby pulled a 'teehee' expression by putting her knuckles against the side of her temple and winking. "Really now."

"We have completed our friendship initiation sequence and are ready to perform friendship operations!" Penny chirped happily while striking a salute, which was somewhat impressive considering she was lying on her back. "Friend Blake, Friend Penny and Friend Ruby are ready for action! Show us our target, no retreat, no surrender, no 'sorry but I have headache today honey's!"

"What was that last one?" Blake asked warily while lifting her leg off Penny's stomach and offering her hand warily at the ginger-headed girl while letting Ruby down.

"A normal but strong defence firewall intended to block advanced close combat actions, but it shall not block us or our male chickens! Together we drive the train through the tunnel and emerge victorious if slightly sticky!"

"Are you sure your wrestling match didn't knock few screws loose in her head?" Weiss asked Blake, ignoring how Penny claimed that all her nuts and bolts were secured tight.

"Anyway… Uh, Ruby?" Jaune tried to move the conversation forwards but Ruby had spotted that he and Weiss were holding hands and had pulled her Scroll out in order to take a picture. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking a picture, Weiss and Jaune are finally getting along!" Ruby gushed. "This is a historic moment, I'm going to have this picture printed and framed!"

"Right…" Jaune decided that he didn't want to know more and pushed onwards. "Should we talk about what happened in Glenn?"

The chaotic, cheerful mood in the room seemed to dim down after the word of the dead city left Jaune's mouth, with the exception of Penny retaining her ever-present and almost disturbing cheer.

"We've… been talking. I think we're mostly over it… I guess. Penny, if you don't mind, this is a bit private conversation so..." Blake opened the conversation while sending a meaningful look at Penny, who didn't seem to get the hint. "Do you... happen to have something to do?"

"My primary mission is to observe mr. Arc!"

"...Could you give us some privacy?"

"Certainly! I shall listen to the conversation from outside the room!" Penny chirped before nodding at each of them and walking out of the room and based off the sound, walking to the dorm-room Winter had commandeered.

Blake sighed as she walked beside Jaune and sat down. "Right, anyway… About Glenn. It's just, well, it came a bit out of the blue. We knew it was likely we'd run into missions that go bad at some point and I've seen my share of death but Glenn… well, it wasn't nice either way. When Weiss got wounded I tried to take control of the team but it didn't really work and the stress made me crash."

"We've talked about it though." Weiss noted. "No-one blames you for it, and without your scouting expertise we would have likely passed Luna's hidey-hole and we wouldn't even have one survivor from that place."

"Yeah… thanks." Blake showed a rare smile at Weiss and her cat-ears twitched slightly to indicate that she was pleased while she leaned on Jaune's shoulder. Ruby huffed as she had been sitting on the floor and rose up, walked up to Jaune… and sat on his lap, causing Weiss's eyes to widen almost comically and Blake to lift her eyebrow.

"Can we like, not talk about that right now? We just got back together." Ruby pouted as she adjusted her position slightly, causing Jaune to blush and Blake to let out a quiet hiss before she reigned herself in. "I mean, I think we still have bunch of sweets and other stuff, so perhaps we should just sit down and well… watch something together or do something like that."

"Ruby… No." Weiss's words caused Ruby to freeze up. "Listen. I've seen how you're coping with Glenn. You're hiding, and you're going to break eventually when the memories surface at bad time. I think we should talk about it… and you should too."

"What is there to talk? We went to Glenn, everything went wrong, there were b-bodies and blood everywhere, just another day in the work." Ruby turned away from Weiss, causing Jaune to look down at the two of them in concern.

He nodded at Weiss, at Blake and got two confirmation nods back… and the three of them promptly hugged Ruby. "Ruby, it's alright. We're here."

Problem was, Ruby _wasn't_ in the mood to be hugged, and once she heard the words she turned into a storm in a teacup trying to escape the hug. And just as strongly as Ruby was trying to get away, the rest of them held to her. "Let go! I don't need this, I'm _fine!_ "

"Ruby… Listen, we're here for you as much as you've been there for us." Weiss muttered to Ruby's ear while squeezing her against her chest, which forced Blake to dodge a wildly flailing arm from punting her in the face as Ruby protested blindly to her surprise imprisonment. "You can let it out. We've been there, we know you're hurting."

"I… I'm not, I'm okay…" Ruby's voice was muted, although Jaune couldn't tell if it was because of Weiss's words affecting her or because her face was currently mushed somewhere between Jaune's chest and Blake's breasts, and the fact their limbs had tangled together while attempting to hold onto Ruby wasn't helping. "I just… It just… I just wanted to save people…"

"Ruby, they White Fang would have killed us if they were there." Jaune tried to note, but both Weiss and Blake sent him a warning look and he shut himself up quickly.

"But the workers were civilians…" Ruby took a somewhat shaky breath, and even without seeing Jaune could tell that her eyes had started to waver. "We… couldn't save them, and the bodies were… were…"

"Shh… Ruby… We were there too. We saw them too. Or what was left of them." Weiss mumbled to Ruby's ear and started to cradle her back and forth, sending the motion through their somewhat awkward group-hug. "They died before we had even arrived. We did what we could, we even saved Luna."

"But if we… if we hadn't taken the mission, if actual second-year olds had taken it, they could have moved faster, perhaps... " Ruby hiccupped little, and Jaune realized what was causing Ruby's distress.

' _She's blaming herself for letting the civilians in Glenn die, and probably blames herself that civilians in Vale died… because of me.'_ his eyes widened a little and he tightened his hug around Ruby instinctively. ' _...Figures. In retrospect that's very Ruby-like thing to do… She's still too innocent, too good of a person…'_

"Ruby." Jaune mumbled quietly to her ear, ignoring the warning look Weiss sent him. "Remember what our mission was in Glenn?"

"W-we… had to scout and… rec-recon around it?"

"If a 'real' second year team had encountered what we did, would they have stayed to fight them hybrids? Tried to defuse the bomb in the metro? The mission was to just look around and report back what we saw, and avoid fighting." Jaune reminded her. "The second years wouldn't have stopped to save Luna. They wouldn't have even helped her group survive the Grimm attack even if they had been there in time!"

"B-but… Hunters are supposed to help people!" Ruby's voice grew more certain, more intense as she lifted her eyes to meet his, stout determination in her gaze… and the look hurt Jaune as he realized that he needed to make Ruby realize.

"Ruby… It's like how Cinder said: Hunters are soldiers against Grimm, not protectors of people." Jaune hesitated before continuing. "Hunters need to survive to strike against Grimm, to ensure the beasts aren't there to harm the people… even if it costs lives of few innocents to do it. Plus how many would consider White Fang innocent? At best they'd think that the Grimm were doing their job for them."

"I… I don't like it. That isn't what… that isn't what Hunters are about!" Ruby challenged.

"That's what it is… but what we did back in Glenn broke us away from that mold. We _saved_ Luna. We interfered, we broke our orders… with best intentions, even if many died in Vale as indirect result." Jaune countered.

"The metro had a bomb. Jaune, you told us that there was someone else on board the train who set it off- if you hadn't been there to stop it from reaching Vale, the casualties would have been even higher. Maybe even enough to cripple Vale. And that person _would_ have sent it on its way at some point, if Cinder's words about Emerald are true." Blake noted quietly as she looked carefully between Jaune, Ruby and Weiss, judging their expressions with her cat-ears up in alert. "Granted, those casualties that resulted when Jaune entered Vale could have been avoided, but wanting to save us, and Cinder as well, is hardly Jaune's _fault_ even if it backfired."

"Wh- what are you s-saying then?" Ruby's voice grew muted again as she lowered her head and Blake cradled it against her chest again. "A-are you saying we…"

"I'm saying we did what we could. We rebelled against our orders… and as a result, we prevented a _lot_ of civilian deaths that would have resulted if we had just picked some first-year mission and let the 'experienced' second years do it." Jaune told Ruby. "What we saw there, the bloodshed, the horror… they wouldn't have done anything about it. Reported, logged, sent for even more skilled Hunters to mop up to avoid risks and wounded on their side. We did all we could."

"I… Yeah. We did…" Ruby muttered as she seemed to deflate. "I… I just can't get the way those _things_ moved out of my head. The faces on them… the faunus, they looked like they were in so much pain…"

"We set them free." Blake muttered to Ruby's ear while rubbing her back.

"As someone who got wounded and apparently nearly turned into one of them, yeah, unless Jaune managed to somehow heal them I'd rather be dead than live like that." Weiss's tone was dry but she joined the petting of Ruby to cheer her up. "And before you ask, I doubt Jaune could have 'healed' them when they were so far gone _or_ could have even tried, considering the circumstance."

"I… I'm sorry…" Ruby's voice sounded faint and teary. "I…. I just wanted everyone to be happy and… we did what we could but…"

"No buts." Jaune said as he hugged Ruby tighter and Ruby tied her arms around Jaune's waist in return. "We did what we could and even more. Perhaps even more than we could, considering how close Weiss came to death. Sometimes… that's enough to save some, but not everyone."

"I… I get it." Ruby sighed shakily.

"We should probably do what you said earlier though. Just to wind down and relax together. Team movie night, volume two anyone? We can probably ask Winter to send a bot to gather us some snacks." Weiss said as the team detached from each other, even if somewhat awkwardly as the tangle of limbs had turned to be somewhat difficult to undo without accidentally hitting someone or something. "Maybe a bit lighter snack load would work though since we already ate like, full bucket's worth of candy and soda earlier today. Vegetable sticks and flavored sour cream dip maybe?"

"I can go get some, no need to bother Winter." Blake said as she lifted herself up, but before she managed to move to the door her Scroll let a 'ding' and she brought it up. "Uh… Nevermind. Penny already sent a bot to fetch the snacks. Is she listening right now?"

The Scroll let a beep and Blake sighed. "Yes, yes she is.".

"..." Weiss's eyes narrowed and she brought her Scroll up and typed a message for Winter. Few seconds later she got a return message that said Winter had told Penny to quit eavesdropping.

"Y-yeah. Right… Movie night sounds good." Ruby used the chance to grab one of Weiss's handkerchiefs use it to dry her half-dried tears and sneeze the rest out all the while remaining in Jaune's lap. "T-thanks… I think I needed that talk. A bit."

"You're part of us. We take care of each other, hm?" Weiss lifted her eyebrow but couldn't quite stop herself from blushing a bit.

Ruby hiccupped, which probably was just her disguising and dispersing another emotional moment under the rug, the image which was further reinforced as she turned towards Jaune while wiping the corner of her eye with a clean spot of the handkerchief. "But... Jaune, are you alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Port said that you were really tense and needed unwinding when we got you out." Ruby said as Weiss moved her bean bag chair to the middle of the room and pulled few spare pillows and blankets from the room's wall closets in order to form fluffy 'chairs' for the rest of the team. "So um… if you want to talk or do something, we're all here now?"

"I was just thinking of things. About what I wanted to talk to Qrow about." Jaune sighed and rubbed his temple. "I learned some… concerning things about him and Ozpin."

"Can you _stop_ being vague like that?" Weiss asked. "That is incredibly irritating, you know."

"Sorry. It's just that… Qrow knew what happened to my sisters all along. And chose not to tell me." Jaune suppressed a growl and instead turned Ruby around so she faced him, allowing him to calm himself by looking at Ruby's eyes and letting the freezing sensation caused by her eyes to spread through his body. The feeling let him focus and calm himself as he spoke and he went through the recording found in Qrow's Scroll in Glenn.

As a result, Ruby froze on his lap and Weiss dropped the pillow she had been pulling from the closet, and Blake stopped poking the suspicious bag Penny had brought them.

"He did what?" Weiss's voice grew cold. " _She_ did what?"

"I should have known that they would collaborate, being a sister and brother." Jaune growled and Ruby flinched.

"I… I'm sure uncle had a good reason…"

"Ruby, what good reason could that be?" Weiss asked to stall Jaune's own question for Ruby. "I know you like your uncle, but let's face it, he's not exactly a role model."

"I… I think he… I think he didn't hold the information on purpose…" Ruby denied weakly. "But… Didn't you say that Raven had captured your sisters? What Ozpin said?"

"Come to think of it, that's a good question. _How_ do you know Qrow is lying to you?" Weiss paused to lift her eyebrow at Jaune.

"I… well… Cinder told me that."

"And you consider her a trustworthy source." Weiss's tone was bland as she did a one-eighty on her tone. "Even after she _killed Ozpin_ and _blew up the top of Beacon tower?_ "

"Well… she had the recording Qrow had taken of his and Raven's conversation." Jaune pointed out. "I'm not trusting her words, I'm trusting the recording."

"And I'm sure she gained it via legal, not-manipulative means?"

"She… broke into Qrow's Scroll." Jaune felt sweat form on his brow as Weiss turned the tables on him. "She had a good reason, or so she told me. Her… uh… lover had been kidnapped by Qrow and Ozpin, and was held in Ozpin's dungeon."

Weiss blinked. "Her lover… had been kidnapped by Ozpin. And held in his dungeon."

"That's what she said."

"Did you also eat mushrooms off the walls? I realize the apartment we stayed in wasn't exactly up to health and safety standards but come on…" Weiss sat down on her makeshift bedsheet-couch. "Have you ever heard that woman's... Raven's voice?"

"Uh… really faintly, once, back when Shion was raided but I can't really tell anymore…" Jaune felt sweat gather in the back of his neck as his body temperature rose in relation to his brain trying to overclock itself so he could think more clearly.

"And let's assume Cinder had access to state-of-the art firewall breaker programs needed to break into someone's Scroll…"

"Uh…"

"And let's assume for a moment she may have access to editing software also. How difficult do you figure it would be for Cinder to change few words so she could rile you up?" Weiss asked. "And the next question, why would Cinder drive you berserk on purpose? Did she need a distraction or something?"

"...Jaune, did you see if Cinder did anything to the bomb in the metro train?" Blake seemed to realize something. "It… it's sort of odd, don't you think? You go out of control, Qrow is so drunk he _can't_ wake up and as a result we get separated from our teacher- leaving Cinder as the only real guide for the team."

"I don't buy the 'too drunk' explanation. Uncle's been _way_ more drunk than he could have been with what booze he had with him, and he's been completely fine." Ruby noted. "He would need to down entire barrel of booze to get so smashed he couldn't wake up."

"So in other words, he must have been drugged." Blake noted and motioned for Weiss to speak as she looked like she had realized something. "Cinder and I took care of cooking that day- she could have slipped something to Qrow's food."

"I imagine Cinder intended to take the leading spot in the team, being the older student, but something went wrong. Something caused her to begin growing those wings and lose consciousness once we reached Glenn's underground complex." Weiss said slowly.

"...Cinder was really desperate to get herself into the metro train once we rescued her from within the tunnels." Blake noted as Weiss didn't seem to have much more to say. "Could that be her angle?"

"I'll take your word for it, but what are you saying Cinder tried to do there? Activate the bomb?" Weiss asked somewhat suspiciously. "I'll play the devil's advocate here, and wonder if Cinder had genuinely wanted to defuse the bomb by entering the metro?"

"More like send it towards Vale. It's all starting to slot back together... Don't you think it's odd that Roman Torchwick _knew_ exactly when the metro would break the barrier, a tunnel entrance that hadn't been in use for tens of years, _and_ had his troop of misguided White Fang with him?" Blake started to pace back and forth the room. "What if she deliberately manipulated Jaune so he'd become unstable and go berserk? What if she was looking for a excuse to slip off so she could rejoin her old teammates? Not to mention that the only reason we took this mission was because she picked it- and she picked _this_ mission specifically, without consulting us more than to inform us of her pick."

"Cinder was almost killed by Emerald and by whatever Mercury had become, I doubt she was deliberately trying to lure us down so she could get kidnapped and… Hold on." Jaune blinked as a shadowy, disconnected memory of two forms, one with green hair and tanned skin and other with pale skin and dark hair being tangled against the surface of his throat, before flash of green steel pierced the pale form. "No, nevermind. My memory from the latter part of Glenn is… uh… patchy"

"What does that mean?" Weiss asked while narrowing her heterochromic eyes in annoyance. "Can you start making sense?"

"I think the hit from the bomb in Glenn-Vale tunnel knocked something loose in my head. Some memories I have don't really make sense." Jaune confessed while feeling sweat gathering on his forehead, and masked his nervousness by getting up and sitting beside Weiss on the blanket-couch. ' _Damn… I haven't told them that I sort of absorb memory fragments from people I eat… I absorbed part of Mercury's memories, or what was left of them when he got merged… or rather, when he grew into that Grimm Worm. Not to mention that I have odd loss of memory of the moment I woke up in Glenn tunnel after the bomb went off...'_

"Are you sure you don't need to go visit a doctor?" Blake asked with concerned voice as she read a message she had received on her Scroll. "By the way, has someone given Penny my number? She keeps sending me messages."

"Same. I think she got them from somewhere when we told her we'd be her friends." Ruby sighed and waved her own Scroll that showed three hundred and two unread messages.

Blake sighed and walked out of the dorm, and returned few seconds later with a tray full of cut vegetables and dip. "Penny sent me a message saying that a Atlesian combat bot had finished its mission and was ready to deliver 'choice rations' to the dorm, I found three of them waiting outside the dorm corridor door with enough food to last over weekend. Anyway, Jaune, Weiss, you two should probably dig in while we talk." she explained as she put the tray down between them.

"I'm fine…"

"Weiss, I can _see_ that you're getting hungry again." Blake noted with dry tone as she sat down beside Jaune. "And Jaune, you're radiating so much heat I could swear I see wisps of smoke rising from your head from time to time. Eat something, calm down, and I'll open the window to let some cool air in. If you heat things up a bit longer this room might turn into a sauna."

"Right…" Jaune was secretly grateful for the interruption Blake had provided on their talk as it gave him time to gather his thoughts. '… _Could it be true though? That Cinder was lying to me to manipulate me?_ ' "There's one more thing. Why did Qrow have the base of that conversation in the first place? Ozpin told me that Qrow had been searching for Raven but hadn't managed to find her yet."

"...That doesn't add up either." Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Could it be that Ozpin was deliberately keeping things from you?"

"It's not like we're going to get answers for that now." Blake noted. "Ozpin's dead."

"Yeah... but why would he lie to me?" Jaune asked as he tried to calm himself. The fact he could look at Ruby's eyes was helping his attempt to keep himself level-headed, but the heat he radiated as his body as it was trying to transform but wasn't allowed to wasn't making the self-control easy, nor did help the fact he was starting to get a pounding headache from the mixture of heat, his brains trying to think and Ruby's eyes freezing him at the same time.

"...Do you think he might have wanted to manipulate Jaune?" Blake asked somewhat carefully while glancing at the direction of Winter's temporary dormroom-slash-office, reminding that while Winter had forbidden Penny from eavesdropping, the fact she _could_ somehow do it made the room not exactly good for talking about sensitive subjects. "Or just tried to keep the information until he could provide the entire story to Jaune at once?"

"I don't know…" Jaune sighed and rubbed his face. "I'm tired. All I wanted was to get help and training from Beacon, and then go save my sisters… but all that's happened so far has been people trying to manipulate me or hinder me in some way. After all this time all I know is that my sisters who got caught in Shion are either dead or alive, possibly violated and abused either way, and no-one is willing to help!"

"Jaune." Ruby touched his arm and Jaune looked down to see that his arm had turned black, grown jagged, vicious looking spikes like if his spine-darts had grown _out_ of his skin instead of growing inside his arm, all the while his fingertips had grown sharp-looking curved scythe-like nails. "Jaune, please…"

"I… I'm sorry. I got agitated." Jaune's hand shook a bit as he focused on his Semblance and pushed the transformation back, causing color to return to them and the bone-spikes started sizzling and disintegrating while their more organic cores melted back into his body. "I'm sorry…"

Ruby gulped, clearly frightened by the outburst but she hugged him nonetheless, and Jaune hugged back. "I want to go to Mistral, I want to rescue my sisters, but… I don't know how. Ozpin told me if I tried to just go and start looking around Mistral I'd either never find them, I'd find them and die by Raven's hand, or I'd likely cause my sister's deaths as well if she figured that I was after them and decided to clean house before I could do anything. And that's assuming my sisters are even alive after two years of captivity."

Blake reached to hug Jaune as well, and even Weiss put his hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"For what it's worth… I'm willing to go with you once the time comes." Blake told him quietly. "To Mistral, I mean."

"I'm coming too!" Ruby volunteered as well. "I mean, it's obvious, duh? We're in this together. One for all, all for one sort of thing, right Weiss?"

Weiss sighed. "Fine. You three need someone who can think rationally anyway. It's not like you're going to find a bandit operation by hitting a Grimm with a stick and asking for directions. We should probably get more people though, or see if we can snowball Jaune's ability more so we don't end up like Jaune's sisters."

Jaune froze.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm just being realistic here." Weiss was quick to clarify her words. "We aren't playing a video game. We'll get only one shot at the rescue operation, and we're against bandits who have been doing this for years, possibly generations. Bandits who are capable of dealing with actual, experienced Hunters. Underestimating them and rushing in… well, I'll repeat what I said in Glenn. I have no illusions as to what might happen to our team's more attractive part if we get captured- and considering our Aura, I feel that our fate might be even more cruel than those of Jaune's sisters."

"Weiss…" Ruby's voice was a bit uncertain while Jaune's face darkened. "A-are you sure…"

"We saw how brutal this world can be in Glenn. Let's use that as learning experience and go forward while _planning ahead_ instead of running to face-check all the traps ahead of us." Weiss lifted her eyebrow at Ruby while patting Jaune's chest to break him out of his new mental Raven-directed murder-rampage. "That's what I meant."

Blake sighed. "I'm supposed to be the broody moody one here."

"Uh huh, but I'm the half-Grimm here. I'm allowed to be a bit negative now. Moreover, I consider myself rational above all else." Weiss snarked. "Convince me otherwise."

"What am I then?" Jaune asked, mostly out of curiosity to redirect his train of thoughts. "I thought I was the half-Grimm of our team."

"You're the walking talking tentacle monster-slash-living war-crime of our team." Weiss lifted her eyebrow at Jaune while putting her arms out from the second group hug of the day, squeezing the four of them into a tight compacted ball of Hunters-in-training. "Right, want to lighten the mood up a bit? I'm getting a bit tired and we can continue this conversation later."

"Yeah… It's not like Qrow is around to answer anyway. I heard from Port that he's gone to go take care of a errand outside Vale and should be back in week or so, and is going to be out of Scroll network until he comes back." Ruby noted as the group hug began to disentangle and they re-discovered the tray of snacks Blake had brought in, which soon became quite bit emptier than it had been upon arrival as the team dug in. "Anyway, uncle Qrow should have some answers about Raven, so we should probably just sit and try to recover from Glenn, and get back in shape so when he comes back… well, I'm not sure if we'll end up going to Mistral next, but we should at least prepare for the possibility."

"Yeah. Sounds good." Jaune nodded, feeling re-energized as the path forwards became clearer and the team pledged to come with him. "Beacon's out of session for now because of the instability in Vale and Beacon anyway, so getting a permit to leave for a mission in Mistral should be fairly easy."

"You're thinking ahead and considering our lives _after_ the rescue operation?" Weiss sounded impressed and she clapped her hands slowly. "Good job."  
"I have some neurons in my head, you know." Jaune snarked back. "Granted, I can probably count them with one hand but still, a broken clock tells right time twice a day."

Ruby chuckled a bit at the exchange while pulling up her Scroll as it let a faint 'ding' sound. "Oh, I'll be back soon. Yang wants to talk."

"Don't be too long or we'll pick the movie without you." Weiss waved at Ruby as she stepped out of the dorm. "Right, movie night part two. What are we going to watch?"


	45. Preparation

"Yang? What's up." Ruby asked as she walked into team RYNN's dorm across the corridor and saw that the room was in a complete mess. Pyrrha and Ren were packing a sizeable backpack while Nora was pulling clothes out of the closets and dressers and tossing them to the approximate direction of the two, all the while Yang was putting aside a pile of what appeared to be travel clothes, probably so that they could be put on before going out. Yang had black clothes, which sort of made sense since she had come straight from a funeral so the odd colour didn't faze Ruby much, Pyrrha had her ever-present long gloves, stockings and she was wearing a warm-looking sweater with skirt, and Ren and Nora were both clad in matching pink and green cargo pants and sweaters, which probably weren't the best clothes for physical activity since Nora was starting to push sweat as she went through the drawers like tornado made of arms.

"Rubes, I'll be away for next few weeks." Yang said with enough subtlety to cause blunt force trauma as Ruby came into her view. "Can't tell why, can't tell where. Super secret stuff, but I'll return soon."

"Uhh…. why can't you tell me?"

"Because it is a secret." Yang sighed while tapping Ruby's nose with her forefinger. "I'll tell you later if I can, but think of it like a... special training camp, taking place out of country. My Semblance's kinda eh… temperamental right now and needs some fine-tuning."

"Is it like one of those 'super training courses' in movies? Are you going to mountains to learn the secrets of marital arts from Mistralian special flying super-monks with awesome haircuts? Learn to create Aura-spirit bombs?" Ruby gushed and Yang reached to grab Ruby's face and stretch it a bit.

" _Martial_ arts. Not marital. Completely different things Also, Dust-powered super-monks are just movie thing." Yang pinched Ruby's cheeks with both hands to drive the message. "But yeah, it's gonna be something like training in seclusion. My Semblance needs some special training to get upgraded and reach its true potential, or something like that."

"So Cool…" Ruby's eyes practically shined with excitement. "Can I come to help you with it?"

"No, not really. it's a solo, specially tailored training kinda thing, but thanks for offering to go with me even if you did it to try to get some 'super-training' yourself. RYNN's coming with me as protection and company though." Yang let go of Ruby's face and it returned to its earlier shape. Yang used the time that took Ruby to recover to grab a ball of fur from her backpack before Pyrrha accidentally buried it with clothes and offered the ball to Ruby. "Anyway, I just wanted you to know I'll be away for a while. Also, it's your turn to take care of Zwei, at least until I come back."

Zwei let a small 'arf' before licking Ruby's face, and she grabbed the dog from Yang and gave it a hug. "Oo, who's a good boy, yesh you aaree…"

"I got a message detailing the departure and is going to be a bit abrupt, no reason given, so sorry if I didn't tell you earlier since I didn't know either. The departure was supposed to be in like, two days, but it got pushed forwards for some reason." Yang said as she hugged Ruby, carefully avoiding crushing Zwei in the process. "Love you, lil' sis."

"I love you too." Ruby muttered back as the two of them pulled apart, and she noticed something very odd that made her do a double-take.

Yang had tears in her eyes.

"Yang?"

"Wha? ...Oh." Yang asked with completely normal tone before reaching to wipe her eyes, gaining surprised look as her hand came out wet before wiping the rest of the tears off her eyes. "I… I guess I got a bit emotional, somehow. Sorry."

"Yang, is everything alright?" Ruby asked. "You don't cry. Like, ever. I think the last time I saw you cry was when mom was reported dead..."

"Well, I… I've been practising, yeah?" Yang tried to sound cheerful but failed miserably as Ruby saw right through it, and by the looks of it, so did Pyrrha, Ren and Nora as they stopped their pack-up 'helping' to look at their teammate. "Wha… It's just a bit of salty water. Nothing important, my eyes must have been irritated."

"Yang…"

"Alright, it has something to do with the training." Yang caved in under Ruby's concerned eyes, making even more alarms ring in Ruby's head as Yang was most definitely _not_ someone whose stubbornness over secret held could be undermined by a pair of sad puppy-like eyes and a pair of actual puppy eyes. "My Semblance has a… addition. A new power, almost, and it's affecting me badly, making my mood swing like pendulum. I need to learn to use it before i can continue my training in Beacon or I'll end up kissing someone silly, bawling my eyes away and then punching someone really hard in the face all in the span of few minutes, or something like that."

"We asked about it as well, and although we know the general idea, we don't know the specifics either." Ren came into the conversation. "We were told that there was a good reason behind keeping it secret, and since the information came from trusted source, we won't ask either. Although I'm not certain how the training will work if we are present yet can't really witness it."

"We'll crush that problem when it lifts its ugly head!" Nora proposed her 'solution', and Ren nodded calmly at his childhood friend. "Yeah!"

"Unfair! I want to come too… urg…" Ruby let a strangled noise as her desire to stand beside Yang conflicted with her promise to stand beside Jaune. "I… I…"

"It's alright. Didn't you say you had some things you had to do on your own?" Yang asked as she put her hand on Ruby's shoulder. "We knew that we would likely get separated from each other eventually, even as far back as when we initially came to Beacon. Heck, the fact we're roommates is already fairly good lottery as is."

"I… guess…"

"I'm actually a bit proud, you know." Yang noted as she pretended to wipe tears from her now-clear eyes while patting Ruby's shoulder. "Small innocent Rubaby is already having her own social circle and her own duties to her friends and comrades… If only mom was here to see her little girl growing up…"

Ruby blew a raspberry at Yang.

"No, but really. I'll be alright. _We'll_ be alright. Just… focus on recovering from Glenn, yah? That hellhole would affect the best of us, and your team didn't come out of it without scratches. And neither did you, even if none of them were visible." Yang's tone turned serious. "I'll have to go through my Semblance's quirks on my own. The best way you can help me is to get well, get your head in the game, and get ready to put your effort in studying when Beacon resumes its classes."

"Yeah, we've done something like that in the team, you know, group therapy-hugs… Still, be careful Yang." Ruby reached to pat Yang's shoulder in turn.

"I'm _always_ careful. See? The face of good forwards planning and long term strategy!" Yang flashed a smile while pointing to her face. "Hit something hard enough and whatever that got hit is going to be far more careful in the future, will be far from me, and will have long time to plan its strategy from the hospital bed!"

"Right…" Ruby sighed. "Well, don't let me get in the way of packing up. I'd offer to help but I have a feeling Nora might pack me into the backpack as well if I got too close."

"Actually, I'll have to go. I'll be back soon." Pyrrha said as she paused the packing up. "Nora, can you throw my stuff here too? Carefully, please."

"Sure!" Nora called back as she was 'compressing' her backpack contents with her unfolded Magnhild.

"Uh… on the second thought, nevermind. I'll do it myself." Pyrrha stepped away from her backpack and Ruby returned to SABR's dorm- or would have, had Pyrrha not stopped Ruby before she was about to open the door to her dormroom.

Ruby blinked in confusion at Pyrrha, and Pyrrha seemed to struggle to find the right words for whatever she was about to say. "Ruby… Don't worry about Yang. She's going through a stage in her ability development, and I promise we'll keep her safe."

"Ah." Ruby blinked. "I mean… thanks. I'm sure Yang can keep herself safe too but it's nice that you three are there to help her as well. Where are you going?"

"Shade Academy, officially."

"Officially?"

"Well… uh, that's actually classified."

"So it _is_ a secret mission after all." Ruby's eyes narrowed.

"Something of the sort. We really can't talk about it, I'm sorry." Pyrrha clearly realized that she had blurted something she shouldn't have and covered her mouth with her hands.

"Relax, I'm not going to ask anything else. Just… be careful as well." Ruby sighed. "And _I_ got told I'm a blabbermouth…"

"Um… right. Anyway, the actual reason I stopped us for was regarding Jaune. Team RYNN will be gone for some time and…"

"Actually, Jaune got released just now and is in the dorm." Ruby interrupted Pyrrha. "We were having our eh... gang-is-back-together-talk just earlier and it cleared a bit of air between us. Sorry, I should have known you wanted to see him too."

"Ah, it's alright." Pyrrha blushed a bit. "I was just… well, we're actually in a sort of hurry and since we'll be separated for some time after getting separated for our missions already, I just wanted to say that if… um… actually, this is really embarrassing…"

"Yeah?"

"Well… I kind of wanted to just ask if you were planning on having… physical interaction with Jaune when he got released?" Pyrrha tapped her gloved forefingers together all the while blushing redder than her hair. "I realize I've been away from him, from 'us' for a while now because of our teams taking different missions, but I kind of want to spend time with him as well."

"Didn't you two have some time together when he was locked up?" Ruby tilted her head. "I mean, the three of us all got permission to meet with Jaune."

"I meant… erm… in more physical sense."

Ruby blinked in concern as she saw small strands of steam rising from Pyrrha's hair, before her words sunk in and Ruby gained her own steam cloud over her head

And also because she may have had similar thoughts once or twice, and the things Port had told her about Jaune's mounting 'tension' hadn't helped.

Ruby blinked as she realized something. "Actually, when is your flight leaving?"

"In… five hours I think?" Pyrrha glanced at her Scroll. "Yeah, five and half hours actually."

"Oh, good, I figured… well… you see, we could perhaps, you know, use the time efficiently?"

Pyrrha looked at Ruby, Ruby looked at Pyrrha, and the two of them promptly suffered core meltdown as Pyrrha realized what Ruby had implied, and Ruby realized what she had implied to Pyrrha.

"W-what about Weiss?" Pyrrha stammered after a moment of the two of them heating the corridor with increased facial temperatures. "I mean she's… well…"

"Do you two realize I have this entire corridor monitored?" A third voice caused the two girls to quite literally jump out of their boots, or slippers as it were, before turning towards the source of the voice.

Winter Schnee was looking at both Ruby and Pyrrha disapprovingly from the entrance of her commandeered dorm-room, although the look was somewhat diminished by the fact she was wearing somewhat comfortable looking white and gray off-the-shelf pajama over a combat-designed skinsuit that came all the way up to her throat. "And as to whatever you're planning, please leave my sister out of your depravities."

The disproving image was further shattered as a ginger-haired girl poked her head out of the Schnee Specialist's office-dormroom at approximate height of Winter's waist and Penny waved cheerily at Ruby. "I have camera systems ready in case you wish me to film your intercourse! I heard videos have very good money-per-effort return values and so would give you more spending money! Free profit with gropes? Grope-profit? Grofit!"

Winter blushed a bit, grabbed Penny's head and pushed her back into the dorm. "Please ignore her."

"Right… well, uh… we'll see what happens." Ruby gulped, glanced at Pyrrha, Pyrrha glanced at Ruby and the two of them backed away from Winter very, very carefully and slipped into SABR's dorm while avoiding making sudden movements or breaking eye contact with the woman.

… And the two of them saw that Blake had opened the bag that Penny had brought into the dorm and also that the black-clad girl was currently holding a ammo-belt like string of condoms in the air while Weiss looked at the items in horror and Jaune was looking at them in confusion, freezing the scene into some sort of awkward pose.

The door closing behind Ruby set the group in motion.

"Uh." Ruby commented.

"Erm." Pyrrha confirmed.

"T-those…" Weiss stammered.

"Wait…" Blake blinked.

"Girls?" Jaune summarized. "Are you alright?"

"No" "Yes" came from four mouths at once at varying tones, leaving the five of them looking at each other trying to spot who had answered what.

"W-where did those come from?" Pyrrha finally asked, before rubbing her temple and focusing on Jaune. "H-hi."

"Hi Pyrrha!" Jaune waved back. "I think Penny brought that bag in. Are those hers? She did leave in a hurry so she might have just forgotten them."

Weiss seemed to breathe easier upon hearing his words but at the same time her eyes widened in realization. "Oh… Oh, so _that's_ why her vocabulary is so odd."

"Why?" Blake asked, clearly missing the connection.

"What kind of girl might need a whole bag full of… _those_?" Weiss motioned towards the bag. "What kind of activity would need enough contraceptives to last entire Atlesian Battleship's worth of sailors over weekend at port?"

"That's… weirdly specific." Pyrrha noted before blushing even harder as the connection hit her.

"Are you saying Penny is… uh, in the entertainment business?" Jaune asked somewhat carefully.

"She did mention that um… intercourse videos are paying well these days." Ruby blushed a bit as she grabbed the bag from the floor. "I'll… You know, I'll just… return these to Penny. Before she needs them."

"R-right…" Blake offered the string of condoms to the girl and Ruby opened the bag so Blake could put it in… and also chose very deliberately ignore the sight of all the _other_ items in the bag. Unfortunately Ruby forgot to compensate for her curious mind, and for her equally blabbermouth habits.

"Uh… what are those black beads on a string used for?"

"Er…" Blake blushed and snatched the bag from Ruby's hands quickly. "I'll go return this myself."

"Um… well… it's nice autumn weather, right?" Pyrrha re-opened conversation awkwardly as Blake hurried out of the dorm and headed straight to the adjacent dorm.

"Yeah…" Jaune confirmed about as awkwardly, causing Weiss to sigh heavily.

"We were about to have a movie night with our team, but if you and team RYNN want to come too you're welcome. Just bring more blankets and pillows so we can sit." Weiss motioned for Pyrrha to come closer and sit down.

"Ah… Sorry, but unfortunately I don't have time for that. We're going out for a new mission soon, but since our mission in Vacuo went without a hitch it won't be a problem outside repackaging our gear. In fact, it might even be welcome change as the mission in Vacuo was… well… somewhat monotonous" Pyrrha rejected the offer gently. "I was just here to tell that to Jaune and uh… well…"

"And?"

"Um… Well… talk in private?" Pyrrha blushed and Weiss blinked as she realized what Pyrrha was implying, and Ruby blushed by proxy.

"Oh."

"So um… "

"So what's the mission?" Jaune asked curiously, while missing the point of the ongoing conversation by a mile.

"Oh… just helping Yang train her Semblance, nothing serious." Pyrrha waved her hand. "There were some complications with her ability that we're going to correct, but most of that's personal info."

"Oh yeah, I understand. Still, it's nice to see you before you leave for the mission." Jaune nodded knowingly. "So… what was that other thing you came in here for?"

"Um… Well… Ruby?" Pyrrha's resolution seemed to fail at crucial moment and she turned towards the smaller girl. "C-can you repeat what you told me at the corridor?"

Ruby never had the chance though as Blake walked, or rather, slumped back into the room with the suspicious bag still in her hand. "Uh… I tried to return these but… it seems like Penny had brought these here, intended for us, and by order from Glynda Goodwitch. Penny admitted to having added few... things as well, she called them 'housewarming gifts', whatever it means."

"Wa- waha- what?!" Weiss squeaked. "What? Are you saying _Headmistress Goodwitch_ sent us a bag full of contraceptives?"

"Seems so." Blake lifted her eyebrow at Jaune all the while blushing brightly. "Do you know anything about this?"

"I… may have explanation." Ruby whispered and the entire room turned towards her. "P-Port told me that… well… Jaune's been really tense so he needed to unwind and suggested… that kind of physical activity in order to 'release.'"  
"But… I'm not tense?" Jaune blinked, but was promptly ignored.

"Are you saying Port told us to literally _breed_ with _Jaune?_ " Weiss let a sound that was between half-shriek half-squeak, causing Ruby, Blake and Pyrrha to lift their eyebrows at Weiss's choice of words. "To calm him down?! What about _our_ mental health?! No, even past that, _why the hell_ would Port suggest _that?!_ "

It seemed that Weiss's indignation was largely ignored as the three other girls exchanged a look, while Blake's ears had gone completely rigid while one of them fluttered occasionally.

"You are _not_ considering it." Weiss said as she noticed the wordless communication happening in front of her. "No way."

"Weiss… Uh... Jaune?" Ruby blushed a bit as she tapped her fingers together. "Uh… do you mind if we change the movie night plan?"

Weiss let a growl before crawling up to Ruby and hugging her close to her chest. "Fine, you three can commit your… depravities but Ruby's not participating!"

Ruby blinked. "What?"

"You're too young!"

"I'm legally adult!" Ruby protested. "Weiss, don't worry about me, I'll be alright… um?"

Her words died midway through as she saw the panic Weiss had on her face. "Weiss, is everything alright?"

"No, I mean, yes, sort of… Argh, fine." Weiss let a strange series of voices before finally grabbing Ruby's face and turning it to face her fully. "I can't believe I'm going to do this in a circumstances like these, but…"

"But?"

"Ruby, I… I… I like you!"

"I like you too." Ruby replied instantly. "But what does that have to do with uh… this?"

Weiss opened her mouth, slack-jawed, closed it and sighed as she seemed to realize something. "Ruby, I meant 'I like you the way you like Jaune.'"

"Like… Oh." Ruby blinked. "Wait, so you… oh."

 _..._

Weiss waited with held breath.

Ruby practically heard Pyrrha, Jaune and Blake freezing completely still behind her.

"Um?" Ruby tilted her head at Weiss in order to confirm what her ears and her head told her. "Like… like in a boyfriend-girlfriend sense? But like, girlfriend-girlfriend sense?"

"Y-yes." Weiss blushed.

"Oh! Do you like Jaune too?" Ruby asked, feeling excited as her previous plans seemed to rush to completion without too much friction. ' _Yes! We can be super best friends, the whole team coming together!'_ "This is so cool!"

"Wait, what? No, I mean, sort of, but… Ruby, I'm talking about us, not about Jaune!" Weiss stalled and her eyebrow twitched as she talked about the boy.

"We're here too." Blake's dry voice seemed to break everyone out of their stupor and Weiss turned to look at the rest of the team. "So, want to include us in the conversation too? You know, since it _kind of_ involves us as well."

"Well…" Weiss seemed to be lost for words, but Ruby nodded conspirituality to the white-haired girl and turned towards the rest of the team.

"Guys, let's add Weiss to the… arrangement we have!"

Weiss sputtered.

Pyrrha froze.

Blake blinked and her ears twitched suspiciously.

Jaune tilted his head in confusion, before the words seemed to connect and he blushed bright red. "Wait, like… into our relationship?"

"Ruby?" Pyrrha asked in a somewhat ominous tone. It wasn't quite hostile, but for some reason her words caused Ruby to feel existential terror inside her stomach as she looked at Pyrrha's face. "I'm sorry, but why?"

"I mean, we'd be full gang that way!" Ruby hugged Weiss and turned her towards Pyrrha. "We'd be like full team of super best friends with benefits!"

"I... Just…" Pyrrha's expression seemed to waver, and Jaune put his hand on Pyrrha's to calm her down. "Jaune? Are you okay with… this?"

"We should probably do what we did earlier- think calmly and consider all opinions before we do anything… Weiss?." Jaune turned towards Weiss. "So… what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking about submerging my face under ice-cold water, and perhaps repeat the act with miss Rose as well." Weiss breathed in and out in calm, deliberate manner as she tried to keep herself calm, all the while she was on the verge of hyperventilating if the goosebumps she had on her skin were any indication. "Jaune, I'll be frank. If this… idea that Ruby has is what has to happen, I… can take it as a compromise. But I'm 'in' just for Ruby. Not for you."

Jaune tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"Think of me, as you, with Blake, Ruby and Pyrrha, as Ruby." Weiss lifted her eyebrow.

"Are we talking, or are we negotiating over a pound of meat in the market?" Blake asked, clearly getting annoyed by the way the conversation was progressing. "Listen, we're already in this bizzare… arrangement-type thing with Ruby and Jaune and Pyrrha, and as far as I'm concerned… you're welcome in as well, Weiss. But… let's just be careful so we don't end up breaking what our team has become over it."

"Do I get a say in this?" Pyrrha challenged. "I realize you four are a team, but… don't just _walk_ over me!"

"Sorry." Blake conceded. "But that was just what I was thinking. I didn't mean it as ignoring your opinion, it's just that… well..."

"That you're a team? That you can spend as much time together as you want all the while I'm the one left out?" Pyrrha's tone was cold, before she realized how odd her outburst sounded coming from her of all people, and she shook her head to dispel the ominous expression that had overtaken her face. "I… Sorry, I shouldn't have…"

"No, no, you're justified in your anger." Blake sighed. "If we want to be equals in this relationship… well, Ruby, Jaune and I are on the same team so naturally we'd have more time to spend amongst each other. It's not like we can just change that somehow."

"Ah… Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I didn't want to accuse you, I wasn't thinking straight. I'm just… something just snapped. I'm so sorry." Pyrrha reached to rub her face. "This is just… so frustrating. When is this going to end? Are we going to have _everyone_ in this arrangement?"

"Well… not _everyone_ persay…" Ruby fiddled with her skirt but Pyrrha wasn't buying it.

"Ruby, you want to add Weiss into this… whatever relationship 'thing' this is." Pyrrha noted "Just.. who else are you going to be introducing? Yang? Weiss's sister? Headmistress Goodwitch perhaps?"

"Er, Yeah! If she wants, I mean..."

Pyrrha and Weiss looked speechlessly at Ruby.

Weiss managed to shake off the shock first though, and took Ruby by her shoulders and gave her a small shake. "Ruby, no!"

Ruby and Weiss looked at eachother. "Weiss, what do you mean, no?"

"I… I just… I'm…" Weiss struggled visibly to find the right words. "I'm in just for.. just for…'

"Weiss is only 'into' you, Ruby. And let's just ignore that… suggestion just now." Blake intervened before the awkward loop could restart and addressed her latter words to Pyrrha. "And Weiss has no real interest in Jaune, unlike the rest of us, right?"

"Uh… sort of... No!" Weiss confirmed, however It didn't seem to assure Blake as she tilted her head while her cat-ears waggled suspiciously. Even Pyrrha gained somewhat doubtful expression.

"Weiss, are you… completely honest?"

"I am!"

"Didn't you just say you got horny when Jaune walked into the room and almost immediately afterwards start holding hands with him?" Blake lifted her eyebrow while Ruby and Pyrrha blushed.

"That was Jaune! Jaune said that, and… well, I did hold his hand, but _that was purely professional_!"

"Professional hand-holding and blushing."

"It was for medicinal purpose only!"

"Holding hands is medical treatment now?" Blake's eyes narrowed. "Do you need Jaune-vaccinations as well?"

"Grrhhh…" Weiss let a impressive growl to match Blake's sceptical tone. "Just what are you after? Are you trying to keep me away from Ruby, or are you trying to get me to hitch with Jaune?"

"I'm trying to do what Jaune did, and go for the solution that leaves all of us happy, optimally happier than before, as unlikely as that sounds." Blake's tone was neutral and she pointedly ignored Jaune's back-and-forth looks between Weiss and Blake. "I've known you for few months only, yes, but I can tell you're not a bad person, Weiss, even if your interactions can be a bit cold and bitchy from time to time."

"...Thank you?"

"You're welcome. But what I meant to say is that I somehow doubt you'll realize what you are feeling right now and are rushing it. Didn't you take almost what, a full month before coming to terms that you _might_ like Ruby?" Blake turned towards Ruby. "Yeah, I knew Weiss's feelings beforehand. I didn't tell you because I wanted to let Weiss come out of the closet on her own terms and tell it herself."

"I am not in a closet! There is no closet involved!" Weiss squeaked indignantly. Pyrrha was wobbling back and forth while rubbing her nose bridge between her palms, clearly suffering from headache even though Jaune was rubbing her back reassuringly- but it was clear to Ruby that unless things moved to some direction soon it was likely Pyrrha would likely snap again, even if she would likely apologize profusely afterwards.

"So, Weiss kind of likes Jaune and likes me, and… uh, do you guys mind if Weiss is in our 'thing' as well?" Ruby tried to wrap the conversation up. "I mean… well... "

"I'm okay with it." Blake voted, and looked at Pyrrha somewhat hesitantly.

"...Sure." Pyrrha tried to put a smile on her face as she attempted to visibly regain her calm. "I mean… I'm sorry if I sound needy, but do I really have a choice?"

"...Jaune?" Ruby turned towards the boy who had gained a uncertain, guilty expression.

…

' _It's happening again.'_ Jaune felt dread build inside his stomach as he looked at Ruby's cheerful expression, all the while the scenario the Vacuon Hunter had detailed was happening in front of his eyes, and under his arm by extent as he realized on both visible and instinctive level what Pyrrha was feeling- and she was _not_ into the arrangement despite what she said. ' _The social pressure… Pyrrha feels like she's forced into this relationship mess, with no option but to accept or lose…'_

Jaune steeled himself for what he needed to say. "I'm sorry, but I can't."

Ruby's expression dropped. "J-Jaune?"

"I can't, no _we_ can't force this situation. Pyrrha, I know you don't approve of this. You need not pretend otherwise if you don't like it." Jaune turned to face the surprised redhead Mistralian girl. "You can be honest about it. The thing about our… arrangement is that we all should be honest with each other. If Pyrrha's hurting because of this… we shouldn't do it."

"B-but..." Weiss let out a strange sound and closed her mouth while Pyrrha's expression lightened and a genuine smile lit her face. Ruby looked disappointed, and Blake's ears had drooped down and both had gained slightly ashamed expressions.

"So…" Ruby looked between Weiss and Jaune, the former of whom was still in Ruby's hug. "But, Weiss… But can't we…"

"No, wait!" Pyrrha reached to grab Jaune's hand. "Hold on."

"Pyr?"

"Wait." Pyrrha put her hand over Jaune's mouth and took a deep breath. "I can do this. I'm sorry for that display, Weiss, I was just… overwhelmed by all of this. I realize I reacted like how Blake reacted when I originally suggested this arrangement between the three of us."

"This whole thing was _your_ idea?" Weiss's eyes widened before she shook her head. "No, wait, nevermind."

"Still, I'm surprised that you are so willing to let Weiss in like this, Blake." Pyrrha noted and Blake shrugged. "You were pretty heavily against the idea in the first place."

"I have fought side-by-side, bled side-by-side, and I have known Weiss far longer and far better than I knew you when we initially kicked off this whole relationship." One of Blake's cat ears rose up curiously. "It's… making the thought easier. No offense, but if I'm honest I still don't know you all that well, Pyrrha, at least considering what our relationship should be."

"True…" Pyrrha agreed. "Still, we can make this work, I think."

"Pyrrha, are you really alright with this?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah… You were willing to call this whole thing off because you saw how I felt." Pyrrha squeezed Jaune's hand. "And it's not like this is your idea originally anyway. The least I can do is live with my choices, and I don't particularly dislike the idea of Weiss being with Ruby and well… possibly with you, as long as I'm in as well."

"D-does that mean…" Ruby's voice was weak as she looked back and forth between Weiss, Blake and Pyrrha. "Are the five of us a thing now?"

"Five…" Weiss let a tired groan. "Just what am I getting into? Also, as Jaune said it, we need to be honest. And for that, I need to say that I'm..."

"You're in for Ruby, mainly." Blake filled for Weiss. "We get it. I'm in for Jaune, and I'm fairly sure same applies to Pyrrha, but I can't really say for Ruby."

"I mean, I guess I'm in for everyone?" Ruby tilted her head in confusion.

Weiss answered by hugging Ruby back and sending a wary glare at Jaune's direction. "Remember what we talked about earlier."

"What, your medical condition after the treatment?" Jaune asked. "The odd feeling of heat and need to be together with something whenever I'm around?"

"Yeah. I'm in for Ruby, but whatever that might happen between you and me because of the condition is just because of professional need and only until a cure is found." Weiss turned to explain the post-treatment condition she had to Pyrrha as well who was looking between Weiss and Jaune with confusion in her eyes as she didn't know about the issues with Weiss's physical condition.

"So… we're a thing now, with Weiss added in, I guess?" Ruby half-stated half-asked Jaune as she detached from Weiss. "Um… are you mad?"

"No, no… Why would I be?" Jaune asked somewhat tiredly as the situation seemed to wind down without major casualties in either emotional or physical scale. Blake flopped over on her back on top of the blanket-couch in the background and Jaune turned fully towards Ruby. "More importantly, are you okay?"

"Wha- me?" Ruby tilted her head at Jaune. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"I mean, Weiss confessed to you and you agreed to be her girlfriend?" Jaune asked. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Uh… I'll be fine, I guess?" Ruby blinked in confusion. "I didn't really think about it but it's not like I don't like being around Weiss… But… uh, are you alright if you have to um… share me with Weiss? Or is that a thing?"

"No, it would be hypocritical for me to object after what's been going on." Jaune sighed. "I mean, you're sharing me as well, sort of."

"Should I pick a movie or something?" Blake asked while lying on her back. "I'll go ahead and speak for everyone and say that we need something else to think about for a while."

"Um, normally that would sound good but I'll have to go back to my team soon and pack up." Pyrrha glanced at her Scroll as she adjusted her spot on the blanketed floor next to Jaune. "Our team's next mission, if we can call it that, starts in... four and a half hours and we need to be ready in the airdock with all our gear by then."

"Oh… right." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "Do you need help packing up?"

"I'll manage." Pyrrha sighed. "I did look forwards to spending some time with… well, us, but…"

"I understand. Yang needs your help." Jaune nodded. "Once you come back we should talk more about everything and anything."

"And… and perhaps do something too." Pyrrha blushed furiously before grabbing Jaune's shoulder, leaning in and placing a quick kiss to his cheek. "Um… sorry?"

Jaune blinked before returning the kiss, landing it on Pyrrha's cheek and she hesitantly returned it on his lips, trapping the two of them into a loop of back-and-forth kisses until Pyrrha pulled back, her face bright red and positively steaming while Blake was looking at the two of them with a predatory look in her amber eyes.

"Is… is that really necessary?" Weiss shuffled somewhat awkwardly as she positioned herself between Ruby and Jaune, and Ruby looked curiously at the scene as Blake seemed to prepare herself for a pounce.

Pyrrha tapped her fingers together. "W-well, most of my gear is packed up so… um…"

Jaune replied by leaning closer and kissing Pyrrha again, but this time tying his arms behind her back to keep her from backing away, and in response she slid her hands between the two of them and rested them on his chest as they sat on the blankets partially covering the floor.

...

"Uh… Weiss?" Ruby peeked past Weiss's back and tried to crawl past her but Weiss effectively blocked her by drawing her into a hug, and for a moment Weiss seemed to hyperventilate with her eyes wide as saucers until Ruby looked at her and she calmed down… and kissed her. "Mmmph?"

Her question didn't go past Weiss's lips, but Ruby wasn't fazed and instead shrugged mentally before reaching to stroke Weiss's head while taking in the softness of her lips and trying to ignore the odd, slightly awkward feeling of kissing another girl- although soon Ruby had something else to think about as Weiss pulled Ruby on her lap and made Ruby straddle her, causing the two of them to flop down on the blankets covering the floor.

Ruby noticed that Blake had joined Jaune's and Pyrrha's kissing match, and made an effort to detach from Weiss in order to join it… but Weiss was having none of it as she reached to hug Ruby from behind when she managed to crawl over her, and Weiss pulled Ruby on her lap again, this time with her back against Weiss's chest.

Weiss's hand reached to caress Ruby's breast while other made its way under Ruby's skirt and rubbed her inner thigh, making the red-clad girl blush furiously. "W-Weiss…"

"Ruby…" Weiss mumbled to her while nibbing Ruby's earlobe- but it seemed that Ruby's 'plight' was noticed as Jaune pulled back from the tangle-hug he had on Blake and Pyrrha in order to lean towards Ruby and kiss her on the lips.

Weiss let a squeak as she saw it and turned Ruby's head towards her so she could kiss her as well.

Ruby let a odd, muffled sound as Jaune kissed her chest while running his hand down her side. "J-Jaune!"

...

Blake let a small mewl as Jaune focused his attention on Ruby before turning his head back to kiss Blake as she pushed her chest against his shoulder, nearly toppling him over. Blake's body shuddered and Jaune glanced up to look for the reason, and saw that Ruby had partially detached from Weiss and had started nibbling Blake's cat-ears while rubbing the black-clad girl's butt with her free hand. The combined caress was causing Blake's thought process to rocket straight to clouds if her expression was anything to go by, or the way her tongue lolled out of her mouth was any indication.

Pyrrha was clearly feeling a bit possessive though as she crawled over Jaune and sat directly on his hips, sending a hot, tightening feeling through his body as he felt his excitement getting the better of his rational self. It seemed that Pyrrha approved and was likely feeling the same feverish heat as well as her eyes were cloudy and she rubbed her thighs against him, causing his pants to become even tighter in response to the soft flesh rubbing against his manhood.

A soft moan escaped Pyrrha's lips, but the ones that would have followed it were lost as Blake hugged Pyrrha tightly and kissed her, making Jaune lift his eyebrow at the sight before he realized that the ear-licking must have _really_ flipped Blake's switch to lewd mode and beyond- not that Pyrrha seemed to mind as hers was likely as far gone as Blake's judging by how enthusiastically Pyrrha was kissing Blake back while grinding her hips against Jaune's.

Not wanting to be outdone, Ruby crawled over to Jaune and kissed him.

The two of them closed their eyes in order to enjoy the sensation more, allowing their hands roam over each other's body while trying to seek for way to sink their hands under the clothes and touch each other directly. Jaune tried to tie his arms around Ruby's shoulders as she pulled back, but as soon as he tried to pull her closer to him the kiss was interrupted and then resumed- but this time with a pair of hands patting his chest wildly and his kissing partner letting odd, panicked and muffled sounds.

Jaune opened his eyes and saw that he was kissing Weiss.

And Weiss's eyes were full of odd emotion that was a mixture of existential dread, horror, and that same strange lust-like emotion he had sensed form her before.

Jaune realized he was holding Weiss against his chest and had captured her arms under his, thus making it hard for Weiss to break off the kiss on her own.

"Mppph!" Weiss let a muffled sound that was most definitely _not_ a moan and Jaune let go of her so she could pull her head back.

Her arms had seemingly lost their strength though as she remained on top of him, and the two of them turned to look at Ruby who had a victorious yet mischievous expression on her face.

"R-Ruby?" Weiss asked weakly and Ruby reached to hug Weiss. "Did you… pull me on top of Jaune deliberately?"

"Mission accomplished!" Ruby gushed while hugging Weiss so hard Jaune could practically hear Weiss's bones creaking. "Weiss and Jaune are now officially together!"

"That's not how it works!" Weiss protested but didn't pull away from the hug, and instead pushed her weight on top of it to topple Ruby on the bedsheet and climb on top of her. "Naughty… I'll have to punish you!"

"Oh nooo…."

Jaune had something more pressing to think about than Weiss's faux-threats and Ruby's giggling as Pyrrha let a throaty moan, drawing his attention back to what was happening around his groin.

Or more specifically that Pyrrha had had undone his belt buckle and Blake was in the process of pulling his pants down while kissing Pyrrha's breasts.

"Hey Pyrrha are you done here because we really need to go- oh god, Oum, oh crap, sorry!" A new voice entered the dorm and Jaune catched a glimpse of yellow hair in the doorway before the dorm-room door slammed shut again, causing the next words to come through it to be muffled. "Just… sorry, but Pyrrha we really need to get ready unless you want to stay… there."

Pyrrha blinked.

Blake's cat-ears flipped up and down as she seemed to break out of her daze.

Weiss and Ruby were frozen completely still, with Weiss having her lips against Ruby's collarbone.

"Uh… So anytime now. Just say something alright?"

"I'm… I'm coming!" Pyrrha panicked while her face took in the colouration of a ripe tomato, half because of embarrassment and likely half because of frustration and she tried to get up but her legs seemed to have lost their strength, causing her to flop over on the floor. "Yang, I'm coming!"

"N-no need to tell me that…"

"No- not that way! I mean, I'm coming there, sorry!" Pyrrha waved her hand at the door. "Guys, I'm really sorry but…"

"Yeah, you have to go." Blake sighed while flopping on her back on top the blankets "Right…"

"Really sorry about this…" Yang's voice was once again muffled by the floor but the embarrassment was clear in her tone.

"No, no, we should have locked the door." Weiss said as she rolled off Ruby and Ruby lifted herself on her elbows to look around the room in confusion. "Pyrrha, are you going to be alright?"

"Y-yeah, I think." Pyrrha stammered as Jaune rose up from the floor and helped her up. "I'll just… take a cold shower or something. Sorry Jaune."

"It's alright. We can continue when you come back." Jaune reassured her, causing Pyrrha to stare at him, before she almost passed out when the words and their meaning registered in her head. "I mean. if you want to…"

"I'd like that, yeah." Pyrrha mumbled before opening the door and Jaune helped her to guide her into team RYNN's dorm- although after Pyrrha pulled Jaune's pants back up with her free hand. "So… see you soon?"

"Yeah." Jaune kissed Pyrrha's temple. "See you soon."

"And uh… if you want to continue with the others, I don't mind…" Pyrrha added quietly before closing the door, although Jaune catched a glimpse of victorious-looking Nora, neutral-looking Ren and Yang who was stuck between having a massive cheshire-cat grin and embarrassed blush.

"Right…" Jaune looked to the end of the corridor, caught a glimpse of sky-blue eye staring at him through a partially opened door, and decided to quickly return to SABR's dorm before Winter decided if she needed to intervene or not.

"So… want to continue?" Ruby asked as soon as Jaune closed the door, causing Blake's ears to shoot back up and Weiss's blush to re-spread on her face.

"Sure."

* * *

Cinder woke up once again, this time feeling far more energized and more complete than she had before.

She realized that she had been moved somewhere as the tub she was in was far larger, large enough to fit perhaps a Beowolf, and that she felt her body far better- more than better, in fact, she could feel _everything_ in and around her body.

Cinder lifted her arm up from the black mass lazily, watching as the black goo slid off the pale white skin of her arm like water off a swan's feathers, and pulled her other arm off the goo as well to caress her new limbs. She saw few black veins moving inside the pale skin, but it didn't bother her too much, as it made her feel like she was closer to her adoptive mother- Salem.

"Enjoying your bath?" A familiar voice asked, and Cinder looked up to see someone she _didn't_ want to see.

"Watts." Cinder narrowed her eyes at the tall, lanky man with short-cropped dark grey hair and thick black mustache. "A bit of privacy, perhaps?"

"Privacy has its time and place. And unfortunately for both of us, I was told to stay by your side until you woke up." Arthur Watts commented while giving her a small, mocking bow. "As you are now awake, my lady, may I suggest you listen to what I have to say instead of focusing on the irrelevant?"

"So?"

"Salem has requested to see you as soon as you wake up, if your highness is feeling up to it…" Watts dodged a splash of black goo Cinder threw at the man. "Or if you want it, we can play it that way. In that case, if you are quite done playing in the pool, we can go see your mother."

"Grr…" Cinder sent Watts one more glare before lifting herself up from the tub, ignoring the look the man sent her way, and taking the bathrobe he offered her. "Tell me where she is. I know the way."

"I'm certain you do, but I was told to guide you in case you have any postoperative altercations." Watts denied. "It wouldn't be appropriate if you toppled over in the stairs and snap your neck after all the trouble Salem went to heal you. Now, come."

Cinder suppressed the desire to set the man on fire, mainly because she wasn't quite sure if she could even use her Semblance after 'regaining' her body. She also noticed that Watts had failed to provide her slippers, which she only noticed after the two of them walked the stairs up the Heart tower- while Blackstone was very good building material for its durability, it wasn't easy to smooth and even when smoothed had a bad habit of growing rough over time. As a result, not long after starting the walk Cinder felt like she was walking on pieces of glass but her pride wouldn't let her ask for shoes.

After few more staircases her feet had stopped hurting and had instead started to feel hot, making Cinder curious but she chose against pausing to see what was going on under her feet.

"Now then, I'll leave you two alone." Watts gave Cinder a small bow as the two of them came to a stop before a wide door that would lead to Salem's laboratories. "Do try not to become a walking hulk of mismatched meat, if you can. Cleaning up after your… well, surgery, was difficult enough without your parts trying to eat me alive."

Cinder blinked and filed the words into one of her mental archives before doing as Watts suggested, and opening the door.

"Ah, Cinder. I felt you waking up just now." Salem said as she rose up from her seat in front of her desk. "Come, let me look at you feet."

Cinder sat down on a chair Salem pointed at and offered her feet somewhat ashamedly to Salem. "Uh… there's nothing wrong, is there?"

"I felt your pain when you walked up. I'll have to exchange few words with Watts regarding hospitality, but this provides us with an opportunity. See?" Salem turned Cinder's feet to face her, and Cinder saw that the bottom of her feet had grown nearly solid pads, not unlike those of a Beowolf which was expected to move over rough terrain at ease. "It seems that your body still has a part of the strain I tried to remove from you, likely embedded into the third of your spine that I didn't dissolve and reconstruct. The strain is using your flesh and rearranging it to adjust to its surroundings, increasing performance at the cost of material."

Cinder felt as her foot warmed up again as Salem touched them, until the heat died down and she looked at her now-normal looking feet. "What… what is causing this?"

"A rampant strain of my Grimm material. I'll explain more as I learn more about it." Salem explained as she motioned for Cinder to rise up and follow her. "Speaking of which, I'd like to ask you about something."

"I'll answer if I can." Cinder said warily as she looked at the various experiments strewn and shelved in the laboratory while she followed Salem deeper… until they stopped in front of a heavily armored door which Salem opened. "Wait, that is…"

"I found… well, this, lodged in your stomach. I forced it to grow through my control over Grimm material, and the results aren't exactly as I expected. It refused to wake up though." Salem lifted her eyebrow at Cinder as she looked at a large, circular life support tube in the center of the room. "Do you have anything to say about this?"

Cinder's breath quickened as she looked at the form in the tube, and saw the distinct form of Jaune Arc in his Knight-form floating in the liquid within.

"This can't be good."

 **Next chapter: Soon(ish), expect within month**

 **A new arc begins!**


	46. Twin Frontier

Salem looked at Cinder.

Cinder looked at Salem.

The dread lady of Grimm, known as the True enemy of Remnant to some of her foes, a shadowy figure whispered only in children's bedtime stories to others, reached for a compartment in her desk, and pulled out a item which caused Cinder's eyes to bulge in surprise and horror.

And Salem pulled the cord of a confetti-popper, showering the space between the two women with glitter and coating the smoothed blackstone floor of Salem's extensive personal laboratory inside the Heart of the Shard Mountains- of Grimmlands.

"..."

Cinder stared at Salem.

"So, I suppose congratulations are in order. My apologies for… hm… premature removal of the baby and its subsequent growth spurt though. I didn't know you are… were pregnant." Salem bowed her head minutely at Cinder, making it clear that she was patently dishonest in her apology. "Forgive me. Sometimes embryos are difficult to tell apart from parasites, since the mechanics of the two are often quite similar at core. Who is, or was, the proud father?"

Cinder sputtered and blushed from head to toe in frustration as _all_ her plans simultaneously combusted in front of her eyes. "I- no! That's not- I mean…"

"My, my... I didn't expect grandkids this early. If you don't mind me calling him so, after all I consider you my lovely little daughter despite different blood." Salem reached to stroke Cinder's chin. "Perhaps I should have focused more on _preventive_ sex-ed when you were but a teenager? You certainly have taken your good looks and used them to effect before, but so far you haven't come home with a passenger."

"No!" Cinder pleaded. "That's...!"

"Relax. I am merely joking... You looked like you were about to suffer a stroke as you stared at our new guest…"

"A- ah…" Cinder breathed out as she held her hand on her chest, trying to calm her racing heart. "That… wasn't helping."

"Are you saying my jokes are not funny?" Salem asked and Cinder felt faint as she contemplated whether or not she should reveal the truth.

Salem muttered something dark to herself as she must have somehow realized what was going on inside Cinder's head and just waved the issue off. "Nevermind. Are you ready to talk about your mission?"

"...I am. Thank you." Cinder sighed in relief before bracing herself for the talk ahead. She explained to Salem what had happened before her arrival to Vale, her semi-failed attempt at the Fall Maiden's life and confronting Adam Taurus to arrange the temporary support of White Fang for her cause. She glossed over how she had tied Roman Torchwick around her finger, who had then build his reputation amongst White Fang and Vale under her careful leadership (Cinder had ignored Salem's remark about how Cinder had also given birth to Vale's newest 'superhero', and that she too had access to news), although bringing the news about the massive failure that had been the Grimm smuggling operation wasn't as easy, nor was the news over the destruction of the Dust smuggling operation in Vale- albeit the amount of Dust they had managed to steal and transfer over had been enough to build the bomb in Glenn. Cinder spoke about Schnee conspiracy, how it turned out to be fake front put to bait them, resulting in loss of Roman's stolen Atlesian mech- yet it had increased instability in Vale so it hadn't been a complete failure. And finally she moved on to the events of Glenn- and more importantly, into the curious case of Grimm shapeshifter whose clone Salem had found in Cinder's womb of all places.

"Your mission in Vale failed in its initial conditions, the Maiden is beyond our grasp, yet Vale is left in turmoil. More interestingly, you lost consciousness in Glenn after being infected with some sort of parasite separate from the one I gave you." Salem recounted. "This… 'Jaune Arc' can manipulate Grimm material to very high extent, or so you claim. He also used it to heal you, likely resulting in your mutations and your… pregnancy."

"Salem…" Cinder's tone attempted neutrality but didn't quite manage it.

"Oh, stop being so high-strung." Salem crossed her arms. "We are not in my throne room nor do we need to impress or intimidate someone with our presence right now. And if I'm being honest, your failure isn't as bad as you make it out to be."

"...Thank you?"

"Now, you said that the shape I have in one of the growth tubes in the secure labs is a 'knight', or rather, a shape of the individual called Jaune Arc?" Salem waved at the direction of the more secretive part of her laboratory. "We can gloss over the Maiden later. The Worm has redundancies in case of his 'death' and has likely secured the new host of the Fall Maiden deep under some rock and hid himself under some other rock, and will keep it that way at least for a while. Unless some miracle or act of carelessness reveals either of them to us, we should move our eyes to some other projects at least until Fall Maiden's new host grows careless like the previous one did. Moreover we know the location of one Maiden for certain and I have a hunch for the other two so we're not out of leads even though Fall is lost to us for now."

"We know the location of a Maiden beside Fall?" Cinder blinked. "I thought…"

"It was a somewhat recent reveal, but I chose not to pursue the lead aggressively for reasons I'm sure you'll agree with when the time to talk about it comes. But now, about this Jaune fellow… Do you have any ideas why _he_ was in your... womb... specifically?" Salem prodded. "Is he dead or somehow incapacitated elsewhere?"

"I'm not certain where Ozpin locked him, unless he killed him... or did anything to him, really. My memory cuts off at Glenn-Vale metro tunnel during the bomb explosion, and the next thing I remember is waking up in a steel coffin under Beacon. I'll just have to assume Arc somehow managed to get me out." Cinder told Salem. "I didn't see Arc nor did I look for him when I escaped. Should I have done so?"

"No, your decision was right, considering the circumstances." Salem waved her hand to dismiss Cinder's concerns. "Hm… Well, I have a theory about him. More like a hunch, if I'm being completely honest. Shall we go back to the lab?"

"...If you say so?" Cinder half-asked half-wondered and the two of them moved back to the secured lab where the Jaune Arc-clone floated in thick, clear fluid of a growth tube.

"So, let's see… Hm, this should do the trick. Cinder, step back if you would." Salem motioned for Cinder to step aside as she pushed her hand against the glass and tapped her finger against a holographic release icon that popped up, causing the glass tube to begin retracting back to its mount below while the oddly sweet-smelling amniotic fluid within was drained. "And now…"

Salem put her hand on the Knight's emotionless face-mask and closed her eyes… and when she opened them, they burned with bale light that caused Cinder to flinch and cower instinctively as the woman in front of her looked briefly _far_ more terrifying than the monster of bone and flesh Cinder had seen inside her head.

The moment passed as quickly as it had come and Salem pulled her hand off the mask, revealing a corroded, burnt black mark on the otherwise white bone- a mark shaped like Salem's hand. "Now then…"

The Knight let a grueling sound not unlike two stones grinding together and caused Cinder to hop back a bit while pulling her hand up in surprise. Before she managed to summon her flame-forged weapons, or even see if she could still use them, the knight flopped on its stomach on the floor in a way that made it appear almost defenceless and vulnerable. Black, tar-like blood flowed from a mouth-like opening that split the lower part of the mask in two, revealing rows of stained but sharp teeth. "I͝.̴.. Wh͜a͠t ha͏.́..̸ Wh̢e..̸."

"Wha-" Cinder started as the Knight lifted himself to a kneeling position and looked at his hand for some reason. However a quick squeeze of Cinder's arm silenced her almost immediately, and she looked at Salem who had grabbed her.

"Shh."

Cinder spared one more quick glance at Salem and saw that she had adopted her usual, regal posture, pulling her hands in front of her in a way that made Cinder think she'd be perfect with some kind of royal scepter on her hands, and her face became devoid of emotion in a way that any mortal queen would kill to be able to mimic.

…

Jaune was confused.

He was _incredibly_ confused.

The last thing he remembered was of fire and dust, of blood spilled on hard, shattered stone. Of a wounded form, lying in her own blood…

And of his hand, pushing itself into the wound to save… to heal.

And after that, nothing. Just feeling of tranquility, peace and slumber in warm darkness.

However something had clicked. Something had caused him to remember, to wake up feeling like he had been sleeping until a ocean wake hit him and smashed him from his sleep, tearing him off his warm bed.

And as he looked up from his hand, he saw a form of shrouded in shadow-like tendrils, burning, baleful eyes piercing his form- a creature that was a veil beyond which lied only madness clad in screams and whispers.

A brand, a mark burned in his face and Jaune focused on his mask, feeling the bone of his mask turn fragile and fall off his face as his Knight-form transformation began undoing itself, letting the excess flesh liquify and the armor of bones crumble until he lied naked on the hard, coarse stone.

"Who are you?" the dread shadow asked and Jaune looked up, _forced_ himself to look up with shaking eyes… and saw a pair of beautiful women looking down at him, one with deep, near-black brown hair, pale yet humanlike complexion and amber eyes, one with pale white hair and as pale complexion, framed by web of deep black veins and red eyes that burned like fire and pierced Jaune like a spear would pierce flesh.

"I… I'm… Jaune…" he groaned out as best as he could before he recognized one of the two women- or what appeared like her. "C- Cinder? Y-you're okay!"

Cinder blinked.

The beautiful yet dread lady turned towards Cinder and Jaune forced his Semblance to action, flash-forging his bone-blade from his forearm and lifted it towards the dread lady even as…

Bad idea.

 _Bad idea._

 _Stay away from her!_

 _S̴͘T̸̷̛́͢Ó͟͞҉P̷̡_

The sword's point shook visibly despite his attempt to keep it stable as the feeling of dread flowing from the pale woman caused rivers of sweat to form and stream down Jaune's face and neck- all the while his every instinct told him to lower the blade… but he kept the blade up nevertheless even if it made his stomach cramp and his every muscle to tense up. "S- stay away… from Cinder… don't hurt her!"

The dreadful figure blinked.

Cinder blinked as well… and snorted in amusement.

Jaune's sword shook even more, and the dread aura caused by the woman beside Cinder lessened slightly.

"Hmm. Well, it appears that my initial guess was correct. Stand up." the woman ordered, and Jaune obeyed almost instinctively. Or tried to obey, as the shaking of his legs made him fall back on his knees as soon as he tried to lift himself.

And it made him realize that he was completely stark naked. ' _Dammit, I… I was transformed to my Knight-shape, but it undid itself? How was I even transformed in the first place? Why am I here? Where is here? Wasn't I just healing Cinder after the… the metro train crashed? Where's… Glenn? Wait, Ruby, Blake and Weiss are still in the metro station… Weiss is hurt and needs to get to the hospital!'_

The dread woman looked at Jaune with curiosity, causing the intimidating aura to ease slightly and allowing Jaune to stumble back on his feet while gripping his bonesword. "Where… where am I?"

"You can barely stand. Put that sword away before you fall on top of it." The strange woman commanded. "Rest assured, that weapon will not be enough to protect you should I find that you have ill intent towards me. And for now, rest assured that I claim no ill intent towards you."

"I…" Jaune's grip tightened around the hilt of the blade. "I… can't. My team is in danger… Cinder? What's going on?"

"Jaune, she's not your enemy. _I_ am not your enemy." Cinder told him while motioning him to put away the sword or at least stop pointing it at the pale woman. "Trust me, you don't want to become _our_ enemy either."

"Quite." The woman motioned towards Cinder. "Introduce us."

"Jaune, my beloved teammate, may I introduce you Salem, the Queen of the Grimm, Shadow ruler of Remnant and the lady of the Shard Mountains." Cinder gave the strange woman a small bow. "Lady Salem, may I introduce you Jaune Arc, a Hunter-in-training and a shaper of Grimm-flesh."

"You have quite the impressive title, Jaune Arc." Salem noted as Jaune tried to gather his wits. "I would be most interested in finding out how you gained it. But I would be quite the disgraceful host if we gathered to converse while one of us is naked, weakened and disoriented. Watts!"

The creaking of a door accompanied a tall, lanky man entering the room that looked oddly like a containment cell or a lab.

"May I introduce Arthur Watts, our resident… specialist in things." Cinder motioned towards the man. "Watts, may I introduce Jaune Arc…"

"Yes, yes." Watts responded while bowing to Salem. "My lady, what is it you desire?"

"Please provide suitable clothing and food for our new guest. He is weakened, as you can see, and surely we can't allow a teammate of our dear Cinder to go about in so disgraceful state?" Salem made a motion with her hand towards Jaune. "Jaune Arc. I extend to you an invitation to stay and dine in my humble abode while you recover. It is an offer made in peace and without ill will or intent, and I advice you take it."

"I… stay?" Jaune blinked, flinching as Cinder's eyebrow twitched in annoyance over the simple 'answer' or rather, 'question' he to the queen of the Grimm. "No, I can't, Glenn, I mean, the rest of the team, they are still in danger, I have to go back and…"

"I assure you our mission in Glenn has concluded already." Cinder sighed. "I'm uncertain if the rest of our.. team... survived. It has been more than week since the Glenn mission ended."

"Wait, wait, so... " Jaune felt faint and the world swam in front of his eyes. ' _No, no… No, it can't be!'_

A mournful howl-roar echoed out from his throat as the world tilted and shifted in front of his eyes, and his back burst with pain as tentacles ruptured from his body to seek out and deliver vengeance… only to be frozen in place as the earlier dread locked him in place.

A half-smile half-smirk plastered on beautiful pale features hid a promise of terrible ruin from within as Salem smiled at Jaune- or rather, looked at him with smile that made him shake to his very core and shattered the will of his transformation.

"There's no need for that here and now. But thank you for demonstrating the ability behind your title. Regardless, whether your... team... is dead or not, all you can do for them right now is to live or join their ranks." Salem's words caused Jaune to shrink back as his transformation undid itself again, both from the intent behind Salem's words and from the pressure her presence inflicted on his mind. "Now, if you would…"

Jaune gulped as he looked at Salem's hand which was pointed towards Watts with her palm open, ordering him to go with the man.

Cinder sighed and rubbed her temple. "...Fine. Go, and I'll find out what happened to the others."

Jaune let out a sound that was half-relieved sigh and half hiccup as he heard the words. He nodded to Cinder, grateful for her promise.

Watts narrowed his eyes at Jaune and opened his mouth to say something, yet a small glance from Salem shut the man without protests or hesitation. "I'll find him… suitable quarters. Please follow me."

Jaune recognized that the latter part of the man's words were directed at him, and hesitated briefly as the emotion sensing ability of his was still somewhat active, and he focused on the emotions radiating from Cinder just to be sure if she was alright. He saw and felt the frustration mixed with adoration and fear Cinder felt… towards the pale lady. ' _Oh… Wait, fear. That's right, that woman is queen of the Grimm… whatever that means. So she must have somehow captured Cinder in the Glenn tunnel, right? That's the only explanation that makes sense... And she captured me as well. Somehow. Bah, I can think later. I need to find a way to grab Cinder, get out and...'_

"Also, please do not try to kidnap someone and attempt to run away. We're actually quite deep in the heart of the strongest Grimm stronghold in entire Remnant." Salem noted offhandedly, causing Jaune to flinch in surprise. "Of course, assuming you were planning such things…"

"Ah- um, n-no?"

Salem's expression darkened slightly.

"S-Sorry, I mean, yeah, I planned something like that but- uh…"

"Quite. I'd like to also point out that there are flocks of Grimm Wyverns outside the tower, so for your own safety I'd advise against attempting to walk away without an escort." Salem noted offhandedly before turning her back towards Jaune. "Cinder, stay. I'd like to talk."

Jaune spared one more glance at Cinder before turning to follow Watts, albeit a bit begrudgingly. It seemed appropriate as the man seemed to share his mood.

…

"Hmm. Interesting. Most interesting." Salem mused as the laboratory's doors closed, leaving just Cinder and Salem in the room. "Yes, indeed."

"Please elaborate?" Cinder asked while rubbing her face exasperatedly. The whole show had been both awkward and shameful for the flame-caster as the sight of severely weakened and delusional Arc trying to hold a 'conversation' with Salem would likely never leave Cinder, even if the boy _hadn't_ been stark naked with his family jewels dangling out during the whole 'talk'.

' _Serves me right for warning mother of his ability, and pointing out possible danger he poses to her and the entirety of Grimm… and using it to cover up for my failed mission in Vale…'_ Cinder thought while mentally tearing her hair from her head. ' _So of course the first thing he does when the he meets with Salem is wave his sword around like toddler waves a stick, and fall flat on his face without a strand of clothing about… What was I thinking? That he'd pose himself as credible threat? Actually, how did he even wake up? Or be here?'_

"Now now, the meeting wasn't that bad." Salem's voice shook Cinder out of her thoughts. "You need not be upset."

"Right…" Cinder ignored the fact Salem had divined her thoughts once again in order to move onto the issue at hand. "What happened just now?"

"I took my theory and applied it to a practical situation." Salem noted, apparently pleased with herself for some reason. "Sorry, I'm being vague again, aren't I? Essentially all I did was to take an existing hm… 'signal', replicate it, and direct it at our new resident. I'm quite surprised that it worked though. He and I must have more things in common than I thought, and if you want to be afraid and upset of something, be of that thought."

Cinder's eyes widened.

"In ability, not in… general lack of decorum, lack of class, and lack of clothing. Cinder, please think with your head, not with your hips. It seems my treatment wasn't complete if you keep behaving like this. Do you perhaps need another bath?"

Cinder let out a embarrassed hum at Salem and frowned at her own lack of concentration. "I'm sorr- I mean, no, thank you." She corrected herself mid-sentence as Salem lifted her eyebrow.

"Anyway, the creature I took from you grew into him, and I used a duplicate signal to wake him up. The signal is a safety system I have in some of my Grimm creatures." Salem clarified as she started to walk out of the lab and motioned for Cinder to follow. "I'm certain you know this already, but I can't be killed traditionally."

"Yes, if someone slays your body, you'll regenerate elsewhere." Cinder noted. "You told me that when you trained me… that feels like so long ago now."

"Don't say that, you'll make me feel older than I am." Salem's tone was light and Cinder breathed easier as the two of them made their way to her quarters in the blackstone tower- her quarters being luxurious complex of baths, archives and trophy rooms, bedrooms and recreation rooms alongside the dreaded room of archives, or as Cinder called it, 'the paperwork room' from where Salem sent her orders to her proxy network across Remnant.

Cinder knew the quarters well, since Salem had let her sleep and spend free time in them during her younger years- back when she was merely teenager. And also later in her life when she had been introduced to the 'paperwork room', much to her dismay and pride.

"Cinder, I know you prefer talking with me when I'm acting casual. So now that we've accommodated mr. Arc, you can drop the official act and act more naturally." Salem told Cinder as she led the two of them to the archive.

"Yes."

"Now, regarding your question about waking our new guest up… I merely tried to replicate the signal my death triggers on Grimm- the ones that have the seed of my renewal." the Queen of the Grimm said casually as she sat on her chair at the end of a long table she used for her administrative paperwork- something that Cinder had been introduced to as well, and she took a look at the towering pile of papers with same familiar dread. "I amplified its intensity of the signal while reducing its range to contact. It seemed to have worked out, even if it caused quite bit of sdisorientation to its target. Or I'll assume it caused disorientation, unless he behaves like that constantly?"

Cinder tried to respond with something, but as soon as her brains processed the words that had left Salem's mouth, her mind clicked empty and the words she had intended to speak out left her mouth open. "Wa- wait, what?"

"He reacted to my signal." Salem nodded, pleased at Cinder's reaction. "The purpose of the signal was to allow only one instance of 'myself' to exist, and it upon reaching a suitable host it emits a wake signal that neutralizes all other instances of the awakened signal. Essentially it means that only the strongest Grimm form within the range of my death-howl can regrow my consciousness upon my death in this form, while also preventing hundreds of instances of 'me' being born every time my physical form dies."

"So… Jaune Arc was dead, and by waking up the one you found in me, we resurrected him?"

"Possibly. However there are total of three possible things could have happened to make it this way: One, he is alive in some other form, thus no signal was sent to 'wake' the one we had. Two, he has perished but his signal wasn't strong enough to reach you or the signal was never sent."

"What's the third possibility?"

"A mystery." Salem's tone was lighthearted and curious. "Which is quite exciting. It's been a long time since something took me by surprise like that. I'm going to enjoy finding out why and how he ticks. I have a series of tests and theories in mind, actually."

"Are you sure that's a good idea…" Cinder was dubious.

"Possibly. I'll have to judge his opinions and mentality to find the best approach for it though." Salem waved Cinder's concerns off. "Fear not. I am not going to pull a Ozpin on him and try to confound him under ten plots, try to poke at him to find out how he works and thus turn him against me."

"If you say so." Cinder nodded. "I'm merely cautious."

"You have a good reason, considering the recent past. We'll talk about, and with, him soon enough." Salem waved her hand. "For now, let us talk about more lighthearted things while I take care of some administrative issues. Naturally, you're going to help me."

"I… I'm sorry, the dizziness of my treatment must be…"

"Cinder. Sit."

"Yes, mother." Cinder did. Instantly.

"What a good adoptive daughter you are." Salem smiled brightly while Cinder reached for a sizeable pile of papers that had small paper slip on it, labeled ' _For C, welcome back - S'_. "I'll send for someone to look after our new guest, and tie him over to our side."

"You're converting him already?" Cinder lifted her eyebrow. "You barely know him."

"I know his type. The brave and defensive type who gets attached to someone or something, and protect it with their life. Very useful and reliable personality type, although incapable of infiltration, subterfuge and treachery. Somewhat bad at attacking hidden enemies as well, unless the enemy is presented directly to them." Salem reached to type something on a top-of-the line Atlesian Scroll which had its location tracking systems disabled by Watts, and put the device down after the message had been sent. "Should he find something that he gets attached to in here, it would be far harder for him to just… pack up and leave, so to speak. Well, without properly hearing us out out anyway."

"And you plan to provide something like that."

"Indeed. It that happens I have something that could win him over, and after that we'll have fairly good chance of bringing him to our side." Salem nodded happily. "Fortunately for us, he's male, young, and thus..."

"If I may, he's had quite considerable contact with Ozpin…"

"By which you mean that Ozpin has had quite long time to tell little white lies and big black dodgy lies to him while befuzzling him in tens of layers of plots, only few of which were explained to him and rest kept as safeguard both for and against him." Salem nodded. "Indeed, Ozpin has made him a perfect ally… for us. After all, now all we need to give him is a little bit of trust, some space, freedom and perhaps even comfort- and we'll have quite staunch ally. I'll have to try to contact our allies inside Beacon as well and see if we can get something more concrete from mr. Arc's psychological profile, in case he doesn't feel like talking about his past."

"Ah… wait. You're referring to how Hazel, our enforcer, was integrated into our cabal." Cinder realized. "Now that you mention it, I see the similarity in mentality between Arc and Hazel."

"Quite. The way mr. Arc attempted to charge at me to ensure your perceived safety was a dead giveaway, even if the fact that his concern for his team hadn't completely overtaken his own the next sentence after." Salem nodded. "Now, let's try to get through the reports our cells in Vale, Mistral and Menagerie have sent us before our dinner with… hm... mr. Arc."

Cinder sighed as she realized that there would be no escape from boredom of looking through the monthly economic reports coming from their proxies in the kingdoms and towns. The reports were largely of boring subjects such as sheep growth in Mistral, technology advancements both major and minute and suchlike- detailing coming events and changes within the kingdoms. The boring part was that Cinder had to track and point out out for policies and decisions that would end up strengthening the kingdoms against Grimm, or each other more than they could allow... while also keeping an eye out for Ozpin's subtle interferences in the Remnant's economy and events.

Cinder suppressed a groan.

…

"These will be your quarters. Please restrict yourself to this room, unless you are accompanied by one of our caretakers." Watts said as he led Jaune to a large and fairly luxurious room that looked to be something between a guest room, hotel room and a high-class suite in a manor complete with king-size bed, recreation area with bookshelves, couches and coffee tables, small food preparation isle, bathroom, dining table, few submerged wardrobes and associated furniture. "Queen Salem has requested you to be clothed before you are escorted to the dining hall for dinner later this evening. You'll find appropriate clothes for the occasion in the wardrobes of this room. Consider the contents of this room to be your property during your stay."

"Uh… thank you?"

"I'll take it that you require a maid or butler to clothe you?" Watts's nose twitched slightly at Jaune's answer. "In that case, please wait here while I fetch one for you."

"No, no, I can put on clothes by myself." Jaune blushed slightly from the thought of having someone else clothe him. The fact he was sort-of trying to preserve his modesty while being butt-naked wasn't helping. "I uh… I'll see to it now. The clothes are over there, right?"

"Indeed. I trust you are capable of using dining utensils?" Watts continued as Jaune moved towards the nearest wardrobe and opened it. "Do you have preferences regarding your food? Regular meat and vegetables produced in indoor growth labs? Or do you have more... Grimm-like tastes for your sustenance? Human flesh perhaps? Or fair maidens?"

Jaune sent the man a look that he hoped conveyed his thoughts on the matter, but it didn't seem to work as Watts merely nodded. "Fair human maidens for your dinner then. I'd inform Cinder of her new position as your appetizer but unfortunately from what I've gathered she's neither fair, hardly a maiden nor even a Maiden anymore. A pity, since that way she'd be able to succeed in at least something, well, unless she managed to give you constipation."

"Wha…"

"Please wait while I send for someone to gather your… food." Watts gave Jaune a small half-bow before starting to back away towards the door.

"No, no! I mean, I don't eat humans. Uh… I mean, I don't eat humans as uh, food." Jaune broke off his attempt to pull his new pants up to wave his hands at Watts to stall him. "If you can find uh… normal food, for humans I mean, It'd be good."

"Very well. I'm sure Cinder will be disappointed regardless, but I'll try to accomodate for your request." Watts gave Jaune a bow that made the boy approximately hundred percent sure that the older man was taking a piss at him with his comments. "You will be called once the time comes, so try to entertain yourself until then. I would advice re-visiting the court rules for appropriate behaviour while you are at it."

Jaune sighed as the door closed, leaving him alone in the luxurious room. "Well, crap."

He pulled his pants all the way up and leaned into the wardrobe to inventory the rest of its contents, all the while deep in thought. ' _Right, let's see… what happened? Last memory I have is from… yeah, the Glenn-Vale metro tunnel, I think the metro exploded, but that memory is kind of fuzzy… I was healing Cinder, who was lying in that pile of rubble with a massive stomach wound and then… then I woke up in that lab with Cinder looking completely healed and accompanied by that… Salem… '_

 _'I must have lost my conciousness after healing Cinder, and Salem or her agents captured us in the tunnel and carried Cinder and me here._ ' He shook his head at the thought. The sight of the beautiful but dread woman was still causing his head to buzz in confusion as he could have sworn he had seen her before, yet couldn't quite put his finger on it- and the after-effect of the meeting was still making his head spin. ' _Anyway, I need to find out what happened to my team, and then see if I can find some way to escape… Salem somehow knows what I think, that 'me kidnapping someone' comment revealed it, so I'll have to be careful if I want to get out and go back to Glenn.'_

The thought caused heat to spread in the back of his head, and the feelings of anger and rage smashed against the mental barricade Jaune had made to keep the violent, primal feelings he attributed to Shadow's influence out of his psyche. ' _That… Salem… she's keeping me from helping my team, they might even be dead… because she captured me somehow… because of her!'_

A knock on the door broke Jaune out of his thoughts, although only partially as the hot, swirling miasma in his head wasn't so easy to displace. "..Ugh… Come in?"

The door opened, revealing a pretty brunette girl that looked to be about as old as Jaune, clad in what looked like a maid uniform with her hair tied to a bun behind her head. "M-my lord, I have been s-sent here f-from the k-kitchens to a-assist y-you a-and s-serve you."

Jaune tilted his head while trying to beat back the rage he was feeling towards Salem. The girl provided a good distraction so he tried to focus on her words, which was hard enough alone because of her stuttering. "Serve?"

"S-service b-be them of clothing, cleaning, c-carnal or of a- a- appetite-related nature…" the girl practically vibrated on the spot and Jaune reached to rub his temple as the fear she radiated was making him dizzy, which _wasn't_ helping with his already shaky control over the Shadow after his meeting with Salem and after his subsequent self-enrage.

"Right, I mean, no, I won't... eat you, why- oh, yeah, that guy must have sent you." Jaune waved his hand at the girl, causing the shirt he was holding to wave around like white flag and the girl to almost faint. He sighed as he realized why and how the girl had been sent to him. ' _That guy, Watts… he's kind of a asshole, isn't he? I told him I can put on clothes by myself. And that I don't eat humans, like, as food. What kind of place is this if they are just sending servants to assumed death anyway? Or did he do this just to annoy me since I told him I don't eat… whatever he insinuated. Then again, Salem said we're in the heart of Grimm stronghold so figures this place would be chock-full of evil and stuff like that… I bet they butcher and torture humans regularly in here...'_

"Do- do I displease you, milord?" the girl seemed to be conflicted between relief and dread as she most have seen his thoughts reflected on his face. "S-should I send for s-someone else?"

"No, no… actually, how does this suit work?" Jaune mumbled as he tried to change the subject for both their sakes- his angry state of mind wasn't helping him as the surge of anger from his thoughts towards Salem hadn't died yet, and he realized that the maid would likely pass out soon if he left alone. He didn't know why she was so stressed though.

The state of her mind was clear to him, even if he wasn't using his ability passively to track emotions and thus people around him, as the girl was sweating heavily and her face was pale as sheet. Even her eyes were wide with fear, like those of a animal trapped in same cage as its predator.

The reason for her panic was somewhat unclear which made Jaune puzzled- until he realized that the fear must have been because of her belief that he'd attack and eat her. Although it might not be too unfounded fear if the resonance between the two of them continued, with him getting unstabler and her subsequently getting more afraid, causing him to become even more unstable.

 _T͞e͘a҉͢r̵̸͏-̵̷͡ ͠r̸͏éņ̧d̸,͠ ͞ȩa̸̡t̡!̡̡_

Jaune felt as the hot, scratchy feeling in the back of his head he attributed to Shadow kept building up, causing his body to unconsciously start his transformation process- and the growth of black fur on his exposed chest as well as black veins appearing on his paling skin was causing the maid-girl's eyes to bulge, all the while he struggled mentally to keep himself in check. ' _H-hold on, wait, the feeling that girl is giving off... '_

He started to focus harder on the Shadow, pushing against the heat and dropping the shirt he was holding in order to cover his face with his hands to stall the transformation. ' _It's… the echo of.. the same dread I felt when I met with Salem… the Shadow is copying it somehow, replicating it… and it's affecting that girl… That must be the source of her fear even after I told her I wouldn't attack her!'_

"L-lady Salem... I- I will not fail in… my task…!" the girl whimpered before falling down on her knees. The fear in her eyes made way for mad, insane gleam before she bowed her head down and exposed her neck to him. "I- I am r-ready, l-lord… P-please d-do wha-what you wa-wa-want!"

' _Oh… oh no.'_ Jaune squinted his eyes while trying to make out what the girl was saying through her stuttering. ' _Crap, she snapped. Did the Shadow's influence break her mind? I must radiating a lot of… that oppressive Aura Salem used on me...'_

He buried his face in his hands as the pounding headache coming from the war in his mind was starting to tax him… and noticed that his hands had grown long, sharp nails.

The nails bit into his skin with ease, drawing blood with ease and sending a cold, sharp feeling through his head… which helped him slowly break through the haze and finally end the miasma of dread as the pain allowed him to focus once again- shifting the struggle from him struggling against the Shadow to the Shadow struggling against him.

Few seconds later the mental battle eased enough that Jaune could focus a bit of his attention to the girl in front of him. "Gh… Are… are you alright?"

"L-lord?" the girl asked with weak yet determined voice, and Jaune looked down to see that the maid-girl was still prostrated in front of him, shaking from head to toe from the aftereffects of his newfound aura of dread.

Jaune sighed, causing a gout of steam to be released into the air from his overheated body. The breath caused the girl to jump a little though, and Jaune brought his hands up to stall her while looking for right words to apologize.

"C-calm down. I didn't mean to do that. To scare you." Jaune stumbled on his words as he pushed his transformation back and started to undo the black fur and patches of bone that had grown on his body. His reassurance didn't seem to work as it caused the maid to shake even more. "It was an accident, sorry. Something activated that shouldn't have, it's my fault."

The maid kept shaking though, so Jaune reached to pat her shoulder in what he hoped to be reassuring manner.

It didn't exactly work, which might have been obvious in retrospect, as his bloodied, still clawed hand left a black-blooded handprint on her shoulder. And as he tried to pull his hand away, the claws got tangled with the fabric and tore into it, exposing the maid's shoulder and back to him and causing her to flinch away in fear. "Uh... "

' _Right… dammit, and now I'm bloody, half-transformed, and she's half-dead from fear…'_ Jaune thought as he looked around for something to wipe his hands and face with as he worked to undo his sharp nails- all the while trying to look at anything that _wasn't_ the half-clothed maid. ' _...Sheesh, talk about bad first impressions… I don't think this could have gone worse without one of us ending dead.'_

He managed to get as far as to undo the claws of his hands before the maid gathered her courage and looked up.

"L-lord?"

The terrified, despoiled-looking but determined aura the half-clothed girl radiated combined with the shaky tone of her voice was almost enough to send Jaune back to the desperate fight against the growling, devouring need of the Shadow. It still took him another near-loss of control to keep himself from transforming back into his more beast-like form... and to reign his less-than honorable part that had also awakened to his mounting surprise, causing his new pants to feel uncomfortably tight.

Jaune had seen bare skin before, in quite vast quantities even, but it had never… exited him like it had done when he had torn at the girl's clothes. And the thought frightened him even more than the thought of just going feral and attacking the girl, as the implications of the alternative may have even been worse.

In the end he tried to focus and reign his newfound ability and instincts under his control. "Girl, I'm sorry, but… just… stay quiet. Please."

The maid let an 'eep' before going deathly still, allowing Jaune to reign himself in, again, and to re-shackle himself before sighing heavily.

"Uh… right, I mean, I meant to just try to cheer you up just now. Not strip you. I'm… sorry." he mumbled at the maid, causing her to tilt her head in confusion. As it didn't seem that she was recovering from the experience, Jaune rubbed his face in exasperation- and pulled his hands off as he only managed to smear the sticky black blood that had come from his self-harm all over his face. "...Do you happen to know if there are wiping rags or something in here? I'm not sure wiping this blood on dress shirt is a good idea and um…"

"L-lord, if I may… you are far less... scary right now." The maid's voice was shaky but stabilizing. "F-for a moment I- I thought… it was like… L-lady Salem- no, milord, please forgive this unruly mouth of mine for addressing thee so casually! I have shown unsightly fear and disrespect towards your person and my fate, please forgive me, for I go willingly to my death and whatever other fates you decree for me!"

The back-and-forth apologizing continued for a while until Jaune finally found a rag, causing the maid to seemingly break out of the cycle of apologies so she could request a permission to serve him by wiping the blood off his face- and to find a appropriate means of wiping it as the questionably 'clean' rag Jaune had found was apparently meant for the corridor floors.

"So… what's your name? Why are you here?" Jaune asked as he sat down on the edge of the the luxurious, cushy king-sized bed that guest room had so the girl could sit next to him, as her legs were still shaky and having her clean his face while weak and wobbling would have been cruel. "I'm Jaune, by the way. And… sorry, again. My ability is sort of weird, it had activated another bothersome part of it and that thing was active when you walked in so you got hit by it. I didn't mean to scare you."

"My name is May, milord. I appreciate your concern, but please do not worry about my feelings." the brunette maid-girl told Jaune while wiping his face with the cloth she had retrieved from what had turned out to be the guest rooms private bathroom. "Lady Salem requested me to serve you as your um… personal servant during and after your stay with us, and lord Watts informed me of your preferences for your servants... roles…"

"Yeah, forget the latter part, I don't eat humans." Jaune sighed. The more casual conversation was making him calmer (although if the honorific the girl insisted on using made Jaune slightly uneasy). "Watts was likely just screwing with me."

The lingering heat of the near-transformation, anger and odd arousal remained in his body as he gradually calmed himself, even if his pale skin and black veins were stubbornly refusing his attempts to undo them. "Seriously, why did that guy even think that I'd eat humans as food?"

"M-my lord, you… your appearance was of beastial nature moments ago, surely lord Watt's mistake can be forgiven?" May seemed uncertain.

"Wait, speaking of that, you said something about Salem just earlier? That _she_ had sent you?"

"Y-yes, lord." the maid seemed to lose her courage again, but seemed to regain it as she continued. "Queen Salem decreed that I will be your personal servant until she decreed otherwise, and thus I would answer to your every need and whim as I would to hers."

For some reason it appeared almost as if saying the name of the dread queen gave the girl strength, and Jaune tilted his head in confusion. And sputtered as the movement caused the wet linen the girl was using to wipe his face to land on his mouth. "Ah! I'm terribly sorry, lord!"

"No, no, I deserved that…" Jaune grumbled as he let her continue wiping his face. The wounds he had inflicted on his face had long since healed without even leaving a scar as was usual for him, but the sticky, corrosive blood was hard to wipe away nonetheless.

"My lord, if I may be so bold as to voice my curiousity, why did you wound yourself?"

"If I answer that, will you tell me about this place?" Jaune asked in turn, hoping to find out more about the dread queen and the tower he had woken up in. ' _She's a maid here, so she should know this place well, right? She might be a key out of here, and I can take her and Cinder with me, save them both…'_ "Can you tell me about this… Salem?"

"Queen Salem." The maid corrected, before freezing still. "Ah…"

"No need to apologize, you're correct." Jaune sighed as he anticipated the coming apology for correcting him. "So, can you tell me about queen Salem?"

"Yes, of course!" May seemed to gain courage and grow excited as she got to talk about the dread queen, causing confusion in Jaune even before hearing her words- he expected fearful whispers, maybe even less, and certainly not excited rambling. "She is… she is the queen of these lands, and the true shadow ruler of Remnant, leading her people directly though proxies and indirectly through Grimm. She is working tirelessly to guide humanity to its bright future, unraveling conflict, saving people, promoting happiness, love and prosperity and…"

"Wait, wait, hold on." Jaune stalled the girl whose eyes practically shined with excitement, making a drastic contrast to the earlier fright she had shown towards him. "You're saying… the Queen of the Grimm, you know, Grimm, the beasts that are hounding and killing people across Remnant is… promoting love and happiness?"

"Yes!"

"How do you figure that?!" Jaune made wild motions with his hands to drive the point while keeping his head still so the maid could keep cleaning his face. "Grimm are killing people!"

"True, but that only matters if you look at the small picture- my queen is looking at the big picture, changing the lives of everyone on Remnant!" May practically gushed in remarkably Ruby-like fashion, except with the target being her ruler instead of weapons. "The Grimm are indirectly promoting happiness and prosperity as ill-willing, toxic and hateful communities face their ends at the hands of the Grimm- leaving the prospering, happy and warm communities untouched, which prompts villages and towns to improve the happiness of their citizens over increasing their coffers! At the same time, the grand cities aim for policies that improve the lives of their people, as unhappy city would soon come under siege!"

"That's… just happiness on penalty of death, isn't it?" Jaune lifted his eyebrow at the girl.

"Yes, but after a long time it has created countless small, happy communities living peacefully in the countryside without fear of death from Grimm or oppression…"

"Be free of Grimm and die from bandits, yeah." Jaune's voice dripped venom and the girl stopped wiping his face to look at him with concern. "Been there, done that."

"Ah, but that is very much due to human nature rather than Grimm. The Grimm don't kill happy villages, and neither does my queen Salem. The banditry and violence is native to human psyche, be it in wars between the kingdoms, gang wars inside cities or bandits and marauders outside. You can hardly blame my queen for human lust for war, even if she's working to redirect it towards Grimm rather than their fellow men." May tapped her finger against Jaune's chest, before realizing she was doing it and stopping. Jaune motioned her to continue before the stream of apologies could start again. "U-um… so, the Grimm try to keep the bandit population under control as well, as any conflict would lead to Grimm being summoned and the fleeing or occupying bandits would likely be hunted down by the outriders…"

"While also killing the village population left over from the raid, yeah."

"True, but being cut off from others, wounded and left to die, the 'survivors' would die regardless- their deaths would merely be more drawn out and painful." the girl's tone was sad. "Those who managed to hide both from bandits and Grimm would likely survive, if the rescue effort from surrounding towns made it in time before their rations ran out."

"Wishful thinking." Jaune's tone was bitter, not only because of the girl's words but also because of his own, old memories resurfacing once again. It took a monumental effort of will to keep himself from going on a rampage once again as he remembered the dark woods, the stench of burning flesh and the red blade cutting down his father…

"My lord?"

"Let's change the subject, please. This is really bringing bad memories to my mind…" Jaune waved the maid's concerns off while rubbing his face with his free hand, causing the blood remaining on his face to re-smear all over his face. "Damn…".

"Well… if it's any consolation, my home, family, and community were destroyed during one of those village-destroying raids by bandit tribes. I sense that you have much similar story, my lord. If I may be so bold, I'd claim that the pain you feel is similar to mine." The maid told him, which caused Jaune to freeze. "My home was sacked, I was captured, and f-forced to… to... s-s-serve them for years… and u-until I was sold off Vale to Mistral's underground slave market…"

"I… I'm sorry." Jaune felt bad for the girl whose tone had turned shakier as she seemed to remember bad memories. He felt both sympathetic for her due the similar event and also a bit curious. "I didn't mean to…"

"That's how… how I was… recruited to queen Salem's court- the slavers were intending on shipping me off to Vacuo, to work and die in their Dust mines, but queen Salem's undercover forces masquerading as Mistralian special forces intercepted the slaver convoy, and freed the slaves!" May's voice regained its earlier vigor and adoration as the story went on. "I had nothing, but queen Salem, under a disguise and proxy of course, gave us a choice: to be rescued and moved to the city of Mistral with enough money to start a new life with, or serve her with the perks associated with the service… only few of us took the first option."

"Uh huh. How many of the ones who opted out actually got money and were shipped off? Or did you bother to look behind the trees to see the bodies?" Jaune asked, sceptical of the story but also secretly a bit hopeful. ' _Could it be that my sisters were saved that way?'_ "Actually, when did this happen?"

"Five years ago, I was only fourteen at the time. And yes, the observation you make is a sensible one- although the offer given to us was veiled behind a mask of official legitimacy- the rescue was a 'Mistralian' operation after all." May nodded, looking at him in concern as Jaune's expression fell. "At the time we thought the offer was given by Mistralian government- serving the Mistralian Recovery, Logistics and Maintenance Corp situated deep in the wilds while migrating from place to place, serving to the needs of the people. That, we were told, was the reason that we'd be likely deprived of contact with large human settlements for a long time, and that it would also be likely that we'd be out of CCCT's or signal reinforcers range for outside communications. The latter part didn't matter much since very few of us still had family remaining outside the community or had need to maintain constant contact to the world outside, as we had grown in smaller villages which rarely had such luxuries."

"That doesn't sound very appealing though." Jaune pointed out. "That's essentially total isolation."

"My lord if I may, many of the survivors were too broken after the gentle or less gentle care the bandits directed at us, specifically women, and after being sold to slavery… well, most of us were happy to take either alternative." May's voice was a bit sharp, likely as a result for Jaune's criticism and due to the associated bad memories cropping up for her like they had for Jaune. "The others, mostly young people myself included, were happy that we were given the choice as the promise of permanent workplace with benefits, psychological care and healthcare was quite tempting one after the uncertainty and violence of our previous lives as slaves. Not to mention that finding long-term work in Mistral would likely be hard after what we went through."

"I see." Jaune shook his head. "Please.. ignore what I said. I haven't been taken as a slave, I don't know the realities of it. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to downplay what you had gone through either."

"Very well, lord. I apologize if my words cause you distress." May seemed to approve. "Regardless, the truth of our occupation was revealed to us in stages, as 'promotions' in the ranks of our new job. Finally the best and most loyal of us were given the truth of our employment, and were shipped to Shard Mountains serve queen Salem directly." She nodded thoughtfully. "Regardless, I hardly regret my choice of coming here even if the start of my journey was less than pleasant."

"Even to the point you were willing to 'sacrifice yourself' to me?" Jaune asked while adjusting his position in the edge of the bed. He reached to swipe at his face and it came clean of blood. "Thanks for helping with that blood, by the way…"

"I'm sure queen Salem had a good reason for picking me to be your servant, and possibly she didn't know what lord Watts revealed to me- fortunately his information turned to be false." May's voice was carefully neutral as she stood up and stepped back slightly as her earlier shakiness had passed, giving him and Jaune a foot's space from each other likely out of courtesy. It was clear she didn't approve of Watt's 'prank' though. "But yes, if I was asked, I'd give my life for queen Salem. The amount of good she has wrought in this world, even if indirectly, is enough for me to be willing to sacrifice myself for the cause. It is my firm belief that the world would be far more bleak place had she not taken action, but knowledge of all what she has done exactly and where exactly is above my station- I just cook and clean in this grand tower that serves as her home and stronghold."

"Uh…"

"Even if I ignored the wider impact my queens actions has wrought on Remnant." May continued despite Jaune's attempt at interrupting her to point out how vague her reasoning was. "My life, which had been taken away by raiders and bandits, my body, that had been despoiled and destroyed by them, were both given back to me by queen Salem through medical and psychological care that no place in Remnant would give me without compensation I couldn't pay. My Aura was unlocked, and was modified to heal me over protecting me so it would regenerate my long-lasting injuries. She gave me the vengeance I desired as the Grimm destroyed the bandits year after I was sold, and I owe her everything I have."

May blinked as she seemed to break out of her heated speech. "Ah… I've seemed to have veered off track. I apologize for my rudeness, my lord, it was not my intention to bore you with my past."

"No, no, I asked about it and I'm glad you told me about it… But let's talk about something else. We've both managed to poke each other's every single emotional sore spot in the span of what, five minutes? That should be a new speed record. Even for me." Jaune sensed that the girl would likely not yield much more information if he pressed so he tried to change the subject. "So…"

"Very well, my lord. One thing puzzles me though: If I may ask, why did you harm yourself?" the girl's question was faster than his attempt to think for alternative subject as she folded the bloody wiping cloth into a neat pile before putting it away. "If my appearance or behaviour displeased thee so much that…"

"No, no, it wasn't because of you. Well, not directly. I uh… did it to stop my ability, er, Semblance from going awry and hurting you… or worse." Jaune confessed. "It's… well, kind of like Grimm's attraction to negativity. The fear-causing Aura activated, you got afraid, I nearly lost control of myself. If I had lost control I'd have… well… transformed and attacked you or… or..."

"Lord…?" May's voice was uncertain.

"I'd have… uh, well…" Jaune shifted uncertainty. "Done something… bad. Really bad. Let's move on, actually… to… um… weather perhaps?"

"Is it something to do with the fact you have erection? It is quite visible through your choice of clothing, and you've had it since the earlier… misunderstanding." the maid's words caused Jaune's blood to run cold as he looked down and he closed his legs instantly, but it was futile- and the sudden rush of heat in his lower part wasn't helping. "I chose not to comment on it earlier, my lord, but you can't dine with queen Salem like that."

"Um… yes. I mean, no, yeah, that wouldn't be good. Meeting the queen like this, I mean, not my uh… erm." Jaune's stammering turned up to eleven while he blushed hard, which must have looked funny on his pale, black-veined face as the maid seemed slightly amused. "It's new, hadn't happened before with this, er, in here, actually, don't know where it came from or…"

"I understand. I need to make sure you are presentable for the dinner with queen Salem."

Jaune's stammering ended as the maid reached for the part of her uniform that was still holding to her body, and undid the frilly cloth to reveal the thin undergarment below… before she sat directly on his crotch, causing his already painfully tight pants to tighten even further to the point where Jaune could have sworn he heard small tearing sounds from the fabric.

"Lord, my tasks include servicing your every need, be them carnal or elsewise- that was degreed by queen Salem, and I will not fail her. So please use this body to sate your needs before meeting her so you may appear more presentable." May told him as he looked at her with wide eyes. "My scars from my past have already healed and I have moved on from it, turning my darkest hour to strength and determination, mainly thanks to care she has given me. I will not disappoint queen Salem."

Jaune froze up completely- or he would have liked to freeze up. But as the words left the girl's lips, his arms tied themselves around her waist and pulled her closer to him, locking her into his embrace. ' _Oh, no, that's not what I… I… should do… Ruby, Blake, Pyrrha…'_

The maid nodded and reached to undo Jaune's pant buckle and pulled the zipper down.

"W-wait, wait, I can't do this, I have girlfriend! ...Err, girlfriends!" Jaune tried to shake his head to convey that he wasn't meaning what his hands were doing, but it was increasingly difficult as his earlier odd, aroused and hungry mood returned with vengeance- except with less instant desire for violence. He attributed the mood to the Shadow, but somehow the maddening whispers weren't as present in his head as they should have been. "W-wait...!"

May wasn't listening though as she had pulled his pants down and was staring at his exposed member with wide eyes- and Jaune turned to look at it as well, which caused his eyes to bulge as much as the girl's. ' _Wait, it wasn't that big before- I mean, yeah, that's a stiffy, duh, but… it wasn't that big, was it… did it grow earlier? Don't tell me that it grew during that earlier near rampage and the arousal? Oh come on...'_

"L-lord is well endowed, I s-shall do my best to f-fit… if I… I can't, p-please ring the bell by the bedside and the head maid will s-surely send a-another t-to take my place…" May stumbled on her words as she reached to stroke his manhood. Jaune's hands gripped her backside unconsciously and the soft feeling caused his hips to thrust slightly, brushing the shaft of his member against the girl's lower stomach. "I- I need to undress properly, lord, in o-order to-"

Jaune's token attempt to disentangle himself from the situation failed critically, causing him to lean forward and burying his face in the girl's chest- which seemed quite bit larger now that it wasn't covered and restricted by the uniform. The intoxicating scent radiating from the girl made him dizzy, and made it hard for Jaune to think. ' _Ugh… I… It… it's… I shouldn't... hrng… but… it's so soft, and smells so good…'_

As May undid her bra and reached for her panties, Jaune's self-control finally broke and he pulled the girl into the bed with animalistic grunt, rubbing the hot, throbbing member against her thighs in almost feverish vigor while his mouth met hers. The pale body of the girl felt comfortably cool against his even as his skin felt like it boiled with heat, and the thin fabric that was blocking him from touching her directly was torn to shreds in seconds.

The girl managed to barely let out a surprised gasp followed by grunt of pain mixed with sigh of pleasure as he positioned himself at her entrance, and sheathed nearly half of his length inside her readily welcoming body in one go. He pulled himself back before he could fully enter her as he _felt_ the girl tensing up from pain and discomfort, his whole, overgrown girth proving too much to take in at once or so suddenly.

His tongue invaded her mouth deeper, intensifying the act while he reached to stroke her head with his free hand in order to try to make her feel better. It seemed to work as the girl relaxed slightly, allowing Jaune to begin slowly thrusting himself into her, pulling his length nearly out out of her and thrusting himself back, each thrust pushing himself deeper into her and each time coming closer to touching her innermost gate.

And each thrust caused the girl to let out a muffled, gasp-like moan while her body thrusted against his in equally feverish manner. "L- lohhrrrdd… mmhh…"

The heated, lust-filled moans and the sounds of two bodies joining together drowned out whatever words she tried to speak. Jaune could feel his body tensing up as the intoxicating feeling build up inside him. As the feeling grew into animalistic lust he hugged the girl closer to himself, locking her completely in place under his body.

And with one final thrust he pushed his entire length inside her, hilt deep, and the climax overtook him. He felt as stream-like gout of heat pushed its way to the girl's womb, filling her to the brim and causing a dribble of seed to push out of her womanhood, all the while she squirmed under him in half-discomfort half-rapture. The nearly desperate act felt less like sex and more like _breeding_ to Jaune, filling of his animalistic need rather than love- and as soon as the climax came to an end with the girl thoroughly filled with his seed, the seductive heat and coolness of May's skin felt… wrong to him.

And the rapture turned into Jaune's own disgust towards himself and the feeling of cool, flushed skin against his turned to feeling of cold dread aimed at the future. ' _Oh… Oh no. Oh no, no no… I've… how am I going to explain this to the others?'_

He looked down to see that the maid's eyes had rolled back in her head and she had nearly passed out, and look even further down revealed to him that his newly-grown member was positively bulging her lower stomach even before the 'filling' was taken into account. "Oh…no. May, are you alright?!"

"A- ah.. e… ai… I… I'm a-al… alrighht… mhy… mhy loohhhrrhhd…" the maid's voice was muffled and unclear as she seemed to partially recover from her near-loss of consciousness. "I… I'fmm… rheadhy toh… c-continueh… i-if y…. you need mhee… tho..."

Jaune froze as his winding-down vigor became reinvigorated by the girl's erotic mumbling. And as the girl thrust her hips against his drunkenly while his length was still sheathed in her body, his sword became fully sharpened once again and ready for another battle that besieged his mind and aroused his body.

The powerful thrust from his hips caused a wet squelch as Jaune's and May's juices mixed thoroughly and stained the bed sheets to nearly unsalvageable condition, and not long afterwards the guest room was once again filled with the sounds of thrusts, grunts and pleasure-filled, rapturous half-muffled moans through locked lips.

* * *

Jaune woke up with a gasp and immediately scanned the room around him with both his eyes and with his other senses. ' _Wha…. what happened?'_

The dorm belonging to team SABR in Beacon was pretty much in its usual state, a ball of vicious fur was sleeping under Weiss's desk, two of the four beds were full and the two occupied had an extra passenger. It was likely past midnight based off the faint moonlight shining through the window, and the room was quiet except for the sounds of calm, quiet breathing.

Jaune sighed while rubbing his blonde hair and carefully untangled Blake's arms from around his waist while trying not to wake the cat faunus.

The snuggling session yesterday had lasted for a while, although it had lost a lot of its heat after Pyrrha had departed to join RYNN in their mission. In the end it had not gone beyond petting and kissing despite Blake's earlier attempts at his pants, much to the hidden dismay of the cat-girl. And the only real reason why Jaune knew Blake's mindset was because Weiss had pointed it out, causing both Ruby and Jaune to blush and Blake to hiss at Weiss.

Nevertheless, the snuggling eventually ended and the group decided against going further than kisses- and they had eventually calmed down in order to continue the evening with a movie night before they finally went to sleep.

While the day hadn't been overly straining for Jaune, he slept like a log as his familiar dorm room bed felt really comforting after spending a week in Beacon's Grimm holding cells and few days before that in Glenn. Blake had joined him in the bed as well while Weiss had claimed Ruby to hers, neither of which Jaune really minded, and in fact Blake's warmth felt really welcome.

Yet the serenity of the night had been broken as a odd nightmare invaded his dreams, piercing through the veil of comfort that Blake radiated, and eventually woke him up in cold sweat.

' _Odd… I could have sworn I saw something weird. That… vaguely familiar pale woman… she looks kind of like Weiss, but… different.'_ Jaune sighed internally as he rose up from the bed and gave Blake a pillow to hug, since the girl's hands searched sleepily for someone or something to hug after Jaune's warm body left the bed. ' _The Shadow likes that pale woman, I guess. Or is somehow obsessed with the image, it keeps coming up time and time again, but it was different this time- more violent. Oppressive... It has to be one of the shattered memories I inherited from something or someone I ate…'_

He felt cold sweat on his skin as he waddled to the shower and turned the water temperature to the coldest setting possible, both to cool himself and to passively prevent the Shadow from getting any ideas. ' _And then… that odd feeling of dread. It's odd... when I have a nightmare from a dead man's memory it isn't usually quite that… intense. Even back when I first came to Beacon the memories were more… oppressive than frightening. Now, I felt like I'd die if it kept going... '_

Jaune sighed once again... and blushed while reaching to turn the water even colder before shutting it off entirely, walking out of the shower and starting to dry himself. ' _And the dream after that... '_

He shook his head, causing water to fly all over bathroom before deciding to take another cold shower while his cheeks blushed bright red. ' _Sheesh, really… Weiss was right, I'm a pervert if I dream about things like that...'_

* * *

Jaune let the maid's unconscious body down from his lap and lied her down on the damp bed. He pulled himself out of the girl with a wet squelch like cork being pulled from a bottle of champagne, to much the similar results due to the 'pressure' that had built inside May, and rolled over next to the girl while panting heavily. "W-wow…"

May twitched slightly and let a quiet moan while rubbing her bare legs against the soft sheets of the bed. A string of breathy moan-like sighs escaped her as she struggled to recover from the after-sex daze while latching onto Jaune and tying her legs around his. Both of their lower bodies were positively drenched in their combined juices, and a thick, steady stream Jaune's cum was lazily flowing out of May and onto the bed sheets. "L-lord…"

"You can call me Jaune. Jaune Arc." Jaune tied one of his hands around May's shoulders and pulled her against him before reaching to rub his eyes... and then reach to rub his eyes with a somewhat dry spot of the bed sheets as his hands were covered in May's juices after their session. "Uh… It feels odd, you know. The way you keep calling me a 'lord', even after, well, 'that'."

"Lord Arc…" May's soft voice was uncertain as she lied her head against Jaune's chest, but before she could figure out what she wanted to say to continue, a soft-chiming bell rang from within her clothes that were laying on the floor. "Ah! No, my lord, I apologize greatly for the haste but we must get you ready for the dinner! I must have lost track of time!"

"Oh… yeah, there's that." Jaune blinked and reached to stall May as she tried to get up from the bed, since he saw that her legs didn't seem to want to cooperate. "Hey, I'll go take a shower, clothe myself and so on. You stay here and uh… rest. I think you'll need that, no offense."

"I… apologize. I am unable to fulfill my duties as your servant…"

"Relax, you have done plenty. More than plenty. Now sleep and rest." Jaune reached to stroke her hair while pulling her back to his embrace and letting her lie back down on the bed. "Uh… unless you want me to help you take a shower as well. No offense, but we're kinda… um…"

"I… I must confess that my legs refuse to carry me and my hips may need some time to recover. You must go on without me." May hid her face beneath the bedsheet out of embarrassment. "If… If I may, I'd like to call for another maid to prepare your suit for the dinner and to rehearse the court etiquette should you be unfamiliar with it…"

"Uh, sure." Jaune nodded at her as he backed away from the bed and turned to walk towards the bathroom. And he sighed heavily while pressing his back against the bathroom door as soon as he entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him. ' _Sheesh… I can't believe I did that… just what came over me?'_

He heard as a bell chimed in the guest room, and by the sound of it it seemed like May used the bell to call for other servants which prompted Jaune to action over self-disgust. ' _I have to think about this later. And I need to find a way to tell the others about this… To apologize to Ruby, Blake and Pyrrha, although for now I should try to look for a way to escape while grabbing May and Cinder. I need to get ready for the dinner though before that since I'm not sure I can afford to piss off Salem just yet. I'm actually pretty hungry anyway. I wonder what May meant by court etiquette?'_

Jaune shook his head as he entered the shower and let the cold water wash over him and clean away the scent of lust, sweat and other fluids from his skin.

The bathroom was more like a small spa as far as the luxuries went, and was a definite upgrade in both size and contents from the one he had shared in team SABR's dorm- even though it had been designed with four people in mind. The bathroom's shower didn't have a shower head, it had shower roof and cascaded water like gentle rain or small waterfall depending on setting. About third of the room was allocated to a heated pool complete with stone-sculpted 'furniture' to better allow one to sit or lay in the pool and relax in the hot water, and the toilets were stalled away so one could use them in privacy . Jaune could even see a small separate glass-doored room, which looked like a private sauna. The wooly bathrobes and towels were arranged neatly in a glass-doored closet, and the shower rack was full of exotic, spiced soaps and shampoos, confusing him enough that he just picked one and hoped that it'd work well. ' _Just… what kind of place is this, servants, maids, Grimm, queens… it's like I walked into some knightly castle from a storybook… with exception being that instead of knights in shining armor riding to secure the borders and peasants working fields, we have Grimm walking the grounds, and with modern luxuries to boot.'_

A faint knock on the bathroom door prompted Jaune to further hurry up with his showering until he felt squeaky clean. The knock on the door repeated and Jaune braced himself before taking one of the bathrobes and peeking his head out of the door… and he saw a very, _very_ stern-looking older maid that made Jaune instantly think of Glynda Goodwitch, except in frilly clothing that the real Goodwitch would never be caught wearing, and with short grey hair combined with blue eyes.

"My _lord._ if you are quite done with your shower, I'll go over the court etiquette with you. Lord Watts, seeing that you lack such manners, requested that I'd see to it as your assigned maid is… out of commision for now." The head maid gave Jaune a small curtsey which made Jaune shrivel a bit in fear as the aura the maid was giving off was very much the same Goodwitch gave when someone displeased her. He glanced towards the bed to see what May thought of her, but the bed was empty and had new, pristine sheets and judging by the height, a new mattress as well. "I will be assisting you by helping you pick appropriate clothing for the dinner, so please step out of the bathroom. I promise I won't bite… or judge."

Jaune let a small 'eep' before doing as requested. Unfortunately his eyes were likely still recovering from his earlier 'encounter' and were drawn a bit down- to the woman's considerable bust.

"Look up, into my eyes, not to my cheeks, mouth or breasts." the maid's razor-sharp tone made it clear what she thought about Jaune's thoughts, and that she could likely read them right off his face. Naturally Jaune's look shot straight to her eyes under Goodwitch-conditioned reflexes. "If I may, we are running low on time so we must move onwards as teaching proper _looking_ etiquette would take too long. However please remember that when you meet Salem, _do not_ stare at her breasts like you did with mine. Now, please demonstrate your ability to bow, use proper honorifics, and to use dining utensils. I have prepared a practise a set, and..."

' _Oh… This is going to suck, isn't it?'_

.

..

…

"So, what is our plan for the future?" Cinder asked as she and Salem made their way to the dining room, or rather, to a square-shaped dining hall that had a single long timber-wood dining table at its center and large hearth behind it, with banner-like drapes hanging on the long stone wall while the other long wall of the room was used by row of tall windows giving the occupants a sight of the barren and exotic crystal-littered wasteland of Shard Mountains, and the snowy peaks of the mountain range that had given the place its name. Occasional dark form of Grimm Wyvern or other flying Grimm forms could be seen gliding above the hostile land and come to rest on one of the peaks of the Heart- the blackstone tower Salem used as her home and stronghold.

"Oh, if I guess right then there are few potential scenarios about to unfold, all of which we can use to our advantage or at least to our entertainment." Salem told her easily as she sat on her seat at the hearth-end of the table, and Cinder sat down on a seat next to her. "With Vale being as it is, and the Amenity festival is fast approaching, it is quite likely that Beacon and Vale's council are hard pressed for time. After all, the chaos within is breaking the city out of its self-made bubble, and the realities that were ignored by Vale are soon becoming more apparent."

"What does it mean for us?"

"A small-scale exodus from Vale is likely, as well as some Grimm attacks on its walls. Considering the after-effects of your actions, I believe it likely that at least a partial breach will incur and likely remind the council of Vale that the stability of their people and of the villages around Vale should be their priority- and should also reduce the power of Vale's main city over the rest of the continent..."

"Haah…" Cinder sighed. "Are the lives of those fools so important to your plan?"

"Important? Not entirely. Helpful? Yes. Entertaining? Certainly." Salem lifted her eyebrow at Cinder. "My end game hasn't changed nor will it change. Has yours?"

"..." Cinder fell quiet and Salem sighed.

"If we turn from the matters of state to more personal ones…" Salem's tone caused the hairs in Cinder's neck to stand on their ends.

"No. We do not need to talk about that."

"Well, I won't question how you want to live your life, but I've seen countless queens and kings rise and die, tyrants lording over the weak from their throne of skulls, and the fate of those who strive to be feared, to be above the weak…" Salem's voice betrayed sadness that irritated Cinder to the core.

"I understand, but you…"

"I merely wonder if your experience in Glenn taught you anything." Salem cut Cinder off. "I am aware of the joy you take from your sadism over the weak and the fool, and the enjoyment you feel when you are feared by them. I have seen your doom in it, and I merely wonder if your near-catastrophic failure in Glenn taught you to stop underestimating the people you fight with, and against, not to mention the danger of overestimating yourself…"

"I am fine!" Cinder growled and slammed her hand against the wooden table, letting small but intense flickers of flame from the thud. The display caused Salem to fall quiet and merely look at Cinder with clear disappointment in her gaze, causing the hairs in Cinder's neck to stand on ends and cold feeling settle on the bottom of her stomach. "I… I'm…"

"You don't need to reassure me. I am merely hoping that despite your incredible cunning and cleverness, some day you realize to look around you and contemplate what you really want- and whether or not the path you now tread leads you where you want it to lead. Tyrants rarely see their own end before it comes for them, and even fewer of them die with a content smile on their lips." Salem sighed as she lifted her hand to swipe at the soot-stained, burnt spot of the table, which caused the wood to regenerate back to its earlier state. "I would hate to bury yet another of my 'daughters' who greedily reached for the moon and stumbled on a rock, snapping her own neck in the process. My garden has enough deluded tyrants and power-hungry fools as it is."

Cinder let a growl that was fusion of veiled hostility with a tiny smidgeon of concern. "I am fully aw…"

"I doubt it. You are not aware of your shortcomings, which makes you vulnerable. Capable at hand and mind, confident and self-assured, but weak at core of heart." Salem's blunt words smacked Cinder directly in her face. "But it is no matter. I know I can't teach a cat to fly or fish to read poetry without fundamentally changing what they are in the process. I merely wish to point out your flaws, should you choose to heed my advice like in the years past. And like back then, I do not criticise your path you out of ill intent. After all, is it not a mother's duty to worry for their children?"

"..." Cinder seethed quietly at Salem but chose to not answer. Salem chose to not push Cinder and instead waved her hand dismissively.

"But let us move on- Ah, it seems that our new guest should be arriving soon. And if the information the head maid sent me is correct, I believe my little gift was well received." Salem put her hands on the table. "We indeed, may soon welcome him as a new ally."

Cinder sighed. "Do we really need that… idiot?"

"Please put aside the bitterness my earlier words caused, at least for now. It will only embarrass both of us in front of our new guest." Salem commented, causing Cinder to rein in her nearly unreasonable hostility that had been born during the brief talk. Cinder realized that at best her anger would embarrass her, and at worst, would betray her. ' _And how convenient that is… She must have planned that from the start- to make me angry and to make think about my anger. Hmph. Always the scheming one...'_

A butler opened the side door next to the dining room's main door to announce and to a visitor about enter the room.

After Salem gave a small flick of her hand the man reached to open the door, revealing unusually well-dressed Jaune Arc standing behind it. However any illusion of class born from the clothes were swiftly broken as the boy waddled towards the table with the head maid in tow (or rather, as a guard, slave-driver and escort), before he stopped to give Salem a 'bow' that looked more like he got hit in the stomach rather than as a display of eloquence and respect. "Q-queen Salem."

"Raise your head. You may sit." Salem decreed and gave the maids and butlers a small wave of her hand to bring the food. "Watts and the other members of our little group will not be joining us on this occasion. I trust your recovery has started without issues?"

"Y-yeah… Yes, queen Salem, thank you." Jaune stammered before sitting down on a seat, although he needed a subtle nudge from the head maid to indicate which seat he was supposed to take. The seat placed him directly opposite to Cinder at Salem's end of the table, and the subtle hint of it made Cinder narrow her eyes suspiciously at Jaune and at the head maid. Choosing to not notice, or pretend not to notice Cinder's thoughts, Salem merely looked at the boy who was sweating visibly under the scrutiny.

"U-uh… This tower's a pretty place. If you don't mind me asking, how'd I end up in here?" Jaune stammered.

"Indeed it is, and I do not mind your question but I'll reserve the answer until after dinner." Salem told the boy while the head maid, who had placed herself behind Jaune, gave the boy a painful-looking pinch on his arm (on the side that was invisible to Salem) for speaking out of turn. Of course, Cinder knew that Salem noticed the maid's motion, but chose not to comment on it. "I am as curious towards your ability as you are towards your journey here, but we should reserve that talk after dinner. For now, let us eat."

Cinder gave a miniscule sigh as the tower's staff placed the food on the table and laid the silverware in front of the diners in but a few seconds, both showing the precision and skill of the workers and the high standards Salem usually required from the people she picked to clean, cook and serve her in the tower.

The amount of staff the tower had was quite high, especially considering the remote location of the place and the secrecy surrounding it. Yet since Grimm didn't exactly make good maids and butlers, and a castle wasn't just going to clean and maintain itself either, some servants were necessary for it to function properly. While the alternative of Salem cleaning the whole gigantic tower by herself or cooking food to serve her cabal was completely absurd, Cinder had been nevertheless quite surprised to learn the actual number of lesser people that served Salem _willingly_ in the tower. Of course, for many of them the work had been almost utopist alternative to their wretched lives either as slaves, harlots, beggars or as living organ farms.

After the wretches had suffered in their miserable conditions for long enough, it hadn't been hard for Salem to gather the abused people through her proxies. Afterwards all Salem had to do was to give them a new meaning in life by having them serve her, while simultaneously alleviating their pains and fears and restoring their ruined bodies with her medicine and flesh-craft. The modification also included unlocking their Aura and modifying it so that 'malfunctioned', making them give off unique set of emotions that caused Grimm to consider the Aura's owners as part of their pack, should the servants veer too close to the beasts. After all, having a concentration of people in the heart of the strongest Grimm stronghold in Remnant would end up causing few very messy incidents without some sort of friend-foe identification method to keep the Grimm from killing the servants who veered too close to the beasts. Even past that, the servant's Auras were boosted by Salem and turned partially regenerative so that even if the identification failed, they'd have a way to escape the conflict and heal themselves up afterwards.

Regardless, the care Salem showed to the people she took in as her servants resulted them becoming unflinchingly loyal and devoted to her. Indeed, the servants would rather die than displease or endanger their new master... Although the fact that the psychological care Salem offered to her 'recruits' was tailored to make her look like a messiah in their eyes had probably helped to create the indoctrinated, fanatical workforce.

The maids and butlers who had carried the food stepped away from the table after placing the food in front of Cinder, Jaune and Salem- several cups of sauces, breads, sliced meats and other traditional Valean foods cooked and arranged to the day's theme. Salem gave the servants a light nod just before they began serving the food on plates, and the maids took the quiet order, smoothly transitioning from serving the food to exiting the room in routine-like manner. And soon afterwards only Jaune, Cinder and the Queen of the Grimm were left in the room... Although just before exiting, the head maid had turned and given Jaune a cold glare that promised death and decay, as it was likely that the boy's behaviour and knowledge of court rituals hadn't impressed the woman.

"Now then, the food has been served. let us eat." Salem motioned for Jaune and Cinder to proceed.

Cinder sighed as she reached to load some food on her plate while Jaune looked at the food with half-frightened, half-confused eyes. The look puzzled Cinder for a brief moment before her lips turned up to a gleeful, gloating grin. ' _Oh… the head maid must have instructed him to eat only once the food was served on the plate, and taught him the whole formal dinner etiquette… heh, he's confused since Salem quit it midway though and now he doesn't know if he could eat at all or if he should ask…'_

"Mr Arc… Jaune. We can do away with the court rituals for now, seeing that we're alone amongst ourselves and that you are unfamiliar with the formalities. Feel free to dig in." Salem waved her hand slightly at Jaune and reached to lob a sizeable piece of meat on her own plate on the other, using unusually brutish moves. "Also, you may refer to me as Salem while the servants are not listening."

"Ah… Y-yes. Thank you." Jaune nodded slightly at Salem before starting to practically empty the serving platters to his own and gorging himself with the food.

The pale woman's words caused Cinder to blink in confusion. As the boy dug into his food Cinder had to look away to preserve her own appetite, while also trying to understand what had happened.

And it hit her almost as soon as she saw a small, minute smirk on Salem's lips which was likely given as a clue for Cinder. ' _Oh… oh. She made him go through the whole court ritual training, but with the staff as proxy- a proxy that demanded the stuffy and likely unfamiliar ritual from him, so she could then do away with the rituals when the staff left and that way made him feel comfortable rather than frightened in her presence, and perhaps to also make him feel more included? Come to think of it, both of those might be the case… She's really going all out, isn't she?'_

Salem gave a small nod at Cinder's direction and the flame-caster sighed.

"Right…"

The main portion of dinner concluded without further conflict, although after what felt like eternity for the relatively lightly eating Cinder as Arc didn't seem to have a bottom to his stomach. As Jaune and Salem finally put their plates away Salem signalled for the small army of servant staff to return and take the remaining food away.

...

"Now that we've been fed and watered, we can move onto the matters at hand." Salem told Jaune as the servants left the room once more, leaving a crystal and gold-made jug full of lightly flavored water and few glasses on the table. "I hope your recovery has started well? The head maid informed me that you had… made yourself at home quite quickly."

"Y-yeah, I guess…" Jaune blushed bright red as he tried to think of a way to either downplay or apologize for his earlier actions. The earlier dread the pale woman had caused had disappeared almost completely and in its place was inquisitive and welcoming aura that made Jaune feel at home in the otherwise posh and luxurious dining table. The sudden change made him feel incredibly anxious though, and the things he had done to the servant Salem had sent made him feel incredibly ashamed and regretful.

"You don't need to be ashamed. The maid I assigned as your servant has performed to your standards, correct?" Salem lifted her eyebrow as she somehow divined what Jaune was feeling, and he blushed even brighter while Cinder looked at Jaune with slightly disgusted expression on her face. Salem didn't seem to share Cinder's opinion though. "Oh, stop blushing and stuttering. You're a man, are you not? Healthy vigor and virility are both positive qualities in a man."

"Y-yeah... "

Cinder buried her face in her hands as Jaune stammered his reply to Salem.

"Regardless, the servants I assign to you will be under your care and control during your stay in here. Feel free to use them in whatever capacity you feel necessary, but please do not break them." Salem waved Jaune's stammering off. "Nevertheless, we have more important matters to discuss. Please explain to me in detail why I found you in Cinder's body?"

"I- wait, what?" Jaune's eyes widened to what felt like small saucers upon hearing the pale woman's words.

"Upon returning here Cinder was… in ill health, to put it mildly. I have suspicion that her condition was caused by a wildly erratic flesh-shaping effect that was mutating her body against her will and against all logic." Salem put her hands on the table and looked at Jaune with odd look on her face which was somehow making his skin crawl. For some reason it made him feel like he had been staked to a dissecting table and Salem was holding surgical blades "After I undid many of her mutations I found a parasitic form in her stomach that was fused into both her womb and her digestive organs. I took it out and placed it in a growth tube… and it grew into you. I'll assure you that the creature I found was most definitely not a human embryo, since human embryos don't have four eyes, chitin armor and sixteen pairs of hook-like arms, and I would be most interested in hearing your version of the story."

"I… I don't really know what happened. Honestly." Jaune shook his head. "One moment I was in Glenn, Cinder was wounded, and I tried to heal her. I… I'm not sure if it worked, but the next thing I remember is waking up in that lab of yours."

"Hmm… how exactly did you attempt to heal Cinder?" Salem sent a mysterious look at Cinder before turning back to Jaune. "Detail it as well as you can."

"I… I tried to put my hand in the wound she had. Something had burst from her stomach, I think, and then uh… I just started to think happy thoughts and wanted Cinder to be healed and alright again. I think my hand started to fuse with her wound, but that's as far as I remember."

"Most interesting… What was your intent behind the healing? Be specific." Salem prodded.

"I just wanted Cinder to be alright again and all of us, er, team SABR and her, to be together again." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, I have some questions of my own. A lot of them in fact."

"About Grimm, why and how do I even exist, what my goal is, and am I a 'bad' person or not?" Salem asked and Jaune nodded as the woman had hit pretty much his exact question. "I'm sure that you might have pieced this together from my title, but I created the Grimm, and hold a high degree of control over them."

"Uh… Yeah." Jaune nodded somewhat warily. "So um… why haven't you killed me or Cinder? Or why do you have humans serving you? I thought Grimm wanted all humans to die above all else."

"Is that so?" Salem lifted her eyebrow at him. "Who told you that?"

"Well… the books at Beacon and my own experiences fighting Grimm." Jaune noted while narrowing his eyes. "Don't tell me that Grimm are peaceful but misunderstood or something."

"No, I'm merely pointing out that Grimm, while they do have a instinct that orders them to seek and destroy negativity, do not share the same instincts with the rest of human emotional spectrum. Otherwise cities like Vale would be constantly under attack and most smaller villages would have been wiped out already." Salem waved her hand dismissively. "The goal of Grimm have never been the absolute destruction of all humanity."

"So what is it then?" Jaune pressed. "Why are you doing this?"

"Hmm… I have multiple ways of answering that question. I believe that a small mindplay is necessary for you to understand, so for a moment allow me to guide your thoughts." Salem tapped the timberwood table with her fingers. "Assume that the world around you is engulfed in fire, in blood and clashing steel. A world embroiled constant, grueling wars waged in the name of greed, pride, honor, and other meaningless things. People around you are dying in the droves to fuel those wars, whole communities, cultures even, are lost in a endless orgy of destruction, terror and fear. Assume that you are a leader of your people, and wish for their safety, but no matter what you do the war comes to your doorstep and claims parts of your family, of your friends, of your loved ones- until only you remain, carrying the history of your people on your shoulders and on your shoulders only, knowing that once you fall then your culture will flicker out and join the ranks of the dead and forgotten."

Jaune blinked. "W-what does that have to do with anything?"

"Think about what I'm saying for now. The time for questions is later or if I ask for them." Salem reprimanded and Jaune fell quiet. "Assume that you come across power that lets you change the circumstances surrounding you- a power to unleash against all the warring factions, to begin a war to end all wars, as hypocritical as it sounds."

"The Grimm were that power, right?" Jaune narrowed his eyes before shaking his head. "Right, nevermind, questions later. Got it."

"Your observation is correct. Now, imagine that you join the war, pushing against the destruction with blade of your own- and what will the warring tribes of humans do in return?" Salem let a small chuckle. "The grudges of old, the blood-feuds, the vengeances spanning ages and generations are forgotten in a flick of a hand as a greater power rises to threaten their rule. The nations, no, tribes unite to stand against the tide of black flesh and claw. Old rivals stand side by side, and fight as brothers when they were at eachothers throats mere months ago."  
"So the wars stopped, right?" Jaune felt that he needed to ask as Salem paused her speech, clearly waiting for Jaune's input.

"In a way. The Grimm still wrought terrible ruin, and soon I realized that I was doing as much damage as the wars had- even more, in fact. A tribe's warriors dying in a war would be followed by joining the defeated people to the victorious one, of course with the natural tribal bickering, raping of the women and whatnot. But now the tribe would be forced to fight to the bitter end, knowing that once their warriors fell, their families would be butchered and eaten by the Grimm. There would be no salvation to those who raised their blades against me… or didn't raise them at all."

"Why didn't you stop, then?" Jaune prodded as

"Assuming the stream of Grimm ended, what do you think would happen next?" Salem addressed her words to Cinder who had been quiet so far. "If I feigned my defeat and merged back into shadows?"

"Naturally the old grudges would be brought up anew and the wars would continue, this time against each other instead of Grimm." Cinder's tone was uncaring. "The Grimm would serve merely as a distraction before the wars between tribes would continue for whatever reasons, be them slights, trespasses, boredom, old grudges, different physical attributes or raids."

"For the violence was so deeply engraved in the nature of man it would not leave him even during times of peace." Salem seemed to quote someone but merely waved her hand before continuing. "Essentially, there was only one way to stop the wars- to continue the war forever. Hypocritical, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Jaune nodded while narrowing his eyes. "So I imagine you came up with something."  
"Indeed. I believe I told you about Grimm only hunting certain emotions, correct?" Salem seemed to be glad as Jaune kept up with her trail of thoughts. "Negativity, as is associated with conflict, strife and war. The Grimm would seek the tribes and destroy the warmongers, leaving the rest behind. Eventually I hoped that it would cultivate a world of peace- of course, I was but a fool back then."

"But…"

"But turns out that it wouldn't work for multiple reasons." Salem sighed. "First would be that at the time I didn't quite know how to manipulate Grimm to a degree that would allow them to only strike down the 'warmongers'. Second would be that quantifying humans as 'warmongers' and 'peacefuls' was a massive, colossal mistake- conflict is part of human psyche, and even the most peaceful man or woman feels negative from time to time. I attribute that mistake to my lack of knowledge of human nature at the time."

"And the third?" Jaune asked.  
"Completely static peace was incredibly damaging to human psyche- both theirs, and mine. A world that was completely devoid of any conflict, static and unmoving... turns out it is _incredibly_ boring." the Queen of the Grimm shrugged. "Humans need a degree of conflict to grow into functioning beings, or there's a high chance they end up becoming vicious, infighting, lazy and vain to a degree where the socio-political structure of their communities would collapse. That would lead to the perceivably conflict-free community growing incredibly self-damaging and toxic until Grimm would come to wipe them out, or they killed themselves, or they regressed to mental capacity of unusually well dressed pigs."

"So… you wanted to stop the wars and bring peace by killing all people who felt negatively about their lives or the others." Jaune's tone conveyed clearly that wasn't convinced.

"Not everyone, as you might have noticed from my second point." Salem's eyebrow furrowed slightly in annoyance. "Indeed, some conflict is necessary for mankind to exist. I merely wanted to bring an end to the unsustainable, grueling wars and greed that were tearing Remnant apart."

"I'll just go back to the previous point. Why didn't you just kill everyone?" Jaune pointed out. "Why bother with all that?"

"And what, exist alone in a static, unmoving world populated only Grimm?" Salem lifted her eyebrow. "I am effectively immortal. If I killed everything so that I'd be the only thing left, how would I entertain myself? Or keep myself from going insane from boredom? Be careful what you ask for- the power to destroy the world and immortality make for bad bedfellows."

"Uh huh. How'd you even make the Grimm?"

"Hmm, that would be quite long ago, and I don't feel like that you are ready to hear about it." Salem narrowed her eyes at Jaune, causing his confrontive attitude to ping off as the earlier dread Salem had caused creeped back into her tone. "Once we can call each other allies we may converse about that."

"Oh…" Jaune shrinked a bit on his chair. "R-right."

"The knowledge about the origin of the Grimm could end up providing weapons to my enemies should it leak." Salem explained as she must have sensed Jaune's fear. "Now, I believe it is time I heard about your ability. You appear to be able to change your shape at will, yet not in the way a traditional shapeshifter might. You are able to shape and embed yourself into my Grimm flesh. How are you doing that?"

"Uh… well, it started when my Aura got unlocked…" Jaune explained, starting from the raid upon Shion Village and going forwards until the time just before his arrival in Beacon. While his story didn't exactly answer Salem's question, she appeared to quite good listener, while Cinder seemed to be struck between annoyance and straight-up boredom at the story.

"And upon your arrival in Beacon?" Salem prodded as Jaune hesitated going further into the story.

"Uh… I… don't think I should talk about it." Jaune stammered, causing Cinder to freeze and give Salem a hesitant glance.

"Are you defying me?" Salem's tone of voice changed slightly, causing the dread she radiated earlier to creep back into her tone.

"I… I don't want to put my team at risk." Jaune braced himself for battle and he felt as his arms grew hot as the mounting tension between him and Salem caused shards of bone to chip inside his flesh and to start forming his weapons. "You said that I shouldn't know about the origin of the Grimm as it places them at risk, then I will say the same about my team…"

"I am not concerned with them nor do I plan to specifically go after them. Quite contrary in fact. I am willing to leave them alone if it is an issue for you or include them to your personal retinue if you can recruit them." Salem waved his concerns off. "You seem to be somewhat dense sort, so let me spell it out for you. I am interested in your cooperation for my cause. I am interested in your ability for its uniqueness. I am interested in your actions, as observing them through proxy has brought me quite bit of entertainment. I recognize that you are very much a protector type of a person. Threatening people you hold dear would not end well for anyone involved, and that is not what I intend."

"I... uh…" Jaune blinked.

"I am not Ozpin. I do not seek to withhold information from you for no reason and make you my personal weapon of war. Instead I wish to see if our motives match- for us to work together." Salem explained. "I have offered the same to all those who serve me and work under my lead."

"But they still serve _under_ you." Jaune pointed out. "That still sounds like you are using them."

"Oh please, not everyone has what it takes to lead themselves. I merely provide what they need. They know this however, and submit to me willingly- unlike how Ozpin operates. You've received his… 'aid' haven't you? Were they anything more than lies and empty promises?" Salem lifted her eyebrow as Jaune fell quiet. "You have my word that I will not harm your court based off the story you're about to tell me, unless they attack me first. Now, with the rest of the story…"

"Uh… So, I arrived to Beacon, and met my team…" Jaune continued story all the way until Glenn, leaving his relationship affairs aside although for some reason he suspected Salem knew about them already. For some reason Cinder seemed to be slightly uneasy as he talked about Weiss's assassination attempt by Cinder's rogue teammates, and Salem sent a undecipherable look at her. "...And then I woke up here. That's… pretty much it."

"Fascinating. So you merged with a Grimm Beowolf, apparently, after you ate its flesh. I'll have to run series of tests with that in mind as Grimm are fundamentally incapable of providing nourishment." Salem had excited smile on her lips as she spoke. "Of course, assuming you'll allow me to run tests your body and mind."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Are you asking out of concern that you'd have none, or because you seek to deny my help?" Salem waved Jaune's concerns off. "You said you wished to learn to better use your ability. Now you have the chance. There are none in Remnant as well versed in Grimm, Aura and Semblances as me, so if you truly wish to master… hm, 'your' ability, then…"

"...I'll have to come to you. Right." Jaune sighed heavily.

"Oh, don't be so depressed. You're not making a deal with the devil here." Salem clicked her tongue at Jaune's melodramatic posture and huffed as Jaune lifted his eyebrow in question. "I am aware that I _would_ be the traditional devil in most of the folklore these days but let's look past that for a moment, shall we?"

"Right… so you'd help me with my control over my Semblance out of… charity?" Jaune's voice was suspicious and Salem nodded appreciatively.

"Good. You're thinking critically. There may be hope for you yet." Salem tied her fingers together while resting her elbows against the dining table's surface. "Your ability provides me with something new and curious to research, and if we get in 'under control', you'll likely become a capable agent for me. In fact, the first assignment I'd send you to would be to smash Raven Branwen's tribe."

"Really?"

"Quite. My recent intel from my proxies in Mistral suggest that they had found her camp, and that she has… something that doesn't belong to her. I'd like to send you, Cinder and Watts to retrieve the thing she stole and bring Raven here for... questioning." Salem lifted her eyebrow at Jaune. "Sound interesting?"

"What happens to the bandits?" Jaune asked in turn to hide his rising interest. "My sisters may be in the camp."

"You might want to hope that they are _not_ in the camp. Bandits like hers do not keep prisoners." Salem folded her arms over her considerable bust while Jaune tried to understand the implications of her words. "The second offer I have for you is that I'll use my… contacts in Mistral to look into slave trades over the last two years. If I'm correct, Branwen's tribe sold the prisoners she took from Shion to either Menagerie or Vacuo as slaves after she got bored with them. There's also possibility that the prisoners were just killed on the spot after having provided what entertainment they did, but I don't consider that likely as tribes like Branwen's require a lot of coin to operate- they may pretend to be self-sustaining and independent, but bandit groups the size of hers can't stay completely isolated for long as they begin needing supplies that they can't raid in bulk. And to properly purchase supplies they need money."

"Wouldn't they just raid the supplies from traveling merchants?" Jaune asked.

"Merchants with bulk wares for small settlements are somewhat rare, most of them are wealthy enough on their own to afford a sizeable guard, and talk to each other." Salem lifted her eyebrow at Cinder who looked away for some reason. "The merchants sell supplies to settlements over the table, and under the table to raiders who happen to need specific supplies from kingdoms that would be hard to get reliably otherwise. Should Branwen raid the merchants, then the merchants might just… advice each other to avoid her general location. That would affect not only Branwen, but also the other tribes in the area who might be slightly offended by Raven's actions."

"So the other tribes would wipe Branwen's tribe out to keep the supplies running." Jaune nodded while Cinder reached to pour herself some water. "Right, so that means it's likely Raven sold my sisters to underground slave rings since that's the most profitable option?"

"Indeed. I'll have to see with my contacts if I had hm… liberated them already so…"

"May, the servant you sent for me, told me that you had intercepted slave traders before." Jaune interrupted Salem, but lifted his hands in apology as Cinder sent him a hostile glare and Jaune saw that a vein had began pulsing in Salem's forehead. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt, I just…"

"Hmph. Try not to interrupt me in the future. Regardless, I believe I'll have the information ready in few days to a week, alongside Branwen's location. Until then we'll have to focus on examining your abilities… Assuming you have decided to work with us?" Salem lifted her eyebrow at Jaune.

Jaune was quiet for a moment as he thought about the offer. And if he was honest with himself, the 'Queen of the Grimm' hadn't been what he had thought the ruler of Grimm would be- or that Grimm even had one. Somewhere deep down he was feeling like the deal Salem offered was like the classic case of selling one's soul to a devil...

Yet, the promise she offered was tempting. "Fine… but only if my team, or my sisters, or my family won't get dragged into this or get hurt…. And May won't get hurt either. I mean, the servant you sent me."

"I can promise you that none of your inner circle will be harmed either deliberately or though any mean I have control over. I can't promise they won't get hurt if they try to attack me or harm me and my operations though- it is up to you to convince them otherwise." Salem promised him. "With that, I welcome you to my little court."

"Uh… thanks."

"Now then, to the matters at hand. I have already received your seed sample from the maid and from your bed sheets so that's out of the way..." Salem paused as Jaune blushed bright red and Cinder did a spit-take of her water. "...If you two are quite done, I'd like to continue. Regardless, I'll need some additional blood samples from you, and a copy of the healing you performed, ideally copied to some object as I'm sure Cinder will object to her being your… 'mother' again. I'm sure a wounded Grimm or animal will do, unless it requires a wounded human specifically? After that, we should see how _exactly_ you can shape my Grimm flesh."

"Uh… s-sure?" Jaune stammered. "U-uh… was it really necessary to take um… the stuff from the maid…"

"Oh come on. Chin up, back straight, stop stammering and squirming." Salem furrowed her brow at Jaune. "Reproduction is part of normal human life cycle. Cinder told me you had no less than three girlfriends in Beacon and the three took turns to bed you, so the whole act shouldn't come as a surprise or anything out of the ordinary to you."

"N-no, that wasn't the case, really. We were taking it slow and uh... "

"Ah, so they weren't performing their duties as girlfriends nor were you doing your duty as their boyfriend. That explains the state of the maid I sent you. You must have been quite pent up." Salem nodded. Jaune didn't like the knowing look Salem had. "I'll send few more up to your quarters, feel free to use them so you may join my research with clear head."

"Uh, r-right…" Jaune blushed even harder.

"Perhaps bedding them gives you self-confidence as well. You clearly need it." Salem lifted her eyebrow at Jaune. "Indeed, how you manage to control my Grimm material while you yourself have the self-confidence of a mice and straightness of spine of an eel is curious, most curious…"

"U-um…" Jaune wasn't sure if he should be offended by Salem's words but chose not to be just in case she somehow realized what he was thinking.

"Good, because my words were meant as criticism, not as an attack. Take my advice to heart, for I don't offer advice often. It wouldn't do for someone in my court to be weak or spineless whenever their family is not immediately threatened." Salem seemed to pick up on Jaune's thoughts. "Show courage in defence of yourself as well as on the others."

"Uh… right. I have a question though. About the aura you had." Jaune tried to focus on his words to reduce his stammering.

"Aura?"

"When I woke up and pointed a sword at you, I felt… really frightening, overpowering dread coming from you." Jaune explained but hurried to lift his hands before his words could be misinterpreted. "Not that I'm implying anything bad. It seemed like that when I got hit by it, the Shadow, er, the violent part of my Semblance seemed to pick up on it and started to replicate it later when I arrived to my room. The maid got hit by it too, but more importantly it caused my… behaviour to change. For the worse."

Salem gave Jaune a critical look before tilting her head out of curiosity. "Interesting. It seems that you are more dangerous than you appear, my. Arc. I look forward to finding out just how you are doing what you are doing."

"I _assaulted_ her because of it! Because I got targeted by your aura, I want to know what happene-"

"You discovered that you were a male specimen with reproductive organs, and applied that information to a practical situation when a willing female presented herself to you, joining her to your pack." Salem told him in a crude, medical way that made the hairs on Jaune's neck to stand on edges out of sudden fright as he was reminded once again that Salem did _not_ appreciate back-talk. It also reminded him that he was talking to the _Queen_ of the Grimm and it looked like Salem had very little patience for repeating her words. "Like I said, you may use the maids I assign to you in any way you wish. _How_ exactly you use them is hardly my concern, as long as you do not break them. We will not talk about this again."

Jaune gulped and nodded. Salem moved her head minutely in a way that could have been slightly approving nod before she reached under the table to pick up a small bell and ring it.

As a response to the sound the dining hall's doors opened again, and allowed the staff to re-enter with trays of desserts in their carry. "You may retire to your quarters after the desserts. Cinder and I will continue our work today, but tomorrow Cinder will guide you to the grounds and teach you the layout of this tower."

"A servant's job." Cinder commented dryly as the maids and butlers laid cakes, fruits, puddings and other sweets on the table. Salem merely nodded slightly at Cinder's direction.

"Perhaps. I feel that you two should talk though, and it would provide the opportunity." Salem told Cinder while Jaune tried to straighten his back to the best of his ability and wipe his face clean of emotions (and crumbs) in sort-of attempt at imitating Salem's regal air.

The fact that the head maid had returned to her place behind Jaune didn't affect his decision to try and put up the act, and it definitely wasn't influenced by how the already glacial glare the servant woman was giving him had only dropped few tens of degrees when she had spotted the crumbs by the side of his mouth.

...

After sampling (or in Jaune's case, gulping down) some desserts the dinner came to an end and the head maid escorted Jaune away.

"Do you think he bought it?" Cinder asked as she and Salem were left alone in the dining room. "That story you told him?"

"I'd say so. Fascinating." Salem practically purred. "This will be quite entertaining."

"Haah... " Cinder reached to rub her face with her free hand. "Are you sure this is the best way to approach this... situation?"

"If I didn't believe it was, I wouldn't have used it." Salem moved her shoulders minutely in a way that perhaps the most generous man in the world could call a shrug. "Hmm, Arc… no, _Jaune_ , if I address him more casually considering that we're allies, has been essentially isolated from his social circle after his awakening in here. The fact he essentially gobbled his assigned maid up tells me that while he has bonds with his 'girlfriends', they are still weak enough that they can be severed- or at the very least, equalled."

"Why do I need to hear this, again?"

"You'll have to work in the field with him, so his psychological state will be fairly important to you if we want to keep him on our side." Salem tapped her fingers against the timberwood table. "Regardless, he is a protective, passive type so giving him something to protect in here should work to pull his mind from his existing pack. I have few maids in mind who are more… vulnerable than the others, so I imagine he'll see their vulnerability and seek to protect them. And thanks to their opinion of me, they will be able to anchor him to our side in no time. The fact he hasn't had much… physical interaction with his existing pack is unexpected boon for us as well, as males like him will become quite tightly bonded with their mates. Not to mention that his confusion, uncertainty and fear makes him very vulnerable for such exploitation by our agents."

"Right. You and your indoctrinated little girls..." Cinder noted with clear exasperation in her tone. "I do get it though. There are no better thief's of secrets than harlots, and can tell as many lies as they hear secrets. Although he will likely turn on us if he realizes what you're about to do."

"Possibly. But if I just plant him in a tower, his thoughts will turn back to his existing circle and his longing will overtake his need to stay with us." Salem nodded her agreement to Cinder's words. "He has pledged himself to us on a promise- and if we're honest, he will attempt to leave us the moment I fill my part of the bargain. After all, his remaining family and pack would be on the other side of the fence, and his type values family over oaths and honor. So call this… hm... ensuring his loyalties preemptively. Few maids, some luxuries and a fully fitted guest room are barely nothing in comparison to what he might reveal, and in comparison to how useful agent he could be."

"Makes sense."

"Also, I'll see if I can find out what Ozpin has done with the already existing Arc, before you set his plans back at least for few years. If 'Jaune Arc' is alive in Beacon, well, we might have a problem. If he's dead, we also have a problem but of different kind." Salem stroked her cheek thoughtfully. "Same applies to your rogue underling, Emerald. From what you told me during your report, her current state of existence might cause us problems in the future so we should nip that one out of the bud as soon as we find her. Considering her actions and affections before you were separated from her, setting you as a bait might work best to draw her out if my cells can't find her."

"I hope you don't mind that I'll resent the notion of being bait for Emerald. But if we move on to my upcoming mission…" Cinder sighed. "I'm assuming Raven has one of the maidens?"

"Yes, I believe she does. Mistral's Maiden escaped from Haven Academy before our agent managed to… hm… prepare her for transport. It is likely she found out his true allegiance before due time and fled." Salem nodded. "The cells operating in remote villages reported a girl bearing similar appearance to the Maiden popping up few times before disappearing around the area where Raven's tribe operates. Either she joined them willingly, or she was too weak after running out of food, money and supplies from the months-long escape, and she was captured by the bandits. All things considered, the latter is more likely."

"I see. Which Maiden was it?"

"Spring. So expect to face powers of bloom-like growth and wind. If Jaune's ability is what I suspect it is, the fight shouldn't be too hard. Specifically if she decides to attack him with the powers of growth and bloom, since it would likely just feed into his ability." Salem nodded vaguely. "Considering Raven's personality, she likely has taken the power for herself or has transferred it to her own pawn and hidden it well, which means we need to capture her for interrogation. If she has the power herself, then do what you must to focus her thoughts to you before you kill her. Ozpin revealed the Maidens to Raven before she betrayed him, so she knows how they operate and will not let us have the Maiden without a fight."

"Can't I just receive another parasite to drain the Maiden from her? I'll assume I'm to become the new Maiden."

"I could give one to you, but the strain Arc left in you would just eat it." Salem reminded her. "The strain is quite aggressive and will assimilate whatever it comes in contact with. I could have tried to remove it entirely, but since it had partially embedded itself into your brain and cerebral cortex… well, if I failed you would have become a mindless lobotomite, and even if I succeeded there was exceedingly high risk of permanently altering your personality or reducing your mental capacity to that of a fifteen year old, or even less."

Cinder suppressed a shudder as a scenario of her acting like a certain red-clad girl popped up in her mind.

"Regardless, Raven has quite considerable willpower, so torture likely won't work, and if she is defeated _and_ is a Maiden, then she will likely attempt suicide to keep the power from our grasp. I'd suggest attempting to inject hallucinogenic drugs or something of the sort into her to weaken her mind during combat. After the battle, if you don't find anything that would make her submit to you on the spot, just remove her limbs and bring her here so we can brainstorm a way to break her together." Salem reached to stroke Cinder's cheek in comforting way, and Cinder allowed her head to rest slightly against Salem's hand. "Jaune will likely become somewhat unstable once he sees Raven, so we'll have to explain the plan to him before you depart, and make sure that he understands it. Convince him that whatever fate Raven will face, it will be far worse here than if he just stabbed her to death. Perhaps we should give him the job of hacking off her limbs if that makes him feel better."

"Not that he needs much to become unstable…" Cinder sighed as she pulled her head off Salem's reach. "He rampaged quite hard when I revealed the recording I took from Qrow Branwen's Scroll, so I imagine pointing him in Raven's direction and telling him to get his murder-death-kill on shouldn't be too hard. Stopping him will be the hard part, but I'm sure I'll find a way."

"Indeed, but try to make him feel like it was his decision all along. We don't want to become one with Ozpin in his mind." Salem reminded her. "I didn't misdirect him when I said I want us to work together..."

"Right. I'll better start to prepare myself for the mission ahead…"

"Oh no you don't." Salem's smile was patently fake and Cinder felt familiar dread creeping up her spine. "The mission won't start until my agents pinpoint Raven's location, ensuring she is present when you attack, and until Arc is ready to be deployed. And we still have some reports to process."

"...Ugh, you just want to skip doing them yourself." Cinder dared to object and the patently fake smile just widened in Salem's lips. "Okay, okay, message received, oh how I love reading reports of sheep-buggery or whatever…"

"Good daughter." Salem tussled Cinder's hair with her free hand while she typed something on her Scroll with the other. "In that case I'll let you handle the livestock reports."

Cinder growled.

 **AN: 22k word chapter this time. I debated with myself if I should keep this and the next chapter together for dual release, as it has become a habit recently, but I thought releasing this one without a immediate follow-up wouldn't leave too big of a cliffhanger.**

 **This chapter was a bit exposition-heavy, but I felt that it was neccessary in order to set the stage for the future.** **In the same vein, this chapter focused less on Beacon and more on the Heart. Future chapters will focus more on one or both, but either way prepare yourselves for some perspective-shifting.**

 **You can expect a lot more lewd in the coming chapters as well, on both frontiers. Yay or sorry, depending on your preference regarding it.**

 **Do leave reviews this story if you have time to do so, I like reading reviews. I feel that reviews give me valuable insight, specifically critical ones as pointing out one's flaws helps one grow.**

 **Next ch: Sooner than this one. Possibly as another dual release, depending on my internal cliffhanger-o-meter.**


	47. Echo and Effect

**AN: A heads-up- Around half this chapter is lemon in various forms. If it isn't your thing, you are warned.**

"Welcome back, lord." May was quick to greet Jaune as he stepped back into his assigned room with the head maid behind him. The maid and the head maid gave each other a look before the head maid turned and left, although not before giving Jaune a glacial, reprimanding glare.

Jaune sighed as he saw that May was flanked by two other girls wearing long maid dresses that went down to their ankles. One of them was a somewhat dreamy and aloof-looking slender girl with long, black hair tied to a bun behind her head, and the other was a shy-looking girl with greyish blonde hair and blue eyes. The shy girl tried to smile nervously at Jaune, and he noticed that she had rows and rows of sharp teeth which clued him in that she was likely a faunus of some sort. The girl noticed that he was looking at her mouth and quickly closed her lips, and put her hands over her mouth in embarrassment and fright.

"Hi, May. Listen, I'm sorry about earlier, and about what Salem…" Jaune began explaining, but he was cut off.

"I apologize for my earlier inability to serve and sate my lord to the full extent of his needs and requirements. I have recovered, however, and queen Salem has assigned two additional maids to serve you as needed, after I alone proved incapable of providing what you required in full. Should you need even more for thine needs, an arrangement can be made to bolster our numbers." May ignored Jaune's apologies in order to deliver her own. "Lord Arc, can I introduce your assigned servants to you?"

' _Salem…'_ Jaune rubbed his face in exasperation, while his already strained mind struggled to stay clear of unwanted thoughts. The meeting with Salem had taxed his mind quite bit, and the way May was looking at him promised a quick relief to his mounting weariness- and to his internal horror, the very much spoken offer was already feeling somewhat tempting. ' _For Oum's sake… I'll have to keep myself in check and hope I can beg Ruby, Pyrrha and Blake for forgiveness… And keep 'that' from happening again, even if Salem sent, what, two other girls just for that purpose… Wait, did she say that she could ask for even more of them to serve me?'_

"M-my lord, do you.. um… you seem to have erection once again… f-for now, let us go away with introduction and…"

' _Oh come on brain…'_ Jaune beelined straight to the shower while May stammered and blushed, the shy girl's eyes bulged, and the aloof girl was tilting her head curiously at Jaune's back. ' _Yeah, no, that's not gonna happen no matter what May is implying, cold water, into my pants, right now… Perhaps ice too...'_

Unfortunately for him, the shower didn't have a lock and just after he managed to pull his pants off and toss the suit he had, the shower doors opened and the three maids walked in with heavy blushes on their faces. Or rather, two of them had blushes while the third, aloof-looking one was just looking around the room with mild interest.

"Girls, I uh… really, just, want to take a shower, nothing more…" Jaune tried to stop the maids, but unfortunately his lower parts were telling a different story. "Ugh, just… ignore that."

"Um... " May looked uncertain before she seemed to realize something and she looked around the large bathroom. "Ah, that makes sense. Queen Salem told us that you would feign reluctance, which does fit in with the prior behaviour you expressed, my lord. Yes, it makes sense to do it here, seeing that the bed was nearly ruined before the dinner with just the two of us."

"No, that's not the way I meant it…" Jaune felt something heavy and resigned settle in the bottom of his stomach as May seemed to hear what she wanted to hear and pulled her own conclusions from it. "I have girlfriends, I really can't do this…"

"My lord.. your words feel dishonest, considering what happened earlier today." May noted as she walked slowly towards him while pulling off her dress- and revealing that she had nothing underneath it, thus making Jaune approximately hundred percent sure that she had planned what she offered from the start. "Your body is honest though- Lord, you need not feign reluctance with us. We are sworn to secrecy, you need not fear that anyone outside these doors, sans queen Salem of course, know what happens within."

The maid-girl walked close enough to him that his member slid between her thighs, rubbing the shaft against her skin, and as a result Jaune neared losing control of himself again as she leaned her body against him. She looked into his eyes, so close to him that their lips touched as she spoke. "Please be honest, lord Arc. Do you want us to go away? If you truly wish us to go, then we shall."

' _I… I shouldn't… but... '_ He felt as a treacherous, hidden part of his head whispered dark thoughts to his consciousness, tempting him- and even though he tried to tell himself that it was just the Shadow, he couldn't quite deny the part of his rational mind that reminded him that the beast within was _not_ coherent enough to formulate so elaborate thoughts. ' _I shouldn't, but… it felt so good... the others won't know if I don't tell them, would they? No, I shouldn't think like that!'_

The faunus maid blushed bright as his eyes landed on her briefly, all the while the slender and dreamy maid was bowing down to inspect a rack of bath salts with no care in the world regarding to what was about to happen few feet away from her. Or so it appeared, yet the black-haired aloof-acting girl was bowing directly away from Jaune almost accidentally, giving him a fairly good look at her shapely rear end. Jaune was forced to look away though as May slid down so she was kneeling in front of Jaune, and without further prompting or asking began licking and stroking his member.

And the way his hand had placed itself behind her head to pull her closer probably wasn't helping. ' _Oh… I shouldn't… but I did it once already… oh to hell with it!'_

Something snapped in his head as May took the tip of his member inside her mouth, and he to thrust his hips to push the entire thing down her mouth, filling her throat entirely. "Mrrghh!"

May's words were lost in stream of wet gags as his self-restraint broke again- He took her offer to the task, and he started _using_ her throat to vent his fear and uncertainty that had been born during his meeting with Salem. Spit and pre-cum soon covered his entire length while May's eyes rolled back in her head and her gags became more and more muffled while she braced herself by placing her hands on his hips.

Before Jaune even realized it, the feeling of May's soft, inviting throat had pushed him over his threshold and with one final thrust, he pushed May's head all the way down to his hilt, causing few bubbles of spit to appear around the seal her lips made against his skin.

A groan escaped him as felt his release shoot down May's throat and and directly into her stomach.

"Hn… haah... " Jaune let a content sigh as he pulled himself out of May's throat and let her collapse on the bathroom floor- and at that exact moment he realized what he was doing, freezing him on the spot. ' _Oh… no. Not again!'_

He looked around the room and saw that the faunus maid was looking at him with shaky eyes while the aloof-looking maid had come closer and had grabbed May to keep her from falling over after he let her go. Closer inspection showed that the black-haired dreamy-acting maid was rubbing circles in May's back as the brown-haired maid coughed weakly and tried to clear her throat. "Oh- No... I... "

The black-haired maid looked up at Jaune with eyes that seemed to ask if May was alright or why he had done what he did, and Jaune felt near-physical pain as he realized he had lost control of himself for the second time that day- in front of two other girls no less.

The faunus girl gulped loudly before coming closer and kneeling down beside May almost as if she was 'taking her turn', but the black-haired, dreamy girl pushed her gently away- which maybe was for the best as Jaune remembered seeing the rows of sharp teeth inside the blonde girl's mouth.

"U-um… Sorry, but we haven't been introduced…" Jaune felt a bit awkward as the wordless 'conversation' kept going all the while he was unclothed, and the three girls were kneeling in front of him in various stages of daze, indifference or near-panic level of nervousness. "I'm Jaune Arc… Hi?"

"S-sorry, lord Arc…" The blonde faunus mumbled awkwardly while trying to keep her mouth from opening as much as she could, likely so that her teeth wouldn't come visible. Jaune guessed that she felt self-conscious of her faunus traits or something, which did fit in with his earlier experience as Blake had been very secretive of her cat-ears as well. "I'm… Shir…"

"Shir…" Jaune blinked. "Shir… isn't that old Vacuon for… something?"

"A- a song, or gold… s-sorry…"

He realized that it was probably incredibly awkward and jarring for everyone involved to start a casual, unrelated conversation when he was unclothed, one of the people involved was coughing on the floor, his member was both combat-ready and coated in the said person's saliva and his own juices, but he didn't really know what else he should do… and his treacherous mind wasn't helping.

"Um… well, nice to meet you. You're a faunus, right?" Jaune tried to ignore his physical state as much as he could, and his casual if incredibly awkward way of talking seemed to help Shir's stammering. "And… who's your friend?"

"Y-yes… a shark faunus… um, about her, she doesn't speak much." Shir noted as she seemed to gain courage after Jaune didn't immediately jump on her- which she clearly expected him to do, and with a good reason considering May's current condition and what he had done to her mere minute prior. "A… thing happened in her past life, before she was rescued by queen Salem, and she's been somewhat quiet and detached ever since despite our queen's treatment. She does speak occasionally though. Oh, and she's Larua. Ghost, or shadow in old Valean."

"Uh… Hi, nice to meet you, Larua?" Jaune stammered at the black-haired girl who nodded absentmindedly while rubbing circles on May's back with one hand and keeping her stable with the other. He turned towards Shir as Larua didn't seem to be much of a conversationist, barely avoiding slapping the black-haired girl in the face with his dong as he moved. "Um… sorry for what I did to May, I… I don't know what came over me."

"I-It's alright, you do not need to explain or justify your actions to us… er, my lord. We… we knew what might, could, would happen when Queen Salem s-sent for us." Shir's cheeks blushed bright while the rest of her face was as pale as sheet. "A-although, if I may ask... T-There were… rumors circulating that… that... you might be extremely v- violent and sadistic, that you k- killed and ate your… p-partners after you were d-done with them… May told me that it wasn't the case, b-but still, you might have just nibbled her and she might have just tasted b-bad."

"...Watts. That bastard has it in for me, hasn't he? No, I do not do that. I'm not some sort of human-eating monster… er, normally anyway. Disregard the last." Jaune rubbed his face in exasperation and corrected himself as Shir let a small 'eep'. "I'm so sorry… I've screwed up our introduction- no, I screwed up everything completely, haven't I…"

The image Watts's rumors spread about Jaune seemed to have made him seem like some sort of monster for the tower's service staff- with the exception of the dreamy-acting girl, although Larua's lack of reaction felt more like her not really caring about what became of her rather than her being fearless.

"Haah… Rumors… Well, you screwed May's face up, alright." Shir noted before blushing and covering her mouth with her hands. "P-please forgive this mouth of mine. I swear it has a mind of its own!"

"It's alright. You're right. I shouldn't have done that." Jaune apologized to the wrong girl, causing Shir's head to tilt in confusion. "I… something just snapped in me. I'm sorry."

"Lord, if you were so pent up that um… May's 'late dinner' happened against your apparent will…" Shir's words were careful, almost as if she tried to avoid offending him at all costs. "Then I'd say that you really need to unwind. And that's what we're here for. We all knew what we were getting into when we signed up- and like queen Salem told you, lord Arc, we're at your service. If you feel like you are exploiting us, please don't. I feel it necessary to point that out, seeing that milord seems to be a heavily conflicted but ultimately chivalrous person. We may not be able to help thee in all your problems, but at least allow us to clear your mind before you face them- and certainly before you meet again with queen Salem. She is very beautiful person, both in mind and body, and it wouldn't do for your desires to surface in her presence."

Jaune sighed heavily as he heard Shir's words, although the girl seemed to be a lot calmer now that the rumours had been clarified and she could meet him at more personal and informal level.

The quiet coughing beside them came to an end, drawing both their eyes to May as she seemed to finally succeed in clearing her throat before she swallowed heavily and leaned back against Larua's chest.

"H-haaahh… I… I g-guess I don't need a late evening meal today…" May burped while Larua rubbed the brunette girl's toned stomach, which caused Jaune to blush heavily. "Ah… I thought my jaw would dislocate… Once again I thank Salem for my Aura. Truly, no ordinary woman would survive a intercourse with thee, my lord. Your vigor is like that of a mighty beast. Indeed, I hope that merely the three of us are enough to sate thee once milord stops hesitating..."

While Jaune was mentally processing May's words the girl lifted herself off Larua's hold, causing the dreamy and aloof-acting girl to shrug mildly before wandering towards the large hot tub that looked like it could comfortably fit in a small crowd or perhaps a Beowolf.

May turned towards Jaune once again while stumbling back to her feet. "I- I'm ready to continue. Ah- Shir and Larua introduced themselves, er, were introduced to lord Arc already, so the three of us can serve thee now. Um... If lord Arc wishes us to do so?"

Shir blushed even harder while reaching behind herself to pull off her dress and set it aside. Larua, as concerned about the fate of herself and her fellow maids as ever, seemed content to fiddled with the hot tub's digital control panel that started to fill it with steamy, hot water- To Jaune it almost felt like the dreamy-acting girl was about to either prepare or take a bath.

May merely looked up at Jaune with enthusiastic look on her cute face- making Jaune both ashamed of himself and quite tempted to just continue and take the girls on their offers. ' _Salem did tell me that I could… 'use' them as I wanted, that I should bed them to gain self-confidence, but... Just what am I getting myself into...'_

He braced himself as his treacherous thoughts creeped up, but at the same time his self-control was rapidly detoriorating as Shir and May were both unclothed in front of him and essentially begged him to take them… and the thought of that threatened to break his restraint once more. "Girls… is… is it really alright?"

May nodded resolutely and Shir hesitated for a brief moment before nodding shyly. Larua turned momentarily towards Jaune and tilted her head in a way that could have been translated as consent, before she turned back towards the bath to sprinkle some fragrant bath salts in it and then to Jaune's surprise kneel down to meditate in thigh-high, hot and steamy water... with her dress still on.

"Ugh… Please ignore Larua for now…" May grumbled. Jaune noticed small beads of sweat starting to form on her skin as the room's temperature rose due to the hot water in the bath radiating heat into the air. "I'll have to have a word with her later..."

"No, no, it's alright." Jaune stalled as he closed towards May, and May used the chance to slide her hand between Shir's thighs, causing the girl to let a quiet 'eep' before she was pulled between the two and promptly sandwiched between Jaune and May.

Shir opened her mouth slightly, like so she could say something and at the same time unwillingly allowing Jaune to see the rows and rows of sharp teeth within her mouth- before he pushed his lips against hers carefully- taking great care to be gentle more so that he wouldn't frighten the girl rather than out of concern that he'd hurt himself with her sharp teeth.

The blonde girl returned the kiss as carefully as he had initiated it, and after a moment of exchanging almost chaste kisses Jaune pushed his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss and exchanging saliva while Shir let a small, surprised sound and put her hands against his chest but didn't push him away- her teeth clearly made her feel very self-conscious and vulnerable. As the kiss continued without either of them getting hurt the girl seemed to relax more and let her tongue enter his mouth as well. In few seconds the muffled, gentle kiss to turn into wet, passionate yet careful affair while she tied her hands around his neck and he let his hands roam down to her hips.

A third pair of hands appeared out of nowhere, which Jaune attributed to May who was kneeling behind Shir, and the brunette began to stroke his member with both of her hands, working his meat through Shir's slightly opened thighs. His own gentle hip-thrusts occasionally brushed the shaft against Shir's womanhood and butt, contributing to the blonde girl's mounting excitement.

Jaune felt as the sensation of climax closed quickly and he thrust his hips against Shir's thighs vigorously while pulling her against him in a forceful move that caused the faunus girl to let a muffled yelp and close her legs around his shaft, before he felt his pressure release once again- yet this time without a convenient container to take his seed.

A surprised gasp came from behind Shir while the faunus girl tightened her legs around Jaune's manhood even more as it pulsed from his orgasm. At the same time he felt Shir's excitement coating the top of his shaft as it rubbed against her womanhood, butt and thighs. "J-Jaune, no, Lord Arc…"

Jaune pressed one more kiss onto Shir's lips before leaning past her to see if May was alright… and froze slightly as May was kneeling on the bathroom floor while flicking her hands a bit to clear them of his and Shir's mixed juices after handling his member- although if cleanliness was important to her, she should probably be more concerned with the fact her breasts were positively covered in Jaune's seed to the point where the thick, hot, white fluid flowed lazily down her body. ' _Uh… all that came from me?'_

Jaune opened his mouth to mutter an apology, but caught himself before he managed to get the words out. ' _No, I shouldn't apologize… They offered, and I accepted… I shouldn't apologize needlessly. Although, just in case…'_ "May, are you alright?"

"Y-yes, lord… I was merely surprised. I shouldn't be, considering this is the second time I've experienced your vigor unleashed, but it is always impressive..." May told him as she slid her finger across her breasts to gather some of his seed and taste it. "Huh… Lord Arc tastes surprisingly… odd."

"Odd?" Jaune asked as he bowed down slightly to kiss the side of Shir's neck and slid his hand to her lower back so he could push their hips together and use the lips of her womanhood to rub the shaft of his member which was trapped between her thighs, all the while he could feel the girl's excitement starting to build and feel droplets of her juices drop down her inner thighs.

"It's… not like usual. I've tasted male seed before, and it is quite horrible. Lord Arc… tastes… odd." May clarified as she sampled the goo on her breasts absentmindedly. "Yours is almost tasty… I could get used to this. Such a shame that Lord Arc… hm… deposited his earlier discharge directly to my stomach…"

If Jaune's sword wasn't combat ready before, it was now, again, and the shaft rubbed against Shir's womanhood with increased vigor.

"Lord... Jaune…" Shir's eyes were hazy, and she seemed to completely forget her earlier embarrassment and shame over her teeth as she spoke to him with lust-filled, breathy tone. She opened her legs even further while standing with her chest squished against his- The height difference between the two made the shaft rub even harder against the lips of her womanhood and Jaune could feel Shir's juices flow freely on the shark faunus's inner thighs. "Please… I want it... "

Jaune glanced at the hot tub where Larua was still sitting in the water, although she had begun leaning against the edge of the bath and looking at Jaune and Shir with dreaming yet somehow longing eyes while her wet dress clung to her body's slender curves. She had undone her bun, letting her hair down and revealing that her black hair was long enough to probably reach her waist. ' _Wait… Is she trying to invite me in?'_

He shrugged and grabbed Shir by her butt, lifted her against his chest, and began carrying her towards the hot tub while trailing kisses on her skin. Shir didn't seem to mind as she tied her legs around his waist and began rubbing herself against his chest impatiently while breathing heavily out of desire.

Jaune paused as he stepped into the bath to keep himself from slipping, and Larua used the chance to move behind Shir and begin fondling the girl's breasts with one hand and slide her other hand down her body before finally reaching the faunus girl's dripping womanhood and sliding two of her fingers in

He sat down on the stone-sculpted seat in the bath while positioning Shir on his lap- and Larua reached around the blonde girl's waist so she could position Jaune's tip to the faunus girl's entrance and spread her womanhood with her fingers so it would slide in easily. "Shir…"

"Please… " Shir's rational thoughts had been effectively overwritten as she tried to push her hips down, but Jaune kept hold of her waist as he tried to unconsciously stall her and ask for permission more out of habit than conscious decision- before realizing that he was sliding back to his earlier mindset.

' _I've gone this far already… There's no turning back.'_ Jaune wasn't sure if he was feeling ashamed, sad… or incredibly turned on as a world of opportunities opened to him, and his moral restraints alongside his earlier apologetic mindset became even more muddled. ' _I… I can't let Ruby, Blake and Pyrrha find out about any of this… I hope they are alright though, I need to ask Cinder the next time I see her if she's found what happened to the team...'_

And as he made the mental 'promise' to himself, that his girlfriends would never know what happened in Salem's tower, the final restraining block in his mind crumbled under the promise of secrecy.

Larua looked oddly at him before her eyes widened slightly, and to Jaune it almost appeared as if she realized that his restrains had snapped and disintegrated- Before Jaune changed his grip on Shir's hips and pushed her down his length in one go while Larua watched.

The faunus let a long, breathy moan as her body took his full length without issue, much to Jaune's surprise as May had struggled with it. A sizeable bulge appeared in Shir's stomach as the lips of her womanhood and the hilt of Jaune's member embraced each other, and the tip of Jaune's spear kissed the entrance of Shir's womb.

The lust-filled look Shir sent at Jaune made him slightly uncomfortable for a moment as the look made him feel like a preyfish in front of a shark. The image wasn't helped by Shir's sharp teeth as she breathed and moaned with her mouth open while pulling her hips up and thrusting them down, almost sliding him out of her entirely and shoving his length back in with each move. Hot, scented water splashed around then each time as their hips met, sending ripples across the pool, and Shir plastered her lips on Jaune's, starting a wet, sloppy and hungry kiss that caused saliva to drip down the sides of their mouths.

"..." Larua huffed while snaking her arms around the faunus's body and kissing the side of her waist.

"Wow…" a amazed female voice came from the side and Jaune glanced away from Shir's lust-filled face to look for the source of the sound.

He saw as May slid herself into the bath as well, and that she was looking at Shir with barely concealed awe. May giggled as Larua detached from the faunus girl in order to half-swim half-crawl to the brunette and lick her breasts, picking the places where strands of Jaune's seed still clung to her naked body.

Larua poked her tongue out at the taste while frowning slightly, and May giggled even more. "Larua, you need to taste it when it's still hot and fresh… You need to ask our lord for a sample. Although, here, I may still have some of the flavor in my mouth… Perhaps it'll get you in the mood as well..."

The aloof-acting girl let a muffled sound as May pushed herself against the girl and french-kissed her while tying her hands around her back, overwhelming her and pushing her down to the water. The black-haired girl's clothes flowed in the bathwater as May kissed her passionately while they hugged each other, chest-deep in the hot, scented water.

Shir drew Jaune's attention back to her as she pushed herself down his length one more time while letting out a loud groan accompanied by gush of her juices flowing down his length, mixing her juices into the bathwater. As the climax intensified Jaune thrust his hips up as well, pushing the tip of his spear through the gate of Shir's womb and causing the shark faunus to let a sharp half-gasp of shock, half-yelp of pain as her body was clearly incredibly sensitive after her orgasm… and Jaune felt his own climax coming as the girl's womanhood tightened and squeezed him far harder than ever before. "A- ah!"

A gout of his seed shot directly into her womb, causing Shir to collapse on top of him while her legs twitched in rapturous after-shock of her orgasm, which was intensified even further as the heat of his seed filled her womb directly. Shir's womanhood gripped his length tightly, milking him, while keeping all his seed in her body as nothing could escape the tight, almost cramp-like seal her lower lips made around his shaft. The pressure caused her stomach to inflate slightly, making her look like if she was few months pregnant from the sheer amount of seed being deposited into her womb without a way to flow out.

Jaune let himself collapse on the stone-sculpted, backwards-leaning seat in the bath, feeling drained from the intercourse. Shir collapsed on top of him, completely spent and barely conscious after her own intense climax.

"H-hoo boy… that was intense…" Jaune muttered as he hugged the limp faunus girl against his chest while trying to recover from the experience. Shir mumbled something while nibbling his shoulder sleepily, and it looked like the girl would fall asleep or pass out soon from the combined effect of exhaustion and from the hot water getting the better of her.

Jaune felt comfortable as he let himself relax in the hot water, allowing it to wash away his fatigue while letting his hands roam on, pet and stroke Shir's body while his length was still sheathed in the girl's body, much to the faunus girl's enjoyment if her sleepy, content mumbling was anything to go by.

"Did Lord enjoy Shir?"

Jaune looked past the sleepy, sharp-toothed girl to see that May had wrestled herself partially under Larua and was holding the still clothed maid-girl's butt towards Jaune while the aloof-acting girl was on all fours, facing away from him.

May had pulled the quiet and aloof-acting girl's skirt up at some point during their wrestling match, revealing Larua's pale legs which were partially covered by her black thigh-highs… and also revealed that like May and Shir, Larua wasn't wearing underwear. ' _Yeah, they totally planned all of this… likely far before I even stepped into this room after the dinner… Did Salem tell them to do this?'_

May probably saw his thoughts on his face as she leaned to kiss the side of Larua's butt before sliding her hands up her thighs until she could grope her butt with one hand and use the forefinger of her other hand to pull one side of Larua's lower lips, displaying the inner flesh of the aloof-acting girl's womanhood directly to Jaune in invitation… and the juices flowing down her thigh showing that Larua was clearly as turned on as Shir had been, even if the girl herself was merely looking at a nearby soap rack with mild interest and with very faint blush on her cheeks.

"Lord, Larua's ready for thee…" May mumbled and kissed Larua's butt, slightly lower this time and began trailing her hand down the aloof girl's thigh, before pushing her knees together to show the black-haired girl's thigh gap. "If Lord wishes, he can take her at any time…"

Shir let a small, sleepy gasp as Jaune's member became combat-ready once more, while still sheathed in the faunus girl's body.

* * *

A small clang accompanied Jaune's dining utensils falling off his shaking hands.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Ruby's voice was concerned as she looked at him, while team SABR plus their observers Penny and Winter were having a breakfast in their dorm's kitchen. The dining hall was still closed due to refitting and repair, forcing the students to manage their own food- or that was the story the teachers had told them. In reality a part of the CCCT tower's top had fallen on the dining hall's roof, and posed a collapse risk for the hall at least until the collapsed pieces were removed and the roof was repaired. Assumably the structural collapse risk was something the staff didn't want to bring to light in fear of causing further fear and turmoil amongst the students, which was somewhat ironical in itself.

While the Atlesian engineering team was done with the tower itself, they had not been sent to repair the dining hall as it wasn't strictly speaking their responsibility. Not to mention that it was likely Ironwood hadn't been too keen on ordering the troops there, as the negativity around Atlesian troops could ignite a conflict, specifically if they were seen working near something as vital as food supply. The combination meant that the students would need to eat in their dorms at least for while, or use the few restaurants situated in Beacon's grounds in order to fill their culinary needs.

Jaune had more pressing issues at hand though, both literally and figuratively. Pressure being in his pants, and his hand not being able to become involved due to the very crowded living style the dorms presented. ' _Gah… it's been what, three hours since I woke up early in the morning? It let up for a hour or so but it came back… What is happening?'_

"Ruby's right. Jaune, you've been acting oddly for a while now." Blake added her two cents while spreading jam and tuna on her toast while Ruby had turned a cereal box upside down over her bowl and was shaking it vigorously to get as much chocolate-flavored cereal out of it before handing it over to Jaune, ignoring the dirty looks Winter and Weiss sent the two girls over their healthy breakfast of peeled fruits and water. "What? You can eat sweet stuff in the breakfast."

"Partial objection!" Penny chirped happily as she sat on her seat in the table with completely empty bowl in front of her. "Healthy breakfast is essential for daily biological start-up procedure in humans, however the contents of the breakfast should contain protein and…"

"Yeah… Penny, are you sure you don't want anything?" Jaune tried to draw the group's attention away from his blushing and awkward shuffling, and unfortunately for Penny, he hoped that she could provide that distraction.

"I have already recha- eaten my fill!" The awkward shuffling infected Penny as well but she seemed to recover with astounding speed and turned the tables instantly. "Jaune, excuse me for asking, but are you alright? My heat senso- I mean my eyes indicate that you are suffering from one or multiples of the following: fever, after-effect of intense physical strain, extreme nervousness or high degree of arousal."

"Y- Yeah, I'm feeling kind of sick. Sorry." Jaune tried his best to latch onto one of the theories Penny presented, while Weiss spit-took her water all over Ruby's face after hearing Penny's last proposal. "Uh… fever. It kinda popped up early morning. Cough."

Blake narrowed her eyes at Jaune while Winter was cleaning Weiss's face with a napkin, and Ruby was sputtering while Weiss was cleaning Ruby's face with her napkin.

"Are you sure? Can you partake in our training today?" Blake asked quietly. "We planned to see if your ability worked without problems after Glenn, and if it doesn't have any, start our training using Winter as a training dummy."

"What you mean to say, miss Belladonna, is that I will be judging, evaluating and improving his combat prowess by posing myself as his opponent, with Penny and team SABR working as observers." Winter's sharp words caused Blake to flinch. "I doubt I will perform the role of a 'training dummy.' If you wish to show concern though, show it towards your teammate."

"Uh… no offense?"

"I disbelieve that, but I forgive you." Winter's eyes narrowed at Blake, and the black-clad girl let a small 'meep'-sound, like a kitten caught mid-misdeed. "Regardless… Mr Arc, you are feeling unwell or sick, we should probably consider postponing the training until you are physically able to perform without risk of self-injury."

"Odd, you haven't been sick so far. And Aura-unlocked people don't often get diseases." Weiss noted while narrowing her eyes at Jaune's expression, which must have conveyed Jaune's dishonestly as the white-haired girl's tone was doubtful. "Are you sure there's nothing else holding you back?"

"Uh… M-maybe we should talk about this in private…" Jaune stammered, which caused Blake's ears to twitch slightly out of curiosity and Winter to become visibly alarmed. "No- nothing's wrong, it's just… uh… sort of odd. It's related to my Semblance, I think."

"I believe I should hear it then." Winter prodded. "You are under observation by Atlesian supervisors, those being me and Penny, after your actions against our strike team during Glenn-Vale breach. That was part of the agreement to let you out of your confinement. We are required to observe your actions, so it would be better if we heard about troubles relating to your control over your Semblance from your mouth rather than through gossip, eavesdropping or through possible injuries you may inflict upon your teammates."

"No, it's nothing like that!" Jaune waved his hands awkwardly at the coldly glaring white-haired woman. "It's more… personal issue, really. I'll uh… need some time to sort it out. Um… alone, I think. Meditation. And stuff."

"So what is the problem?" Weiss joined Winter's side, causing Jaune to feel slightly overwhelmed by the wall of ice that faced him while Ruby gorged herself on the chocolate cereal and Blake nibbled on tuna sandwich beside him. "A disease, ability malfunction, personal issue?"

"Uh… Yes."

Winter and Weiss growled.

* * *

Jaune collapsed on the bath, utterly drained but ultimately satisfied.

Shir was lying next to him in a after-sex daze, May was cuddled against his side, and Larua was currently serving as a temporary sheathe for his length as she was sitting on his lap with his entire length still inside her lean body. A thorough thrusting session and emptying of what was left in his 'storage' into the dreamy-acting girl had left Larua in even more of a daze than she was normally, and she rubbed her belly absentmindedly.

The bulge his member caused on Larua's stomach was partially hidden by the upper half of her maid dress she still wore. The skirt of her dress had been torn beyond repair and thick, lazily oozing strands of Jaune's seed flowed out from where his meat and her lower lips met, staining her thigh-highs and mixing itself into the bathwater.

Jaune felt sleepy and relaxed, like if he had downed an entire bottle of muscle relaxants, while he stroked Shir's hips. Granted, that was only to be expected as the faunus had effectively milked him dry even before he had taken Larua. Most of the 'stuffing' had flowed out of Shir though, returning her stomach to its normal toned state- largely due to May pumping and hugging it out of the blonde shark faunus while Jaune had been working on the black-haired, dreamy-aciting girl.

"Whoa… that was pretty amazing." Jaune sighed while cuddling with the girls.

"Yesh… lord…" Shir mumbled to his ear as Jaune tied his hand around her waist while May tied her arms around Jaune's chest and rested her head on Jaune's shoulder. Larua was quiet, but she glanced at Jaune and he caught a glimpse of a massive blush on her otherwise dreamy and almost uncaring face before she looked away.

The black-haired girl adjusted his position on his lap slightly, sending a pleasant rubbing sensation through his half-erect shaft that was still within in the girl, before she leaned her back against Jaune's chest while pulling his free arm around her chest so her still-covered breasts rested on top of his forearm.

"Larua liked it too." May translated while she reached for the bath's control panel to flush out the old, stale water alongside its 'mixed contents' and pour in fresh, hot water. "Lord, if you wish, I can wash thine body so thee may retire for the night."

"Hm…" Jaune mumbled his agreement while leaning to kiss the side of Larua's neck. He was rewarded with a pleasant vibration running through the girl's body. Shir mumbled something and rubbed her legs against Jaune's in a sleepy daze, making him aware that the girl was likely about to fall asleep.

"In that case I can help cleaning Shir." Jaune offered as it didn't seem that the girl would have energy to bathe by herself.

"Oh, lord needn't bother. I can call for few other servants to come and take her away, clean her up, and return her to the servant's dorms." May waved her hand dismissively.

"You aren't staying for the night?" Jaune asked. He felt a bit disappointed as their 'encounter' was nearing its end, and he didn't want for the girls to leave. ' _They are servants so they probably have other duties to fulfill… so it's quite selfish of me to ask them to ditch those and stay with me… but still…'_

"Ah- w-we really shouldn't. It is quite inappropriate for servants to sleep with their lord…" May blushed brightly, causing Jaune to tilt his head in confusion.

"I mean, we've already done um... 'this' so... " Jaune tried to point out May's naked state, while rubbing the bulge Larua had on her stomach where his half-erect member still filled her. Larua shuffled slightly from the touch but didn't seem to dislike the touch.

"T-true, but sleeping the night with lord, in his bed, should be only reserved to wives and concubines, not lowly servants like us…" May blushed even brighter. "It… it is highly inappropriate for us to do so, my lord!"

Larua turned to look at Jaune with curious look on her normally dreamy and disinterested face while May stumbled on her words.

"Concubines…" Jaune mumbled while leaning forward and kissing Larua on her lips. "Hm… are you not my concubines then?"

"Ah- um… well… I-if lord degrees so... " May was blushing furiously and her hands shook visibly. "Q-queen Salem assigned us to Lord Arc and told that we should obey h-his orders like we would hers… so if Lord degrees we are his c-concubines, then we are…"

"May?" Jaune asked while pulling away from Larua a bit and reaching to tie his hand around May's waist. Larua huffed as he stopped kissing her and lifted herself up from his lap, pulling his member out of her body with wet plop. The dreamy girl kneeled in front of his open legs and slid his member into her mouth and throat, clearly intending on cleaning their combined juices off it even if the massive shaft was making her throat bulge. "Ah! ...Hnh… M-May, are you against the idea?"

"W-well, it is highly inappropriate…"

"I'd like it if you stayed with me though." Jaune noted while May was petting Larua's head somewhat half-heartedly. The sounds Larua gave off made Jaune blush a bit while he felt his length becoming reinvigorated by the sensation of the dreamy girl's soft throat.

"O-of course… If that is what lord decrees..." May hid her face into his shoulder, but Jaune could see her blush nonetheless, albeit somehow her body language seemed a bit… off.

"Uh, I was told that I should consider this guest room in its entirety as my property during my stay in here… You can use this room like yours as well." Jaune told the brunette to help her calm down and make her feel more comfortable. "Consider it your homes as well, if you want to. Er, unless you want to stay in your dorm…"

"Lord is too kind…"

"Ah, it's nothing. I mean, if you like your old places then of course you're free to stay there but… um, I figured that this guest room is pretty luxurious, so I thought it might be nice for you to stay in as well?" Jaune stammered a bit. "It's certainly too big for me alone. My dorm in Beacon, er, in Vale was about fourth of the size of this guest room in comparison, and we had four people sharing it."

"Beacon? Was Lord Arc a Hunter?" May asked curiously while Jaune groaned as the sensation of Larua's 'cleaning' of his member was making him quite excited. May obviously saw it, and she slid down into the new, re-poured bathwater and joined Larua in her attempt to 'clean' him by licking the length of his shaft.

"Y-yeah… something like that… ah…"

"Be sure to catch all of it, Larua, we don't want the bathwater to become stained again…" May told Larua as she seemed to become more interested in Jaune's lower body than his backstory. He wasn't sure if he should feel annoyed or turned on, but he chose the latter. After all it was the road of least conflict, not to mention it was something his body agreed with. He cemented his decision by thrusting his hips a bit to meet Larua's throat better.

May pushed Larua's head down to his hilt, causing the sensation to overcome Jaune's already sensitive length, and to his surprise considering his quite drained state, sent a pulsating discharge up his length and down the aloof-acting girl's throat while she pulled away out of reflex.

As soon as the tip was out of the black-haired girl's mouth May practically dove in and caught the rest of his discharge into her mouth. She managed to catch almost all of it, but the quantity of it was too much for her mouth alone, causing a dribble of seed to fall down the side of her lips. "Ah... "

Larua coughed quietly and swallowed repeatedly as the white goo had filled her throat, and May took the opportunity to lick her lips… and dive in to kiss Larua once again. "Larua… hefe, hafe a tashte… mmm... It was tasty before, now it's… mmh… positively delicious…"

The dreamy girl let a muffled moan as she and May collapsed into the bath to continue their make-out session with Jaune's seed acting as prize to be won over in the duel of tongues.

Jaune sighed as his arguably 'clean' but still erect member waved at him, half submerged into the water and half above it like some sort of meat periscope used to spy on the girl's makeout session. ' _They really are insatiable… This is going to be a long night… '_

Shir seemed to break out of her sleepy daze due to the commotion, and the first thing she saw was his saluting member. "Lord Arc... "

"Good late evening… or night, actually. Did you sleep well, Shir?"

"Ah… Yes, lord." Shir shook her head a bit, causing her damp hair to fling some water aside before she reached to stroke his member with the back of her knee and used her freed hands to touch and feel his chest. "U-um... Lord… may I?"

"Go ahead…" Jaune sighed before hugging the girl and kissing her. Shir didn't need much more encouragement.

He felt lighter now that he had discharged his fifth load in the same afternoon, but he still felt quite full after the dinner… and he realized that his body was passively 'recharging' him, akin to how he rebuilt his bone-spike ammunition after combat.

' _Yeah, this night will be a long one… hmm…. A long and pleasant one…'_

* * *

Jaune whacked his head against the tiled wall in front of him, causing a sharp, cracking bang to echo in Beacon's locker room shower that was situated next to the combat simulation chamber. He had been changing out of his clothes and attempting to transform into his Knight-form in preparation for training with Winter, but…

' _It just won't stop... '_ Jaune practically sweated out of frustration both born from and for his current state of mind. ' _Just what happened to make my Semblance… function like this?'_

The crux of the current issue was how his heated state affected his body and more importantly, his psyche. And since his Semblance's operation was highly dependant on his state of mind… ' _Come on… It's 'those' things again…'_

His bone-grown armor creaked slightly as Jaune waved one of the tentacles that was hanging off his shoulders and back, and saw that the tip and the overall shape of the tentacle's main length was far too reminiscent to the ones featured in some of Blake's books. And the fact the blunt, fleshy tip of the tentacle was something straight out of Blake's more… _graphic_ … books didn't help Jaune's case… and the clear liquid building up lazily in the tip of the tentacle likely _wasn't_ some poison or corrosive agent

' _I… I can't spar with Winter like this…'_ Jaune reached to turn the shower temperature to coldest possible and shuffled himself under it. Unfortunately for him, the shower stalls had been designed with humans in mind and trying to stuff himself into one was somewhat difficult with the extra appendages growing off his back.

The cold water helped to cool down him a bit, but as soon as he started to calm down, the fur that grew partially under his armor thickened until he could barely feel the cold water. ' _Dammit… that adaptation again…'_

"Jaune, is there a problem?" A muffled voice called through the locker room shower's door and Jaune shuffled somewhat awkwardly out of the shower stall.

"I͟'̴m.́.̛. ̸̨f̧i̧͢ǹ̕e̕͟."

"We have all day for this but we should start as soon as possible." the muffled voice told him.

' _Right... I have to fight Winter without the tentacles'_ Jaune sighed heavily, causing a gout of steam to escape the cracks of his bone-grown emotionless face-mask in somewhat intimidating manner. He shuffled awkwardly as he forced his transformation to undo itself partially, and the Shadow growled violently in his mind as the tentacles were slowly re-absorbed into his body. ' _I need to rely on just my hands to fight… I don't know what might happen if I try to make my swords…'_

He stepped out of the showers and nodded to Weiss, who had been waiting for him outside the door. "Right. Good. Wait, why are you wet? Did you just take a shower just before training?"

Jaune shrugged, causing the bone-plates to clank. He used the motion to reign in his sudden urge to regrow his tentacles, grab the girl and...

"Fine, whatever. Just go into the chamber. Winter is ready, and we'll stay close to the room's walls so you two have enough space to fight." Weiss sighed before her heterochromic eyes narrowed in suspicion as Jaune had frozen still in attempt to maintain control of his body. "Hold on. Your shape is not like its usual one."

Jaune sweated slightly as Weiss noticed the lack of tentacles- which in retrospect might have been obvious, since it was his Knight-form's main form of attack and defence. Not to mention that the grappling and defensive ability it gave him was basically the form's main role in team SABR's combat strategy.

"Your tentacles. Where are they?" Weiss asked while circling around him. "Jaune, I realize that experimentation is necessary for research... But you should face Winter at your full power, or it will be difficult for her and for us to judge what to focus on and what to improve. Not to mention she is quite formidable combatant when she's actually fighting- if you think that the slap-fights she's had with Qrow in front of the class are any indication of her strength, you're wrong. Now, form your weapons and tentacles."

"M͝͠ál̢̢̀f͝u̕͘ǹ͟ct͝ì̷o̵͝n͞"

"Malfunction? Your Semblance malfunctioned?" Weiss sounded alarmed while completely oblivious to the internal struggle Jaune was experiencing. When she came closer to pat his chest, Jaune had to grip his hands so tight his nails pierced his palms in order to keep himself from pouncing on the white-haired girl. "You've been acting oddly for the entire day. Are you sure you can train with us?"

Jaune nodded, as he didn't trust his mouth to say what he wanted it to say.

"Haah… fine. In that case lets go." Weiss turned to lead him out of the room… which caused Jaune to almost lose control of himself once more as his 'eyes' were drawn into Weiss's rear. The gentle swing of Weiss's hips made Jaune's hands cramp, and he had to force himself to take one step at a time as the white-haired girl walked in front of him, the cloth of her combat-skirt clinging gently to her slender curves…

' _Jaune! Stop, looking, at, her, butt…'_ Jaune pushed his nails deeper into the flesh of his palms, causing small drops of blood to fall from his fists, land on the floor and let small sizzles as it evaporated while causing small corrosion marks on the tiles.

Weiss turned briefly to send a curious look at him, and Jaune caught a brief whiff of odd emotions from the white-haired girl as she had a small blush on her cheeks. She blinked, shook her head almost as if she was trying to drive some thought off her head, and turned away from him without uttering a word.

Jaune looked at Weiss in mild confusion, trying to focus on the girl's behaviour to distract himself from his own, heated state. As Weiss rubbed her stomach absentmindedly Jaune realized that somehow the heat that had spread through him was affecting the girl as well… through the 'healing' he had performed on her. ' _Oh… I should probably ask her about it. I wonder if there's some kind of link between the two of us, and it is causing this?'_

Before he managed to collect himself in enough that he could stop Weiss without also pulling her aside and pulling her clothes off, the white-haired girl had opened the door that led to the simulation chamber and stepped in. ' _Grhh… I'll have to try to just bear with this… it stopped for a while, some time ago... so it can just go away, theoretically…'_

"Good. You are finally here." A brisk voice belonging to Winter Schnee greeted Jaune as he half-walked half-stumbled into the simulation room where Winter and the rest of team SABR were waiting. The room had been arranged into a night-time Atlesian winterscape, with stone ruins forming a sort-of arena around them. While snow flew across the simulated frozen wasteland, the temperature of the room was refreshingly chill instead of biting cold- it was likely that the room had some sort of failsafes to restrict life-threatening environments. "Were there complications with your ability? You took quite the long time to prepare yourself."

Jaune shook his head, causing small creaking sounds to come from his armor as he felt incredibly stiff for some reason.

"Then let us begin. We've wasted enough time." Winter nodded to Jaune. She was wearing her usual uniform without its coat, and had opted to remove her weapon's sheathes from her waist to decrease the amount of unnecessary gear restricting her movements. The reduced clothing and the way Winter preferred form-fitting clothes weren't helping Jaune's state of mind though. "First I'll judge your baseline combat mission is to dodge, parry, or otherwise survive my attacks and counter-attack once you have become used to them. I'll use this chance to see if you have recovered from Glenn, and also to point out the weaknesses in your combat stance. Once your Knight-form is 'trained', we'll see about your other shapes- including that 'Tyrant' of yours."

Jaune tilted his head at Winter as she seemed to know quite bit about his ability. Winter seemed to read his question off his body language and lifted her eyebrow. "I _am_ a teacher in Beacon, if temporarily. Not to mention that this training is arranged for your benefit by both Atlas and Beacon, albeit for different motives. I have access to your logs, and Weiss has filled in the rest in preparation for this training. I also know that your Aura doesn't work as it should, so expect me to utilize attacks against you that would normally grievously harm humans. I know you can take it."

Jaune felt apprehensive. ' _Oh… this is going to hurt, isn't it?'_

"Now then… Nod when you are ready and I shall attack"

Jaune hesitated for a while before nodding vaguely. The moment his head stopped the motion Winter disappeared, causing snow to whirl on the space she had occupied… and Jaune felt as something cold pierced through his back.

He looked down and saw that a steel saber was protruding from a crack in the chest of his armor before the blade was pulled away. Jaune tried to swing his hand backwards to wave off Winter, but a dagger lodger itself into his unarmored armpit, lodging his hand in place as the steel sabre reappeared and pushed itself into a opening between the jaw-end of his helmet and his throat… and the blade stopped.

"Defend yourself properly!" Winter hissed before she pulled the sabre away and pulled the dagger off his armpit. Jaune stumbled forwards while black blood flowed down his armor… and Winter appeared in front of him.

He managed to bring his hands up in front of him to ward off the blows that would follow, but the first, surgically aimed swing at his hand severed most of the fingers off his hand and the second cut off his other arm from the elbow.

"G͡͏a͢a̕a҉̵͟h͠!͘͞͡!̸͝"

"Hmh… I expected more." Winter huffed as she passed by his wildly flailing remaining arm and hamstrung him, causing Jaune to fall on his knees as the tendons at the backs of his knees were cut. "Stand up as soon as you have regenerated, and we can continue."

"Y-you can do it! We believe in you, Jaune!" A faint, somewhat frightened voice cheered him on and Jaune looked up to see that the rest of team SABR were looking at him over a stone slab behind which they had taken cover. Ruby's face was pale and her eyes shook, Blake's ears had flopped against her head and she was clearly shaken by the brutality Winter showed towards Jaune, while Weiss was looking at him in a mix of calculation and concern… and to Jaune it somehow felt like that Weiss had been the one to cheer him on. Penny, as cheerful as usual, merely waved at him while standing next to Ruby.

Ignoring his look, Weiss turned to address her older sister. "W-Winter, are you sure this is the best way to train him?"

Jaune let a quiet, pain-filled growl as he looked up at Winter while she answered to Weiss.

He felt the heat within churn as his Semblance's regeneration grew his arm back from the stump, and he stood up as his tendons regenerated and his muscles re-connected themselves to the bone… and stumbled as the Shadow crashed against his mind.

 _D̀҉e̸͢s̶̢͟t͘ŗ͞ơ͞y̢͘,͠ ̀̕b̴̷̡ŗ͢͝e̷͠e̡͡d̶̨,̴̡̀ ͞an̡ni͢ḩ̧ìl͘͠a̴̷t͘e͡͠.͏.̵̷̢.͏̴̛_

A chilling scream-like howl escaped his mask as he charged at Winter.

Winter lifted her blade… and stabbed it down into the ground, causing a positively massive runic glyph-circle to form underneath it. She hopped back as a long-jawed bone-mask appeared through the circle, causing Jaune's charge to come to a halt as a creature emerged from the glyph and swat at him with its massive head. The impact caused Jaune to be flung aside like a toy before crashing against a nearby stone pillar. ' _Oh come on… Winter's venting her frustrations on me after overhearing Weiss's confession to Ruby, isn't she? There's no way she didn't listen to the conversation through the wall…'_

The ghostly Grimm Wyvern Winter had summoned let a hollow roar as it swung its wings open, causing the snow to swirl and billow… before a loud crack echoed from the Wyvern's head and the dark nightly sky flickered with various lights.

Winter's face paled slightly as she must have realized that while a ghost Wyvern could _fit_ in the simulation room, it couldn't properly move around in the room and thus had hit its head on the ceiling, nearly smashing the room's simulation environment apart.

"Hm… Very well, I'll have to downgrade my summon a bit, as Wyvern is clearly still beyond your capability to defeat." Winter coughed at the back of her hand while swinging her sabre in front of her, causing the Wyvern-ghost to let a weak, miserable roar before disintegrating into blue sparks of combusting Dust and steam. "Now then, let us resume."

Jaune felt faint as his restraint and control over his body was rapidly deteriorating under the onslaught Winter directed at him. The bone-plates covering his back buckled as he tried to restrain the tentacles that were attempting to grow and push their way past the plates, but he forced himself to pull them back and start to undo the transformation while it was still underway.

However, Winter's next assault began while was still trying to get himself under control.

She once again used her Glyphs to speed herself up in order to run past him, and stab him in the back… but as her blade found the cracks of his bulging back-armor and pierced them, she also unleashed the tentacles growing underneath the plates.

...And shattered Jaune's self-control over his baser instincts and over the Shadow.

The thick, gross and veiny tentacles burst out of his back, surprising Winter and managing to tie themselves around her arm as Jaune had gripped the blade of her sabre instingtively once it had pierced out of his chest, making the woman decide between abandoning her weapon or getting caught.

Winter tried to stab the tentacle holding her sword-arm with the dagger she had on her free hand, but once she had been caught initially, it was easy task to fling more and more tentacles at her until she was completely held down- tying the gross appendages around her waist, her legs, arms, throat and he even forced one down her throat as she opened her mouth.

The appendages gripped her and flung her over her his shoulder so that she was in front of him, and… Jaune stumbled as he focused on the pain radiating from the steel blade that was still skewering him.

The spikes of pain, veiled arousal and rampant transformation were causing his control over his body to keep flicking back and forth from him to the Shadow and back, like toddler playing with a lightswitch. ' _I… I can't let this continue. I'll do something I'll regret at this rate...'_

"Mmmmgh!"

' _I… I have to call the training off…'_ Jaune looked up at Winter… and flinched as he saw that the gross, veiny tentacles had undulated their way under her clothes, one had slid itself under her belt and into her pants- and the tentacle which had pushed itself deep into Winter's throat had slid itself all the way to her stomach, and was stirring up her insides.

However that wasn't the main concern for Jaune, as he saw white foam building up and dripping down the sides of Winters's mouth akin to a rabid, enraged animal, and her eyes promised death and destruction to everyone and everything in her immediate area as soon as she was released.

Jaune flinched from the quiet, sputtering rage directed at him through Winter's body language, even before taking in account the fact that he could very accurately feel the rage inside the white-haired woman through his negativity-sensing ability. ' _Oh… no... It happened...'_

He forcibly froze himself in place, feeling indecisive whether he should or should not let Winter go- on one side she couldn't retaliate as long as she was tied up, but on the other there was no way he could keep her like she was indefinitely.

Certainly not when he could hear the gasps coming from the crowd that was the fight's observers.

"Jaune! Stop!" Weiss called to him as she ran out from behind the stone slab that the observers used as cover. "Stop, right now!"

He felt somewhat faint as he tried to stop, but the attempt ended up squishing the tentacles harder against Winter, and the woman struggled harder against his grip… which led to his appendages tying themselves around the woman even tighter.

The tentacle that had invaded Winter's stomach pushed itself even further into her body, past the stomach and into her intestines. And the the thrust caused Winter to squirm even harder, albeit her rage gradually turned to something more horrified as she must have felt the wriggling appendage pushing its way through her body's digestive system and starting to fill her intestines.

A pale hand appeared and grabbed the tentacle that was going into Winter's mouth and Weiss tried to yank it out but to no avail, as the appendage had entered so deeply into the woman that it caused her stomach to bulge slightly. "Jaune, stop right now!"

"H̴҉r̶ŕ̶̢n͘n̡.͡." Jaune let a muffled, growling sound as he grabbed the appendage that was invading Winter, and tore it off his body- but it didn't seem to deter the gross appendage from continuing its invasion of Winter's body as it wriggled out of Weiss's grip and before either of them managed to stop it, the detached tentacle disappeared into Winter's throat.

"HNGHNNN!" Winter's muffled howls had passed rage, and were bordering horror as she tried to kick herself out of the grasp Jaune still had on her, all the while her stomach bulged visibly from the appendage squirming itself deeper into her guts. The muffled howls turned less muffled as the detached part of the appendage passed her larynx. "NNGHaaa! G-get it out!"

"Jaune! What did you do?!" Weiss half-screamed half-growled at Jaune while trying to pat Winter's stomach in vain attempt to stop the appendage from invading the woman further. The form-fitting clothes Winter wore bulged as the tentacle violated her intestines and used the food it found there in various stages of digestion to grow itself bigger- all the while Jaune kept the woman completely locked down, staring at her struggling, blushing and sputtering expression... as Jaune himself was stuck in a daze-like state. The woman's Aura was still active and strong, which kept the severed appendage from severely damaging her body, although the same couldn't be said for her psyche as her previously defiant and hate-filled eyes were now wide with terror…

"Let her go!" Weiss turned to hit Jaune's chestplate with her hand, and his body reacted almost unconsciously by grappling Weiss into his appendages as well, lifting her off the ground and… a flurry of blades severed the tentacles holding Winter and Weiss.

Black blood and ichor flew all over the simulated snow and blackened stone floor, accompanied by wet slaps of the sliced appendages falling all over the unstable Dust-forged surface.

Jaune barely registered it through his fever-like daze.

Winter's body arched as soon as she landed on the floor, as the tentacle-worm invading her body grew agitated from the impact, and the creature pushed itself into the deepest parts of her intestines.

And all of that was somehow _felt_ by Jaune- he felt everything that the worm felt through a odd, newfound resonance between him and the creature that felt oddly familiar to his recent, foreign and wildly swinging mood. ' _Wha... ugh… my head... '_

"A-Argh!" A huge spasm caused Winter's legs to open and her back arched upwards to resemble a bow as she lied on the stone floor… and the detached tentacle burst through the rear of her pants, slick with slime and other fluids, and tied itself around her thigh with frightening speed… before aiming its gross, veiny head backwards, directly between the white-haired woman's legs while the majority of the tentacle was still inside the woman colon and intestines.

The dancing blades swung down again, slicing the tentacle apart with surgical precision and causing Jaune to flinch from the feedback, and feel sick as both his connection to the creature and the creature itself were weakened greatly by the severing slashes- before the tentacle retreated back to the glacial woman's body with a wet slurp.

"Observation ended at ten-fifteen: An observer interfered with training session zero-zero-one by approaching subject zero-one mid-combat. Subject zero-one attacked the observer." Penny chirped happily as the dancing blades returned to hover around her head while Jaune fell on his knees. The blades hovering around Penny folded themselves up and returned to the girl's backpack as the visible part of the conflict calmed down.

Ruby and Blake creeped out of the cover and approached Jaune, Winter and Weiss with varying levels of wariness- Blake's ears had perked completely upright and were rigid enough to be used as close combat weapons, and her face was pale except for the massive blush that had spread on her cheeks. Ruby looked more concerned, and she hesitated visibly whether she should run to the group or approach carefully as the slowly regrowing stumps of his tentacles still waved around lazily.

"Incident zero-zero-zero-one has been logged. Visual and auditory feed has been sent to General Ironwood for review." Penny commented while having her Scroll out, causing Ruby to jump a bit as she hadn't expected the ginger-haired girl to follow one step behind her. Ruby squinted her eyes suspiciously at Penny as the cheerful girl's Scroll was still obviously closed and locked.

"How did you…"

"Gha… Augh…" A groan from Winter interrupted whatever Ruby might have tried to say and also reminded Jaune of the scene in front of him.

Weiss was lying on her back beside him after getting dropped, and was propping herself up with her hands as her legs seemed to have lost their strength. She looked completely speechless, which was a sentiment that Blake and Ruby seemed to share.

Winter was lying in front of Jaune, groaning, holding to her stomach with both her hands and lying on her back on the ground with her legs wide open, likely to help herself cope with the feeling of being 'run through' by the tentacle and then 're-filled' after it retreated back into her stomach in a somewhat unusual manner. The bulges the tentacle made on her stomach reinforced the image as the appendage had started to regrow and regenerate.

"J-Jaune, what- what was that?" Weiss's voice was weak and faint as she looked unblinkingly at her older sister's body. "What- How- why?"

Jaune opened his mouth, lost for words, but only managed to make the situation worse as the motion caused the lower part of his face-mask to crack open, showing his sharp, inhuman teeth and let a gout of steam to the air. Weiss let a small 'eep' as she tried to feebly push herself away from him… but oddly enough, the emotions the girl radiated were _incredibly_ mixed.

Fear, surprise, concern, disgust… and the same overwhelming arousal Jaune had felt earlier. All the emotions were radiating from the girl like heat from a bonfire, causing his head to spin as he looked at Weiss's pale features. Yet at the same time he could feel that the girl herself wasn't in the 'mood', but still radiated lust- and as Jaune focused on the girl, he noticed that a lot of the conflicting emotions were radiating from around Weiss's stomach.

More specifically, around the area where he had 'healed' her.

The emotionless face-mask crumbled as Jaune forced his transformation to undo itself, focusing on his head and upper body and trying to keep the bone-plate armor and fur under his waist intact so his already oddly heated state of mind wouldn't reveal itself by his would-be nudity. "I… I'm… I'm sorry. I..."

"J-Jaune? Are you alright?" Ruby's voice shook as she shuffled closer to him with careful, measured steps, all the while keeping her eyes glued to his. Blake moved grab Winter and dragged the woman out of his immediate reach. "W-what happened just now?"

"S-something malfunctioned. I have to… I have to talk about it. Privately." Jaune told her with shaky tone. The silver eyes 'effect' was helping him maintain control of his body, but somehow the effect didn't manage to completely erase the heat he felt coursing through his body. "The- the training must be postponed... "

"Uh, Yeah, duh, but what… ugh, you don't know what happened either, right?" Ruby huffed and kneeled in front of Jaune so they would be at same eye-level. She hesitated visibly if she should come any closer though, and Jaune resolved the issue swiftly by reaching out and hugging the girl.

Ruby let a small squeak as Jaune clung to her like a sick man would cling to medicine, and the small girl was effectively engulfed in his hug due to their size difference. "I… I need to calm down for a while. Please."

"Uh… S-sure…" Ruby stammered while swirling her finger against Jaune's chest. "U-uh… just say when you're good to go…"

"No! This is not the time for that, what did you do?!" Weiss seemed to regain her vigor after seeing Ruby in Jaune's hug, and struggled to lift herself into a sitting position. Her attempt ended in failure and flurry of flailing limbs, which left her lying against Winter who let a groan from the collision and the subsequent lurch in her stomach. "Winter, hold on! I'll… I'll call for help!"

"There is no need for that, Weiss." A peppy voice noted, causing Weiss to look at Penny with shocked expression. "After all, subject zero-one- uh, Jaune has performed as Specialist Winter requested- dodged, parried or otherwise negated her attacks, and counter-attacked once he was ready."

"Wha- but, look at Winter!" Weiss hissed, but Penny didn't seem to see the issue.

"Subj- I mean, Jaune has used a new type of close quarters attack, which completely negated Specialist Winter's close combat abilities and downed her without causing large amounts of damage or breaking her Aura, essentially rendering a fully trained and experienced Specialist unable to fight back or defend herself with only one attack." Penny nodded happily. "I'm glad to see that you too think that it is quite remarkable and very useful for our ongoing war effort against the Grimm. Specialist Schnee should be proud… even if she is somewhat indisposed at the moment."

"Wha…"

"This information will be spread to other specialists to help them come up with potential ways to avoid or counter-attack when faced with similar threat." Penny chirped, completely ignoring Weiss's shock and Winter's state. "Indeed, the training would have continued, had you not decided to interfere, Weiss. Speaking of which, please do not interfere with the future training if you wish to observe it."

"Wha- Winter was… Winter was… What did you think would have happened next if I hadn't interfered?!" Weiss motioned wildly towards Winter while visible steam rose from her head. She ignored the equally massive blush that spread across Blake's otherwise pale face and the shaking of the cat faunus's hands.

"I am unsure, but I'm sure that we'll find out once the training resumes. For now, we should consider re-setting the scene and restarting the training." Penny nodded happily as she mistook Weiss's questions for scientific curiosity and for not the obvious outrage they were delivered as. "Speaking of which, Jaune, could you please stop using your ability on specialist Winter? Are you capable of continuing?"

"No… I can't…" Jaune's voice sounded broken out of his throat as he heard yet another groan from Winter and saw as she squirmed uncomfortably. The feelings radiating from the woman implied discomfort, pain and odd, almost half-aroused state which didn't feel genuine- until he realized that it came from the _tentacle_ inside Winter and not from the woman herself. ' _The… The thing has some sort of consciousness? How?! Is it growing, like… No, I won't let her become like one of those things in Glenn! It must die!'_

His shock and disgust aimed at the creature inside Winter's stomach was reflected back at him, and the woman's back arched in pain as the creature became more agitated- twisting and churning in her stomach to the point where long, visible bulges rose and fell on her midriff even though she attempted to hold them back with her hands.

"Winter! No!" Weiss pleaded as she reached to hold Winter's face between her hands, the woman's face had become pale as sheet and white foam formed on the corners of her mouth. "Sister, no! Don't leave… Penny, do something! Jaune, please!"

' _Wait... '_ Jaune froze while Ruby struggled to get out of his hug, presumably so she could go and try to help Winter, but he was too deep in his thoughts to worry about Ruby. ' _That creature… it reacted to my revulsion and hate, became agitated… And attacked Winter. Could it be that it senses what I think- no what I feel, like how I can feel emotions, and tries to replicate it?'_

Time was running out on them as Winter's struggling grew weaker and more desperate. Penny, completely unfazed by Winter's fate, repeated her request for Jaune to stop using his ability with her usual, cheerful tone that felt incredibly creepy in the rapidly deteriorating situation.

Jaune breathed out as he tried to focus on something other than his anger or fear at the situation. Ruby tensed up and started patting his chest with clear panic as his hug around her petite body grew stronger… and the feeling of her body made his skin feel hot as the earlier arousal he had partially managed to mitigate by focusing on what was in front of him returned in full force. ' _Ah, that might work… It's not a hateful emotion, at least, so I hope it works…'_

Ruby let a small squeak as he kissed her, and let his arms roam over her waist and back while pulling her against his body.

"HNNNGH!"

' _Okay, that didn't work, crap…'_ Jaune stopped himself from panicking as the emotion he 'felt' and thus 'sent' to the tentacle in Winter's body didn't exactly 'calm' it, but based off the sudden blush that spread on Winter's face, at least it didn't make the situation worse. At least by a lot. ' _Something else, something else… but what… Hm, I need to get it 'out', so... '_

He closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of entrapment- returning his mind to his cell in the White Fang camp, back when he had barely returned to Vale, and tried to recall the panic-like need to _escape_ …

"AARGH!"

Jaune opened one of his eyes slightly and saw that a singular, large bulge had formed on Winter's stomach- like if the tentacle was trying to push itself _through_ her flesh in order to escape. ' _Crap! No, no… that's not it… back, back…'_

Ruby let another squeak as he leaned back to kiss her, focusing on the foreign feelings of arousal and lust instead of desperate need to escape. It seemed to work somehow, causing the struggling creature to calm down and also causing Winter to let a miserable whine, unusual for the normally headstrong woman, but Jaune didn't need to guess that the current 'experience' was seriously affecting Winter's mental state, and likely wouldn't leave her mind for a while.

' _I need to somehow signal that it needs to get out, without harming her… damn… wait. What if I combined the two, that way it wouldn't hurt Winter, and also got out?'_ Jaune tried to think feverishly while Ruby was patting her hands against his chest in panic- Which in retrospect might have been justified, considering that she didn't see the the worldless communication happening between him and the creature, thus to her it would have looked like he was just kissing and fondling the petite red-clad girl out of the blue while Winter was experiencing something that was straight out of either a horror- or a porn movie mere few feet away from them. ' _I need to sort this out fast, before I sabotage my reputation and my relationships even further…'_

He focused on the feeling of arousal and lust, feeling Ruby's slender, still-developing curves and trying to keep awkwardness out of his mind- and at the same time focusing on the rising feeling of needing to escape and hide away. The latter part was surprisingly easy, as it echoed his true feelings very closely.

The feelings reflected and echoed off the creature in Winter's body, and Jaune knew he had succeeded even _before_ the tentacle burst out of Winter once more, accompanied by a surprised gasp from the woman as the sudden deflation must have felt either incredibly satisfying or incredibly disturbing, or perhaps both at the same time based off the emotions that radiated from her- specifically since the creature exited through her colon like some sort of extreme Grimm-diarrhea.

The tentacle-creature slithered like snake and dove under the snow before Penny managed to unfold her blades- the creature's unnatural, freakish speed managing to thoroughly frighten Blake who jumped back like a surprised cat, and her hairs stood on ends as the severed-yet-grown appendage passed by her.

The neon-green lined blades struck the snow in rapid succession before starting to hover over the ice-Dust created mounds, searching for the escaped creature.

"W-Winter!" Weiss tried to call to her older sister, but collapsed while holding to the woman's stomach and her own, the 'healing' Jaune had performed on the white-haired girl must have been somehow affected by his 'order' to the tentacle-creature… which made frightening amounts of sense. "S-sister… a-are you alright? Urgh, what… what is happening?"

Jaune hastily calmed himself down, using Ruby's silver eyes to 'freeze' himself and push the Shadow's mounting oppression back to the dark corners of his mind before it could start radiating violence and give the parasitical growth inside Weiss's stomach ideas or order the tentacle-creature to do something Jaune would regret.

Forming eye-contact with the red-clad girl wasn't hard, on the account of Ruby's eyes being wide open, shaken and incredibly confused after their impromptu combat-makeout session.

A small stand of saliva still connected her lips to his, and it didn't seem that Ruby truly realized what was happening around her. "Bwuh?"

"Yeah." Jaune agreed with Ruby and sighed heavily.

"Bwub? Umph?"

"Possibly." Jaune replied to Ruby, 'feeling' her question if the situation had ended more than he could interpret through her words. He flopped down on his back, leaving completely speechless Ruby sitting on the stone floor with her hands half-up like if she was planning on hugging the space which Jaune had occupied previously. Weiss let a small groan while holding to her stomach, and Winter let a weak moan while holding to her stomach as well, before passing out beside her younger sister.

Penny kept searching for the escaped tentacle-creature in the background, occasionally stabbing her blades through the snow like some sort of spear-fisher, while Blake looked at the scene in front of her in utter bewilderment.

Which was a sentiment that fit the mood of the entire group perfectly, and was the last sight Jaune saw before losing consciousness himself.

* * *

Ironwood of Atlas sighed heavily while sitting in his office aboard his personal air-cruiser docked to Beacon's air-dock. He put his Scroll down after having read through and watched the 'training' report Penny had sent him concerning the creature that had caused the Glenn barrier breach, and he reached for a compartment in his desk to pull a hard liquor bottle from it. The schnapps glass usually reserved for the liquid was replaced with a hearty mug, which was filled promptly, and un-filled as promptly. "...I can start to see why Qrow drinks all the time, if this is what he faces daily in Vale."

* * *

A hooded figure arched her back in rapturous pleasure and pain.

Her back was flaring with pain while her body trashed in constant stream of ecstacy coursing through her body.

"Lord... Lordh... is speaking to meee..."

Her back arched once more in a climax that almost snapped her spine. "Y-yessshhh! I... I shaall... do as you wiiiishh..."

Emerald's face twisted in pleasure and agony as her newfound 'purpose' became clear to her.

" _I shaaaal make us aalll whooolee!"_

* * *

Salem lifted her head up from her current research, which centered around her new captive-guest-ally. The sky above Shard Mountains was dark red, as it was well past midnight in the eastern part of Mistral where she had built her stronghold.

The research material that the Queen of the Grimm had scooped out of a certain maid was deposited back into a desktop-sized cryogenic chamber with delicate and precise movements, and Salem rose off her chair after making sure the chamber was locked. She walked out to a nearby balcony in order to breath in chilly midnight air, and to stretch her limbs as she realized that the new and exciting research had made her completely forget the flow of time.

The feeling of discovering something that was new, entertaining and exciting was positively _intoxicating_ for her, and she had spent the entire night engrossed in her research against her better judgement- after all, there wasn't much that stimulated her in Remnant anymore, so if she found something that fit the criteria she knew that she should try to savour it as much as possible.

But like a bar of chocolate, once she started, she _couldn't_ stop.

Salem tilted her head at air, seemingly listening and feeling for something that was happening far away, and the Queen of the Grimm closed her eyes to better feel and listen to the world around her… and to confirm the existence of a odd echo that she had felt before.

And a devious smile spread on her lips as she found what she had been searching, reinforcing her theory and research regarding her new guest.

"Oh, this is going to become _incredibly_ entertaining." Salem practically purred as she hugged herself. "I can hardly wait…"

 **Next chapter: In few days.**

 **Read, review, etcetra.**

 **Thanks.**


	48. Restraint and Reveal

"...And then…"

"...Should we…"

"...But, he said it was accident…"

"...True…"

"...I believe…"

Jaune's body felt incredibly heavy as he woke up and opened his eyes to see a somewhat familiar sight of the simulation room- this time configured as warm summertime boreal forest. ' _Huh… Wait, how long have I been out?'_

"Jaune? Are you awake?" Ruby's concerned face came to his view and Jaune realized that he was still half-transformed, which was likely contributing to his heavy feeling as his legs had grown attached to the moss-covered 'floor'- or rather, to the metal grating that made the simulation chamber's 'real' floor, making him half-submerged into the moss like some sort of pale, corrupted forest spirit. "Uh… we reset the scene since it was getting cold, and we needed to find the… thing… that uh… 'escaped' Winter, but we couldn't get you out of the floor so we just put up something that would be comfy. Uh, we, that is to say the rest of us, decided to keep you company while Penny carried Winter away..."

"Oh. Okay." Jaune blinked as he took in his body's state- he was naked from waist up, and his knight-form's armor persisted from waist down. He could tell that there were tentacles growing off his back, but instead of flowing freely the appendages had rooted themselves, and by extension Jaune as well to the floor. Figuring that casual conversation might work to unwind the situation that felt somewhat tense, he turned his head towards Ruby. "Uh… What happened while I was out cold?"

"Um… what do you remember?" Ruby asked carefully and shuffled a little to let Blake sit beside the girl so she too could lean over Jaune.

"W-well… everything." Jaune blushed. "I'm sorry…"

"We- we tried to find the escaped thingy, but after shutting down the room we found a fist-sized hole in the floor. And no… whatever that was." Ruby blushed slightly as she clearly tried to think something else than whatever had happened previously. "It's… somewhere. Probably in the sewer pipes, since Penny found a lot of water underneath the room. Anyway, Penny informed Ironwood, and Ironwood apparently will inform Glynda, and she will inform the Beacon's janitors, students and visitors to be vigilant for a escaped tentacle monster that's roaming around..."

Blake blushed bright as Ruby stammered her speech out.

"W-what about Winter? Is she mad?" Jaune asked very carefully while lifting his head up a bit, searching for either Winter or Weiss. He spotted Weiss sitting with her back against a tree while hugging her knees against her chest. ' _Uh… Yeah, Weiss is mad, so I'm pretty sure Winter is too...'_

"She- she woke up briefly after um… the situation calmed down, before Penny took her off to infirmary to recover." Ruby shuffled awkwardly while blushing. "Um... "

"Was she angry?"

"W-well… she swore eternal vengeance against the uh… thing. She um… swore that she'd kill it and add it to her collection or die trying." Ruby sighed heavily. "Yeah, she's mad."

"My beautiful, pure sister… violated… Her innocence taken..." Weiss let a small sob as she cradled her head, causing Ruby to hop on her feet and go hug the white-haired girl while Blake kept hovering over Jaune. "Violated, plundered, forced to give birth to a Grimm… By my teammate of all people. In front of my eyes, I couldn't stop it... I failed as a sister, I failed as a team leader…"

"There there… It's alright, Winter knew what she was doing, uh, I hope." Ruby tried to cheer Weiss up, although with no noticeable effect. "I mean, um... A-are you mad at Jaune?"

"No, of course not, despite him _violating_ my sister in front of my eyes while her allies _sanctioned_ his actions." Weiss growled. "Not to mention Penny said she had sent the recording of it to Ironwood and to the Atlesian Grimm databank so Winter's… assault will be documented and studied in great detail by other Specialists and Grimm analyzers…"  
"Uh… is that sarcasm? That's sarcasm, I think."

"Noo…"

"Sarcasm, got it. So you're mad at Jaune, right?"

"Yes, Ruby, I am…"

"Uh… could you maybe… not be mad at him?"

"Ruby, it doesn't work that way…"

Blake sighed as Ruby tried to 'cheer' Weiss. "Jaune… how are you feeling, really? Can you tell us what happened?"

"I… Well…"

"We want to know- I want to know what happened." Blake's expression was serious as she looked at Jaune. "What you did… I hope you have a good reason. For all of our sakes."

"A… thing happened."

"Jaune, please." Blake's tone was quiet. "Do you… do you distrust us so much that you can't tell us about it?"

He felt a massive pang of shame pierce his chest as Blake looked at him with disappointed eyes and her cat-ears had flopped down to clearly display her mood.

"It's… a malfunction in my Semblance. Uh, on the positive side, I think… I might have discovered a way to control Grimm. Like, Grimm that aren't me. Think of it like remote controlling Grimm, telling it what to do."

Blake's eyes widened.

"But about the negatives… I'll be honest, this might sound really bad, but…" Jaune braced himself as he realized he'd need to come clean or risk losing what he had built with Blake and others. "I'm… just feeling really, really horny right now, and I think it affected my Semblance. You saw the results."

Blake froze.

Jaune cringed internally while trying to maintain a somewhat calm facade.

"S-so, you created a tentacle monster that molested Winter's… insides… because you were horny and couldn't hold yourself back?" Blake clarified while her cat-ears perked in attention. "Is… how and why it did what it did?"

"I uh… discovered that feeling and 'sending' emotions is kind of important. I'm not sure how it works yet, but when I felt something really strongly, it sort echoed to the Grimm um… tentacle-thing." Jaune explained the best he could. Admittedly his explanation wasn't the most coherent one possible, but he hoped he could be excused considering the circumstances. "First it sort of… got the imprint to do um… horny stuff because I was horny, but I got scared that the Glenn would repeat itself so I wanted to kill it, so it became agitated, and uh… it attacked Winter, so I went back to previous to keep it from attacking her, but since I needed to get it out as well, I um… tried to 'send' the horny feeling as well as need to escape- and so it escaped without hurting Winter. Er, without hurting Winter's body anyway."

"Oh."

"So… essentially, I learned how to control Grimm during… uh, our training, thanks to Winter. But not exactly like how I envisioned it to happen." Jaune stammered. "Um… are you mad?"

"I'm not sure." One of Blake's cat-ears flipped up and down almost as if it giving turning signals. "I'm more… well, sort of amazed, really. Both at your discovery and at how it was discovered. I'm fairly sure that if this gets documented to history books and we'll end up using your ability to destroy Grimm once and for all… then Winter might want to censor herself from the history books before it becomes widespread knowledge."

"Huh?"

"You know, Winter basically got molested by a tentacle monster and thus gave birth to technique to subdue Grimm. Literally gave birth. Through her butthole." Blake tilted her head while her cat-ears twitched. Jaune wasn't sure if it was because of anger or amusement, but he didn't want to use his Semblance to find out due to its volatile state.

"Um…"

"Come to think of it, Weiss might want to censor herself from the history books as well, since the rumor that she invented a technique to 'control Grimm' hasn't died yet, so it isn't hard to… make a connection." Blake mused while one of her ears was positively flapping, causing Jaune to blush as he understood the implication.

"I uh… guess so? Er, not like I did that with Weiss..."

"Yeah…" Blake chuckled, cuing Jaune that Blake wasn't angry at him. "Right."

' _Just to be sure though... '_ Jaune braced himself. "Are you angry?"

"Me? No, I mean, you didn't want this to happen, but it did, right?" Blake waved his concerns off. "I trust you, you know."

"Oh." Jaune was speechless, and if he was honest to himself, also quite moved by Blake's words. "I... thanks."

"You're welcome." Blake smirked at Jaune while reaching to pat his exposed chest. "You know, you can relax with us. And we already promised to be more open with each other, so if there's something troubling you, don't try to hide it. We saw before and saw again today what happens when you try to hold secrets- specifically when your Semblance is involved."

"You're pretty calm though, considering everything that's happened." Jaune noted. "It's probably not the best time to try to turn tables, but is everything alright?"

"Hm? Yeah, I'm just… kind of used to this by now. I mean, considering all that's happened I'm surprised the training went as well as it did, and Winter didn't turn into some eldritch horror, or the entirety of Beacon didn't catch on fire. Or Grimm didn't breach Vale and kill everyone." Blake lifted her eyebrow at Jaune, making Jaune fairly sure that the girl was either brutally honest or was in the brink of insanity. Possibly both. "I mean, we did manage to move things forward, right? Sacrificing Winter's… whatever that was… had a meaning, right?"

"Uh… sure."

"In that case, let's focus on what we learned and forget Winter's mental or anal stability, I'm sure she will remind us about it when… uh, if she gets released from the infirmary." Blake nodded resolutely, likely wanting to shake off the memory of it- and Jaune couldn't blame her. "About the tentacle-creature… can you feel it? I mean, you can track Grimm, so logically…"

"Y-yeah, I guess I could." Jaune nodded somewhat uncertainty. "Can I… well, not do that right now? I'm not certain what might happen if I try to use my ability immediately after what happened."

"I suppose we can push it back few hours, or a day perhaps, if you're feeling that you can't use it. I'm sure Goodwitch can find that thing even without your help. Pushing you into using your Semblance when you haven't been ready is what got us in this mess in the first place, so let's not make it worse." Blake sighed while lying down on the moss next to him. "Sheesh… When I came to Beacon, I expected to find training, a stable job helping people and killing Grimm, fodder really, and a escape from White Fang. Not… whatever this is."

"Do you regret coming?" Jaune asked as he reached grab Blake's hand and tie his fingers with hers as they lied on the simulated, warm and bright boreal forest floor- Blake lying on the moss and Jaune lying submerged in it. "Do you regret… well, us?"

"No."

"I'm glad… I'm sorry if I made your…"

"Shh…" Blake reached to put her forefinger on his lips. "Let's just be quiet here, together."

Jaune got the hint and relaxed himself. The simulation's summer setting, while fake, felt comfortable and the recording of birds chirping was almost real enough to forget that it was a recording. "Haah…"

The background noise was almost enough to quell the sounds of Ruby trying to calm Weiss, but weren't quite enough to quieten the whispers that had started to plague his mind ever since early morning. "Blake, listen… I'm sorry that I have to ask this but…"

"Yeah?"

"Um… Do you remember what I said earlier? Why my ability malfunctioned?"

"Because you were… uh. Oh. You were serious, weren't you?"

"Yeah." Jaune confirmed. His skin was still pale but he could have sworn that his cheeks blushed bright red. "I… don't think I should use my ability while that thing's still 'on', which means I can't really use my Semblance until that... uh, stuff is 'off'"

"U-um… d-do you want me to do something about it?" Blake sounded somewhat faint.

"Uh, O-only if y-you want to do… um, that thing… as well?" Jaune joined Blake's stammering.

"We- well… Uh, don't take it the wrong way, but… that tentacle-spectacle kind of killed the mood…" Blake blushed and squeezed his hand tighter. "P-perhaps a bit later? Um, later today, if you can last that long? I need to prepare myself. Mentally."

"That I can do. S-sorry if I'm a bit… unsure, I've never done this before." Jaune relaxed slightly. "So um… uh... thanks. I'm sorry that we are forced to it by a external situation but… I'm kind of happy, you know? That we're passing that barrier after, well, all that's happened."

"D-don't mention it… I've been looking forwards to it a bit..." Blake seemed to share his nervousness and hidden hope- which came to an end as Ruby let a squeak in the background.

Jaune lifted his head to see that Weiss was squishing Ruby's face between her hands while Ruby was waving her hands around like a windmill. The reason for the wild action was quite apparent as Weiss had mushed her lips against Ruby's forehead.

"Listen, Ruby, I find your attempts at cheering me up incredibly adorable, but honestly, now's not the time." Weiss sighed after pulling away. "...I'll be alright. Can you two keep Jaune contained if I go to talk with Winter, see if she's recovering?"

"S-sure…" Ruby blushed a bit as Weiss put another small peck on her cheek before lifting herself up while pointedly refusing to look at Jaune while lifting her eyebrow at Blake.

Blake sighed and nodded, causing Weiss to huff and turn around before walking towards what appeared to be particularly large tree, opening it, and walking out of the simulation room.

"Weiss is really mad…" Ruby let a small sigh as she sat beside Jaune and took his free hand onto her own. "Um, did you tell Blake what happened already?"

"Yeah, he did." Blake nodded while lifting herself to a sitting position as well. "I'm actually fairly sure we might have come net positive, well, depending how badly Winter will want to mutilate everything and everyone around her once her butt recovers."

"You seem to be really focused on Winter's butt." Ruby pointed out.

"It is a very nice butt."

"Let's move on." Jaune blushed.

"Anyway, Jaune told me that he actually learned how to remotely control Grimm." Blake moved on with speed of light, making Jaune suspicious if Blake had intended to just poke fun at him with her earlier comments. "Something about uh, feeling and sending emotions which causes Grimm to replicate them. That's how he got the Grimm tentacle to attack, retreat into, fondle, I guess, and finally, hm, evacuate from Winter."

"Huh…" Ruby blinked. "Wait, was that why you kissed me during the fight?"

"Y-yeah, I kind of wanted to swap the uh… feeling thing from violent to something not violent, and you were kind of there so I…" Jaune stammered as Ruby brought their combat-makeout session forth. "S-sorry…"

"Eh, it's okay. I was just kind of surprised." Ruby blinked. "I mean, I thought Winter was going to die, and instead of helping you just kiss me, then Winter doesn't die… ugh. This is going to get really confusing isn't it? Do you need to kiss me every time you want to control a Grimm?"

"Uh… I- I don't think so."

"Aww… I could have become a Grimmromancer, like how the tabloids call Weiss…" Ruby pouted, causing Jaune to blush as he had a fairly decent guess as to why Ruby felt down.

"I mean… I can still kiss you if you want?"

"Ehe…" Ruby blushed a bit. "Um… yeah. That'd be nice."

Blake sighed. "Just... kiss already, the two of you."

Ruby leaned over Jaune and pecked him lightly on the cheek. And subsequently blushed furiously. "...That was the first time I actually initiated the kiss..."

"Ouch, that makes me sound pretty bad…" Jaune complained without heat in his voice and Blake leaned to kiss him lightly on the lips before standing up.

"Can you get up?" Blake asked. "We couldn't get you out of the floor previously. Something rooted you into it."

"Yeah, my tentacles grew attached to the floor. One moment." Jaune closed his eyes and tried to focus on undoing his body's transformation, feeling the heat of it wax over him as he briefly activated his Semblance to return back to his fully human shape. He managed to undo much of it before the odd foreign arousal returned to him, and managed to completely assume his human form just before it became too overwhelming. ' _Hng… yeah, this is really annoying… I wonder what's causing it?'_

Jaune breathed out as he opened his eyes… and saw that Blake was looking at him with massive blush on her cheeks and her cat-ears were perked upright, and Ruby had blushed furiously while she had covered her eyes with her hands, but had left a sizeable gap between her fingers. ' _Huh?'_

He looked down, and saw that his lower parts were saluting the girls like some sort of meat periscope from the ocean of moss. A unusually long, thick and veiny periscope. ' _Oh… Figures. Hold on, that looks… different. I mean, it wasn't that… big… before?'_

"U-um… J-Jaune, we all know you can shapeshift, you don't have to show off…" Blake's voice was a bit muffled and she had to visibly restrain herself from reaching down and poking at the thing with her finger. "U-uh… I hope that, um, 'that' isn't that big later today because I don't… think that will fit…"

"Later what today?" Ruby asked with weak voice while her hands shook a bit, clearly latching to any conversation subject that didn't involve Jaune's current state. "Fit what where?"

"I… we… uh, Jaune's Semblance needs some fine-tuning and we planned on seeing to it later today." Blake blushed furiously.

"Can help too?"

"..." Blake practically radiated embarrassed heat as Ruby's innocent question seemed to shake her very foundations.

"Uh… Ruby, we intended on… well… having sex." Jaune came to Blake's aid. "I mean, um, you're welcome to join too…"

Blake looked at him with wide eyes while Ruby blushed from head to toe.

"Uh… Erm… S-should I invite Weiss as well, then?" Ruby stammered. "I mean, full gang minus Pyrrha and so on…"

"I somehow doubt Weiss is in the mood." Blake pointed out dryly. "Speaking of which, we're not going at the same time, if that's what you were thinking. We're taking turns."

"Oh. Okay." Ruby muttered while squishing her face to calm down her blush. "S-so I guess Blake goes first?"

"Uh, can you not talk like if I'm a slab of meat about to be split or something…" Jaune pointed out weakly but Blake brushed his combat-ready member with the lace of her boot, causing Jaune to blush furiously and forcing him to clamp his mouth down so he wouldn't let out a moan.

"Shush." Blake didn't seem to notice his reaction or chose to ignore it, and kept playing almost absentmindedly with his member using her feet. "Right… Let's just get you up and get you fed you since I'm fairly sure you're hungry after the training like always. We can figure out something after that. Ruby, can you go to the infirmary and see if Weiss is okay?"

"Uh… sure." Ruby gulped as she looked at the spectacle. "I'll be… I'll be going, s-see ya!"

Jaune waved at the spot of air that Ruby had occupied previously, but was now taken by a cloud of rose petals and the sound of the simulation room's door opening and closing with enough speed to nearly break the hinges.

"B-Blake? Y-you can stoh- Hng! S-stop that n-now…" Jaune whimpered to Blake who had turned from brushing his flagpole with his feet to gently stepping on its shaft and rubbing it up and down. "I-I'm… getting really c-close…"

"What? Oh… oh. S-sorry!" Blake seemed to realize what she was doing and promptly pulled her foot away while her face turned completely red. "S-so… l-later today, then? Um, I'll… I'll go powder my nose, or something…"

And with haste equalling that of Ruby's, Blake evacuated the room.

"...Well. Hm." Jaune shrugged and lifted himself to sit on the moss and looked around the summertime boreal forest simulation, butt-naked and with his fully deployed dong pointing directly at the invisible ceiling.

He let himself flop down on the soft green growth. "What a morning…"

.

..

…

"You're serious." Glynda half-stated half-asked. "Seriously."

"Yes." Ironwood sighed heavily. "Consider yourself lucky that you don't have to see how it came to be."

"A Grimm tentacle monster. In our sewers. That is not Arc."

"Yes."

"And it attacked Specialist Winter, running through her body and attempting to copulate with her." Glynda clarified. "And by running through, you mean… somewhat unconventional meaning of the word?"

"Well… exactly." Ironwood confirmed while furrowing his brow. "We aren't sure of the creature's motives just yet, and we haven't managed to ask its creator: Penny was more preoccupied transferring Winter to infirmary to stay and ask Arc about his creation. Presumably the creature attacks women, but we aren't sure yet as our data on it is quite limited."

Glynda rubbed her forehead and started to walk circles behind her desk in the headmistress's office where the conversation was taking place, with Ironwood standing in the middle of the glass floor that showed the top of CCCT's clockwork-like function. Glynda sighed as she looked at one of the potted plants she had added to the rebuilt office- she had ordered the Atlesian engineers to add balconies to the large windows of the Headmistress's office while they rebuilt it, and she had re-furnished the place with warm, polished wood and plants combined with few bookshelves housing some of her teaching materials and other interesting books. "Fine, fine… I'll make the calls. How is Winter?"

"She seems to be… coping. She has requested to be the one responsible for killing the creature as a form of vengeance. I have denied that request."

"Denied?" Glynda lifted her eyebrow at Ironwood.

"I know what her Semblance is, and I have a hunch to why she is so adamant on killing the creature. I'd… rather not let her have one." Ironwood's face was emotionless but the way he wrung his hands clearly conveyed his frustration. "While I didn't think she was even capable of being so… inappropriate and unprofessional before, her behaviour has suffered a massive degradation ever since arriving to Vale. I'll not risk her having one of the creatures to… work with."

"Very well, although that's not exactly my concern… nor under my jurisdiction." Glynda sighed in equal frustration. "Just… How am I going to find that thing? Have you informed Peter about it? He might have seen something like that before."

"I… somehow doubt that, but I'll ask him, and go see if Arc knows anything." Ironwood nodded his head at Glynda… before the man flickered and disappeared.

Glynda reached for a device on her desk and turned off the holographic projector responsible for creating the image of Ironwood- who was currently aboard his air-cruiser. "Sheesh, he could have at least bothered to come up here and tell me that in person, share a cup of coffee or something… fine."

"Very well, I'll accept that invitation. I'll have Penny bring Arc to your office." A disembodied voice rang in the office, causing Glynda to jump a bit. "Oh, and Glynda, you need to press the icon with big cross to shut down the transmitter."

Glynda blushed slightly as she reached to turn the device off instead of just disabling the visual projection.

' _Criminals turning heroes, eldritch monstrosities popping up in Glenn, Ozpin died, a team of students turned out to be assassins, Grimm-being became a student in Beacon, and now we have tentacle monsters in the sewers... '_ Glynda sighed as she moved onto the issues at hand, while fighting back a mounting desire to tear at her own hair. ' _Why does this have to happen just when I've become a headmistress? No, even more importantly, what is the future going to bring?'_

* * *

"Sister…" Weiss's voice was weak as she looked at Winter.

The white-haired woman was truly a miserable sight- her vigor and will to live were completely gone and her skin was greyish pale. Her hair was free of its usual bun and the usually strong hair was weak and thin, her normally headstrong sky-blue eyes were pale and unfocused, like if she had taken large amounts of drugs. Winter's fork shook in her weak, limp hand as she pushed her empty hospital-food plate away feebly as she was lying in a raised infirmary bed like a dying woman with Weiss sitting beside her older sister…

"Weiss. You're looking at me like I'm on my deathbed." Winter's dry, sarcastic voice broke Weiss off her thoughts and also shattered the illusion she was having.

"I'm… s-sorry…"

"Weiss, if you apologize one more time I will slap you." Winter growled, grabbing Weiss's face and turning it towards her. Weiss tried to ignore the fact Winter's skin had normal, healthy if pale complexion, but couldn't quite ignore her sharp, clear eyes that pierced Weiss's melancholy.

The way Winter's healthy, strong hair was free of its bun made the sisters look almost identical, if not for the fact their bodies were in different stages of development "Weiss. Look at me. Do I have to shake you to get you out of that depression you've fallen into? Stop looking at me as if I was some sort of fragile, wilting flower about to be snuffed out."

"B-but… your innocence, your purity.." Weiss's voice shook and small tear rolled off her eye and onto her cheek. "I… I failed to protect you from my teammate…"

"Sister, I am more than capable of defending myself. Please keep that in mind. I merely made a mistake and allowed myself to be caught off-guard by underestimating Arc." Winter's tone was both very matter-of-fact and dry. "The shame I feel is for my own actions, since even an infant should have seen through his ploy yet I fell for it: He deliberately let me mutilate him, knowing that injuries do not matter to him due to his increased regeneration, and when I grew complacent in my superiority, he struck… although the way he counter-attacked took me by surprise. I can hardly blame him though, since we both agreed to fight each other at our full power. I certainly did."

"But… but… your… body was violated!"

"Yes, I am aware. More so than you are, I might add. However there's not much I can do about it, outside taking vengeance on the tentacle responsible." Winter growled. "I initially swore that I would kill the thing or succumb- I mean, die trying. But it seems that General Ironwood has decided to assign the task of hunting the creature down to someone else."

"Dear sister…" Weiss felt faint as he contemplated her older sister's strength of mind and character. ' _To be able to function despite suffering so horrible fate, to have her purity taken by that… thing… she is truly strong and beautiful…'_

"You've been Arc's teammate for a long time now. Has he used the same… attack… when training with you? Is this standard fare for your team?" Winter's question caused Weiss to almost choke. "Have you experienced the same?"

"N-no! Of course not!" Weiss sputtered. "That… what he did was… it was inexcusable, but while he's had tentacles before, he hasn't… violated any of us like that."

"Do you think he's likely to use that attack again, then?"

"Sister?" Weiss felt faint but recovered. ' _Why… Oh, of course. She's already analyzing Jaune's combat prowess, like she was assigned to do- so she can improve him. The professionalism to just shrug off something like what she suffered in order to focus on improving herself and on her mission… Winter truly is impeccable… I cannot allow what happened to repeat though. Her mind may be strong, but even if a bulwark can withstand one salvo, it will be destroyed with enough bombardment.'_ "Oh… I think... I'm going to ask Jaune to show restraint though, possibly even enforce it. I won't let him use that attack on you again, I swear it on my life!"

"Oh… No, there's no need for that. I can take care of myself, Weiss." Winter waved her hand dismissively. "I merely need to prepare myself to better counter his attacks if he decides to use that attack again. Holding back deliberately only worsens the results of the training, muddling its goal to improve his control and study his ability, and to study the Grimm he controls. I just need to recover from this morning's training session before were resume training."

"D-dear sister? You'd truly… subject yourself to that torture again?"

"I was ordered to train him, and I shall. Do not doubt me, Weiss." Winter's eyes narrowed. "I am not one to go back on my word, no matter how violent, disgusting or invasive this might become. I'll have to see if I can procure a sample of the Grimm tentacle to inspect and train against though. Arc can produce one if I ask, correct? I'll use it to keep today's spectacle from happening again. Speaking of which, where is Arc?"

Before Weiss had managed to mentally process Winter's words, a loud bang echoed in the infirmary room where Winter was resting. A red flash engulfed her vision and a blunt object hit her face before she could even let a protesting huff or reach for her weapon she still had on her hip… and Weiss blushed as she realized her face was full of Ruby's bust (which, granted, was still very much under construction).

"Weissareyoualrightwhat'shappeningWinterareyouokay?" Ruby spoke with the speed of a machine gun as she almost literally bounced around the infirmary room before Weiss grabbed the excited and embarrassed red-clad girl's hand, then her waist, and finally sat Ruby on her lap. "Oh- I mean, Hi Weiss, Winter!"

"Ruby, are you alright?" Weiss asked as Ruby was as red as her namesake and nervous enough to be mistaken for a democratic party of one mice and one hungry pack of cats voting for the day's dinner. "Did something happen with Jaune?"

"Uh… n-no-nonothing at a-a-a-a-all…"

"Ruby."

"W-well, something might have happened…"

"Ruby."

"BlakestartedtoplaywithJaune'sthingandthen…"

"Ruby."

"Jaune and Blake are going to have sex!" Ruby caved in under the pressure, causing Weiss to blush slightly and Winter to stare at Ruby.

"Alright, how does that concern me?" Weiss asked. "Beside the obvious need to clean and rinse the dorm room after those two deviants are done with their… whatever they get up to?"

"I mean, we all are sex-buddies or something so I was wondering if you wanted to join in…"

Weiss gasped, snorted, and reared back in horror at the same time as she heard the words that left Ruby's mouth. Unfortunately for her, human respiratory system couldn't quite do what she attempted to do so in the end she managed to topple herself over her seat, causing both of them to flop over on the floor next to Winter's bed while Weiss succumbed to a coughing fit. However that wasn't the worst part of it as Weiss felt something cold settle in on the bottom of her stomach. ' _Oh no… S-sister… she heard...'_

"Weiss, would you care to explain or clarify what your… teammate… just said?" Winter's voice was carefully neutral as she leaned over her bed's edge slightly to look at the tangle of limbs that was Ruby and Weiss. "What exactly does she mean by 'sex-buddies'?"

"Oh no." Weiss froze up completely. The way Ruby was almost unconsciously groping her breasts wasn't helping. ' _I… I can't let Winter know… she can never know about our arrangement! She's… She can't know I've become so impure, so… lewd.'_

The thought made Weiss shiver out of disgust aimed at herself. The odd coldness that spread in her stomach as Ruby looked up at her with her silver eyes had nothing to do with it, or so she told herself.

"Weiss. Sister."

"A- um… I didn't mean to say that aloud."

"I find your explanation lacking."

"Um…" Weiss felt faint. ' _This isn't happening. This can't be happening.'_

"So me, Weiss and Blake… and Pyrrha, you know, Pyrrha Nikos, are kind of in a sex buddy relationship thing with Jaune. Yang called it a harem. Yeah, I think that's actually the word. Like, a equal opportunity harem! Free use? Something like that. I found that word in one of Blake's books." Ruby took over the job of explaining Weiss's love-life to Winter as she was currently on top of the pile of limbs that was their tackle-hug.

As soon as Ruby's words registered in her head, Weiss's vision to dimed as her mind contemplated just passing out and hoping that everything would be fine eventually. Unfortunately it looked like it was only getting worse as Ruby exposed Winter to the full might of her brutally honest and incredibly awkward vocabulary. "Uh… so Blake and Jaune had planned to hump, and I thought I'd invite Weiss too since it'd be unfair otherwise, and Blake told that we'd be taking turns so it'd be Blake, then me, then Weiss, although I'd kinda want if we all went at the same time, you know, group bondage experience, I mean, bonding experience… Er… W- Winter, are you alright? Your face is really red…"

"T-thank you for the information, miss Rose. You perhaps provided more info than I needed, but I can't fault you for your honesty." Winter's voice was carefully professional, causing Weiss to squirm in discomfort as she couldn't see Winter's face or body language from the floor as she had stopped leaning over the bed's edge.

' _She's so professional even when faced with Ruby's… talking.'_ Weiss couldn't quite stop herself from feeling proud of her sister's calm even when exposed to Ruby's conversation capabilities. And Weiss felt near physical pain as Ruby climbed off Weiss and sat on Winter's bed, presumably because the red-clad girl didn't want to take Weiss's seat and there weren't other chairs available in the private infirmary room. ' _I don't deserve Winter… I'm so sorry...'_

"Weiss. Please stand."

"Y-yes, dear sister…" Weiss closed her eyes to gather courage, braced herself, stood up… and hugged Ruby in sheer panic as the need to come clear about her situation clashed with her need to stay true to Schnee ideals. "Winter, I'm sorry, but… I like Ruby!"

Before Winter managed to say anything, Weiss leaned, or rather, charged closer to Ruby and mushed her lips against Ruby's to both drive in the point and buy some time before she had to answer Winter. ' _Mh… Vanilla?'_

' _Wait…'_ And the second after it the realization hit her, even if the complete freezing up of her kissing partner or her sizeable bust hadn't given it away. ' _Oh come on… This isn't happening…'_

Weiss opened her eyes slowly, un-tied her arms around Winter and sat back down on her seat. "Right. Once our conversation ends, I'm going to jump off a bridge."

Winter looked at her with wide open eyes and open mouth, completely speechless after Weiss had hopped up from under her bed and promptly kissed her own sister.

Ruby looked as speechless as she had instinctively dodged Weiss as she had lunged at her, and thanks to her Semblance had ended up on the other side of the room.

"Uh… I can give you two some time…" Ruby's uncertain voice caused Weiss to die a little inside.

"Ruby. We are going to talk about dodging when you're not supposed to dodge." Weiss forced her voice to be calm, collected, and cool because the alternative was to put up a infirmary bed next to Winter's and break down like a old car engine. "Regardless, dear sister, as you can tell I am in a relationship with Ruby."

Winter blinked at Weiss, completely speechless, causing Weiss's calm facade to crumble like a wall which was under fire by Atlesian railgun battery. ' _Thanks, Ruby, now I think with gun metaphors like you. Great. I'm not sure I should have read those magazines with her…'_

"A-alright. Very well, Weiss. I'll… trust your judgement, then." Winter's speech came in short, uncertain words, making Weiss's mood plummet faster than a Grimm Griffon who flew over a SAM-site.

' _Brain, now is not the time.'_ Weiss noted as her hands sweated. "S-sister, I am truly sorry that…"

"Weiss, please do not apologize. I am merely surprised." Winter seemed to collect herself. "I'm sorry, this morning has been… stressing. Could I perhaps have some time to think, alone?"

"Y-yes, certainly…" Weiss stammered as she hopped on her feet, grabbed Ruby who did _not_ dodge this time, and ran out of the room.

…

Winter looked at the door as it slammed shut.

And the massive blush she had been holding back bloomed on her face as soon as she determined Weiss had left the premise.

Something had woken in her during the earlier training, but she had been very careful to conceal her thoughts from others until so far- Even if Weiss's cute caring for her had been nearly enough to push her past her breaking point.

She took one more look around her to ensure that she was alone.

No-one could be allowed to see a proud Atlesian specialist hugging a pillow and giggling like some sort of excited schoolgirl.

"Weiss is _so_ adorable…"

Her grip on the pillow hardened, resembling that of a bird of prey swooping down on a rabbit.

"Gha… haha… I found a Grimm tentacle monster to add to my collection…"

…

"So… Are you still mad, Weiss?"

"Three guesses, Ruby."

"Not mad, not mad, uh… a bit mad but not really?"

"Congratulations, wrong on all accords. A new record."

"Yay?"

"Grhh…" Weiss's grumbling could probably be heard across entire Beacon as they moved through its semi-deserted walkways. It was well past midday and most of other students were either eating or attending the semi-voluntary extra combat classes. "I'm hungry. Do you want to eat? I want to eat. Let's go eat. In dorm, I don't want to show my face in public places for at least a week after that stunt. I think we had some steak and chips in the fridge."

"Uh… Weiss, are you feeling alright? I mean, you've started to eat a lot more meat since Jaune healed you, but… I don't think I've heard you deliberately going for meat before the heal…"

"Ruby. At the moment, I could not care less about my diet."

"Uh… yes. So about Winter… um, I didn't know you two had that kind of relationship..."

"Listen, I'm about at the edge of my patience, so while I like you, Ruby, please be quiet for a while or I will make it like Jaune and lose my control over my darker self." Weiss grumbled. "I… I can't believe I showed so depraved, so… improper side of me to my sister, so soon after the horror that was this morning…"

"Yeah, I get what you mean. Sort of. I mean I love Yang too, but not in a kissing-sort of way." Ruby nodded knowingly. "Uh.. I'm fairly sure that goes against some law, I won't tell if you won't though. My lips are sealed of your lips sealing Winter's."

"Ruby, please. Silence."

"Yes, ma'am." Ruby let a small 'eep' as Weiss turned to grab Ruby's face and squish it a bit like some sort of cute and cuddly stress ball.

"Honestly though. I'm sort of glad that Winter knows about this, even if your… explanation… left much to be desired." Weiss sighed. "'Free use'? 'Equal opportunity harem'? Didn't Blake tell you to stop reading her books when you spot them?"

"Sorry, they just have so good plots."

"You read porn for the plot." Weiss's tone was carefully neutral.

"Uh… is there something wrong with that?"

Weiss lifted her hands up in surrender and brought it down as their walk had brought them to their dorms and they powered on to their dorm's kitchen.

And found Blake pacing nervously in the kitchen while she had a can of tuna opened and half-eaten on the kitchen island.

"You have something you need to say, out with it." Weiss grumbled at the cat faunus who looked like she was about to suffer a nervous breakdown.

"H-hi, Weiss. Ruby. Is Winter alright?" Blake dodged the question, making Weiss sigh heavily.

"She's… okay." Ruby nodded conspirotuarily to Blake and Weiss at the same time.

' _Oh… Oum, Ruby's latched onto her theory and won't let up, isn't she?'_ Weiss sighed heavily. ' _Don't tell me I was like that, back when I misunderstood Jaune's and Blake's initial relationship?'_ "Blake, let's talk about Winter later. Something is troubling you so out with it."

"No, no I'm just psyching myself up. Call it a stress relief or something." Blake seemed to calm herself down. "Right. I'm hungry. Food?"

"Sure, we have a ton of food in the fridge and the freezer since we were told to stock up…" Ruby tilted her head. "Perhaps we could cook more steak? Some potatoes, boiled root vegetables and gravy to top it off? I'm actually pretty hungry, let's make loads!"

"Sounds good." Weiss agreed. "I need to eat. Get my mind off what happened."

"Speaking of food, and… eating, where's Jaune?" Ruby pointed out. "Wasn't he supposed to come with you, Blake?"

"Uh… He's… coming on his own." Blake blushed. "When he is ready, I mean."

"Right, I know what you two are planning…" Weiss took the proverbial cat and put it on the table while a dog ran circles around her legs and she reached to pet it a bit. "Oh, hi Zwei, who's a good little puppy, yesh, yesh you are…"

"What the two of us are planning?" Blake lifted her eyebrow at Weiss while reaching to pull two hefty slabs of meat from the refrigerator. "Like, Ruby and I?"

"No, you and Jaune. I'm just going to say that I will grab Ruby and go watch a movie in Vale or something while you two… hump… it out." Weiss started as she let Zwei run off to the dorm's 'living room', but Blake's huff cut her off before she could continue.

"Weiss, you know Ruby, and by extension, you are in this thing as well. If Ruby wants to do 'that' or cuddle with Jaune or do whatever, then she's free to do so, and if you want to stop her... "

"Was that a threat?" Weiss bristled.

"No, but I'm just saying that we all agreed to have this relationship… thing. And it won't work if Ruby has to constantly choose you and only you." Blake pointed out, ignoring how Ruby was pointedly waving her hand in the air to ask for permission to speak like a student in a class. "Shush, Ruby, one moment."

"Wha- I am not forcing Ruby to choose…"

"You have been constantly clinging and hogging Ruby whenever Jaune is around, almost as if you're afraid that he's going to just eat her or something. Quit it." Blake added. "I know what you're thinking- your mindset. 'Why isn't Blake helping me? Surely if I take Ruby, Blake will be free to fight over Jaune with Pyrrha, less competitors, everyone wins?'"

"Blake, I'm not…"

"But I don't want to make our relationship devolve _back_ into backstabbing and fighting, so I want to nip that mindset you have out of our 'thing' as soon as possible. I don't want our _team_ to devolve into jealous infighting, specifically if we're going to life-threathening situations where we have to depend on each other to survive- you're the team leader, you should know how badly it might go if we have ulterior 'motives'. So no, I'm not going to sit by and let you hog Ruby entirely to yourself." Blake ignored Ruby's attempt to put a word between them. "This is a co-op, not a heist. I don't exactly consider this 'arrangement' optimal, but it we start backstabbing each other, we'll just shatter. Some of us might even die indirectly because of it. And then no-one is happy."

"Blake, I don't really intend to do that…"

"Then let Ruby make her own decisions!" Blake growled at Weiss, causing the white-haired girl to quiet down in shock. "You keep saying 'I'll take Ruby to there' or 'Then, I'll go do this with Ruby' like she has no choice, specifically whenever the three- four of us are about do something even slightly intimate. The only exception to this was the small group kiss that happened when Pyrrha and her team departed to Vacuo in order to help with Yang's training, but other than that…"

"I get it!" Weiss growled back. "I get it, thanks."

"Uhh… I can make my own decisions, you know…" Ruby grumbled.

"Yeah, I'm just making sure Weiss know that too." Blake lifted her eyebrow at the red-clad girl.

"Fine, so what are you saying then?" Weiss growled.

"I'm saying, I planned on getting… intimate with Jaune later today. I feel like I should let you two know since you're on this arrangement as well." Blake told them, causing Ruby to blush again. "So… Bearing that earlier point in mind, would you want to go at it as well, Ruby?"

"Um… I… M-maybe, I'm not sure... " Ruby blushed from head to toe. "W-Weiss? Uh, w-wanna go with me?"

"I'd rather not… but I'm… I'd really... C-can you not do that?" Weiss felt a bit faint. The mental image of bestial, lust-filled and savage Jaune tearing Ruby's clothes off and placing his gross, veiny _thing_ against the red-clad girl's innocent and pure body while small tears gathered in Ruby's eyes made Weiss blush both in embarrassment and anger. ' _No! Jaune will not get to despoil Ruby! Like he did with Winter! Not while I stand guard! He shall not pass!'_

And as Weiss shook from carefully contained rage, she got an idea. It was a horrible idea, but one that might work. ' _What if… I'll partake in their 'meeting', convince him to just… hump Blake senseless… that way he won't have stamina to move onto Ruby. Yeah, I could keep her safe that way.'_

She ignored the part of her consciousness that pointed out that she was essentially throwing Blake under the proverbial 'meat' bus. ' _Bah, That deviant will probably just like it more if he focuses entirely on her.'_

"Listen… Fine. Ruby?" Weiss signed and turned towards the red-clad girl who was on the verge of suffering nervous breakdown like the one Blake had been having when they entered the kitchen.

"Y-yeah?"

"You asked if I wanted to 'go' with you?"

"T-to the 'm-meeting' with Jaune, yeah."

"Sure." Weiss nodded at Ruby and the girl breathed out in relief while Blake narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Weiss.

"You are surprisingly agreeable?" Blake voiced her suspicions. "You are planning something."

"Oh? How astute." Weiss smirked at Blake whose eyes turned into thin slits as her cat-senses must have tingled. ' _I heard spider faunus's have sixth sense that alerts them of danger. Blake must have lewdsense or something like that, I'll have to be careful or she sniffs out what I plan…'_ "...Hm, fine, you noticed it. My 'plan', or rather, my condition is that we three go at it… at the same time."

Blake and Ruby looked at Weiss.

Weiss crossed her arms. "Well?"

"U-uh… I… I don't know what to say." Blake blushed. "I didn't expect… that."

"What, that I wanted to participate in order to hm… 'interact' with Ruby?" Weiss tapped the floor with her shoe.

"Then why at the same tim…"

"To make it less awkward. What, did you think we'd commandeer entire dorm-wing and rotate rooms? Perhaps form a queue?" Weiss pointed out while trying to keep the awkwardness the words caused out of his voice. " _If_ we're doing this anyway. Why did you decide to do the deed now of all times? Did you get horny from seeing what Jaune did to Winter or something?"

"No, but… it does relate to it. I didn't tell you why Jaune did what he did, so… here we go." Blake lifted her eyebrow and explained the reasons Jaune had given for his 'combat' against Winter.

Weiss just stared at the cat faunus as she finished her speech. "So… He did that to Winter… because he was horny. And you are going to hump that horniness out of him? You're saying that he's going to _hump you and Ruby_ as _part of his training?_ "

"Yes, but there's a personal involvement as well. It's more of a convenient excuse for me anyway, since I was going to approach him about it soon-ish. Perhaps after Pyrrha had returned from her team's trip." Blake sighed while blushing and Ruby rubbed her cheeks as the red-clad girl was positively vibrating on the spot. "...Right. Fine. Let's just… do it together. But just this once."

"Fine. Truce?" Weiss offered her hand at Blake.

"Truce." Blake nodded at Weiss and shook her hand briefly.

"Uhh…" Ruby pouted. "Don't I get to vote?"

"S-sure?" Blake seemed to notice that she had completely ignored Ruby's point of view. "Do you object? I mean, I'd prefer we went one at a time..."

"No, no, but… I just wanted to make sure I had a vote." Ruby sighed. "No, we'll go together. Like team-bondage exercise. Bonding, I mean. It'd be really awkward if we what, put a line in front of the dorm-room door or something. Perhaps have a ticket booth for turn numbers."

"I… didn't exactly mean that but fine." Blake sighed. "Oh Oum… we're really doing this, aren't we?"

"Y-yeah…" Ruby blushed. "U-Um… S-speaking of which, let's get on with the cooking, we really need to eat, I'll peel the potatoes… Are you sure that Jaune's okay though? It's been a while."

"I imagine he's thankful for the 'alone-time' if what you told me about his Semblance is true." Weiss's tone was dry. "He'll come here to eat when he's ready."

Ruby and Blake blushed as the implication hit them.

' _Ha… now, to execute my plan…'_ Weiss chuckled internally as she turned to walk out of the kitchen.

"Hold."

"Hm?" Weiss stopped in the doorway and turned to look at Blake who had a knife in her hand- and was offering it to Weiss.

"Oh, no. You're not leaving. Start cutting the vegetables."

"Penny, start cut- oh." Weiss allocated the given mission automatically, before she realized that their democratically voted stay-in cook was away. "Wait, you're not saying that…"

"Start. Cooking."

"This is a bad idea." Weiss informed while mentally bracing herself.

"Cutting vegetables is not that hard."

" _This is a bad idea!_ "

"Oh come on, what's the worst that could happen."

"Blaaakeeee…" Ruby's tone was full of warning and Blake shut up.

"Uh… right…" Weiss took the offered knife very, very carefully. ' _Right, Weiss… Just think of it like cutting a Grimm…'_

.

..

…

"S-sorry but… Um… I'll need the bathroom and uh…"

"Certainly, subj- I mean, Jaune!"

"Like, now?"

"General Ironwood has requested your immediate presence!"

"Yeah, but… uhh…"

"Please do not worry about my presence in your presence, I am here to ensure your cooperation, and present your presence into Ironwood's presence!"

"Penny, that really doesn't help." Jaune groaned as he tried to think feverishly.

He had been cornered to a men's restroom stall as he had spotted an opportunity to 'relieve' some of the 'pressure' that had been building between his legs since the morning, and also so that he wouldn't spend the rest of the day thinking of Blake and her offer while also having a tent in his pants. Unfortunately for him though, Penny had cruised straight into the men's bathroom with zero shame or hesitation and informed him that General Ironwood had requested his immediate attention.

Which was unfortunately something Jaune couldn't give while he was harder than granite. And the way he couldn't stop thinking about Blake's promise didn't help. ' _Oh come on… I can't do it like this…'_

The knock on the stall door repeated, causing Jaune to let a small, miserable whine.

"I have basic medical supplies with me at all times, should you require aid with your defecation!" the peppy voice echoed again in the men's restroom. "I have added extra-strong laxatives to the supplies as a potential counter to 'Grimm Tentacles', better name pending, after the Grimm subtype was discovered, demonstrated, defeated and was finally countered by Specialist Winter Schnee."

"T-thats… uh…"

"I shall slide the supplies to your stall- please stand by." A pale hand joined the two shining black boots which were visible through the lower part of the stall door. Jaune took the package that Penny offered and the hand disappeared. Yet Jaune couldn't quite stop himself from staring at the pale, long-fingered hand and imagining how it would feel around his… ' _Brain. Come on.'_

Jaune resisted the urge to smack his head against the flimsy stall door or do something else he'd regret while he heard Penny walk off to somewhere else in the room. ' _Come on, Jaune, you can do this… you can do this…'_

A click rang in the stall, freezing Jaune completely in place. ' _Oh no, oh no, oh no…'_

"Are there any other problems?" Penny asked as she opened the stall door after accidentally breaking the lock, and she offered him a cup of water, presumably to go with the laxatives.

' _Thigh highs, thigh highs, redhead and freckles… hnnnnngg….'_ Jaune nodded weakly as he took the cup with shaking hands and attempted to nod politely while _not_ staring at the enthusiastic, overly friendly girl's legs. He failed on the latter and just ended up ogling at Penny's exposed flesh between her thigh-highs and her skirt. ' _Hrg… P-Penny, please take the hint…'_

Unfortunately for Jaune, Penny was as socially clueless as Ruby. And even worse for him, the ginger-haired girl was also far, far bolder than Ruby was, as the red-clad girl would have been halfway to Vacuo by now if she had walked into a stall with him in it, specifically when his rocket was ready for launch and just waited for someone to punch in the launch sequence.

"Nnnghh... " Jaune let pathetic whine as Penny kept standing in the stall door frame and thus blocked him from closing it. "Please… I really need to…"

"Do not worry, subject zero-on- hm, I shall attempt to bypass this fault- done. Do not worry, Jaune! I shall ensure your continued cooperation and accompany you to General Ironwood in one piece!" Penny struck a cheerful salute. "If you require further assistance please do not hesitate to ask!"

"I… really need… to take care of personal issues…"

"Very well, I shall assist!"

"No, no, _personal_ issues, like, I have to take care of them by myself…"

"Unfortunately those must be postponed after your meeting with General Ironwood! His request takes priority!" Penny chirped happily, causing streams of sweat to form in and flow down Jaune's back.

' _Yeah, no this isn't working… C-can I risk using my Semblance? I- I could just… shapeshift that… thing away… like in my Knight form, I don't think it has one… I haven't checked anyway...'_

Jaune felt the strings of his self-restraint creaking under the pressure Penny's thigh-highs were inflicting into his mind, and he made the decision. ' _Right, here we go…'_

' _Gr- Hrng!'_ His flesh started to pale and black veins spread on his skin until his flesh turned completely dark. He stood up from the toilet seat, brushing Penny's thighs with his 'thing' on the way up and nearly losing his self-control right then and there. Black fur and bone-plates grew to cover his exposed parts, tearing apart his shirt although sparing his pants as he had pulled them down before sitting on the toilet seat. ' _Gh… careful… careful…'_

The stall let creaks and cracks as his form out-grew the relatively cramped space, until he felt the plywood walls give in and break- and it also forced Penny to take few steps backwards while her expression was as cheerful and careless as ever. Something let few clicks behind her back which Jaune guessed to be her combat-blades unfolding out of sight.

His emotion-sensing ability activated, and once again Penny proved to be thoroughly confusing individual to the ability- which was a boon in disguise as while the confusion was generally unwelcome, it became very welcome on the account that it _wasn't_ related to the odd lust- Thus allowing him to latch onto the feeling and use it to draw his mind off the odd foreign emotions. ' _Hng… Urh… I… I think I made it…_ '

Jaune sighed, causing his mask to open and let a gout of steam while he kicked his pants off, as they were now unneccessary on account of the bone-plates and fur covering his body.

"Oh, very astute! General Ironwood wished to speak about your recent training session, so demonstrating the subject matter is a good idea!" Penny clapped her hands and hummed happily while a series of clicks sounded from behind her back, likely indicating that she folded her blades and returned them to their storages in the girl's ever-present backpack.

' _Huh? Demonstrating what?'_ Jaune blinked mentally as his Knight-form self didn't quite have the ability to blink conventionally, before he felt something slightly wet and squirming in his back- as his back. ' _Oh… Don't tell me…'_

He brought one of his veiny, grotesque and blunt-tipped tentacles up. ' _Yeah. They're back. The wrong type of tentacle. Dammit.'_

"Good, now let us go." Penny took his hand and pulled him out of the stall, which also sent a quite bit of wood splinters flying all over the men's restroom as the stall let one final tortured groan and collapsed.

' _Oh no… I forgot... I hope the classes are in session or something…'_

.

..

…

"Please make way, thank you, please make way, thank you…"

Jaune focused solely on Penny's back, trying his best to block any and all foreign emotions that washed against his body and mind while struggling to keep himself in check as the ginger-headed girl escorted him through the Beacon's grounds.

Naturally, the combat classes had just ended, disgorging their students to the hallways and walkways of Beacon.

And naturally, when one of the students had noticed a Grimm walking the grounds, the word had spread.

And when one of the student groups had managed to arm themselves and had stepped forth to confront the Grimm creature with weapons in hand, they had seen that it was holding hands with a ginger-haired Atlesian girl, and that the Grimm tentacle monster was following the red-headed, freckled girl in a peaceful, docile manner.

And when the student groups had gathered their jaws off the floor, they had started to take pictures.

Then spread rumors.

Then spread pictures with the rumors.

And before Jaune realized it, Penny's escorting him to Ironwood had turned into a public parade march around Beacon, flanked by groups of Hunters-in-training and civilians who had been visiting friends their in Beacon but had stayed and followed to stare at Jaune's Grimm Knight form with various reactions.

And also few _actual_ Hunters who seemed to be somewhere between amazed, suspicious, or unsure whether to attack or not.

And the mixed emotions that came from the females of the crowd didn't help as they stared at the tentacles flowing around Jaune, which had very, _very_ questionable veins, bumps and heads that better belonged to some equally questionable books.

' _Focus… on… Penny…'_ Jaune's hands shook as he tried to keep himself stable amidst the stunned crowd. ' _Focus… on… Penny… her butt looks nice- No, focus, on, Penny...'_

A small part of his mind congratulated himself for his self-control, on account that similar confrontations with crowds had been nearly enough to send him to a murderous rampage in the past, and that had been even _before_ his new distraction was taken into account.

Regardless, when the two of them managed to reach CCCT's elevator entrance Jaune was very, very close to losing his restraint, and the slithering and waggling of his tentacles portrayed his mood quite accurately even if Penny wasn't overly concerned about them- in fact, Jaune could have sworn that she had merely acknowledged their existence but had chosen to completely ignore them otherwise.

As Penny escorted him into the elevator Jaune allowed himself to relax just the slightest, most minute amount as the crowd couldn't follow them to the elevator. ' _I… I made it… somehow…'_

The agitated tentacles flowed around him and left few wet smears on the elevator's walls as Jaune breathed in and out in quick succession, using the chance to vent some heat from his nearly boiling insides and raising the temperature of the elevator drastically as steaming-hot air mixed with the fresh air in the elevator. ' _Haa… I… I really need to calm down… Focus on Penny, focus on something, something, something that… calms... '_

Penny hummed happily as the elevator rose up the tower almost painfully slowly- the engineering corps responsible for the repair had apparently reduced the elevator's speed temporarily to further ensure that the aftereffects of the office fire wouldn't end up snapping the elevator's mechanism due to extra stress.

Unfortunately the safety measure did nothing to help Jaune's stress, and when few of the agitated tentacles brushed against Penny's waist, he couldn't keep in control any longer- and the tentacles which had waved and snaked freely in the air flowed at Penny, tying the girl in the appendages and sliding one down the side of her thigh-highs…

And the elevator doors opened with a sharp, clear 'ping'.

And a loud, cracking 'bang' echoed in the headmistress's office, freezing Jaune in place as the elevator's back wall cracked under the firepower of an Atlesian hand cannon.

Jaune looked at the fist-sized, smoking hole in the elevator wall, and turned to looked at General Ironwood of Atlas who looked positively _enraged._

And beside the man, sitting behind the Headmistress's desk, was Glynda Goodwitch who had her face buried in her hands. The situation wasn't helped by how she looked ready to walk up to one of the two new balconies in the office and jump off.

"Mission accomplished! Jaune Arc has been successfully escorted to General Ironwood at twelve-twenty-one!" Penny announced cheerfully while striking a salute, ignoring the tentacles that had crawled all over her. "I am ready to take new missions!"

Jaune flinched as he felt the rage Ironwood directed at him.

One of the tentacles twitched and rubbed against Penny's cheek.

Ironwood's pistol, or rather, his handheld cannon turned few degrees to point directly at Jaune's head and he could both see and feel that Ironwood was seriously contemplating pulling the trigger.

The tentacle creeped away from Penny's cheek without Jaune's input.

"Jaune. Tentacles. Away. From. Penny." Glynda translated for Ironwood as the general seemed to be temporarily unable to formulate sentences. "Explain."

' _Oh… crap.'_

 **Next chapter:**

 **In a week or so.**

 **Note: These chapters are mainly set-up for the future, so they don't have all that much traditional action in them. Likewise the horror elements are slightly more... muted.**

 **Next chapter will focus a bit more on the Heart.**

 **R(ead) &R(eview)**


	49. Innuendo

**AN: Lemons.**

"Jaune. Just who did you think has to deal with your mess?" Glynda asked with clearly exasperated tone, after Jaune had shapeshifted his 'face-mask' off and explained his recent actions the best he could while Glynda held Ironwood back- although Jaune imagined that Ironwood's agitation had more to do with his close proximity to Penny than his recent behaviour regarding and towards a certain Atlesian Specialist. Or regarding his recent parade march through Beacon's grounds while fully transformed to his Grimm Knight-shape.

The temperature of the Headmistress's office in Beacon had risen few degrees on the account that Jaune's body was producing enough heat to cause steam to rise from his back, mostly due to his body going into a confused haywire of trying to shapeshift into something even _more_ inappropriate while Jaune was doing his best to shapeshift back to vaguely human-like shape or stop the shift from even happening.

"I'm sorry." Jaune focused on his voice to keep it as stable and as human-like as he could.

"A Grimm. A Grimm tentacle monster pranced through the grounds, following Penny, and after I informed the janitors, students and teachers to be careful of one." Glynda rubbed her face. "Why is this happening… Arc, couldn't you have picked something, _anything_ else to… display… to the public? Why did you transform in the first place? _What are you doing to my Beacon?!_ "

"Uh- th- there were complications." Jaune stammered. "In my defence, if I could have taken care of them the… problem I have, well, this wouldn't have happened."

"Why did you not do that then?" Glynda's tone could have frozen lava. "What exactly is the reason I have to go and tell the press that we have a domesticated Grimm tentacle monster in our midst, one that was escorted _to my office._ The press must have caught a whiff of what happened. It's all over CCCT's intercity Scroll network and is in the process of spreading further, and if I didn't have my calls set to private I can promise you that my Scroll would be ringing non-stop right now."

"Oh."

"Yes. 'Oh.' is a very good way of describing it." Glynda growled.

Jaune glanced to the side and saw that Ironwood took calm, deliberate breaths while standing beside the woman. Luckily enough the man had holstered his pistol and Penny was standing next to the man with her ever-present, cheerful smile on her freckled face.

"Uh… In my defence, I'd have managed to contain myself if Penny had let me… um, take care of it." Jaune didn't hesitate to throw Penny under the bus as he was slightly miffed by her insistence in meeting with Ironwood, not to mention her 'helpful' actions in the _men's_ restroom stall.

"I refuse to believe that this entire mess was because I sent Penny to request your presence." Ironwood told Jaune with hard voice. "You're using excuses. Out with the actual reason."

"I… well, my Semblance's suffering a malfunction of sorts, and I was in the process of sorting it out, or at least I hope it would have sorted it out, but… well, Penny was really insistent that I meet you, right now, and I couldn't…"

"I was ready to assist with his personal mission!" Penny nodded her agreement cheerfully as Ironwood turned to lift his eyebrow at the girl. "However Jaune refused to allow me to help him with his personal mission, or disclose its contents. Despite that, he was quite astute and noticed that General Ironwood wished to speak about the recent training session involving Specialist Winter Schnee, therefore Jaune changed his shape to the one he used during the training!"

"W-well, that's sort of the case but… uh… there's… kind of more to it…" Jaune sighed in relief as the feeling of lust started to calm down, much to his surprise, and he could start focusing on something other than the fact that Goodwitch was _very_ shapely woman. ' _Huh... odd. It's... getting replaced by almost... sleepy feeling? Did my Semblance fall asleep or something? Can it even do that?'_

He rubbed the back of his neck and flinched as his sharp, beast-like nails scratched the pale skin and drew blood. He brought his hand up and looked at the slowly sizzling black blood before wiping it off on a patch of fur in his armor. ' _Ugh... it will take some time for the lust to die down completely... It's... dammit...'_

Glynda leaned forwards, and Jaune's eyes immediately darted to somewhere inappropriate.

' _Dammit, this really isn't the time… I never noticed that Glynda's tits are that big… no, no… I wonder how good they would feel against my face? No… not like this...'_ Jaune gripped his hand tighter, pushing the claws through his skin. ' _Ugh… the foreign feelings are growing more muted… I need to take care of this now though, there's no saying it won't come back!'_ "I… this is really bad time. I… c-can barely c-contain myself… It's a bit better n-now but… I'm not sure it'll last..."

"Wait, hold on…" Glynda's eyes widened as she seemed to realize that something was wrong- although in retrospect it shouldn't have been hard to spot as his tentacles had began wriggling around once again.

"I… I think I discovered a way t-to c-control Grimm, but… I… really need to… contain this shhhh- sithuation… gnh…" Jaune shivered and his bone-plates clanked under the aftershock of the sudden lack of the foreign lust-filled echo, causing him to feel cold and shaky like a man coming off a drug high.

"What is it? I may be able to help?" Glynda asked with clear concern as Jaune's situation was starting to clearly worry her- which was something Jaune _felt_ more than he saw. "Out with it! Your health- no, your Semblance is clearly unstable, if you know how to remedy it…"

"I.. just… I- c-can feel emotions, like a Grimm…" Jaune half-spoke half-growled while he pulled the tentacles as far back as he could and smashed them against the floor, using the sudden spike of pain to give himself something to focus on. It was only a temporary respite. "T-they affect me… A-angry people m-make me feel anger… f-for instance..."

"Ah." Glynda blinked as she seemed to make a connection. "Like a Grimm. That… actually makes quite bit of sense."

Ironwood made the connection as well- and unholstered his gun. He pointed it at Jaune's head as he looked at the man. "You're feeling the anti-Atlesian negativity that is radiating from Vale, correct? We've had reports of Grimm attacks against the walls of Vale City already. Is the same negativity affecting you as well?"

"N-no… n-not only that..."

"I will warn you now. Attack any of us, and I will put you down, no matter how useful you might be." Ironwood told Jaune with calm, matter-of-fact tone. "I have no use for a rampaging Grimm inside Beacon."

"James!" Glynda reprimanded. "Your encouragement is _not_ helping!"

"It usually works for my troops."

" _Your troops are not Grimm or my students!_ "

"S̵ŢOṔ!̷" Jaune howled, causing the bickering pair to halt their argument before it could start. He didn't need extra conflict to agitate his Semblance, not to mention that the constant shapeshifting had started to cause his ever-present hunger to grow stronger- which made _very_ bad combination with his current, shaky and weakened state of mind. "S-stop… please…"

"I understand… you must be placed back in isolation until the situation calms down." Glynda nodded and picked up her crop. "I'll make the call, get back to the elevator. Penny and I will accompany you down. Ironwood, can you…"

"N-no, that's not… it…" Jaune growled. "A- another… thing… not hate…"

"Then what?" Glynda paused as she had picked up her Scroll. "What is affecting you?"

"L-lust…"

The Scroll fell off her hand.

"Gh…" Jaune struggled back on his feet and shuffled back towards the elevator. "I… need…"

"Oh- wait, hold on! You're not going to get down and attack some student, are you?!" Glynda rose off her chair. "Dammit, I'm not going to have to add a horny tentacle Grimm attack onto today's incident list!"

"Excuse me, does the training observed by Specialist Winter Schnee count as...?" Penny tilted her head in confusion.

"Fine, a _nother_ horny Grimm tentacle monster attack." Glynda corrected herself. "Arc, can you keep yourself in check until we can contain you?"

"I… don't need… that… just need to… toh…" Jaune felt the skin of his face starting to turn black as the veins extended and the flesh of his face shifted and churned until his mask had regrown. He took another shambling step towards the elevator "N͜èed̢... ̕n̡e҉e̷d to...͏"

"Dammit… Penny, James, help me escort Arc down to the Grimm containment cells!" Glynda waved her crop, causing a gust of wind to hit Jaune's chest and push him back. He sunk his claws to the floor to root himself in place, causing long, deep gashes to emerge in the floor as he was pushed back.

' _I just need… some time… alone… Grhh… I don't want to… go back to the… cell… Dammit...'_ Jaune growled as the Glyph-created wind pushed him back to the elevator- and Penny walked daintily into it as well.

"Good thinking, Penny! Take the elevator down, Ironwood and I will take the one next to you- there's no space for all of us in that one. Be careful!" Glynda instructed before the elevator doors closed, allowing Jaune to briefly glimpse Ironwood- and saw that the man's expression promised death and destruction upon Jaune, likely to let him know what would happen if he touched the cheerful Atlesian girl. "Arc! Keep yourself sane for just a while longer!"

He flinched as the doors slammed shut, locking him into the very confined space with Penny who started to hum as soon as the elevator started to descend down. ' _Oh come on…'_

The tentacles were all around the girl before he even realized it, although it looked like Penny couldn't care less about her looming and slithering fate. ' _Oh, no, no, nope, stop!'_

The lack of reaction from Penny helped Jaune focus his mind on his body, and froze the tentacles in place. He slammed his hand on the elevator control, selecting the first floor as he had no intention of getting locked up in the cells again. ' _I just need to get out… go somewhere private, and I can take care of this… ugh… how did this go so wrong?'_

Penny poked the elevator's holographic control panel, causing a screen to appear which displayed a list of floors and re-selected the underground vault which contained the Grimm holding cells- a option that turned invisible when Jaune tried to re-select the floor.

Jaune slammed his hand against the control panel to select the first floor, which housed the tower's exists.

Penny poked the control panel again.

Jaune slammed the control panel again, causing the panel to let sparks as the clawed hand rend the delicate device apart, stopping the elevator completely.

' _Oh… whoops?'_

"Unfortunately it appears that the elevator controls are offline. The elevator has performed emergency stop due to loss of its local controller. Alerting repair team." Penny announced with cheerful voice while ignoring the tentacles coiling around her waist and thigh. She brought her Scroll up and pretended to type on it- something which was fairly obvious considering she didn't open the device. The sight of her calmly pretending to type on her Scroll while gross, veiny tentacles were tying themselves around her body was almost enough to snap whatever restrains Jaune still had, but he forced himself to pull the tentacles off with enough effort to likely burst few veins in his head.

'… _Argh, I need to get out of here… hold on…'_ Jaune glanced behind himself and saw the fist-sized bullet hole in the elevator wall left by Ironwood's pistol. ' _Escape… Hm. I could try to claw the door open and run off to hide somewhere while I take care of this… problem. I just hope my theory works...'_

He stabbed his hands to the center of elevator doors and pried the door open- apparently the destruction of the control panel had released the locks holding the doors, making it easy to just push them apart.

Luckily they had been stuck just slightly below a floor, so Jaune could climb up on the floor that was around waist-high from his perspective, and make his getaway from the elevator before Penny could interfere. ' _Right, where am I?'_

A quick glance showed that he was in a long, curving corridor that likely went around the entire CCCT, with doors on the 'inner' side of the corridor and rows of windows on the other, showing the Beacon's grounds and facilities below. ' _Grh… W-well… I did climb up the side of Beacon's cliffside once, I can do it again…'_

A pair of bone-daggers formed on his hands, and he broke out through the window. ' _Urgh… All this because I just wanted some time alone…'_

...

The elevator Ironwood and Glynda had taken ground to a halt.

"What happened?" Ironwood asked as Glynda took a look at the control panel.

"'Elevator one has suffered a malfunction and has stopped. Elevators two and three are stopped until a repair technician has cleared elevators for operation'" Glynda read aloud. "Hold on- did Arc destroy his elevator?"

"If he's hurt Penny…"

"Yes, I know, do not fill my ears with the list of your cruelties."

"Glynda, you know how…"

"Yes, I know how much you value Penny." Glynda growled. "But I am in no mood to listen to your grumbles, not when I have two or more horny tentacle monsters crawling around in a school full of students, around three quarters of whom are girls. Girls who have just as concerned parents as you, although with less lethal potential."

"Goddammit, how did it come to this…" Ironwood grumbled. "Any news on the elevator?"

"I left my Scroll in my office in the hurry." Glynda sighed as her brief search for the device proved futile. "Can I borrow yours?"

"...I cannot do that. Atlesian military doctrine forces me to deny your request, but I can make a call for you."

"Hardass." Glynda growled. "Fine, call Port and tell him to gather a group of Hunters and arrest Arc before he molests someone."

"...Right." Ironwood pulled his Scroll.

' _Dammit, dammit dammit… I'm not going to have to add this to my resume. Or to Beacon's history. Hell, to Remnant's history.'_ Glynda paced around in the cramped elevator. ' _I can see the headlines already: "First ever domesticated Grimm escapes custody, molests a student." "Grimm tentacles monsters invade Beacon, ten girls pregnant, parents outraged." Dammit…'_

"Glynda, calm down. You're not making things any easier." Ironwood growled as he put his Scroll down and Glynda realized she had spoken her thoughts aloud. "Peter knows. He said he's going to grab someone and take care of the situation."

"Right. Good." Glynda breathed a bit easier. "I… I'm sorry. About the comment regarding Penny."

"You're excused. You're worried about your students, and I can hardly complain as I reacted much the same way when Penny was threatened." Ironwood looked at his Scroll and sighed in relief. "...Penny reports that Arc escaped the elevator. She's unharmed and in pursuit."

"He escaped?"

"Yes. Arc has escaped the elevator and is currently climbing down the side of the Beacon tower like some sort of spider."

"...He does know that the tower has fire exits, yes?" Glynda's voice was dubious. "He's not… climbing down by stabbing something into the front of the tower and crumbing the side we had just rebuilt and repainted?"

"I somehow doubt he has the mental capacity to use stairs, even if he somehow noticed the big, green signs saying 'emergency exit' and arrows pointing to them..." Ironwood commented dryly, causing Glynda to let a small giggle almost against her will.

' _Ah… the stress is really getting to me if a small joke like that is enough to make me laugh…'_ Glynda sighed while she couldn't quite keep the small smirk off her face. The air in the elevator was getting somewhat hot as the elevator's air conditioning had turned off as it had gone offline, and Glynda felt herself starting to blush from the heat. ' _Oh come on… This is starting to resemble one of the scenes in those old, dry romances… It's not like Ironwood is interested in those kinds of things after the incident anyway.'_ "Haah… When I woke up this morning, this was _not_ the way I envisioned that this day would go."  
"How did you think it would go, then?" Ironwood asked while doing something with his Scroll, presumably issuing orders since he had called the repair technician already.

"Lots of paperwork, perhaps a report to the council of Vale about the state of CCCT after repairs, if they insisted anyway… Perhaps I'd also voice some very personal and non-publication ready complaints regarding how Ozpin handled his paperwork…" Glynda sighed. "Did you know he encrypted the headmaster's logbook so that it reads like chocolate cream coffee recipe?"

"No, but knowing him I don't find that… unusual. He always had peculiar tastes." Ironwood sighed. "I never got him interested in Atlesian hot coffee. Every time I tried to invite him to my quarters to share a cup of it, he got quite adamant that he had paperwork to fill or something."

"You tried to invite Ozpin… for a hot cup of coffee... in your bedroom." Glynda felt something odd in her stomach, and before she managed to stop herself she let a sound she hadn't let for who knows how long.

A snort, followed by clear, good-natured laughter.

"What? I installed that piece of equipment to my bedroom as it provides optimal delivery upon waking up, reducing the time it takes to properly wake up and thus makes mornings more efficient…" Ironwood seemed to completely miss the implication and frowned at Glynda whose laughter had started to close hysteria.

"Ahaha… aha…" Glynda leaned against the wall, feeling completely spent from laughing so hard after so long. The heat and the laughter was starting to make her slightly dizzy. "Haa… I think the lack of oxygen is starting to get to me."

"The air has plenty of oxygen. AC being off doesn't mean gravitation-based air equalizing stops working- the possibility of blackouts was considered when the tower was made. It is merely a bit hotter in here than usual." Ironwood acknowledged and frowned as Glynda undid one of the buttons of her high pencil skirt, allowing her breasts some space to move and 'un-pack' from their usual trapped state. She liked to use slightly too small corset to push-compress her 'assets' a bit during the day, since she had learned quickly that otherwise the students would be too distracted to learn anything during her lessons. "It is… somewhat hot, yes."

Glynda felt something jump a bit in her chest as Ironwood's eyes veered just slightly off his Scroll before returning back it with stone-hard determination, albeit she could see just the tiniest blush oh his cheeks.

"Yes, indeed…"

…

"Someone's at the door?"

"Jaune, I guess."

"Right… Can you open it, Blake? Anyway, don't worry too much, Weiss."

"Ruby... The steak is ruined…"

"Uh… Weiss, I mean, how did exactly you set the meat on fire with a knife?"

"I don't know…"

"Ugh… Ruby, can you cheer Weiss while I… Oh- Professor Port? What brings you to the dorms?"

"Miss Belladonna, I fear that I must request your presence. I assure it is for a good cause. The fate of Beacon may very well rest on it!"  
"Um… certainly?"

"Good, let's go. Time is of the essence!"

"W-wait!"

"...Ugh… Listen, Weiss, it isn't that bad. At least you know you can use your Glyphs… well, sort of. I guess?"

"I can't… the meat just combusted when I touched it…"

"R-right… hey, where did Port and Blake go?"

...

' _Crap, crap, crap…'_

Jaune rounded yet another corner, accompanied by screams and shouts. ' _Oh come on… This day is really not going my way…'_

' _Of course I had to slip on my way down and crash on top of the reception hall, and break my fall by crashing through the roof and then falling on top of the crowd that had gathered to stare at my passing- most of whom were girls…'_ He sighed in exasperation. The way his tentacles had grabbed and groped five of the nearest girls before he could stop them _didn't_ make the things easier for him, and after he had bolted away he had noticed he had four of the girls still tied to the appendages and had been dragged along. ' _I hope they are alright…'_

He had stashed the thoroughly shocked girls to a janitor's closet and had squatted down in there while the situation calmed down.

Unfortunately for him, the girls were Hunters-in-training and after they had overcome their initial surprise, they hadn't been too thrilled by the lewd tentacles crawling all over them without a permission. As a result the closet had become _far_ more crowded- and Jaune had been forced out after a small punching and wrestling match that he didn't particularly want to win.

And thus he had been ejected back into the crowd that had followed him. Some of the older Hunters were clearly contemplating just offing him and being done with it, but were held back by the oddity of the situation combined with how Jaune, or as how they saw it, the Grimm kept running _away_ from them while _not_ attacking, which was completely reverse how the Grimm normally operated.

' _I just want some time aloneee…'_ Jaune growled miserably while he rounde another corner and bowled straight to Penny, causing the two of them to come to a stumbling halt while Penny fell over, and the slowdown allowed the followed crowd to catch up. ' _Oh what now…'_

"Salutations again! General Ironwood and Glynda Goodwitch have ordered that I capture you and escort you to the Grimm holding cells on the account that your excessive carnal lust poses a threat to the purity of the female population of Beacon! Glynda Goodwitch, and I quote, 'does not want to meet with the parents of the girls who get molested and/or impregnated by the Grimm tentacle monster!'" Penny struck a salute while lying on her back on the floor. "However since there is no conclusive evidence to support the claim that a Grimm could successfully mate with a female human and produce a viable offspring, her second concern seems to be somewhat irrelevant! Regardless, I have returned to stop your female human-molesting ways!"

Few of the said females let 'eep's from the crowd behind Jaune. What worried him more was that there were few who let 'ooh's.

And as Jaune glanced behind him while hurriedly climbing off Penny, he saw that the Hunters, who likely had bad or very bad memories of encounters with Grimm, weren't all that impressed by the reaction some of the girls had.

And in fact few of the Hunters looked positively enraged.

' _Crap, time to go…'_

"Do not worry, civilians and compatriots! I shall take care of this issue…" Penny's voice grew a bit muted as Jaune climbed off the girl and ran towards the dorms, leaving the girl to absorb the brunt of the crowd. He had no idea what to do once he reached the dorms since the crowd would probably follow him there, but he figured it'd be better than running around the Beacon like headless chicken until one of the Hunters got tired of following him and decided to do something about it.

He spotted light on the end of the tunnel as he saw the dorms in the distance and increased the pace… until he was forced to come to a skidding halt.

Professor Peter Port, a Grimm specialist and slayer of the Black Beasts was standing in his path and blocking his way to the dorms, clad in his full (if dusty) combat regalia and wielding his devastating-looking double-bladed greataxe-musket, which he had strapped to his back. ' _Uh…'_

More importantly, he was holding a sturdy fishing pole. And he had tied a thoroughly annoyed Blake Belladonna as the bait, dangling her few feet above the ground with the pole.

"C'mere, Grimmy, Grimmy, Grimmy! Cheh! Cheh!" Port called to him and bounced Blake with the fishing pole like some sort of cat's extreme role-reversal nightmare. Fortunately for Blake she still had her bow on top of her head so at least a tiny smidgeon of her dignity was intact, at least until the crowd following Jaune catched up to him and saw the 'baiting' in action. "Come, catch!"

"U̶͟u҉̕҉u̴̧͞ưh̕̕h͞.̛."

A vein pulsed in Blake's forehead.

Jaune shuffled awkwardly.

The crowd stared at Port.

Port winked at Jaune in a showy way that even blind person couldn't miss. The slightly overweight man even bit his tongue a bit to underline his point... if he had a point to the scene.

' _Uuuhh… r-right… he's trying to cat-fish me? I feel that there's other meanings to that but… eeeh…'_ Jaune felt somewhat apprehensive as he got the 'point' to the show, even if Port hadn't been winking at him in a way that made few of the female students in the crowd a bit green on the face. ' _He's trying to bait me away from the crowd? Eh- I think I should go along with it...'_

"R̀-̶ ̨rawr͢?" Jaune tried to make his growl sound intimidating. While he normally didn't struggle with it, the spectacle in front of him was making intimidation a bit… difficult.

"That's right! Good Grimm! Now, follow the totally consenting female student, cheh! Cheh!" Port called while bouncing Blake a bit, drawing the crowd's eyes to the girl's breasts which had been somewhat deliberately left un-bound, despite how the thick rope Port had used as fishing string tied the girl's arms against her back. "Come! Come! Cheh- cheh!"

Jaune let a somewhat uncertain growl and followed Port.

So did the crowd, with some of the older Hunters looking clearly like they were on the verge of just smacking Port and dealing with the 'Grimm' using conventional means, likely by applying a bullet to Jaune's cranium.

"Stay back, gentlemen and gentlewomen! We have the situation under control! We are testing a new Grimm 'controlling', or rather, Grimm 'convincing' technique and it is working." Port told the crowd while bouncing Blake in front of Jaune. Jaune made a token attempt at grabbing the girl and Port pulled Blake away a bit, while the she blushed slightly. "Unfortunately our… guest is somewhat shy and requires private space for completing the technique successfully! You have my word no students will be harmed during this exercise! And my assistant is consenting to this as well!"

"Grr…" Blake let a growl, causing the crowd to look at Port somewhat suspiciously. "Fine, whatever… I consent…"

"Port, what the hell is going on in Beacon?" One of the older Hunters asked. Few more added their two cents by nodding alongside the man. "The last I checked, Hunters _hunted_ the Grimm, not… whatever you're doing with that _thing_."

"Please, gentlemen! Where's your sense of adventure?" Port reprimanded. "My, Brownes, I still remember when you slept in my classes, surely now that you've graduated you've come to appreciate my insight? Not every fight is fought with sword in hand, some are fought with axe, some are fought with pencil, some are fought with slippers, some are fought with somewhat out-of-date cucumbers, but the point of it is, every fight is different and must be..."

"Yes, certainly, but… are you… _what_ are you doing?" The man made aggressive motions towards the spectacle and quite few of the crowd nodded their agreement. "What is Beacon doing? The rumors, the explosions, what exactly is going on in here?"

"The truth is… We're developing a mean to create a lasting peace between mankind and Grimm! So far results have been quite positive, although neither we nor the fine people of Remnant are ready to know about them. The incident in Vale during Atlesian and Schnee arms and research demonstration showed to us that the public is not quite ready to see what we are working on, and likewise we're not quite ready to show it either! Rest assured, all this will lead to a bright future for us, even if it may appear confusing right now. After all, can any of you imagine how confused the people of Remnant were, back in the ancient history when Aura was first discovered?" Port announced, turning the crowd completely silent. "Now, allow me to escort our soon-to-be-or-may-even-be ambassador to his quarters and give him his kitten toy. Different cultures, different rules. You've bothered him plenty, you can ask him to sign your shirts later. Ask nicely and I may join too!"

"K-kitten toy?" One student asked somewhat warily from the crowd.

"I must have misspoken! I meant fitting ploy, to bring down those who would stand in the way of peace across Remnant! Now, if I may, ladies and gentlemen…" Port bobbed Blake on the fishing rod. "If your highness would follow me…"

Jaune let a muted growl but followed Port, leaving the thoroughly confused and speechless crowd behind them.

He managed to barely get out of sight before he heard a peppy, cheerful voice calling for him.

And he increased the pace just a little bit before Penny could catch up to him, all the while the Atlesian girl's cheerful chatter about horny tentacle monsters, Glynda Goodwitch, Ironwood and containment cells caused ripples throughout the crowd.

.

..

...

"Right, what happened?" Glynda asked as she adjusted her hair and re-buttoned her skirt while Ironwood re-buttoned his uniform.

Glynda sighed heavily as Ironwood ignored his completely disheveled hair and scratch-marks on his neck in order to focus on the elderly repair technician who unlocked the elevator. And carried a broom, much to her confusion.

Ironwood didn't seem to find the amount of cleaning equipment the repair technician carried odd and powered on. "Report. What is happening?"

"S-Sir, a Grimm creature climbed down the side of Beacon Tower!" The repair technician blushed as he must have noticed the hickeys on the side of Ironwood's neck and the pair's disheveled state. "E-erm… the situation was contained though. The Grimm has been trapped, er, captured? Baited? Fished? Made unavailable until further notice? Something of that sort, er, or so we got told. Sorry. I was uh… watching it unfold, didn't notice your message."

"Trapped?" Ironwood asked but shook his head. "Nevermind, we'll get the full story from the capturer. Thank you for letting us out, soldier."

"Um… I'm a janitor, who's responsible for the elevato…"

"Right, Glynda?"

"Let's go. Oh, and you?"

"What, me? I'm just a simple janitor, and…"

"Speak of this to anyone, and I will make you regret it."

"Y-yes, ma'am…"

.

..

…

Blake let a growl.

Jaune let a small whine.

"'Jaune is in trouble' he says. 'Help me help him' he says." Blake grumbled as she flexed her arms after Jaune had undone the ropes around her.

Port had led them to fourth-year student's dormitory, and had unlocked a single-student room as the housing unit had been the closest to them after they had escaped the crowd, and the professor had told them to just sit tight and not go out until the situation outside calmed down. Port had left the dorm afterwards, presumably to disperse the crowd still standing in the walkway leading to the dormitories and to report his 'success' in unraveling the situation to the Headmistress. "What the hell happened? I just left you in the simulation room, and next there's talk that Grimm are invading Beacon, Port bursts into our dorm and asks for my aid, and before I realize it I'm being used as a bait! A literal bait!"

"Uh…" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "I… guess? I mean, uh, I just wanted some time alone but… Penny happened."

He had tied a towel around his waist as he had undone his transformation- and had no spare clothes since he had left his utility belts into the lockers. He felt somewhat awkward as he sat on a simple chair that had been provided for the room's single studying desk.

"Penny happened." Blake's tone was bland. "Elaborate."

"Well…" Jaune explained the reason for his prancing around the Beacon's grounds to Blake.

At the end of his explanation Blake's expression was completely unreadable, and even Jaune's emotion-sensing was confused. "So to recap… Penny walked in when you were about to 'rub one out', gave you laxatives to help, and insisted on being present while you do it. You couldn't do it because of her being literally in the same restroom stall as you, so you thought to 'transform' your thing away to avoid an incident, and turned into a Knight… and Penny marched you through Beacon like that. And you told that to Glynda Goodwitch and Ironwood, who ordered you captured. Which, considering you were looking like some sort of monster straight out of deviant porn, may have been quite appropriate response."

"Y-yeah."

"And then you escaped, with a crowd following you, and Port 'catfished' you out of it."

"I… guess?"

Blake's expression cracked, and she let a small giggle.

And she flopped down on on her back on the room's single bed to laugh in a way that made Jaune concerned for her mental health, specifically as her pupils had dilated and her face was pale. ' _Uh… I think Blake needs a vacation or something…'_

"So… are you mad at me?" Jaune asked more out of habit than out of concern, as he had fairly good hunch that she wasn't mad at him particularly, but was closing towards madness in more traditional sense.

"No, no… I'm honestly not sure what I think anymore. Perhaps I should just stop thinking altogether." Blake sighed. "I don't think my sanity can hold much longer. Can you not cause an incident for, I don't know, few hours? A day perhaps?"

"Uh… I'll try?" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "So um- how long do you figure we need to stay in here? I'm getting a bit hungry."

"Eh… I'm not sure. The crowd didn't see your 'human' shape, right?" Blake asked. "They saw me though, so we probably should not exit this dorm together… oh. They saw me."

Blake's eyes widened in realization as she seemed to remember that the crowd had seen her being used as bait. "Oh."

"Y- yeah."

"...Well. There goes any chance of having social life outside SABR and RYNN." Blake's tone was bland. "Great. Thanks, Port."

"S-sorry."

"You're not Port, stop apologizing in his behalf." Blake noted offhandedly while burying her face in her hands. "Haa… aha… ahahaha… I need a break… Can I just go hide myself in a closet with my books and not emerge out of it for like, a month or something?"

"I don't think that's…"

"Yeah, I know." Blake muttered. "I just wanted to be a normal Huntress, not... "

Jaune sighed and leaned closer to kiss her temple. "It's all going to be alright. People will forget. Listen, can you call Ruby and ask her to ferry some of my clothes here, and I can go eat something while you sneak out the back entrance?"

"Fine…" Blake sighed and rubbed her eyes. "By the way… you said that the odd lust you were feeling started to disappear while you were in the Headmistress's office?"

"Yeah, it started to gradually lessen. Er, and it was replaced by a slightly sleepy feeling but it doesn't feel all that strong, in comparison anyway." Jaune shrugged. "I'm… pretty much back to normal now."

"So… is our private meeting cancelled?" Blake sounded disappointed- and Jaune felt almost petulant bitterness radiating from her while she held her hands against her face in clear exasperation. "I'll… inform Ruby and Weiss. We had a… nevermind, not relevant anymore."

Jaune sighed.

' _I've been unfair towards Blake, true… I think she actually looked forwards to doing 'it''_ Jaune contemplated his hunger and his situation, and came to a decision. ' _Hm. I think… I should be alright for a while. I managed to absorb most of the transformed flesh back to myself when I shapeshifted back to human form, and I didn't need to regenerate much, not to mention I ate almost my body's weight of stuff during breakfast…'_

' _I can do this…'_ He nodded internally and rose up from his chair, walked to the bed where Blake was grumbling, and leaned over her.

She pulled her hands off her face as she felt him climbing on top of her… and her eyes widened as kissed her on the lips. "Mbh?"

Jaune tied his arm around Blake's waist and pushed her deeper into the bed while continuing the kiss. The girl's amber eyes looked into his, confused and bewildered, and he looked into hers.

Jaune pulled out of the kiss just briefly. "Hmm… it appears that the feeling came back. How unfortunate, right? It looks like we need to take care of it after all…"

"You're joking, right?" Blake seemed uncertain and she placed her hands against his chest. "Listen, uh… Ruby and Weiss, the three of us had a… deal…"

"Blake, I want to do it with you." Jaune confessed as he kissed her cheek, causing the girl to freeze completely and her cat-ears perked up. "We're alone, and Port told us to stay put for the time being…"

"I… well... " Blake blushed, and turned completely crimson as she glanced down and saw that the towel Jaune had used to cover himself had slipped off during the kiss, and she saw that he was naked beneath his waist with his slowly 'inflating' member hanging freely. "Erm… well… you know… um... "

"Yep." Jaune nodded and leaned to kiss Blake again, and her hands shook as she held them against his chest, clearly trying to decide if she should push him off or not. "You know... I'll stop if you push me away, and we can do this some other time…"

"..." Blake's eyes widened and her hands shook even more. Jaune kissed the side of her neck while tying his free arm around her back and pulled her chest against his. "I… w-well… w-we had a deal that... um... mhm… nm… mph..."

The girl's mumbling grew even more unfocused as Jaune pushed his lips against hers once more. She opened her mouth slightly, allowing his tongue to invade it. "Mh! Mh… hm~"

The arms that held him back slowly lost their strength… before they snaked around his back. One of her arms reached for his waist, and the other buried itself into his hair.

' _I guess she doesn't dislike it…'_ Jaune thought, growing bolder from Blake's reactions to his caress and he pushed his body fully against hers… and brushed his member against her thighs.

Blake let a sharp gasp as she no doubt felt the slowly rising meat brushing against her legs. Even more so as she favored thin, form-fitting clothes. Jaune moved onto kissing the side of her neck again, causing Blake to breathe sharply and finally gain courage to voice her objections. "T-that's…no, wait! J-Jaune?"

"Hm? Is something wrong?"

"I.. well… s-sort of… but..."

"Hm." Jaune pulled himself off Blake, or would have pulled himself off her if Blake's legs hadn't suddenly tied themselves around his waist and locked themselves behind his back. He lifted his eyebrow at the girl's contradictory behaviour. "If you want to stop, just tell me. I won't hold it against you."

"Um…" Blake seemed incredibly indecisive and Jaune sighed.

' _She really can't decide… I should probably posphone this for later date, until she makes up her mind…'_ He made a motion to pull away from the bed and the grip Blake's legs had on his waist tightened. ' _Hm?'_

"W-wait! Hold on!" Blake waved her hands at him. "I… s-shouldn't do this, but…"

"Can you let me go if you don't want to do it?" Jaune asked, pointing down at Blake's legs. The girl blushed and her eyes widened to amber saucers as she looked at where Jaune was pointing, and Jaune realized that by tying her legs around his waist she had also started to rub her combat-pants crotch against his shaft.

And he realized that his Semblance's shapeshifting ability must have played its prank on him from the aftereffect of the foreign lust. ' _Oh… I didn't notice since it was 'resting' earlier. I need to take care of that…'_

"Listen, sorry about that. Semblance problems, one moment." Jaune sighed as he looked at his 'meat' which was around the length and thickness of Blake's forearm. "Jeez…"

He tried to pull away again, but once again Blake's legs stopped him. "Um… I'll… I'll help, that's what girlfriends s-should do in s-situations like t-these, yeah?"

"I'm not sure 'containing rampaging Semblances' is in the job description but… mh!" Jaune started sarcastically but had to end prematurely on a gasp as Blake tied her fingers around his shaft. "B-Bla…"

"Hm… like this?" Blake reached to rub him up and down, and was rewarded by the sight of clear pre-cum building up on the tip of his length. "Oh… it seems so…"

"Ah!" Jaune let a moan as their roles were reversed, with him going from dominant to submissive as Blake kept rubbing her clothed crotch against his shaft and stroking his length with her hands at the same time, coating the meat in the self-made seasoning and preparing it for the oven. "B-Blake… I'm…"

"A-am I doing it properly?" Blake asked as she kept her actions despite Jaune's warning, and…

"N- Haa!" Jaune groaned while his back arched into a powerful thrust, pushing the over-grown meat from Blake's hands. A gout of seed _erupted_ from his already over-sensitive member, firing away the white goo like if it had been shot from a pulsating meat cannon loaded full of cum. ' _It… It feels so good… ahh…'_

He felt as his frustrations and pent-up, repressed sexual desires unraveled with the pulsations of his member, and he kept his cramp-like thrusts as he emptied his worries through his shaft. Jaune felt relief so deep that it bordered pain as he let heated, savage and primal groans while _completely_ emptying his swollen balls until he nearly collapsed on his back on the bed in a pleased stupor.

Confused spluttering invaded Jaune's pleasantly warm after-glow, and he looked at Blake with hazy eyes while propping himself up… and saw that Blake was sputtering and coughing while trying to wipe her face.

And he saw that her face, hair and chest were positively _drenched_ in his thick, goo-like ejaculate. ' _Oh… crap.'_

"Uh… S-sorry?" Jaune tried to damage control the situation. Although somehow he felt like Blake didn't even hear him. ' _Hm? Odd, she doesn't… feel mad either.'_

Jaune froze as he realized he had passively activated his Semblance when he had climaxed, and he could feel the emotions waxing from people in the other dorm-rooms around them… and he quickly shunted his ability off before the Shadow's maddening whispers could return. ' _Gah… now's really not the time…'_

"Oh wow…" Blake seemed to be lost for words as she managed to clear her impromptu face-mask off her eyes. "Wow."

"E-erm… I was kind of… pent up?"

"I can see that. No pun intended." Blake sounded speechless as she flicked her hands but the thick strands of the goo kept their hold on her fingers stubbornly. "Ugh… just how pent up were you?"

"V-very…" Jaune stammered as he reached to pick up the towel he had used to cover himself and offered it to Blake. "Erm… sorry."

Blake looked at the towel, at him offering it, and at his completely scarlet face, and snorted in amusement. And coughed as some of the goo on her face entered her nose. And she sneezed on the towel after grabbing it from his outstretched hand.

Jaune felt sweat forming on his back. ' _Uh… I really didn't think this would go… well, like this.'_ "Uh… I'm kind of new to this, didn't mean to…"

"No, no… I should have been prepared for this…" Blake grumbled. "Then again, it's good that this happened 'outside'. I mean, if that had been put _somewhere_ else, I'd have popped like a party balloon or something."

Both of them froze as Jaune processed what Blake said, and Blake's brain realized what she had just said.

"Um…" Jaune blushed.

"Erm…" Blake blushed.

Jaune coughed.

Blake stared at him.

"I-it's up again?" Blake sounded a bit faint as she poked the meat that was once again ready for action, and caused it to twitch- which then caused Blake to dive for cover instinctively. "Erm…"

Jaune's stomach grumbled. ' _R-really, now of all times? I- I did spend some mass just now...'_ "Uh… we- we should probably postpone this until later. I think I need to eat something, and you should probably go and take a shower… well, to scrub 'that' off before it starts to dry on your hair."

"Y-yeah." Blake blushed even harder and her cat-ears twitched slightly while she tapped her fingers together, causing a strand of white goo to form between her fingers. "W-want to go with me? To the shower, I mean."

Jaune let a small whine as Blake's soft words and cute behaviour caused his member to harden to a level where he could probably start a hole drilling business by slamming his hips against a stone wall.

"I… really can't risk it while I'm hungry like this. My Semblance's erratic enough as it is…" Jaune fought for dominance over his baser instincts, and won but only by an inch. "I can't risk it, with all that's happened already."

"Y-yeah." Blake nodded, and her cat-ears drooped slightly to clearly convey that she was disappointed… and that cute act was enough for something to snap in Jaune's head.

"Urgh… Blake, no offense, but I really want to take you right now." Jaune growled as he climbed on top of the girl whose ears practically shot up. "I... "

"Wait, didn't you just say that you needed to eat, and... Hold on! T-that's not going to fit…" Blake stammered as her eyes were wide as saucers, and she let a small 'eep' as Jaune used one arm to pull her chest against his and the other to pull her legs open. "J-Jaune! No!"

"I'm… just going to… rub it a bit…" Jaune mumbled as he trailed kisses against the side of her neck in heated, hungry way that caused the girl to gasp from the intensity.

The way Blake's leg tied itself around his waist again made her vocal objections suspect at best though- quite the contrary in fact as she reached to grasp his member that was sandwiched between their bodies and she began rubbing its head.

"Just… push me away if you don't like it…" Jaune muttered to Blake's cat-ear and kissed it, drawing a breathless mewl from the girl. "I promise to stop..."

Jaune _really_ hoped Blake wouldn't push him away though, as he wasn't sure if he _could_ stop himself as he reached to undo the girl's clothes- and then tear them off, as gently undoing them proved to be too slow.

Blake reacted to the sudden undressing by pushing herself against him, and he looked into her eyes… and saw that her switch had been flipped. And it had been flipped so hard that the switch had likely broken as well as she looked at him with primal hunger in her eyes.

She pushed her waist against his, rubbing the shaft of his member against her still-clothed crotch and now unclothed stomach while he ripped her uniform to shreds and unbound her breasts that jiggled as they were released from their clothy captivity.

He pushed his head between them, kissing and caressing them with feverish intensity while Blake let a pleased moan and hugged his head against her flushed body, all the while Jaune worked on undoing her leggings and pants that were the only thing separating the two.

The cat faunus let a heated moan as Jaune tore the obstructing cloth into shreds, and rubbed his overgrown, pulsating member against her bare, flushed skin. ' _Haa… haa… I… I shouldn't, what if I lose control of the Shadow?'_

Blake had other ideas in mind as she reached to push her hands against his chest and pulled her legs between the two.

Jaune growled instinctively as he was pulled apart from his mate and tried to return back on top of the girl… before Blake crossed her thighs around his member and put the backs of her legs against his chest while lying on her back in the bed.

"Y-you can do it like this, right?" Blake panted out while looking at him. Her amber eyes were practically blazing with lust and he could _feel_ that she was more than ready, but still maintained control over her body. "At least until we get you fed and... you get _that_ to a manageable size?"

Jaune hugged her legs as he realized what she was aiming at- him rubbing his 'frustrations' out using her thighs. He grunted something in response and thrust his hips, rubbing his entire length against her thighs, pulling back, rubbing the underside of the shaft against the skin of her stomach and lips of her womanhood, and thrust himself between her thighs again.

' _Ahh… it feels… so good…'_ Jaune kissed Blake's feet, causing the girl to giggle while he kept thrusting himself between Blake's thighs, with the grotesque inflated member almost reaching her navel with each thrust.

Blake reached to stroke the head of his member as he kept the motion. She began caressing her breasts with the free hand, clearly just to show herself off for him… and the show was enough to set him off again. "B-Blake!"

She recognized the warning and put her hands in front of the tip- just in time to intercept the second gout of his seed that hit her palms like if had shot from a water cannon, splattering the oozing liquid all over her stomach and reflecting the searing hot stuff back to her thighs.

"A- aah!" Jaune groaned as he pushed his hips against the back of the cat faunus's thighs, and Blake tightened the hold her legs had on his shaft while her body arced instinctively from feeling the splash of the hot, thick, sticky fluid covering her body. ' _Ghr… Hrr… I… I really want to just… do it… put it in… but I can't… not right now... '_

He reigned himself in before he could move to the 'next stage', as he didn't want to hurt Blake and she was right- his Semblance had done something to his body, and there was no way Blake's body could accommodate his newly grown member.

"J-Jaune?" Blake's words were muted and Jaune had to blink before he realized that his ears had begun to ring from tinnitus. "Are you alright? Your teeth…"

Jaune felt his mouth with his tongue… and realized that his teeth had become sharp- too sharp for a human. ' _Dammit, I need to… I need to go, eat something… someone… No, definitely something…'_

He sighed, and saw that the air came out as a gout of steam. "I… I need to go and eat. Stuff. Uh… s-sorry about the mess."

"Um… It's alright" Blake reassured as she looked down at her stomach and thighs, both of which were positively bathed in the 'stuff', and she looked at his lower body which was sticky with the goo as well. "...We really need to go take a shower. Should I call Ruby while I'm at it? Have her ferry us a change of clothing?"

"S-sure…" Jaune breathed out. "Ugh… L-let's take separate showers. I… don't think I can hold myself back if we do it together… although I'd like if we did that some other time. You know, for the old time's sake, eh?"

"For old time…? Oh." Blake blushed as she remembered the first time they had gone to the shower at the same time. "I'm never going to hear the end of that, am I?"

"No, you won't, my lady…" Jaune bowed his head jokingly and Blake patted his head… and he shook his head as he realized Blake took her revenge by smearing some of the white goo she had on her hands all over his hair. "Oh, you're _so_ going to get it when I'm full again… "

"Perv." Blake smirked before she crouched her legs and used them to push Jaune off her. She lifted herself up from the bed, giving Jaune a full view of her shapely rear, and she swayed her hips on her way to the bathroom in a way that was clearly intended to display her assets to him.

And she turned around with the associated jiggles as she seemed to remember something, walked back to Jaune, turned around again to pick her Scroll off the floor without bending her knees in a way that made Jaune's breath catch in his throat, and she swayed her way to the bathroom while giving him a smirk over her pale shoulder.

Jaune breathed in relief as the bathroom's door closed and he could relax for a second. ' _Hoo… that was close one…'_

He blinked. ' _Uh… Blake's not going to call for Ruby while I'm like this, is she?'_

"Hey, Ruby! Listen, Jaune and I are in a bit of a pinch, can you run a delivery…"

' _Yeah, she totally is…'_

Jaune looked down at his re-hardened member and breathed out. ' _Well, I might as well fully commit when I'm already gone this far…'_

"Blake?"

"...Yeah and… Hold for a second. Jaune?"

"Can you tell Ruby to bring some food here? A lot, in fact. I think… we might want to stay here for a bit longer. Port's orders and all. Tell Ruby to grab the bag Penny brought as well."

"What do you mea- oh. R-right."

Jaune could practically see Blake's blush before she relayed the words through her Scroll.

' _Here we go then… I'm kind of glad though.'_ He felt strange elation at the thought. ' _Heh… It's actually happening…'_

...

"Port, you did _what._ "

"I resolved the situation. Quite flawlessly, if I might say so myself!"

" _I can literally see you 'fishing' a 'Grimm' with a student!"_

"Glynda, surely it isn't that bad! After all, the cover story was perfect!"

"That story is all over the CCCT news! Plus, news networks all over the world have called no less than three hundred times the past ten minutes, asking what's this about Grimm Ambassadors and can faunus be used to fish and tame Grimm, and whatnot! My Scroll inbox is practically overflowing!"

"Oh, someone recorded that?"

"Approximately fifty students and three Hunters did, and while the Hunters knew better than to share it on social media, the students…"

"Well, my plan _may_ have some holes, but surely the negatives outweigh the positives! After all, no students were molested!"

"Four students reported that they were molested in a janitor's closet by a 'Grimm tentacle monster' before managing to push it out. I hope they meant 'out of the closet'."

"Well, _most_ students weren't molested!"

"Poooorrtt..."

"I shall take my leave, after all, the mission was completed successfully! Ironwood, want to come and grab a cup of something hot and strong?"

"...I would consider this course of action wise. Glynda, please contact me once you have regained your calm."

"Grrrraaaahhhh!"

"Yeah, let us make haste, general."

"GET BACK IN HERE YOU TWO."

.

..

...

"Haa…"

The day had been somewhat shocking for the students of Beacon.

Shocking might be a bit too lenient expression though, as more accurately their word views had been turned upside down and then tossed into the nearest trash bin. "Seriously, domesticated Grimm walking around in broad daylight, horny tentacle monsters locked up in Goodwitch's private sex dungeon or whatever… Come on..."

Scarlet sighed.

She was a fourth-year student in Beacon, graduating the next spring alongside the rest of her team. Luckily her team had managed to stay intact, both sane and alive, albeit few of the students on other teams she had known had never returned from their missions. The memories made her bitter towards the Grimm creatures responsible, and made her quite annoyed at the recent tomfoolery regarding the beasts.

But she couldn't quite ignore the fact that whatever her late Headmaster and new Headmistress were doing _could_ tip the scales, or potentially even remove the conflict in the first place.

' _Hm… What if the Grimm felt like how we feel, despite how we're taught? I've slaughtered Grimm by the hundreds already… if they could feel, how bitter would they be of my actions?'_ Scarlet thought as she stepped into the shower in her room in the fourth-year dormitory and pulled the shower curtain closed. ' _Would I not be a monster to them, as much as they are monsters to me? They attacked us during the Glenn-Vale breach, but then… there was that one Abomination that turned against its allies. Just what happened?'_

Unlike the first and second years, the third and fourth year dormitories had single-person rooms with the same facilities as the shared dorm rooms- it would be more appropriate to call the fourth year dormitory a wide hotel than a dormitory. It gave the students something to strive towards, and also prepared them to move onto their careers after their studies were over- otherwise going from full four-person team to mainly solo or duo operations overnight could cripple the Hunter's efficiency, make them rely on people that were no longer there. And also the single rooms made it easier to live with the casualties one's team might suffer. After all, an empty bed or two would constantly haunt the team in regular dorm, and while wounds and broken bones might heal in mere days due to Aura, psychological scars persisted for far longer.

' _How much death has there been already?'_ Scarlet sighed, letting her dyed red hair flow free in the water. ' _Around one in ten teams lost a member during the first year, after the initiation of course… One in six during second year... I wonder, are the Grimm truly as mindless as we are told? That Grimm-thing earlier, it acted almost… human-like. Docile. Panicked, even, until it was 'baited' away. Or led away, I think the bait was just made to make us think that the situation was under control, the Grimm itself seemed to realize the ridiculousness of the situation and just followed along.'_

' _It acted completely different to the Grimm I've faced.'_ Scarlet shook her head, sending water flying all over the shower curtain. ' _All the ones I've faced have been bloodthirsty, frenzied beasts… but could it be that all we've faced are the 'soldiers' in Grimm? After all, if I were to face myself in combat, if our roles were reversed… would the Hunter not appear like a frenzied beast to the Grimm, moving from kill to kill without batting an eye, weaving a net of blood and gore without hesitation or remorse? Are the Grimm just better at keeping their civilians out of combat, or do they even have those? Maybe their culture is just completely different, alien to us, so peace was never an option as neither side understood one another?'_

' _Could a peace be… a possibility? Even after all this time? All these years, all these deaths?'_ Scarlet sighed to herself while rinsing her hair. ' _Haa… thinking in shower always makes me philosophical. There's not much I can do either way- the Headmistress is keeping her hand well concealed... As she should, since there will be countless people who would not accept peace with the Grimm even if it was offered to them. The scars run too deep.'_

' _I wonder, should I try to approach that Schnee girl… Weiss? I heard she's just a first-year but she's already accomplishing so much… Or was it her sister? I heard she had a big sister.'_ Scarlet paused to squint her eyes in concentration, trying to remember the alleged Grimm-controller's name while applying conditioner to her hair. ' _Either way, I wonder if she needs help with the research? It's not that I'm the greatest mind of the generation, but I'm going to be a graduated Hunter soon, there has to be something I can help her with. I bet this is somehow related to that Grimm research-thing that was all the rage last month. I heard the Schnee girl tried to showcase her research to public, but a terrorist attack cut it off halfway. Figures some people can't accept peace even if it is pushed against their faces.'_

She sighed heavily while leaning her head against the tiled bathroom wall. She let the water just flow down her back while the wet conditioner worked its magic. ' _Dammit… What exactly is going on in Vale, in Remnant even? It feels like everything's turning on its head. I've heard that there are cults forming in the remote villages, claiming that the end times are coming, and that we need to repent for our sins by becoming as one and unite together. Not that I'm against unity against a common threat, but I... somehow don't think that's what the cults are aiming at. Somehow I feel that they're talking about more… literal interpretation of the word.'_

The water was turned to a slightly hotter setting as she got shivers thinking about the villages. She knew that most of the Vale's villages were peaceful, sleepy towns that felt incredibly disconnected from the world if not for the walls and gun-towers built around them- and they had to be peaceful, as it wouldn't take much strife to be cut off and overwhelmed by the Grimm when they were so far from Vale or other large military outposts. However there were few outliner towns, who took it to the other end of the spectrum and were, to be blunt, _incredibly_ creepy.

' _Ugh, I really don't want to run into a cult in that lumber-producing town at the heart of the eastern forest, Mistshade or whatever it was.'_ Scarlet rubbed her eyes tiredly as the memory of her team being sent there popped up.' _Damn shady place, you'd think they'd have taken the people who were hanged there during the Great War off the trees, but noooo, the dessicated corpses hanging off the trees 'give the town charisma, gives the people character, remind us what Mistral did to us and what Grimm will do to us if we lapse our guard…' Creepy weirdos, like half of them worshipped wolf deities and whatnot… Not to mention that Hunter who had set up shop there took liking to me, I really shouldn't have given my work-Scroll number to him… he's started sending me messages about some god he found or whatnot. Probably while doing drugs.'_

"Ugh…" Scarlet slapped her cheeks lightly, splashing water around. "Stop thinking about that, me… something else, hm… right." ' _Still, that tentacle Grimm. Am I just being odd or did it act really human-like? I mean, it walked hand-in-hand with that Atlesian girl like some sort of lovers. Were they in a relationship or something? But then the Grimm grabbed those girls and ran with them after it fell from the tower. They were okay though, I heard it had just taken them to a janitor's closet and tried to fondle them. What was it doing in the tower anyway? Why did it fell off? Was is escaping?'_

Something let a small thunk in the bathroom and Scarlet sighed. ' _Oh come on, the new shower accessory rack keeps falling. I shouldn't have skimmed on buying a screwdriver, wall screws and silicon... Super-glue is crap for bathroom renovation…'_

She sighed and pulled the shower curtain aside… and froze.

A slick, black tentacle was poking out of the bathroom's second drain like some sort of retarded sewer-snake with extra suspicious-looking head and red, Grimm-like markings all over its 'back'.

Scarlet blinked and stared at the thing.

She had a feeling the thing was staring back at her, despite not having eyes.

' _Oh come on. The tentacle monsters in the sewers were real?'_ Scarlet let a huff and lifted her hands. "Well? Come on. Come get some!"

The tentacle flinched like if it got hit by some invisible force, and she used the chance to charge and kick the creature in its middle section. The force of the kick pulled the rest of the creature out of the sewer, and flung it at the opposite side of the bathroom where it slammed against the wall with a wet squelch, before flopping down on the tiled floor.

The creature seemed to get incredibly disoriented by the hit and wobbled one of its heads, making Scarlet somewhat confused as the thing's both ends were identical- except one looked more battle-worn than the other, which seemed to be brand new like it had healed _all_ of its skin recently.

The creature seemed to share her confusion.

' _Bah, I have time to think after I kill that thing.'_ She blinked. ' _Wait... '_

' _Am I not acting just like how a Grimm would act upon seeing a human? It hadn't even attacked me yet.'_ Scarlet paused to think while keeping her guard up. ' _The Schnee's have done something with the Grimm that walked the Beacon's grounds, and Goodwitch announced that one of the tentacle Grimm had… escaped, and we should be on our guard. But she didn't exactly tell what we should do when, if, we encounter one.'_

Her hands started to sweat as she thought about it. ' _Is that one of the… pacifist Grimm? Like the other one? Port called it a 'Grimm ambassador' or something. Did I just cause a diplomatic incident? Then again, it sneaked into my shower so my attack could be justified, but how well is that explanation going to hold in the court? Did I just become a war criminal?'_

Her fists shook out of uncertainty. The shaking grew intensified as the tentacle just bobbed its 'head' up and down like if it was trying to tell her to stop and spare its life- and the creature's whole body shook like if it was afraid. Or so she interpreted it- she wasn't too well studied in how Grimm communicated with humans, and she had a feeling no-one in Remnant was, with the possible exception of Weiss Schnee. ' _Uh… I… don't think that it's… he's… she's… whatever it is, is hostile. 'The Grimm attack mindlessly, without care about their safety or their lives', so since it is just sitting there… Yeah, I totally caused a diplomatic incident. Possibly violated some ceasefire between Grimm and humans. Crap. Crap. Craaaappp…'_

"S-sorry?" She offered carefully while lowering her hands slowly, keeping an eye out for how the creature reacted. It didn't seem to be too concerned and instead became a bit more interested in… "Hey! Hold on, those are my clothes!"

Scarlet hesitated for a while before dashing forwards to pull her panties out from the creature's reach… and stepped on the soap bottle that had fallen off the shower rack, which slipped under her weight. ' _Oh, great, the rack did come off after all…'_

The back of her head hit the floor with a solid 'thunk'.

' _Oww…'_ Scarlet shook her head as stars danced in her eyes. ' _Ouch... If I didn't have Aura, I bet I'd have cracked my skull or something… Wait, the tentacle!'_

She lifted her back off the floor with her forearms so she could take a look at what the creature was doing while trying to keep her movements as calm and muted as possible… and saw that the tentacle was closing towards her almost lazily. "Wait! Wait, wait…"

Scarlet kicked herself away from the creature and slid herself on the tiled floor. ' _Dammit, is it hostile or not? What… ugh, what would Weiss Schnee do in this situation? Yeah, that doesn't help, I barely even know her name, and for all I know she hops on it and deepthroats it or something. Does that thing even understand words?'_

"H-hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kick you?" She told the creature while keeping herself as calm as he could while her back hit the bathroom wall. The creature seemed to be almost docile though, just idly slithering around the room like some sort of indecisive puppy. A long, suspicious and probably deadly puppy. ' _Huh, odd... Ugh, it stinks though. How long has it been in the sewers?'_

Scarlet covered her nose with one hand and used the other to help herself get up slowly, and grabbed the showerhead as soon as she was up. She reinforced its structure with Aura instinctively, turning the flimsy device into a sturdy club while slowly aiming it at the creature, causing water to pour over it. It seemed to like the sensation. ' _Huh… This is really odd. Does it want to take a bath or something? I mean, if we swapped places then I'd like to scrub myself for better part of the week… It had to swim through the sewers, for some reason. Ugh, even the thought is making me feel filthy… Right… Well, if I broke some sort of ceasefire by kicking it, I need to make up for it somehow. Just in case.'_

She reached for the shower soaps slowly and carefully while keeping the showerhead aimed at the 'Grimm'. As the creature didn't seem to react aggressively (or at all), she poured some soap on top of the tentacle. For some reason the tentacle seemed to be about as nervous or rather, as careful as she was since it was almost _too_ still. ' _Is it sensing what I'm doing? Can it even do that? W-well… here we go… '_

Scarlet kept her guard up just in case, but closed her hand slowly towards the tentacle… and managed to touch it. ' _Hm, it's pretty hot. And stinks, ugh… Well, at least it hasn't attempted to eat me or attack, which I guess means that it is somehow related to the Schnee's research. I guess I should just wash it up and then… return it to her? Call Goodwitch and have her take it away? Eh, I'll have to figure that out later.'_

She kept rubbing the back of the tentacle and kneeled down in front of it. "Do you… like bathing? Can you understand me?"

The creature didn't react other than to coil around her hand like some sort of scaleless snake with a very suspicious-looking heads. ' _I guess that's yes? Well… I better scrub it up good then. I wonder if I'm going to get a bonus or something for my salary when I return it? Eh, maybe, maybe not. Either way, it'll reflect better on me if I return it when it's sparky clean instead of smelling like it had, and did, swim through the sewers.'_

She had started to hum before she even noticed as she started to rub and clean the creature. ' _Ugh… I always wanted to have a pet. I'm pretty sure that tentacle Grimm don't count as pets, and I'm not particularly good at taking care of pets so I couldn't really subject a live animal to my 'care,' well, after what happened to dad's cat anyway. The poor thing's ribs probably never healed after that hug.'_

The cleaning was oddly cathartic and the 'Grimm' creature was completely docile throughout the act. ' _Eh, I think I could grow used to this. I'm not even sure it's the same race as those bloodthirsty, frenzied Grimm I fought during my missions. I wonder if it's some sort of Grimm subspecies? A peaceful one, perhaps a 'civilian' or a worker-Grimm? Outlandish, unlikely, but It would fit my earlier theory.'_

' _The thing's pretty smooth to touch and feels pretty nice though, well, if I ignore that… uh… head.'_ She had no idea why the heads of the creature appeared vaguely like phalluses, but she figured that she probably shouldn't ask or think about it any further than she already had. ' _Actually, if I think about it, didn't that Grimm ambassador-whatever-it-was's tentacles also appear like uh… male parts? Of horse variety, if my memory serves? Could it be that it dropped a tentacle somehow and it wriggled away, and landed here?'_

Scarlet blushed a bit while she stroked the tentacle and her grip changed a bit as she continued her line of thoughts against her better judgement. ' _Uh… if these really are tentacles… I read that octopuses tend to tear their own tentacles off and throw them at threats, and since the tentacle has like, one eight of its brain, the tentacle can wriggle away and act independently to a degree… and the octopus can mate by tearing off their… reproductive tentacle… and throwing it at a female… yeah, I really should stop this line of thoughts.'_

However she had gone too far to go back, and she looked down at the tentacle she had on her hands and was currently lazily coiling around her arm. ' _Wait, so that means, combined with the appearance… is this the Grimm Ambassador's… penis?'_

Scarlet's face turned as red as her namesake. ' _Y-yeah, right, I'll have to just… return this to Glynda. No questions asked. Makes me kind of wonder why it got torn off and why it escaped… H-hya?'_

She paused her thoughts as the sparkly-clean tentacle tied itself around her waist while she had been thinking her less-than-presentable thoughts. "Wait, wait hold on… H-hya!"

The tentacle didn't seem to hear or care as it tied itself around her waist and thigh, causing Scarlet to topple over on the bathroom floor and the shower head fell off her hands. She lifted her free leg to kick at the Grimm, but paused as she realized what she was doing. ' _Crap, I was about to attack the… whatever that is, again. Because it moved a bit. Jeez, I need to chill out. If it was hostile we'd have tried to kill each other a long time ago.'_

She paused to breath out and calm herself while her cheeks were bright red. ' _It seems friendly enough. Granted, the bar isn't high as far as Grimm go, but… hya!'_

Scarlet looked down with wide eyes and saw that the tentacle's 'body' had tied itself almost completely around her waist and thighs, except for its 'old' end that was resting between her breasts and the 'new' end's head rested… between her legs. ' _Oh.'_

"H-hey? W-what are you doing?" Scarlet stammered. "Wait, wait, wait, hold on!"

' _Oh… Come to think of it, didn't that ginger-haired Atlesian girl talk something about… Uh, about the tentacles being a threat to the purity of female population of Beacon? Something about... Horny Grimm impregnating girls with tentacles, but then told that Grimm couldn't actually do it because of incompatibility or something? Is this… that kind of thing?'_

' _Wait, wait… I think I got it. Don't tell me, is this Glynda's private-use tentacle 'monster'?'_ She blushed at the thought. It seemed that the tentacle took it as consent as it began rubbing itself against her body and sliding up and down her thigh, causing her to let a small gasp. ' _Oh… wow. It totally is one of those things. Can it read thoughts, or emotions like normal Grimm? I just thought about sex and stuff, and it started to do it… So if I calm down...'_

Scarlet breathed out and did her best to calm herself, becoming motionless, and the tentacle calmed down as well. ' _Oh you got to be joking. Glynda took the Schnee research and… used it to create a emotion-controlled Grimm sex toy, which escaped her sex-dungeon. Come to think of it, so did that 'parent' Grimm tentacle monster- From which this specimen was probably 'harvested'.'_

' _I think my respect for Glynda just took a nosedive and splattered against the floor.'_ She shook her head and reached to pet the 'Grimm' tentacle. "Right, I need to get up, little fella, can you slither off?"

The tentacle responded by tying itself around Scarlet's hand and its 'new' head positioned itself directly _against_ her lower body. Her legs closed instantly, squeezing the tentacle between her thighs.

Cold sweat formed on the back of her neck as she held onto the slightly squirming appendage with her legs. ' _Uh… Yeah. It is already moving onto 'phase two'. Crap. S-should I just kick it off or… No. While it probably isn't some sort of person of interest like I first thought, but Glynda likely won't appreciate someone manhandling her living sex toy.'_

A new thought entered her head, and she wasn't exactly sure what to think about it. ' _Eeeh… Come to think of it, I wonder, could I test it out? Just to see if it still works? I cleaned it and everything...'_

The tentacle seemed to go wild as she thought about it, sliding against her skin and rubbing against her stomach and waist. Scarlet let a small hum as she focused on tranquility, on feelings of static, of cold… and the tentacle calmed down again. ' _Yeah, theory holds, and my Aura is pretty much full, except for that hit when I slipped. So I should be safe to just… hm…'_

She opened her legs just slightly, allowing the thoroughly squeezed tentacle to move a bit more freely. The tentacle's undulating movements continued around her body, and started to move to her waist and thighs.

Scarlet reached for the showerhead and put it on its waist-high holder so it wouldn't keep spraying water all over the bathroom, and turned the head towards her. ' _Hmm… it feels kind of nice… I wonder, if I added some soap…'_

Scarlet poured some soap on herself, and true to her theory the appendages movements began spreading it, turning the fondling and rubbing into some sort of perverted cleaning play. ' _Hm… so this is how our Headmistress bathes, eh? How… exotic.'_

She had to bite her lip to keep herself from letting a pleased moan over the smooth, slick movements of the appendage over her skin. She added a bit more soap as the water kept washing it away and just enjoyed the feeling that was starting to gradually feel more natural and less creepy.

' _I could get used to this. I wonder if Glynda sells spare ones? Do these things have expiration date? Are these going to be publicly sold soon? '_ Scarlet lifted her hand and watched lazily as the tentacle coiled around her hand, sliding between her forefinger and thumb, before sliding back down to her chest. ' _Hmm… I could buy few of these… like, three or four...'_

Something pushed against her lower body, and due to her relaxed state Scarlet barely noticed it... before she twitched and kicked her legs as she realized that the blunt, suspicious head of the tentacle was pushing against her butt.

And she felt as the creature entered it without further warning, causing her back to arc upwards as she hesitated between going back to combat-mode and pulling it out, or… going with the flow, as she didn't particularly dislike the feeling. The tentacle likely felt her hesitation and froze, causing Scarlet's courage to rise. ' _R-right, Glynda must have domesticated it somehow. That must be the reason it reacts to emotions, right? A safeguard of sorts?'_

Boldened, she relaxed her body once more and the tentacle continued its undulating movement while its head invaded her body deeper… and the other head of the thing placed itself against her lower body as well. ' _Hmm? That's my… mmh… yeah… that feels… nice… eh, at this point, why not...'_

Scarlet let a pleased sigh as the 'new' head of the tentacle entered her womanhood as she reached to open the lips a little, allowing it entry. The tentacle 'rewarded' her by continuing its soft, pleasant motions. ' _Heh, a deep 'scrubbing', eh? I can live with this… nh… mh… It's almost better than a real man… well… maybe if there were few more, so some could work a bit higher while that one gets busy down there… ah… yeah, just like that…'_

Her back arched slightly and she had to bite her finger as the tentacle's 'new' head pushed against her deepest spots, caressing the entrance of her womb… and slipping into it. ' _OH- mh! A-aha…. t-that feels… Hn! Haa- hn!'_

Scarlet's legs spasmed as she came, allowing her juices coat the tentacle going into her lower body and make it far more slippery than before. The creature felt her feelings, and went positively _wild_ on her body. "Haa! Ah! Ahn!"

She couldn't keep her voice down anymore as she squirmed and spasmed under the creature's caress and she held to her stomach as she felt the 'old' head of the tentacle invading _deep_ into her bowels. And at the same time, logically, the tentacle's 'length' around her body decreased as more and more of it disappeared _inside_ her body. ' _Nh… J- just how d-deep does it want to go? How perverted did Glynda make this thing? Not that I'm c-comhph… ahn… complaining… H-haa! Nh! I… I c-canth w-wait for… Nh… Aaah! Hn… for t-these to b-become publicly s-sold… I'm going toh… ooh… going to buy a bunch… I… hope Glynda- aaah! I… hope she has a spare… c-cause I'm keeping th-this one...'_

The creature's head and body filled her womb completely, bulging her stomach slightly while the rest of the creature disappeared into her 'rear entrance'.

Scarlet's eyes became unfocused as she came one last time in a massive, spasming gush of an orgasm, which was accompanied by a equally spasming twitch from the creature that churned her insides.

She intensified the orgasm by fondling her breasts with one hand and feeling her womanhood with the other, and she felt as the hot, pulsating creature filled her entirely.

Scarlet brought her hand up from her womanhood, confused, as she felt something gooey squeezing out of her as the tentacle continued to pulsate in her womb… and saw thick, strong strands of white goo on her fingers. ' _Oh… the tentacle came in me...'_

The tentacle pulsed one more time before it completely disappeared into Scarlet's body, with only the thick, veiny part of it going from her womanhood to her rear entry being visible to outside view.

Scarlet's body arced as her stomach grew like if she had suddenly gone three months into pregnancy, and her eyes rolled back on her head while her tongue lolled out of her mouth against her will. ' _O- oh… it's… breeding… wh- with me…'_

' _C-crap…_ _This is... bad… I… m-made a mistake...'_

Scarlet's thoughts halted, and her vision went completely black as she lost her consciousness in her private shower- with the Grimm tentacle embedded deep in her body.

* * *

Salem stretched her arms as she walked out of her study to the dining hall, accompanied by her small retinue of servants who dedicated their lives to taking care of her hair (and were working on her hair-sculpt while she walked). "Ah… that was fun. I wonder if my little… scheme has born fruit already?"

She sat on her seat in the table and brought her Scroll up while the servants placed a breakfast, this time themed to Menagerie's cuisine, in front of her.

Few flicks of her fingers brought forth the world news…

And Salem's lips twisted to a mad smirk.

The maids and butlers who served her food shook like leaves as the Queen of the Grimm once again cackled like a madwoman.

.

 **AN: Less lemon in the following chapters. Season of lemonade is coming to a close, for now at least. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint.**

 **Next ch: In two weeks ish.**


	50. Atlesian Diplomacy

**AN: Lewd.**

"Hmm…"

"Ah… mh… a bit… lower if you c-oh, just like that… and slightly to the side- hnn~"

"Mhm~"

Jaune relaxed his hips, and Blake relaxed hers as well.

Port had escorted the two of them into the room within Beacon's fourth-year dorm, with orders to stay inside until the ruckus outside had died down. The way Jaune had pranced around the Beacon's grounds in his Knight form with 'alternate' tentacles flinging about had apparently caused quite the stir amongst the Hunters in Beacon and the people of Vale.

Blake had inspected her clothes and had come to a conclusion that they were not only beyond repair, but also stained so deeply that she didn't even want to bother trying to clean them after she had 'squeezed' the sexual tension out of Jaune and the squeezing had left her clothes and hair covered in Jaune's sticky white stuff.

The room Jaune and Blake were staying in wasn't overly furbished or luxurious on account that fourth-years were likely expected to bring their own personal decorations, but the room had a standard hotel-like room essentials- a bed, basic sets of bedsheets with Beacon's logo, a desk, chairs, etcetera. All in all, it wasn't particularly romantic place, but as far as the two of them were concerned, it was cozy enough.

And more importantly, it was discreet enough. Which was something both Jaune and Blake appreciated, considering that both of them were naked as Jaune had left his clothes in Beacon's simulation room lockers, and Blake had just tossed her ruined and seed-stained clothes to the showers trash bin.

Naturally, the blushing that followed her actions had been quite the sight to see, as Blake and Jaune had started to inspect their new temporary shelter and semi-voluntary confinement The two of them had run out of things to do almost immediately after taking their showers and they had just sat down on the bed… and before either of them realized it, the sitting had turned to kissing, and then to petting, fondling, caressing and exploring each other's bodies. However as Jaune had started to once again reach the edge of his self-control, Blake had reacted swiftly and had turned the situation around. Quite literally, as she had displayed cat-like acrobatics by flipping around on the bed and snatching his head between her thighs.

And after Jaune had been flopped on his back on the bed, Blake had positioned herself so that her crotch was directly on his mouth and she started to fondle and lick his shaft.

Jaune had realized what she was aiming at- to use the foreplay to quench his 'thirst', while she was working on his lower body. Blake had then carefully avoided over-stimulating him which would to push him over the edge again.

Due to his 'meat' being still overgrown from his Semblance-malfunction, Blake had only licked it and stroked it with her hands- she had learned from the first time she had been hit directly by his 'artillery', and took great care to not let it point at her face or mouth in case it went off point-blank.

"How long do you think it'll take for Ruby to… mh... gather the food and bring it here?" Jaune asked as the two of them continued to explore each other's bodies.

Blake shrugged and kept licking and fondling his manhood. Jaune nodded slightly before continuing to kiss the girl's thighs and lick her womanhood while hugging her waist.

"Hm… by the way, I didn't really get to tell you this earlier, but Ruby, Weiss and I had a deal." Blake hummed against his shaft, causing pleasant vibration in the meat through her voice. "We… planned to do this. You know, _this_ , but with all three of us present."

"Oh…" Jaune was somewhat speechless, both from the physical aspect of the act and from Blake's words. "W-wait, together? Like, all at once?"

"Yeah… it was Weiss's idea, if you can believe that." Blake mumbled as she reached to kiss the tip of his shaft from the side. "I think she… mhh… uh, I think Weiss has some plan in her head, and I'm not sure if it's a good one. Like, not something that'll make us stronger, or that sort of plan."

"Oh?" Jaune mumbled back as he licked the insides of Blake's womanhood, using his tongue to invade deep into her chasm and lick the almost pink flesh inside. The caress caused Blake's legs to twitch and she squeezed her thighs around his head- which was something Jaune was more than okay with. "Anything more specific?"

"Yeah… ah… J-just… look out for foul play. I mean, I think Weiss hasn't really… mh! 'internalized' the whole deal we have going on… haa..." Blake mumbled as she breathed heavily and her twitching and spasming became stronger as Jaune dined on her nectars and sampled the insides of her tight, unplundered cavern with his tongue. "J-Jaune, I'm really… c-close… k-keep going…"

Jaune did as he was told, and reached to lick and slurp the girl's offering while she was panting heavily against his shaft and was squeezing his head with her thighs. He slid one of his hands up from her waist caress her butt, and started to rub it… before he pushed his thumb between her buttcheeks and rubbed her 'exit'. And as Blake let a meow-like moan he pushed his thumb inside it.

The touch caused the cat-girl to let a loud meow that turned into a gasping mewl as the 'shock and awe' strategy pushed her past her limit, _flooding_ Jaune's face with her nectars and causing her to spasm against his chest in climax… before slumping down on his body to recover from her gushing orgasm. "A-ah! Ahh…. Mh… haa~"

"Hm. You're pretty tasty." Jaune commented as he licked the girl's womanhood, earning him a protesting flick against his shaft. ' _Eugh, it's more like slightly over-ripe fish, but I doubt Blake would like to know that… or maybe she would, she likes tuna after all...'_

Blake let a half-groan half-meow as he grabbed her waist and flopped her on her back to the bed, turned himself around, and crawled on top of her so he could kiss her on the lips. The girl realized what he was about to do and tried to pat his chest to stop him, but she didn't seem to mind _too_ much as he kissed her while his chin was still positively dripping with her juices.

"Mh… You're mean. And a liar, that wasn't tasty..." Blake protested and Jaune 'apologized' by starting to pet and kiss her cat-ears, causing the girl's protests to turn into mewls and moans of pleasure.

Jaune stopped as he felt someone approaching the dorm-room, and shunted his Semblance again as he realized that it was trying to activate itself passively. "Someone's coming?"

"Mh… perv."

"No, I mean, like people." Jaune looked towards the dorm-room door and almost immediately someone knocked on it from the other side. He pulled his hands off Blake's cat-ears, earning him a protesting huff from the girl. "That must be Ruby- or Port. I hope it's the former."

"Uh… Yeah." Blake blinked as she came off her sensory high after getting her faunus parts fondled. She pulled the blanket from under Jaune and wrapped it around her body to cover herself before nudging Jaune forwards. "Open it, if someone recognizes me in here, with you, when I was 'sacrificed' to the 'tentacle monster' mere moments ago, then it won't be hard to connect two and two. We don't want press squatting outside the door or something."

"R-right." Jaune nodded as he waddled very carefully to the door. He opened it slowly after checking who the knocker was through the door's peephole. "Hi, Ruby."

"Hi…" Ruby waved her hand at him, which seemed a bit redundant considering that she was only few inches away from him as she had been looking at the other side of the door's peephole. "I brought… Jaune, are you naked?!"

"Uh… I have a reason?" Jaune noted as Ruby blushed. He had hid his lower body behind the door and only opened it partially to keep Blake hidden, but he wasn't able to hide his naked upper body.

As the result of the nudity Jaune and Ruby would have started one of their usual stammering and blushing word exchanges that could only be called 'a conversation' on the direst of circumstances- But before they could begin, a arctic voice interrupted them.

"What. Are. You. Doing." Weiss growled behind Ruby, causing Jaune flinch as he looked at Weiss's face. The white-haired girl was not impressed by his lack of clothing and she practically radiated disgust at him from her single blue eye- with her new Grimm-like eye was hidden behind a white eyepatch she had tied over it.

And Jaune felt as his blush deepened.

' _Uh… I can't let her know…'_ Jaune tried to hide the way he got turned on by the way Weiss looked at him- as if he was some sort of bug to be stepped on and squashed. ' _Ugh… It's the same expression Winter had just before that tentacle went in her… uh, next line of thoughts, Jaune… Right, didn't Blake tell me that Weiss had proposed… erm, that all of us do 'it' at the same time? No, wait, that thought probably isn't helping...'_

"So uh… you brought the food?" Jaune tried to break the ice as Ruby was essentially suffering a core lockdown as she shook on the spot, and Weiss was practically radiating disgust- which he could feel even without using his Semblance. "Erm… and Penny's bag? Actually, well, come in- no reason to gossip in the doorway. Just… um, listen, Blake and I sort of started...early."

"Eh? Early?" Ruby latched onto the conversation to keep herself from thinking about Jaune's naked state, but it didn't seem to impress Weiss who just huffed and kept glaring at him. "Early, what, where?"

"Well…" Jaune blushed and decided to just let the two girls see it for themselves. He stepped behind the door and opened it properly.

Ruby and Weiss walked into the room… and the food bags fell off their hands as they saw Blake on the bed, covering her clearly naked body with a blanket. "B-Blake?"

"Um… hi." Blake blushed.

Jaune closed the door behind the two girls, causing both of them to jump a bit, likely because Jaune locked the door as well.

"Wa- wait, what are you two doing? Did you just lock us in?" Weiss's tone was high-pitched as she looked between Blake, Jaune, and Jaune's lower body "P-put that gross thing away!"

"Erm… w-well, Blake and I had an idea, since we were going to do this at some point soon, and since she told me that you three had decided to um… do this at the same time…" Jaune stammered as Ruby had spotted his 'upgraded' member and stared at his lower body unblinkingly while she was building her blush like a tea pan builds steam. "S-so, since Port unlocked this dormroom and it's kind of cozy and private, we figured this might be a good spot for it?"

"So- wait, WHAT?" Weiss's question ended with a shriek, and Ruby instinctively hugged Weiss to calm her down. "You're saying you want to do us… n… nyes. Yes. Sure."

"Well, I mean… what?" Jaune blinked at Weiss's sudden change of mind, which seemed to come straight out of left field without warning like a lumber truck in a hiking trail intersection. "What?"

Blake and Ruby seemed to be as confused as Jaune was, and the trio stared at Weiss who blushed. "I- I mean, we planned for this, right? Might as well get it over with."

"You're acting _really_ suspiciously." Blake's eyes narrowed at Weiss and the white-haired girl merely huffed.

"You're overthinking things." Weiss shrugged and threw her hair back. "Now, I propose Blake goes first, since she's clearly already prepared herself for it."

"..." Blake blinked in confusion while narrowing her eyes, which unfortunately caused her eyelashes to poke at her eyeballs and she paused to rub her face. "...Fine, whatever."

"Um… so, I'll just take these if you don't mind and… well, go eat in the bathroom or something…" Jaune reached for the bags of food, but Weiss slapped his hand away.

"We haven't eaten either. There's desk over there, help me move it next to the bed so we can eat together. And put something on to cover your... junk. The sight of that is making me nauseous." Weiss took one of the bags and pulled a set of one-use utensils and paper plates. "We managed to cook and prepare _most_ of the food, and we added some pre-cooked and raw meat in case you needed more."

"Ah… thanks." Jaune nodded gratefully.

"We know how volatile your Semblance is, and contrary to _Atlas_ , I'm making sure you don't run wild and kill or molest someone because your ability malfunctioned." Weiss pointed at the studying desk. "Desk. Up. Lift."

"Yes, ma'am." Jaune did as he was told while Ruby started to pull packages from the bags.

"Blake. Assist. Jaune." Weiss growled at the cat-girl, causing her to let a small 'meep' like a kitten caught mid misdeed, and Blake stalked out of the bed to help Jaune. "Gah… you're completely naked as well- wait, what's that on your chin? Were you two really just humping it out before we came here?"

"Um… sort of. But not really." Blake blushed as she and Jaune moved the furniture, all the while both were blushing from head to toe thanks to their naked state. "You're awfully casual about this though…"

"We've all seen each other naked by now, well, more or less." Weiss shrugged while she blushed just minutely. "I don't see why I should make a fuss about it, considering what yo- I mean, what _we_ are about to do."

"Um… erm... I guess so..." Ruby was practically radiating heat as her face was completely red, and her hands shook as she pulled wrapped food from the bags and set it on the desk-table. Weiss sighed at Ruby before walking to the door and taking off her shoes.

"..." Blake seemed to be doubtful but refrained from commenting in favor of reaching for hastily made tuna tortilla as the group gathered around the repurposed studying desk that served as their dining table. And before any of them noticed, they had began scarfing down the sandwiches, steaks, tortillas and other finger-food Ruby and Weiss had prepared- Their stomachs reminding them that they had not eaten anything since breakfast.

"Delishioush… Did you cook this, Weiss?" Jaune asked as he ate ham sandwiches and gulped down salted and chilled potatoes.

"Y-yes. I did." Weiss seemed to be a bit uncertain before she shook her head and regained her courage.

"Weiss managed to explode half the food…"

"Quiet, Ruby!" Weiss's courage didn't last long. "Slander!"

"I managed to stop the other half of the food from turning into icicles just in time, but like, half the potatoes got chilled…"

"I don't know how it happened!"

"I think Weiss's uh, 'other' eye flashed a bit when she saw the raw meat and I could swear she started to drool…"

" _That did not happen!_ "

"Uh… So, this tuna is pretty good." Blake commented as Weiss began squishing Ruby's face between her hands to keep the red-clad girl quiet. "Um- would you like to taste a bit? I… can share…"

"I can try a bit." Jaune agreed and took a small bite of the tuna. ' _Huh… it's kinda the same taste as that fishy taste- actually, let's not go there.'_ "Hm…"

"Eh! I… uh, this sandwich is pretty good too!" Ruby spotted how Blake was feeding Jaune and pushed her own competitive business towards him, causing Weiss to almost lose her balance on the chair she had commandeered. "Erm… I can share too…"

"Thanks, Ruby." Jaune took the offered sandwich, causing Ruby to blush furiously and Blake to sigh heavily.

"Ruby, we aren't competing here…" Blake pointed out as she pulled the tuna tortilla out of Jaune's reach and continued to stuff it in her mouth. "Fankfs for mafing fhese thfough."

"Do I have to comment on your dining etiquette as well? I thought Ruby was the only one with less than savory eating habits? …Well, she _and_ Jaune." Weiss sighed at Blake.

Blake gulped her food down and shrugged, causing her breasts to jiggle a bit and Jaune to blush. "To be honest, I don't care at this point. Perhaps when we're in more public setting, but right now I'm more concerned with getting fed, getting Jaune fed, and then getting to the next part of the 'menu.'"

Jaune blushed as he got the implication. "Erm… I'll… I'll try not to disappoint…"

"Considering your earlier 'performance', I doubt I'll have to worry about that…" Blake winked at Jaune.

' _I guess Blake liked it… eh?!'_ Jaune had to cough to hide his sudden blush as he felt a hand creeping over his thigh and touching his resting shaft. He glanced to the side shyly and saw that Blake was smirking at him while stroking his member with her forefinger under the table.

Jaune looked at Weiss in order to hide his blush, but it didn't exactly work as Weiss squinted her eyes suspiciously at Jaune.

Unfortunately for Jaune, Weiss was adjusting her legs under the table as Blake was stroking his rising shaft, and Weiss's shin brushed against Jaune's extra-sized meat.

The white-clad girl's visible eye widened and she recoiled as she realized what her leg was touching, while Blake pulled her hand back as Weiss had knocked the girl's finger with her shin.

"Weiss? Is everything alright?" Ruby's innocent question blocked whatever outburst Weiss might have had, and the white-haired girl reined herself in with visible effort.

"Y-yes, I just thought I stepped on something." Weiss reassured Ruby and picked up another sandwich. "Yes… I thought I stepped on something disgusting, but it turned out to be nothing _important_ …"

Jaune blushed and Blake blinked before she smirked in a way that caused hair in the back of Jaune's neck to stand on ends. Blake glanced at Jaune… and Jaune almost doubled over on the table as he felt something stepping on his shaft. A closer inspection told him that Blake had used her leg to pull Weiss's leg up, and Weiss's foot was currently stepping on the shaft.

Jaune sent Blake a pleading look, and she smirked at him in turn before turning her attention to her food- all the while Weiss was struggling between a raging blush, a disgusted snarl, and something that would likely result in the room's destruction if unleashed.

"Muh?" Ruby blinked at the wordless interaction while her cheeks were trying to do their best hamster imitation on account that Ruby had stuffed her mouth full of food. "Hmuh?"

"Ruby... Swallow. Before. Speaking." Weiss groaned and turned to snip something about the red-clad girl about eating habits- all the while she was blushing bright.

Jaune's hands shook, causing pieces of lettuce to fall from his chicken sandwich. ' _Um… Weiss... w-what are you doing?'_

Although Weiss was acting like her usual self and Blake was feigning ignorance, the 'incident' under the table had turned into something far less 'incidental' as Weiss had gone from merely brushing his shaft with her foot, to literally stepping on it and pushing the 'top' of the shaft against his stomach.

The girl had likely meant it as as a revenge for embarrassing her… but to Jaune, it didn't feel like it. ' _U… urgh… it kind of hurts, but at the same time… it hurts just right…'_

The way Weiss's soft socks and feet felt against his skin, and how her feet pushed against his shaft made Jaune's vision dim slightly as he tried to focus on eating while Weiss was 'secretly' punishing him in a way that felt more like reward. ' _Oh… I… I hope this won't become a fetish or something…'_

"Jhaufneh, ishf evheryfink alriht?" Ruby blinked at Jaune while she slurped down another chocolate and strawberry wrap, which caused Jaune to blink since he hadn't noticed that the team had moved onto the desserts already.

"Uh…" Jaune flinched and nearly dropped his fork as the pressure Weiss's foot put on his shaft intensified for a moment, warning him against informing Ruby about the 'interaction' happening under the table. "Y-yeah, I'm just… feeling… the aftereffect of the day's… hng... struggles."

The pressure turned into a brief up-and-down rub, likely to reward him for 'right' answer. Jaune glanced at Weiss who was looking at him with a smug, confident smirk while her cheeks had a slight blush.

The pressure returned as he kept staring at her, and Jaune looked away as he got the 'subtle' hint when Weiss dug her toe into his meat. ' _Uh… yeah… this is definitely going to… leave a mark…'_

"Jaune, wanna have some?" Ruby offered part of her next sweet wrap to Jaune and he reached to take it with somewhat shaky hands. Unfortunately as he was bringing it towards his face the pressure on his shaft intensified, forcing him to glance at Weiss who was looking at the sweet wrap. ' _Oh…'_

"W-Weiss, would you like to have som- ah! I mean, all of this?" Jaune corrected himself as the girl's toe dug into the pulsating flesh of his rock-hard shaft, causing his back to convulse a bit. ' _Mh… it hurts… so good… Blake's right, I'm turning into a pervert… although Weiss is not helping...'_

"Why, thank you." Weiss tilted her head at Jaune as she took the offered wrap and began to nibble it delicately. "This is quite delicious, Ruby. Thank you for making these."

"Erm… thanks?" Ruby blinked at Weiss in confusion. "Um, I made a bunch so erm…"

Blake sighed at Weiss as she looked at the interaction. And something let a meaty thump underneath the table.

Weiss blushed and the pressure on Jaune's shaft disappeared, making it fairly clear that Blake had gotten enough of watching Jaune get dominated and she had kicked Weiss in the shin to indicate her to move on.

"Thanks, Blake." Jaune thanked the girl out of habit, and froze as Blake kicked his shin as well. "I- I mean, um, Ruby? You told me that you had some raw food or something specifically for me? Uh, I mean, I could probably continue with that while you three finish up with the desserts."

"Y-yeah, I brought a bag of meat, like, one of the bags of shredded and compressed meat-stuff that you have in your refrigerator-combat locker." Ruby tilted her head in confusion at Blake and Weiss who were blushing and pointedly not looking at each other or Jaune. "I mean, you had refrigerated cooked meat in there at the start but when Glynda found out about it, she sent you shredded meat-and-bone bags since it's cheaper, has more mass per square, lasts longer before expiring, and is cheaper…"

"Yeah, but it tastes kinda bland. Like thick and dry porridge made from whatever's left in a cow after all tasty parts have been pulled out or something. Bah, I shouldn't complain." Jaune sighed. "Thanks, Ruby. I think I'll go and eat this in the bathroom since it'll be a bit unsightly. Um… Blake can tell what's the next… thing."

Blake blushed as Ruby and Weiss looked at the girl, and then the three of them blushed even harder as Jaune lifted himself up, revealing that his 'fun-stick' or rather, 'fun-bat' was very much ready for action. Weiss let a small squeak as the member pointed directly at her face for a moment before Jaune managed to get away from the desk and grab the bag Ruby was pointing at.

Ruby just stared at Jaune's butt as he turned around and waddled to the bathroom to eat the meat-stuff. "S-s-s-so B-Blake w-w-what w-was t-that about uuuhhh… 'next thing'?"

The door muffled Blake's response, but Jaune flinched at the squeak that Ruby let as Blake finished explaining that their 'team exercise' would happen now.

' _R-right… here we go then…'_ Jaune felt nervous as he bit into the sheet-pressed, compressed 'meat' he pulled from the bag in to further reinforce his body. ' _I need to stock up on mass if I want to make it through this without going wild... '_

* * *

"Ugh…" Jaune groaned as he woke up to radiating feelings of dread. ' _Huh… wait, where am I… Oh yeah, Shard mountains. Grimmlands. Salem… Salem captured me from Glenn or something? Wait, oh… yeah. Perhaps not captured, but somehow… teleported?'_

' _Bah, irrelevant. What's that feeling?'_ He focused on the dread-causing feeling that seemed to radiate from somewhere far above him. ' _Hmm? Oh… that's the same feeling_ _Salem_ _radiated when I woke up here- she's radiating that aura of dread again? Did something make her angry? Or did something else trigger it?'_

' _...Whatever. Not my concern.'_ Jaune shook his head. He had more immediate issues to take care of, such as the sudden, familiar but foreign-feeling emotions that echoed from _somewhere_ and crashed against his head all at once, like dam of sewage waste breaking and pouring its filth into his cranium.

' _Argh… w-what's happening?'_ Jaune grasped his head between his hands as the odd emotions of shame, panic, embarrassment and need to escape echoed in his head… before going quiet again, leaving just calm and almost loving aftershock that confused him to his very core. ' _Ow…_ _t-that hasn't happened before? Did some people just feel… no, someone feel all those emotions? Did they bottle up somehow?'_

He shook his head to clear it of the foreign emotions, but only managed to make himself dizzy. ' _Oww... '_

The movements did manage to wake up his bedfellows though, and Jaune blinked as his 'concubines' or rather, Salem's maids that had been repurposed as concubines, began stirring in the bed- Shir sleeping beside him, May being buried between the two, and with Larua sleeping on top of him while currently serving as his 'sheathe' if the sensations from around his groin were anything to go by. ' _Oh wow… did she put it in while she slept? I guess she's feeling comfortable like that… I think the feelings from the girls sort of shielded me against that odd feeling of panic. Kind of like when I slept in the same bed with Blake… I wonder how bad that earlier episode might have been if they weren't here...'_

Almost as if she could hear his thoughts, Larua let a small sound and begun stretching sleepily against his chest like a waking kitten. She let a small, muted sound before waking up properly and lifting herself up...

And she seemed to be surprised by her state and by her bedfellows, causing her to rear back in shock when she realized that she had been sleeping on top of Jaune. The shock allowed Jaune to hear the aloof-acting girl's voice for the first time as she opened her mouth, and...

"...G **r** a _h_ h… **H** g _r_ h **a** a..."

The girl's voice was hard, raw and gravelly, surprising Jaune as he had expected more feminine sounds from her.

Larua noticed Jaune's surprised reaction instantly, and covered her mouth with her hands to stop any more voices from exiting her throat- but the damage had been done. A wave of fear crashed against Jaune's senses as Larua tried to turn away from him- possibly trying to even run away from him. "...!"

The shaft inside the girl's lower body was still rock-hard though, which essentially locked her in place and caused her to stumble and fall back on his chest while twisting Jaune's member painfully.

The feeling of being trapped which radiated from the girl caused Jaune to flinch, and flinch again as the earlier, odd feeling of shame intensified further while Larua's earlier muted, sleepy feeling was replaced with pain, panic and shame. "...Ugh… Larua, wait!"

"Oh no…" May lunged to grab Larua's hand before she could fall off the bed, surprising Jaune as he had thought that the girl was still asleep. "Larua! Stop! Hold!"

May and Jaune managed to pull the girl back to the bed and May hugged her tightly against her chest. "Shh.. Larua, it's alright... Everything's alright..."

"Wha- what happened?" Jaune asked, blinking in confusion for the girl's sudden and odd reactions while trying to focus on something else to keep his Semblance from shifting back to its more violent mindset. "Larua? May? What happened?"

"Um… Lord…" May seemed to be a bit lost for words while Larua glanced past May's breasts, forming a brief eye contact with Jaune which was enough for him to see a mixture of fear and shame in her eyes. Her aloof and dreamy act had completely shattered and replaced with uncertainty.

"It seems that um… lord has heard something unsightly." May seemed to have an idea what had caused it as she stroked the girl's head gently. "L-Larua, can I tell lord Arc about your… past, like how it was told to me? Lord Arc, can I please ask thee to listen and not think of Larua too harshly after learning of it?"

"Oh- Of course. I'm sorry if I did something to upset you. Erm, if it's about the um… 'thing' when you woke up, I didn't know about that, sorry. Erm, are you mad?" Jaune tried to stroke Larua's hair, but stopped as she flinched from the touch.

"I'm not sure what lord is referring to but, erm, w-we all were saved by queen Salem as you recall." May interjected into the one-sided conversation. "I was captured by bandits and forced to be their slave before queen Salem's agents found and released me. Shir was one of the unfortunate poor who occupy Mistral's lower city, and she was pressured to be a prostitute for-and-by the crime rings that run the city's lower parts... before queen Salem's agents found her on the streets, beaten halfway to death by her masters after failing to service a client, and queen Salem took her in…"

Jaune glanced at Shir who was sleeping peacefully while strewn all over the king-sized bed. ' _She was a prostitute? Erm, not that I mind, but why was she so shy yesterday? Something doesn't add up… or I'm just profiling them based off their backstory. I should probably stop that, it's kinda rude…'_

May ignored Jaune's confusion in order to mumble something vaguely reassuring-sounding while hugging and cradling Larua's head. "...But Larua had the worst fate out of the three of us. she was a living organ farm in Mistral, in a government sanctioned 'medical facility' just outside the city. They used her body to grow and extract organs after unlocking her Aura and hooking her up to a device that force-fed stimulants and Dust to her body, so it would keep healing and growing new organs despite losing whatever her 'caretakers' decided to harvest."

"Wait, what? Why would they do that?" Jaune asked as he heard the story and paused. ' _That's… that can't be true? Pyrrha told me that Mistral's lower regions were bad place, but… that bad? Wait, government sanctioned?'_ "What did they need the organs for?"

"For medical purposes of course, and the organs would likely get sent to the higher caste of Mistralians who needed organ replacements. Presumably it was cheaper to use living humans than buying it them from Atlas. Atlesians use vat-grown organs for replacements… or so we are told. Could be that they are using Faunus immigrants for it, considering their recent policies." May told him while tilting her head at him in confusion. "Regardless, I do not know how Larua ended up in the farm. And Larua physically can't remember anything from her previous life- or how long the farming had continued. Queen Salem can heal body of any injury, but healing the mind is far harder, or so she told us when she gave Larua to our care."

"O-oh." Jaune was speechless, and the silence seemed to hurt Larua as she must have taken his reply for condemnation. ' _W- wait, I mean, that's horrible but… how did that trigger her panic attack?'_ "I- I see. That's horrible- I mean, what happened to you, Larua, not you. Erm, h-how'd you get here?"

May coughed slightly and continued the tale while Larua hid her face between the brunette girl's breasts. "Ehm. Queen Salem's Grimm beasts smashed the facility apart after the facility's drug and painkiller supply from Vacuo halted due to raids, causing the pain and despair from the facility's 'occupants' to echo across the countryside. The pain drew almost every Grimm within Mistral City's area to the facility. From what I was told, Queen Salem's chief enforcer, Hazel Rainart, was present during the assault- come to think of it, his actions against Vacuon drug trade might have caused the drug shortage."

May mumbled something reassuring to Larua who had started to shake. "He found the… remains that were the organ farms. Many of them were so far beyond saving that Hazel had no choice but to relieve them of their suffering. Larua was one of the few who could be salvaged from the facility- even still, from what I gathered, she was barely even a torso when she arrived to the Heart."

"Ah…" Jaune reached to stroke Larua's head, despite her shaking and the shaking of his own hands. He blinked at the shakiness and realized that he was unconsciously repeating it due the fact that he could feel her panic very, very well through his sort-of sixth sense. He breathed out to shut down his Semblance as it kept trying to activate itself. "I'm… I didn't know."

"She was healed by Queen Salem, like the rest of us. But… her voice didn't recover. It had been taken away too many times. Her larynx, supposedly, gave her so beautiful voice that it had been her… main merchandise." May reached to stroke Larua's head as well. "Even though it is 'healed', her mind had forgotten how to use it. She's… not complete, anymore."

"..." Jaune blinked in realization. "So, her voice... "  
"Y-yes. She can speak, technically, but... "

"I understand. It's alright, you don't need to say more." Jaune sighed heavily while continuing to stroke Larua's hair, even despite how the girl was shaking like a leaf from the touch.

"Lord, does Larua's voice displease thee?" May asked carefully after a moment, ignoring a quiet, sleepy objection from Shir, asking to be be let out of supposed tentacle-bondage she was apparently experiencing in her dreams in the background. "Has she failed in her duty?"

"Wait, what… oh." Jaune blinked in confusion before the reason for Larua's panic clicked in his head. ' _Oh… Salem sent these girls to serve me, so if… if they 'displease' me, they'd have failed Salem's orders…'_

"You're worried that I dislike you because of your voice, right?" Jaune clarified his theory by asking the girl in question. "That you'd fail Sa- queen Salem?"

Larua's nod was so weak it was almost imperceivable.

"Uh… I'm not the kind of person who would do that though…" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. ' _Wow, I thought Weiss was prone to overreacting… just how highly do these girls think of Salem if mere thought of failing her causes them to suffer panic attacks?'_ "I don't mind it. I mean, I'm sorry about what happened to you, Larua, but I'm not going to just… disregard or dismiss you because of it."

"See? Lord Arc is very magnanimous person, like I told you." May mumbled to Larua's ear, causing the girl's shaking to lessen slightly. She let a small sob-like sound as she hugged May back before glancing briefly at Jaune- almost if she was seeking confirmation.

' _She's having doubts eh? ...Hm, perhaps acting as if nothing had happened would work to ease her fears? After all, that would indicate that I really don't discriminate her because of her voice…'_ Jaune tried to seek for a way to allow the girl to be at peace. "So uh… wanna get up from the bed or do 'it' again, Larua? May, Shir, wanna join?"

"Y-yes lord…" Shir agreed with muffled voice, and Jaune glanced at her… to see that the shark faunus had woken up at some point of the explanation and was looking at the three of them with curious and almost calculating look on her face before it made way for blush and she looked down with shy expression on her face.

' _Odd.'_ Jaune furrowed his brows but shook his head. ' _Something's seriously off. I'll have to ask Cinder later about these girls, I wonder if she knows something? Eh, I should probably posphone that until later. Cinder's supposed to show me around the tower today anyway.'_

Shir let a pleased moan as Jaune kissed her temple and he hugged her closer to him.

Larua kissed May on the lips before she turned towards Jaune, opening her lips just slightly as if waiting for him to take the initiative.

He took the hint and kissed the black-haired haired girl hungrily, causing her to relax slightly and let a relieved sigh… which made Jaune realize that most of his shaft was still inside Larua's lean body.

The black-haired girl likely remembered it as well, and moved her hips just slightly to push the rest of the length into her body and she kissed the tip of the shaft with her womb.

Jaune moaned into her mouth as Larua began slowly thrusting her hips up and down his length, letting their combined juices squeeze out between her walls and his meat, staining the bedsheets as his shaft grew to its full size and filled her entirely. ' _Mmh… May did say that I could 'do as I willed' with them… Might as well make the most of this while it lasts...'_

* * *

"Stop… my head hurts…" Cinder let a sound that might have been sob.

She was on her knees on her own bedroom, which was essentially a repurposed guest room she had taken over few years ago, with few extra rooms added later and more furnishing.

' _I… It's… I can't take this anymore…'_ Cinder shook while she held onto her head which felt like it was about to split like a ripe melon.

The whole night had been hell for the flame-caster, ever since retreating to her room after a quick paperwork session with Salem. She had started to feel oddly hot after a while of reading reports that were about as interesting as watching wood grow in realtime, and had been just about as productive. Salem had likely noticed Cinder's mood, as observant as the ancient woman was, and had told Cinder to return to her room for the night and rest.

Cinder had been more than happy to use the chance to leave and had flopped down on her bed almost instantly upon entering her bedroom. Sleep followed soon after, but no rest would come with it as she had been hounded constantly by nightmares- first of feeling her body _crawling_ with heat… and she had woken up to feeling of being _bred_ by some sort of massive creature. The odd, alien feeling had been enough to spook Cinder out of her sleep and she had almost set the entire room in fire before realizing the room was empty. As a result, Cinder had been thoroughly disturbed by nightmare both because of its content and because she didn't see dreams or nightmares often- or hadn't seen them before getting infected with _something_ during her failed attempt at mind-controlling Jaune Arc.

The realization hadn't helped her body though, as she had been feeling _incredibly_ hot and bothered for some reason, even to the point where she had been forced to take a cold shower and change her bedsheets… and then go back to the shower to play a bit with the showerhead to calm her hips after breathing in and out while thinking of something calming, like stabbing Emerald in the neck, didn't seem to work to calm her down.

After a while the feeling of lust had gone away and she returned to sleep… only to be woken in cold sweat when sudden and foreign panic and embarrassment hit her like a bus made of panicked, screaming school children. And after that had subsided, the odd lust had returned, feeling less… primal, but somehow _far_ more disturbing- like if Cinder had been squeezed through a hot tube while her entire body was rubbed with lubricant. Which had been thoroughly _un_ attractive, but her body had reacted in completely opposite way for a reason that had eluded Cinder- yet felt incredibly disturbing nonetheless.

After changing her bed sheets once more and sitting in the shower for half hour or so, the feeling had gone away and had been replaced by a sensation of filth and embarrasment, despite her being alone in the shower and being covered in soap. After what felt like eternity the feeling of filth had dissipated, allowing Cinder to just flop down and fall asleep on the shower.

Unfortunately whatever was plaguing her didn't let up, and during the late night the feeling of lust returned for the last time- accompanied by a feeling of massive headaches that had driven on her knees before she could return to her bed.

' _The… pain…'_ Cinder hit her head against the floor once more. She was suffering from extreme migraine this time, which wasn't helping her already irate and sleep-deprived mood. She had contemplated going to (or rather, calling a servant to carry her to) Salem to see what the issue was, but her pride was effectively blocking her- as it had blocked her from calling help during the entire night. ' _Salem… she said… some part of Arc… was left in my head…'_

The woman's words caused Cinder to shudder. ' _She said… if she took it away… it'd also take most of my… intelligence, memories... '_

A pang of something awful caused Cinder to twitch and fall on her side on the floor, spilling the pack of painkillers she had been trying to open with shaky hands. Her spine felt like it had been set on fire and she could barely feel her legs.

' _I'm… not going to… turn into… one of those creatures, again…. I am NOT!'_ Cinder howled internally while she was struggling to regain control of her body.

Her back felt as if it had lit on fire as her struggling began to weaken, and she crashed on the floor as her arms and legs failed her. "A-argh! It… it hurts! Stop!"

Blood flowed from her mouth as she bit her tongue and she felt as it healed instantly afterwards, and at the same time she felt something silky smooth, like strands of fire, flowing down her spine from the back of her neck… and her waist erupted in pain.

The last thing Cinder saw before falling unconscious on the floor was a pair of raven-black wings sprouting from the back of her waist, the feathers covered in blood and slime.

' _Not… again…'_

* * *

"...Hm, that didn't last long. Then again, I did warn her." Salem smirked at the ceiling of the dining hall after finishing her breakfast. "Well, I suppose I should go help her. Hm… I certainly didn't expect it to grow that quickly though."

"E-excuse me, my queen?" One of the servant girls following Salem dared to step forwards to see what she wanted. The girl was pale and shaky although Salem had stopped radiating dread soon after finishing her read on the world's, or rather, Vale's 'news'.

"Send few servants to clothe Cinder and bring a breakfast- no, a dinner and lunch to her room. She is currently in her room and is… having minor difficulties at the moment. And tell her that I'm expecting her in my lab as soon as she wakes up. Oh, and tell the servants that they should not touch her flesh directly, no matter what happens."

"Yes, my queen."

"Good…" Salem leaned back on her chair. "My, my… mr. Arc, you are full of surprises~"

* * *

"I think my head is about to give." Glynda Goodwitch sighed in her office in Beacon while going through Port's _written_ after-action report of Arc's latest incident in Beacon's grounds. "Haaa…"

" _Yes, well, if you require psychological care, I have access to…"_

"...Atlas's 'psychological support troop', or as they should be called, indoctrinators. I know.. Thank you for the offer, but no thank you, James." Glynda growled at her Scroll which was sitting on her desk, currently showing the image of Ironwood. "Right. At least we know where Arc is, and according to Port, he's contained for now. Any updates on your search for the escaped... tentacle?"

" _None so far. I had my technicians access the wastewater distribution network and flow center to see where exactly the sewage pipes flow through before ending up in the processing plant._ " Ironwood explained. " _We experienced authority-related trouble accessing the physical node, but managed to bypass the obstacle and gain the flow data. Using that, we're going through the sewer network, seeing if there has been pressure differences indicating pipeline breaches and…"_

"I am not well-educated in wastewater pipe dynamics. Layman's version, please."

" _Yes, we are tracking possible escape routes for the creature._ "

"What are the options?"

" _Based off the sewer's flow direction, and assuming the tentacle didn't somehow manage to swim against the flow, the creature is either: In the locker room shower…"_

A dreadful scenario passed Glynda's head as she heard Ironwood's words.

" _Male lockers, to be specific…"_

The scenario became slightly different, and Glynda blushed heavily.

" _Six different public toilets…"_

Glynda paled as she considered the implications.

" _And then the pipe flows to the fourth-year female dormitory before going to second and third-year's team-dorm, and finally to Vale's central sewage outflow network."_ Ironwood finished his recap. " _Do you have any leads based off that information?"_

The headmistress of Beacon felt cold sweat form on her brow. ' _Come to think of it… the fourth-years would be roughly the same age as Specialist Winter…'_

"I… may have a possible lead. Listen, can you send a team to the fourth-year dorms?"

" _Alright. I'll send a strike team to investigate and search the rooms. Also, can you broadcast to your staff that we're doing these rounds? The Hunters are getting restless with Atlesian troops searching around Beacon."_

"I thought I sent them the message. Don't tell me the Hunters are just choosing to ignore it and keep hampering your troops?" Glynda sighed. "The anti-Atlesian opinions seem to be affecting even our veteran Hunters. I'll re-send the message, but it is possible they are just choosing the ignore it again in favor of patriotism- not to mention that with the recent scandals, I'm somewhat uncertain if my name still carries the same authority amongst the Hunter that it had."

" _You're the headmistress of Beacon and responsible for Hunter allocation in Vale. If they disobey you, they are insubordinating against Vale and can be arrested."_

"That's how Atlas does things, not how we do things. And you know Vale gives far more freedom for Hunters to operate."

" _You mean to say Ozpin didn't tell them directly what to do, but rather pointed right Hunters to the right directions and gave them free reign- or at least gave them the illusion of having free reign over their missions."_

"...Yes. However as it is, I feel that the Hunters are getting more restless with Atlesian interference. With the emotions running high as it is, we can't let this start a new war."

" _However if we aim to not stir this pot further we probably should try to resolve this situation as quickly and as cleanly as possible, and my elite troops are the closest to us and are trained for this kind of situation."_ Ironwood acknowledged. " _Moreover Vale's police and military are currently tied to keeping peace in the city and guarding its walls, so getting troops from there might take too long."_

"We're playing with fire regardless. Atlesian soldiers rummaging around student dorms won't send a good message."

" _I'm afraid that we don't have choices. I know your Hunters have far more freedom to operate independently compared to Atlas, but if they choose to ignore your orders to stand down, they are insubordinating against Vale and Atlas. In that case I have no choice but to defend our assets and arrest the attackers as per Atlesian rules of engagement in foreign territory."_

"That is just going to fan the flames and you know that. How badly do you think people of Vale react if they hear that you are jailing Vale's Hunters? The international law regarding freedom of operation Hunters have..."

" _...Is a temporary measure from bygone age, and I only plan to take custody of those who choose to resist or attack us. If my initial reports from the Glenn incident and recent intel from Atlas's Grimm researchers are accurate, we may already be too late, so while I regret I must do this, I will go ahead with arresting Arc and his potential hosts regardless of your approval."_ Ironwood voiced his challenge, causing Glynda's blood pressure to raise. " _Regarding potential of war, I doubt arresting few grumbly old Hunters is influential enough to warrant hostilities between nations. Nonetheless, it would be wise to send a warning to fourth-year dorms though, just in case. Tell them to stand down and allow us to take custody of them. I will test them and make sure they aren't tainted."_

"You are _not_ going to go around Beacon arresting my students, let's just make that clear." Glynda growled, before she registered a part of Ironwood's speech in her head. "What do you mean, 'already too late'? You said that we may already be too late? And what was that about 'taint'?"

" _I originally intended to deliver this to you in person in a physical dossier as Valeans tend to have a fondness for papers, but considering the similarity of the current events to those in Glenn, we may be hard-pressed on time. Penny, send Glynda a copy of the files."_ Ironwood asked and Glynda heard few clangs on his end, likely to indicate that the man had stopped walking and moved to some private spot. She heard as Ironwood ordered Penny to secure the perimeter and look out for possible eavesdroppers. Few seconds later Glynda got a message that had multiple files attached. She opened the message and looked at the files that read like autopsy reports.

"Can you give me a brief rundown on the report?" Glynda prodded as Ironwood seemed to wait for her answer. "What did you find from the material SABR gathered in Glenn?"

" _The results show disturbing degree of Grimm material corruption. It seems that a external effect has disturbed Grimm flesh's tendency to disintegrate, allowing dead Grimm tissue to be studied for the first time in detail. Yet the corruption is so deeply ingrained into the flesh that we're dubious if what we found is even a Grimm in the first place. That's the only good news._ " Ironwood told Glynda, making her stomach sink- If Ironwood consider that to be good news, the follow up would be far worse.

The Scroll conversation was making it hard to judge emotions, but Ironwood's concern was clear as was his wariness. " _The samples we got from Glenn show that the whole incident likely began from a 'Alpha strain', which repeats across all samples in various stages. The strain's growth process is fairly simple by itself: A Alpha strain infects the host's flesh through some sort of physical interaction, although we aren't sure of the specifics of the interaction, and it begins to spread in the host's flesh. At first it's largely symptomless, but starts to influence the host soon afterwards."_

"Alpha strain? What does it do after that?"

" _Essentially, it works like a secondary 'brain' for the body, spreading itself through the host flesh and taking over until the two cannot be separated anymore. The process seems to be fairly painless at first, but once it reaches its peak, the host's free will is effectively overridden, although we aren't sure if the strains controls the nervous system or if it infects the whole brain. At the same time, the host's flesh is re-shaped and restructured to better suit the host's environment, and to ensure the survival of the strain- regardless of the host's actual state._ " Ironwood's tone was clear and emotionless- which meant that he was likely reading the report out of some piece of paper or from his Scroll. " _To clarify what that means, the host may be alive or dead at that point and the strain won't care. For instance, the research team managed to use the strain sample to infect and subsequently resurrect a recently-dead rodent."_

Glynda's mouth was dry as she processed the news.

" _However the rodent was clearly confused and acter far differently than how it did when it was alive."_

"Such as…?"

" _The infected rodent was placed in a cage with uninfected rodents. At the start it merely showed confusion and other rodents avoided the host. After twenty hours the subject's behaviour changed rapidly and It started to show cannibalistic tendencies. The conflict finally lead to the alpha strain killing and eating all other rats in the cage, growing far out of proportion and attempting escape after what appeared to be a psychedelic episode. Soon afterwards the somewhat intact corpses showed activity as well, depending on the state of their bodies. Two corpses merged together and formed almost-complete rat with the exception that it had two heads."_

Glynda's hands felt cold as she contemplated the story. "So… what is the link to our current situation?"

" _Arc's imprint matches to the alpha strain- which means, either Arc is part of the alpha strain, or it came from him. The Grimm Infiltrator, as Port put it, is far more dangerous than I initially believed, and Arc's recent show clearly indicates that he cannot control himself- or control the strain."_ Ironwood's tone was neutral. " _I am going to the fourth-year dorms to retrieve Arc from the dormroom where Port had house-arrested him, and then apprehend his team as well. There is a possibility that they have been infected with the alpha strain- Arc's strain."_

"Wait, what? The team too?"

" _We cannot allow the strain to spread further. We may need to check everyone they have been interacting with as well, just in case. The same applies to the students in that dorm- the 'tentacle' likely has the strain as well and if it has invaded the dorm like you assumed, we'll have to perform thorough check on all students within."_ Ironwood ignored Glynda's question. " _Luckily the quarantine we placed Arc into after Glenn mission has reduced his contact with the rest of the student population. but we need to check whoever the Schnee girl has interacted with. Luckily the team, from what Penny found out, has fairly weak link to the rest of the students."_

"I… see." Glynda swallowed hard. "If what you are saying is true, then… Ugh, this might be bad. Are you sure the information is valid? How old is the information? We should approach this carefully though, which means _no_ Atlesian diplomacy. We don't need another incident if Arc decides he doesn't want to be shot at and escapes again."

" _I received the full research report few minutes ago. Penny helped me get through it almost as soon as it came, thanks to my neural interface. And the damage he could cause if the information holds and we ignore him is far, far worse than the damage he can cause by confronting us when we arrest him."_ Ironwood noted. " _For the record, I was right. The research reveals his true nature, what he really is- A human-shaped parasite. Letting him out of the containment was a mistake, and it has already cost me a Specialist and a strike team. It may even cost us more."_

"We didn't know that. Also, you lost a Specialist? I didn't know… oh. Wait, we don't know if Specialist Winter is tainted like you assume."

" _I've spent too long here- who knows what Arc is up to. I'll call you again when I have Arc and his team under my custody."_ Ironwood noted. " _I've also ordered Specialist Schnee to be quarantined in light of the new information. She is most definitely infected after her recent training and evaluation session with Arc. Same applies to her sister, as we have proof she is a infection carrier from her last medical report. I'll take care of the situation."_

"Wait! Ironwood!" Glynda rubbed her eyes as the call ended before she could respond. "Dammit…"

She leaned back in her chair and looked around her office, which seemed far, far colder than before as she contemplated the news. ' _Come to think of it, when Port 'tamed' Arc, he put him in that fourth-year dorm… with Blake Belladonna. Dammit, if what I suspect is correct, then she's most definitely infected as well.'_

She blinked as something clicked in her head. She didn't like how the click sounded like a gun's slide being racked. ' _Did Ironwood say that there's no cure? I am not putting one of my students down, if that's what he's implying.'_

Glynda's eyes widened and she shot up from her chair. ' _Ironwood knows that, and he probably wouldn't bother asking for my permission if he thinks that the situation warrants swift resolution. Even more so if he feels that Atlas is threatened.'_

' _And he's heading to fourth-year dorms. If the Hunters realize what Ironwood is planning…'_ She grabbed her Scroll from the table, saw that Ironwood had set his Scroll to private, and she hurried to the elevator. ' _I need to stop him!'_

 **AN: 'ere we go.**


	51. Front towards the Enemy

"I'm being… detained?"

"Temporarily relocated, Specialist Winter."

"To a cell. Did you just recall me from the hospital in order to put me to a cell?"

"To a temporary housing unit."

"Soldier, that is a cell. Specifically, one of the six Grimm containment cells in this battleship, designed for capturing and storing new Grimm subtypes until they have been transported to Atlas for further study..."

"I am aware, Specialist Winter. However this order came directly from General Ironwood."

"Why am I being detained?"

"I am unable to say. Please proceed to the cell."

"...Very well. I expect to be briefed about this 'relocation' soon."

"I am unable to comment, Specialist."

"I see. However, was it truly necessary to escort me to a _Grimm_ holding cell of all places? We have regular cells in this battleship. I am not some sort of wild beast that needs confinement like this."

"That is yet to be determined."

"What? I… you… Arc. This is his fault, is it not?"

"I am unable to comment, Specialist. Please stop asking questions and stay quiet."

"Fine. I'm certain this will be sorted out soon."

"Specialist, do not force us to use a gag. Your place in command chain is effectively nullified by the custody, and we have full authority to restrict your mobility and communication in order to ensure your cooperation."

"...Grh, fine. I'll just sit here until Ironwood sorts this out."

"Very well, Specialist. Please wear this."

"A prison outfit?! Just what are you… what is this name-tag? 'Winter Schnee, Specialist, in custody for potential Grimm copulation'?"

"Specialist, you are ordered to wear it until told otherwise. Please stop talking and do as you are told."

"What the hell is going on in here?"

"...Fine. Gag her."

"Ghrtht!"

* * *

Jaune burped slightly before putting the empty meat bag to the fourth-year dorm's bathroom trash bin.

He sighed in relief as he felt completely stuffed, and used the sense of satisfaction to activate his Semblance.

He quickly targeted his overgrown 'lower body' with the ability, and used the power to shrink unwieldy piece of his flesh between his thighs to something more manageable and realistic. He shut down the ability before the Shadow could start to affect his mind and his control more than it did passively. ' _Ugh, that thing was almost the size of Ruby's or Blake's forearm… Right, it should be back to normal now.'_

Jaune sighed as he looked at the now normal-sized shaft which looked far less ridiculous hanging between his thighs. "Alright, time to get this going."

Jaune opened the door and walked into the room where Blake, Ruby and Weiss had frozen into some sort of duel of gazes.

Granted, it seemed that the duel hadn't stopped the girls from finishing off the desserts, but Jaune figured that he probably shouldn't comment on that.

"Erm, what's up?" Jaune blushed slightly as he walked up to the bed Blake was using as chair while Ruby and Weiss were still sitting behind the desk-turned-dinner table that had been dragged next to the bed.

"Something _should_ be going up." Blake commented dryly and reached to poke at Jaune's trouser snake which was currently taking a nap. The girl's finger seemed to be successful in waking it up, and few pokes and strokes were enough to make it stand up in full attention while Jaune blushed.

He wasn't the only one to be embarrassed as he glanced at Ruby and Weiss, who were looking at the spectacle with wide eyes and equally massive blushes on their faces.

"E-er, um…that's really bold, Blake." Ruby tried to open communications but didn't quite manage to formulate proper wavelength and instead just stammered while Weiss reached to cover the red-clad girl's face with her hands to block the view.

"We're this far already so I don't see why I should hold myself back." Blake rolled her eyes at the two girls and grabbed the shaft properly so she could stroke it. "Well, it looks like this is down to more manageable size. Sheesh, that earlier thing was ridiculous… but it might be interesting to experiment with it later."

Jaune blushed and Blake smirked. "Um… s-sure?"

"Hey, stop being so awkward, the two of you." Blake glanced at Ruby and Weiss. "Remember, this was your idea."

"Um… well…"

"Are you getting cold feel already? I mean, the door is over there…" Blake made a motion towards the door while pulling her hand off Jaune's shaft.

' _Hmrgh… Yeah, I should probably show some initiative here...'_ Jaune reached to grab Blake by her waist. Before she managed to react, he hoisted her up, sat himself down on the bed, and sat Blake down on his thighs. ' _Right, I probably need to say something romantic to set the mood...'_

"Blake, Ruby, Weiss. We'll bang, okay?"

Blake stared at Jaune.

So did Ruby and Weiss.

"Um… erm, well, I m-mean…" Jaune stammered. "Uh… let's uh…"

"I think I already commented about your cheesy lines. But fine, I'll allow it just this once." Blake snorted. "Yeah, let's do it."

Jaune blushed and leaned towards Blake, and Blake leaned towards him. However, a small buzzing sound interrupted their would-be kiss as Ruby appeared between them and kissed Jaune on the cheek.

Blake sputtered as she got a face full of red-tipped hair instead of a kiss, and Weiss let a squeak as she saw the exchange. Ruby had apparently managed to channel her embarrassment into power and used it to just rush into the exchange with no care about defence or consequences.

"W-w-we'll yang, right? Bang, I mean, erm, like, not like guns, but, like…" Ruby's nervous sputted filled Jaune's ears as she pulled back from the kiss and almost whacked Blake in the face with her head. "Uh… erm. Yes. Kinda."

"W-wait! We had an agreement, right? Blake goes first!" Weiss practically pulled Ruby off Jaune before the exchange could get more heated or cause Blake to suffer concussion. Ruby blinked as Weiss hugged the girl protectively and cradled Ruby's head against hers. "Ruby's off limits until you're done with Blake!"

"Uh… that's an interesting way of looking at it." Jaune tilted his head at Weiss. "...Is everything alright?"  
"Yeah, sure. Now, you, into Blake, go, green light, commence thrusting." Weiss sent a glare at Jaune and pointed at Blake. "Okay, fine. I'm not exactly good with this sort of wordplay so I'm improvising. Ask Blake if you want to hear sultry words."

"...Alright?" Jaune shrugged. ' _Eh, I can take care of that when the issue comes up.'_

He lifted Blake a bit and flopped her down on the bed while Ruby turned to ask if Weiss was feeling nervous and why she was lashing out at Jaune.

"Weiss… what are you planning?" Blake squinted her eyes at Weiss.

' _Haah… This is so going to start another argument if I don't do something._ Jaune sighed internally. ' _Fine, let's just cut over the scheming, I don't care…'_

Jaune turned Blakes head towards him so he could kiss her on the lips. The girl protested instantly. "Mh! J-Jaune, wait, we need to… mh… mm… a-ask Weiss… hn… w-what she's… plhan… plahnnnin… nnn…"

"Shush. Right now all that matters is you." Jaune pulled off the kiss in order to put his finger on Blake's lips, causing the girl to fall silent and blush heavily. He used the chance to flop Blake over on the bed and climb over her.

"H-hey! What about me!" Ruby protested and broke off Weiss's hug in order to sit on Jaune's back as he was on all fours over Blake in the bed. "I want to hear lovey-dovey stuff too!"

"I-I can do that!" Weiss doved in and tackle-hugged Ruby, causing the two of them to flop down on the bed next to Blake... and to almost fall off it. "Blake, Jaune, make room. We're commandeering this space!"

"Should we just pull the bedsheets down and set them on the floor? More space that way." Ruby pointed out, although her voice was somewhat muffled by the fact her face was buried in Weiss's chest. The white-haired girl blushed as the vibration from Ruby's voice must have caused all sorts of sensations on Weiss's breasts, even if their clothes still separated the two.

"...I think that might be a good idea." Blake commented as the bed swayed somewhat dangerously, clearly indicating that it probably wasn't made to accommodate four people- specifically when one of them weighed three times more than a regular person. "Right, Jaune? Can you make some room… Meep!"

Blake let a small meow as Jaune pulled her up from the bed and sat himself down on the cushioned chair Weiss had been using during the dinner. He sat the surprised cat faunus down on his lap sideways, and the newly-sized shaft's head poked between her thighs as she squeezed it reflexively. "Blake, I'm sorry, but I can't wait… I want you now."

The cat-girl blushed hard and she opened her mouth slightly. Jaune used the opportunity to lean in and push his lips against hers, and invade her mouth with his tongue as soon as she opened her mouth in surprise. "Mh!"

"...I ...Want to take you… now…" Jaune panted against her neck as he trailed kisses down her cheek and jaw. "I need you… now…"

The panting infected Blake as well and she nodded just slightly before opening her legs. She lifted herself to allow Jaune to adjust the angle of the shaft while she moved to ride his hips, and his tip pushed against the lips of her womanhood…

And the dorm-room's door exploded in wooden splinters.

A half-second after the explosion something fell on the floor, and a loud explosion from a concussion grenade disoriented everyone in the room.

"... own! Get down! On the floor!" A man wearing white, faceless helmet shouted as he entered the room while pointing a rifle at the disoriented occupants, and he was immediately followed by few other human-like shapes.

Jaune _felt_ more than he saw the Atlesian strike team entering the fourth-year dorm-room, followed by Ironwood and Penny. "Wha- what the hell?"

"Arc. Down. Let the girl go." Ironwood pointed his hand-cannon at Jaune as he tried to regain his senses after getting his eardrums blown and flash-regenerated. "Everyone here is under arrest. If you resist, you will be destroyed."

"Wha... " Weiss cradled her head as she had been closest to the grenade and due to her current lack of Aura the concussive explosion had blown out her eardrums, causing a trickle of blood to flow down the sides of her face.

The same effect had happened on Jaune as well, but due to his regeneration he had healed his ears almost immediately. Blake and Ruby had been protected by their Aura and thus were only disoriented by the blast, but Blake was on the brink of unconsciousness due to her cat-ears sensitivity to loud noises. "Wha- wha?"

"Go." Ironwood motioned for the soldiers to move forwards while similar concussion grenade detonations rang from around them- indicating that Atlesian soldiers were likely repeating the process across the entire fourth-year dorm.

The hostile act made Jaune growl threateningly at the soldiers who threatened _his_ pack. And all of the guns in the room were pointed at him instantly.

"The Battleship we brought from Atlas to Beacon has moved to hover above this dorm. We have documented your combat capabilities in the Barrier Square. Should you attempt to assault us and we prove to be incapable of containing you, the battleship is cleared to fire its main battery and level this entire dorm to the ground, and glass the remains." Ironwood told Jaune. "According to our reports, that should be enough to destroy you entirely despite your regeneration. I repeat: Surrender or be destroyed."

"Wha- why- what is happening?" Ruby shook her head and looked up at Ironwood. "What did we do wrong? I'm legally adult I swear!"

"You harbor a potentially city-destroying entity with capability of infecting humans by touch and interaction." Ironwood explained and motioned with his free hand for the soldiers to proceed while his gun kept pointing at Jaune's head.

Jaune glared at them and let a guttural growl at the soldiers, while he kept Blake from falling over on the floor due to her nearly unconscious state.

"Clamp them. Arc, do not move." Ironwood ordered the soldiers.

"Wait, stop!" Jaune tried to halt the men, but they did not listen. The soldiers pulled sets of paired, forearm-length tubes connected with chains and wires, causing Jaune to growl even louder. "What are those? Port assured that everything would be alright if we stayed here!"

"Situation changed. And those are cuffs for Hunters, they drain and suppress Aura by applying chain of kinetic trauma to the skin until the subject's Aura is drained." Ironwood told Jaune. "The subjects won't be mortally harmed during the process."

The soldiers and Jaune tensed as one of the white-helmeted men grabbed Weiss and forced her to the cuffs.

The display caused Jaune to almost lash out at the man as his primal instinct told him to reach out and rip the soldier's head off his shoulders. Jaune's flesh blackened and flowed to form the start of his combat-form as he stood up to do just that... However the sudden motion dislocated Blake from his lap and he had to focus his attention on her to pull the incredibly disoriented girl away from the soldiers before they could grab her.

Ironwood clearly saw what Jaune intended and waved the gun slightly, while the swords Penny carried in her backpack unfolded to form a pair of wings around her back.

The display was making Jaune hesitate as he pulled Blake behind his back. And as he took a step forwards the flying swords blocked his advance towards Ruby and Weiss.

"Who let you do this? Did Glynda…" Jaune asked, or rather, growled at Ironwood.

"Due to the threat you possess and due to your recent actions which clearly show you cannot control yourself, we cannot sit by and allow you to destroy Beacon, Vale, Atlas or other kingdoms." Ironwood told him while the soldier who had cuffed Weiss moved to Ruby, who just blinked in confusion as she was restrained as well.

Ruby let a squeak and then a muted scream as the cuffs activated, draining her Aura. "Ouch! OWwww! It hurts!"

"Friend Ruby, the restraining device will cause few bruises during the draining process, but it will not injure you. They will stop just before your Aura is drained, allowing you to retain your consciousness despite the drained state of your Aura." Penny commented cheerfully as Ruby fell to her knees from pain. The red-clad girl looked at the ginger-haired one with pain in her eyes, and Penny seemed to hesitate for a microsecond before her ever-present cheerful smile returned on her face. "Friend Ruby, please understand that the drain is required to restrain Aura-possessing individuals. However, could you please explain why the device didn't sense Aura within friend Weiss?"

"Ruby! Weiss! You won't take them!" Jaune howled at Ironwood while he positioned himself between the soldiers and Blake. "You won't hurt them!"

"That is not for you to decide. But acting violently right now will only hurt your case- and their case."

"What am I then to do? Watch as you drag them away?!"

"Yes. Threatening me with violence will not help you. Acting upon those threats will only lead to your death- as well as the deaths of your teammates." Ironwood held his ground while his soldiers distanced themselves from Jaune and Blake. Jaune growled as the soldiers dragged Weiss and Ruby away with them.

"Neither Ozpin or Glynda realized the threat you possess, and even I became aware of the true extent of threat only recently. I pray that I am not too late." Ironwood told him with hard tone. "Port's incompetence in analyzing your capabilities must have clouded their judgement and made them think that you are human. Made them think that you could be treated like a human, but you are not one. You are a beast temporarily possessing human form."

"What are you on about? I'm a human!"

"No, you are not, even if you do not realize it yourself. You are a parasite, and you will destroy us all if you are allowed to fester and taint us." Ironwood told Jaune. "Your team is likely already beyond redemption from the prolonged contact with you. However, their fate will depend on results of thorough testing in order to ensure they do not pose threat to the rest of our population. Rest assured that if they are untainted, they will be allowed to go free. I am not a monster- unlike you, who would have subjected them to a far worse fate."

"Wha- you're insane!" Jaune growled at the man. ' _Wait, I… Glenn? He's talking about that? My… No, Mercury's memories- the part of me that grew within him... I knew I had something to do with it, that it was partially my fault, but... Ironwood somehow found out exactly what happened by examining the remains? Wait, if so... does he think I'll repeat Glenn in here?'_

"I am telling you this one last time. Work with me and surrender peacefully, Arc." Ironwood told him. "If you value your place in Beacon, your teammates, your _humanity_ , then work with me. You won't be harmed."

"I… can't. Not when you threaten my team!" Jaune's mood turned violent as he sensed that Ironwood was dishonest with his words. "You're lying! And I am not going to attack anyone, unless they force me to defend myself! You're insane!"

"I am the only sane person in Beacon right now. Soldiers, proceed." Ironwood motioned the soldiers forward for the third time. "Penny, pin Arc down."

Before Jaune could protest, four blades flashed from the 'wings' around Penny's back and sliced at Jaune's limbs.

He managed to barely avoid the ones going for his arms, but felt sharp, cold pain as two of the swords pierced his thighs and snapped his thigh-bones with surgical precision.

Jaune fell on the floor like a marionette with its strings cut while his legs flopped under him like jelly. ' _No! I won't… what is he…'_

"What are you doing to them?! Stop!" Jaune growled through the pain as the soldiers grabbed Blake and put the cuffs on her as well, causing the faunus to let a quiet, pained groan before she fell completely unconscious from the combined effect of the Aura drain and the after-effect of the concussion grenade. "Stop!"

The sight of completely naked and unconscious Blake getting dragged off caused Jaune's self-control to snap, and his body began turning black as his Semblance spread its shadowy tendrils throughout his system.

Ironwood said something to Jaune, likely to remind him something about rules and laws, but he couldn't care less anymore.

Yet, this time he wasn't just _forcing_ himself to fight, he _embraced_ it. He could not, he _would not_ allow his pack to be threatened by the two-legged shapes clad in white and gray armor.

The barrier between man and monster became muddled as Jaune charged, the bones of his thighs re-attached as he pulled Penny's blades off his legs.

A gunshot rang in the room, and Jaune's regrown bone-mask broke as Ironwood's large-caliber pistol penetrated Jaune's mask- then penetrated his skull- then brain- and finally exited through the back of his head.

And with the wound, everything in Jaune's mind turned _red_.

* * *

"Goddamit, goddamit, James Ironwood you prick, I'm so going to find you, tie you up and do it like Port to use your ass to bait out the Vale's council members…" Glynda growled as she ran across Beacon's grounds while messaging the teachers of Beacon and the present Hunters to let them know what Ironwood, and by extension, what Atlas was planning on doing in Beacon's dorms. "Wha- the battleship?"

She paused as the massive Atlesian battleship moved from its planned position just beside the Beacon Tower towards the student dorms- specifically towards the fourth-year dormitory. The squad of interceptors Vale had sent to 'guard' the Atlesian ship buzzed around the massive aircraft in clear confusion since the relocation hadn't been communicated to Vale's air control.

"James! Dammit, you didn't… Dammit, is he _trying_ to start a war?! After I warned him?" Glynda cursed the man, cursed his actions, cursed Arc, and cursed the entire day. "Dammit, this day started to nicely, why did it come to this?!"

"Hello! Did something happen?" a jolly voice approached and caused something to pulse in Glynda's temple. She turned to see Port and Oobleck running, or rather, jogging at her. "Glynda! We got a message saying that you needed to see us. And that you weren't mad." Port waved his hand at Glynda in greeting.

"I was quite adamant that the message was, quite in fact, not truthful, and thus should not be taken to full extent of its seriousness." Oobleck nodded five times in a second, indicating to Glynda that the pair had been likely caffeinating themselves in teacher's breakroom when she had sent them the message to rally up. "However it seems and appears that my initial hypothesis was quite wrong indeed. Glynda, if you have the correct answer and not a guess, could you shed light to what exactly is happening?"

"Grhh…" Glynda bit back a venomous retort as Oobleck's 'unique' way of speaking made her head ache even harder than it already was. "General Ironwood's gotten into his head that he needs to arrest Arc."

"Again?" Port asked while lifting his eyebrow.

"Yes, again, after we had the situation under control." Glynda fought the venom down from her voice. It wouldn't do to show unprofessional attitude while the situation was hot. "He's searching the fourth year dorms for the escaped tentacle from Arc's morning's training- and he's gone to arrest Arc himself."

"Oh, yes, I heard of that. A escaped testicle, how scandalous."

"Tentacle, Bart, a tentacle."

"Oh, you're quite correct, Peter. A freudian slip, or perhaps a true intent? Indistinguishable, but possibly..."

"Quit it, the situation is serious!" Glynda's growl cut Oobleck off. "Anyway, Ironwood told me that Arc could possess a threat to Beacon if he was left alone, but as it is, _Ironwood_ 's causing a bigger incident by himself. We need to stop both of them before this gets completely out of hand."

"Have you tried to call him?" Port asked and Glynda sighed.

"Yes, he's stopped answering. I fear that Arc has finally gotten a 'enemy' tag in his mind, and he just charged in without a plan for the inevitable fallout, hell-bent on destroying the 'threat' before it could destroy him."

"Sounds like Ironwood." Port nodded his agreement while he adjusted his axe on his back. "I'm honestly surprised it took him this long."

"I believe Ozpin had served as calming influence on him. Presumably Ironwood believed that Ozpin had the situation under control or at least had a plan, but with him gone…" Glynda sighed. "He respected Ozpin, even if their methods rarely matched. I fear that while Ironwood respects me, he doesn't trust that I have a plan nor that I have the situation under control."

"...And thus Ironwood's returned to his earlier 'point front at enemy' mindset. Got it." Port nodded at Glynda while Oobleck adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. "So how do we deal with it?"

"I've already alerted the Hunters- Ironwood will likely apply Atlesian police mindset and arrest everyone, filter out the 'criminals' and release the rest. Unfortunately if the press or people of Vale see Atlas starting to arrest our Hunters- our first and realistically last line of defence against Grimm…" Glynda let the words hang and Oobleck nodded his agreement from the side.

"...They will believe that Atlas is beginning its assault upon Vale, and are using Grimm to do their dirty work. After all, Hunters can't hunt from Atlesian cell. It also directly breaks the agreement between Atlas, Mistral, Vale and Vacuo which was put in place during the Great War, preventing Hunters from being arrested by opposing militaries. The agreement allowed Hunters to prevent Grimm-induced human and faunus extinction after town- and city garrisons were weakened by the conflict and negativity was at all-time high." Oobleck noted. "History, ah, how fickle mistress it can be. The same doctrine caused conflict between Atlas and Vacuo at year…"

"Bart. For now, we need to push back against Atlas. We can't allow them to make Vale look weak- not now of all times." Glynda cut Oobleck's speech off before he could start another lecture on history. "People's faith in Vale is already wavering. If we allow it to collapse, so will our walls."

"Some people will die regardless." Port noted. "Atlesian soldiers will obey or die. Going against their orders is something that has been ironed out of their minds."

"Those deaths are on Ironwood's hands as they are on mine." Glynda growled as she motioned for the group to start moving towards the fourth-year dorms. She picked up faint explosions from the direction of the dorms and the group picked up the pace. "Dammit, don't tell me he's executing students?!"

"I honestly doubt he'd go that far, unless he believes they are Grimm or such." Port commented. "...Does he have any reason to believe so?"

"He told me that it's possible that fourth-years have been infected by Grimm Infiltrators, the ones found in Glenn!" Glynda waved her crop as they arrived to the dormitories entrance, and the roadblock Atlesian soldiers had set on the fourth-year dorm entrance got swept away by a sudden and violent gust of wind. "Dammit, we don't have time to argue and authority-struggle with his rank-and-file troops! Take them out, but don't kill them!"

"This might be… bad." Port commented as he 'bonk'ed one of the remaining soldiers in the head with the flat of his axe, breaking the man's Aura in one blow and sending him to sleep for a good while while Oobleck whacked the remaining two disoriented soldiers with his weapon. "You already informed the others?"

"Hunters across Beacon should be avoiding Atlesians as we speak. And will defend themselves if someone tries to apprehend them." Glynda noted as she pointed her crop at the dorm's atrium. The handful of soldiers who had come to reinforce the team at the gate were swept away by wind and got flung all over the hall like if caught by a small tornado, before being get tossed head-first against the walls with meaty thuds. "Try to keep the casualties to minimum! Dammit, I can't believe I was smooching that man in a elevator just hour ago!"

"What, who did where?" Port got distracted by the latter part of Glynda's curse and was shot in the stomach by a Atlesian Knight-bot. The small-caliber fire didn't break the man's Aura though, and he flipped his axe around to fire its built-in musket one-handed at the robotic soldier.

The booming shot landed solid on the metal-made soldier's chest and caused the war machine to explode into scraps of metal, hydraulic fluid and wiring.

"Still got it." Port made a fist-bump gesture to Oobleck and got one in return as the fight in the lobby came to a´swift end with the Atlesian presence being either wounded, unconscious or in scraps. "Right, we need to go around the rooms. Glynda, should we go and confront Ironwood? We know which room he's in and he can stop this madness before it gets worse."

"Right, Oobleck, start intercepting the soldiers in the other parts of the dorm. Port, with me!" Glynda issued the orders and Oobleck nodded at her before sprinting off. "Dammit all to hell…"

A bone-chilling howl from the direction of the dorm-room Port had used as 'temporary relocation' for Jaune caused all color to drain from Glynda's face.

"We better hurry." Port commented before sprinting to the direction of the dorm-room.

"...Yes." Glynda pulled out her Scroll. ' _The battleship… he brought it above this dorm, so don't tell me he's planning on using it to level the dorm in a last ditch effort if he fails? I'd be something that man would do- gets results despite losses. I can't believe I'm about to do this…'_

She sighed heavily before using her overrides on Beacon's security. Few taps and flicks gave the automated turrets and heavy cannons on Beacon's many spires and towers a new sets of firing coordinates.

' _He won't be persuaded to lose, but perhaps a stalemate might work?'_ Glynda stashed her Scroll away and followed Port, leaving the towers waiting for the final firing command. ' _I just hope I don't have to use that…'_

* * *

A Atlesian soldier was forced to dive for cover as a Aura-reinforced hairbrush was flung at his general direction.

The man responded with hail of gunfire.

A shower stool hit the man's helmet, cracking it and causing the man to flop over on the floor while his squadmate dragged him away.

' _Dammit, dammit, dammit…'_

Scarlet dived for cover on the shower floor as hail of gunfire bore chain of holes to the wall at waist height, and broke the door between the bathroom where she was, and the main room, from where the shots were coming from. ' _I'm running out of things to throw at them…'_

She had been sleeping off the aftereffects of her 'private shower time' when a massive bang had woken her up. Before she had even realized what was happening, a pair of men wearing Atlesian soldier outfits had barged into the shower while she was still getting back on her feet and adjusting to the new weight in her stomach (and to the fact there was a new and lazily squirming weight in her stomach in the first place).

However before she could figure out what was happening, one of the Atlesian men had pointed a rifle at her head and other had pulled out a pair of Aura-suppressing handcuffs. Thus the situation had clicked in her head.

One of three possible things had happened:

One: Atlesians had begun their invasion of Vale, like the newspapers and inter-city Scroll network's doomsayers had foretold.

Two: Atlesians were kidnapping Hunters- or her specifically.

Three: Atlesians had somehow found out she was 'harboring' a Grimm tentacle 'monster'. Glynda Goodwich's private tentacle monster, to be specific. And were intending on retrieving it.

However Scarlet had no plans on complying with the first two possibilities and the third was too embarrassing and horrifying to comprehend as a possibility.

So when the Atlesian man with the restraining device had threatened to open fire if she didn't turn around and let him suppress her, she had done the only sensible thing. She threw the showerhead at the man.

Granted, because the shower head was still attached to the shower, the projectile attack didn't really work, but it distracted the soldiers for split second.

Thus only two bullets from the overwatching soldier hit her before she whacked the first soldier in the nuts, grabbed the restraining device and slammed it on the second man's helmet. The hit disoriented the man, and it was easy to just toss him out of the bathroom and into the main room where she would have more space to deal with him.

But before she could press the attack she discovered that the pair's entire squad had entered her dorm-room when they had heard fighting.

And thus she was laying on the bathroom floor while the Atlesian strike squad was shooting at the wall between main room and shower, crumbling her only piece of cover with the hail of gunfire. She had time to think while the wall still held, but she couldn't hide forever and she was still getting occasionally hit by the gunfire through the wall- although her Aura held just fine. ' _Thank whatever god watches over me for my Aura… But those guys aren't joking. They're shooting to kill.'_

The sentiment was even truer as she glanced at the man who she had hit in the family jewels. The man's lifeless body was slowly bleeding on the still-wet bathroom floor as the stray shots had broken his Aura and had finished him off. ' _Atlesians don't screw around, do they? They just straight-up friendly-fired one of their guys!'_

"Hey! Why are you doing this!" her shout rang to deaf ears, and she had to change her hiding spot as the gunfire concentrated on the spot she had shouted from, followed by another concussion grenade that Scarlet barely managed to kick back into the main room before it detonated. The gunfire didn't pause, cluing Scarlet that the soldier's helmets likely protected them from the effects of their own grenades. ' _Damn, they're good. Literally pinpointed where I was from the sound alone in all this gunfire. '_

She glanced behind herself. ' _Although… yeah, I think I should not worry about decency and my stuff when in situation like this._

Scarlet focused on her Semblance, Ironflesh, and hardened her fists and her legs with her Aura before charging straight through the shower's weakened wall and into the group of soldiers who had likely not expected such move from her. A swift kick caused a soldier's Aura to crack alongside his knee, and she flipped the gun around in his hands so she could fire a salvo into a soldier next to Scarlet. First five or so shots were blocked by the man's Aura, but the rate of fire of the gun was enough to punch chain of holes to the man's shoulder and arm.

Scarlet tried to avoid killing blows, but as the soldiers recovered from the sudden charge, the fight became harder for her as the men were clearly trained to fight as a group. A taser-knife hit the back of her waist as she kicked another soldier in the groin, and she felt a sizeable chunk of her Aura disappear as the electricity coursed through her body. Even larger chunk of her Aura disappeared when a rifle barrel was buried to her back and a entire magazine of Dust-reinforced bullets was rapidly dumped into her back before she could swing around and kick the soldier's helmet so hard it cracked alongside the man's neck. ' _Guh- Aura's holding, but not for long… Damn, they are waiting for openings while I attack one of them…'_

While she was struggling to deliver more damage than she received, the 'passenger' in her stomach was agitated further by the hits and the subsequent shocks, forcing her on her knees.

A stock of a gun flashed before her eyes, and she was knocked on her back as the baseball-bat like hit connected with her face. The hit was followed by another salvo of gunfire aimed at her stomach, and Scarlet let a scream of pain as her Aura was beginning to fluctuate- alongside the intensified squirming in her stomach. ' _Gah, not now, little one…'_

However the conflict, the anger and the cold killing intent from the soldiers was clearly affecting the creature as it started to squirm and trash inside Scarlet's stomach- and it was clear the soldiers saw it.

"She's infected! Kill it!" The soldiers concentrated fire on Scarlet's stomach…

And the tentacle shot out of her through her 'rear exit' almost as if it was fired from some sort of fourth-year student turned into flesh-cannon.

She heard screams and shouts as she spasmed on the floor, trying to recover from the feeling of getting 'un-filled' in so rapid fashion through her butt. ' _Ooowwch… that kinda hurt, ow. No, this isn't the time to be worrying about that!'_

Scarlet turned around so she was on her stomach and coiled back to a low striking stance (or tried to, considering she was shaking like a leaf and her legs had lost their strength). And she blinked at the scene in front of her.

The four remaining soldiers were lying on the floor.

Dead and torn like rags put through blender, while a white and black form was coiled through and around their bodies.

And the 'tentacle' was looking _far_ more different than before. ' _Oh… oh.'_

Scarlet paled as she looked at the creature that had grown chitin-like bone-armor and small, sharp-looking legs like some sort of long, nearly forearm-thick Grimm centipede. And instead of having vaguely phallus-like head, the creature's head was tipped with a cruel-looking, scarlet bone-blade that was either coloured so by nature or coloured so by the human blood that covered it. For all intents and purposes, the creature was more reminiscent of the savage and wild Grimm she had fought in the wilderness, completely different from the oddly pacifist Grimm she had found in her shower. ' _Uh… erm… t-that was in me just now?'_

Almost as if it sensed her thoughts, the creature started to shed its skin and the blade-like head cracked, allowing the more peaceful-looking creature to slither out. ' _Whoa… it's shedding its skin? How'd it get that armor? Did it just grow the armor just now or something?'_

The tentacle closed towards Scarlet immediately afterwards before she had even recovered properly from her 'projectile attack'.

She realized what the creature was planning on doing and closed her legs. "H-hey, are you coming back 'home' already?"

' _R-right, Glynda might have had a point, this thing's not entirely tame yet.'_ The tentacle paused and Scarlet forced herself to breath out and calm herself. ' _It somehow changed shape and attacked those soldiers, so… they were angry and tried to kill me, it sensed the anger and replicated it in action? Kinda fits the earlier theory. So if I just act calm and collected, it should return to its earlier, calmer state, right?'_

She breathed in and out while reaching to nudge it gently with her foot. The tentacle, completely clean after shedding its skin, responded by nudging her leg in turn. ' _Eh, sure… Someone tries to kill me and I can't win, I poop this at them and then run for cover? Fine by me. I should probably go and help the other students… and I can't let them see this thing. Also the 'secret weapon' part doesn't work either if it's plain to see.'_

She sighed and pulled away from the tentacle. ' _Yeah, I have to take it 'in' again'. At least until the situation calms down.'_

Scarlet nodded to herself and reinforced her body with her Semblance before flopping down on her back and opening her legs. The tentacle didn't need more invitation than that, and Scarlet bit her finger as the creature re-entered her butt, invaded into her intestines and rubbed her body from the inside in a way that would have forced her to change her underwear if she was wearing any. ' _Ugh- c-come to think of it, why exactly am I keeping this thing with me in the first place? This… hng... doesn't make any sense… but somehow… I don't really want to separate myself from it… urgh… why am I arguing with myself? Did that thing do something to my head when I passed out?'_

After few seconds that felt like few minutes the creature's other head disappeared into her body as well, and Scarlet rolled over on the floor so she could get up. ' _Hn… I'm so going to get addicted to this feeling. I wonder why it's that… good? Odd. I need to think about that later, it can't be natural… or I'm a total pervert. Eh, that might actually be fairly good guess as well.'_

Scarlet flexed her arms and legs before sprinting out of the dorm- or rather, jogging out of the dorm as her now-full stomach looked like she was three or four months into pregnancy and it was making it _quite_ hard to move quickly.

However before she got far she remembered that she was still naked, making her double back to her dorm, step over the bodies, walk to a wardrobe and pull on a red, Mistralian form-fitting one-piece dress from her wardrobe. She figured was the fastest to put on and would make it easy to 'deploy' the tentacle without ripping the clothes if need be. Not to mention that it was one of the only piece of clothing she had at hand that could accommodate the new difference in her waist-size, mainly due to the fact the dress's side was high-cut on both sides to show risque amounts of thigh- and more importantly, it was cut all the way up to her sides with braided cords connecting the cuts.

She adjusted the cord until the sides of the dress were loosened and the waist-size was good. Scarlet hummed as her stomach felt comfortable in the dress, and the tentacle reflected the though with a small churn around her lower parts, making Scarlet's knees weak for a moment. She didn't have time to entertain the creature though, and instead picked her basic wilderness survival kit and her Scroll which she attached to the back-waist of her dress.

' _I really need to get going, this thing is insatiable. I'll have time to play with it later, er, if I want to keep it with me.'_ Scarlet blushed at the thought and tied to her long, dyed-red hair to a bun before charging out the destroyed dorm-room and running down the hallway.

A Atlesian bot attempted to open fire on her and she drop-kicked it, sending the machine flying with a massive dent in its chest. The bot flew at a man who flung hits bat at it, redirecting the bot at Scarlet and she axe-kicked the war machine down to the ground. A lurch from her stomach informed her that she should try to remember that her mobility was limited while the tentacle was 'occupying' her stomach, and she made a mental remark to stay away from flashy martial arts for the time being.

She was about to charge the man at the end of the hallway before the green hair and massive, round goggles the man wore registered in her brain. "Pro- professor Oobleck?"

"Ah, good, it seems that Atlesians invasion of our lovely Beacon hasn't managed to go very far, or so it seems. What would you say to this situation, miss Scarlet Honeydew? Also, congratulations for your pregnancy. Forgive me that I wasn't aware, but then again, young people bloom so quickly these days." Professor Barthomellow Oobleck asked as he offered his weapon at Scarlet, making her confused for a moment before she realized what the eccentric professor intended. She sighed heavily as she remembered what the man's weapon was- a coffee pot that turned to a bat and to a flamethrower.

"No thank you, I'm more of a tea drinker." Scarlet refused the offer, not that she had a mug to begin with, and blinked as the professor walked off without further clarification. She hurried to follow the man "Right, what's happening? Are we at war with Atlas? Invasion? A bunch of them attacked me in the shower, and I… defeated them."

"Defeat, described as: to render unconscious, to make them submit to you, to kill in cold blood and dance in and on their internal organs, which is a misnomer as the said organs are at that point external. Which description would fit the best for your current situation?" Oobleck asked as he rounded a corner and slammed his bat-form weapon to Atlesian soldier's helmet, cracking it and tossing the man aside with little difficulty. "We are trying to limit the casualties, you see. I'm afraid that this conflict may or may not be the result of a terrible misunderstanding, in which case sending 'killed in action' reports to families would be both terribly tragic and terribly embarrassing. Or this could be the start of a potentially world-ending scenario, however due to butterfly effect, that is a given for any situation from wide-scale war to sneezing when waking up."

"R-right." Scarlet sighed while following the professor who was knocking the soldiers aside with almost ridiculous ease, using the flamethrower part of his weapon to blow hot steam on long range targets to pacify them before closing in. ' _Yeah, I kinda forgot how strong our teachers are since they spend most of their time telling stories and well, teaching.'_

She sighed as she thought about her first years when the team had constant co-operative missions, but now days the team took more solo missions than co-op ones, meaning that she was currently the only member of her team in Beacon as the others had opted to take guard duty in Vale's walls, help the police, or poke at the mass of Grimm beasts that had begun gathering outside Vale's walls.

However the line of thoughts brought her to the Atlesian presence in the dorm, specifically who they were gunning for.

"Professor! The students!" Scarlet stammered at Oobleck as he finished bowling around a squad of soldiers that came out of some dorm-room and Scarlet went in to check if the student within was alright. They discovered that the female student within was lying on the floor, bound with the cuffs, completely unconscious, out of Aura... but ultimately alive.

"She'll recover. However, we need to kick Atlesian presence off the dorms before the situation gets worse or spreads out of the dorm- most of the students were out of the dorm when Atlesians invaded so only a small fraction of fourth-years were caught. Still, losing even one student is unacceptable." Oobleck noted. "I do hope that Ironwood has ordered these soldiers to only restrain and gather the students, instead of say, cuffing them under the excuse of law enforcement, gathering them to some convenient hole in the ground and executing them on the spot like they did eighty years ago after the long and gruelling siege of Peach village where Atlas massacred the entire populace of a village to demoralize the nearby towns. They aimed to have the villages surrender without a fight as the ultimatum was given."

Scarlet blinked and her face paled.

"That might have even worked, if Valean people had any faith on Atlas keeping their promises. Fortunately that doesn't seem to be the case here, but Atlas confronting people in Vale in the current atmosphere is bound to create conflict. Even more so as Atlas tends to consider human and faunus life as material assets rather than, well, life." Oobleck's quick, casual and almost uncaring words caused something cold to flow down Scarlet's spine. "I believe Glynda would quite literally tear Ironwood a new one and insert his Battleship into it should he attempt to kill her students. However with the talk of a Grimm Infiltrator infiltrating the fourth-year dorm, I feel that the Atlesian soldiers are fairly tense, and Glynda likely feels the same but towards the soldiers- so it probably wouldn't take much provocation for the soldiers to get violent. And when the opposing Hunters are both restrained and of fairer sex, bad things may happen. While I doubt neither side intends conflict, the ingredients are in the pot to create huge bang. Unfortunately it seems that Ironwood either chooses to ignore the potential of conflict or considers the collateral casualties acceptable."

"Y-yeah." Scarlet felt anger but forced it aside as she felt bubbling in her stomach. She patted her stomach reassuringly and the feeling went away. ' _Wait, Grimm Infiltrators?'_ "P-professor? You said something about Grimm…"

"Oh, Ironwood seemed to have gotten the impression that a new subtype found in Glenn had entered Beacon somehow and had started to infect people. I am not well versed in the specifics, you'll have to ask Professor Port about the details, but apparently it is something that causes massive mutations in the host body after infecting it. However I find the rumor somewhat unlikely as the 'infiltration' was likely made not by that specific subtype, but by a Grimm tentacle which apparently escaped after molesting a female Atlesian Specialist this morning." Oobleck rattled on.

Scarlet was trying to focus on the man's speech but the disconnected and jumpy speech made her both disoriented and sleepy at the same time. "Atlesian Specialist was molested?"

"...So I believe that this may, indeed, be the result of a potential mis-misinformation, which while quite tragic, must be resolved in a way that paints Vale as capable of defending themselves as Atlas has chosen to use drastic and quite flashy methods, as it usual to them, to resolve the issue." Oobleck ignored Scarlet in favor of continuing his speech. "Unfortunately by arresting our Hunters-in-training, Ironwood, and by extension, Atlas have violated the agreement regarding the freedom of Hunters to operate, which is to say, that Hunters are classified as neutral faction and cannot be arrested unless they are breaching a law of the local government. Naturally, during wartime it was more of a guideline than a hard rule since information was patchy and incomplete at best so burying few 'incidents' wasn't overly hard, but at peace it is far easier to draw attention to breaks in the agreement, meaning the tensions between Vale and Atlas will rise as Atlas arrests Hunters who have not breached Vale's laws in Vale. The concept of law differs between the nations as well, since Atlas assumes guilty unless proven innocent, burden of proof being on the arrested, and Vale considers innocent until proven guilty, with burden of proof being on the arrester..."

"Agreement of what? Arrest what, how?" Scarlet blinked as the speech had largely gone over her head due to how disconnected Oobleck's speech was, and by the fact there were muffled explosions going off around them- indicating that the Atlesian assault on the dorm hadn't ended yet.

The answer for Scarlet's questions would have to wait though, as the pair walked to a hallway that connected the dorm-wings and the atrium. A click turned a gout of steam to arcing electricity as Oobleck used his weapon to clear a group of closely-packed Atlesian bots that were guarding the hallway.

"Erm, anyway…" Scarlet merely walked behind the man and tried to not fall over on the scraps of Atlesian metal the professor left behind. "About the Grimm, you said something about 'Infiltrators'?"

"Yes indeed. Anyway, I believe so anyway. Atlesians were supposed to knock on doors and ask if someone had seen or been molested by a Grimm tentacle monster and if yes, point us at the general direction where it went afterwards." Oobleck nodded as Scarlet was likely paying more attention to his speech than his average student. "However it seems that Ironwood somehow substituted the tentacle, which I have been told is fairly harmless creature, outside the obvious mental trauma a attack from it can cause to a prude student, with a Grimm Infiltrator, which is in fact quite dangerous, and possesses the capability to inflict extensive mental and physical trauma. Thus the whole fiasco with full scale assault instead of polite knocking. Although the Atlesian approach to diplomacy might place the two as equal. The fact Ironwood and Atlesians effectively cut communications after starting the assault didn't help."

"Wha…" ' _Hold on, what exactly is this thing? I should have probably checked that before well… doing that and this... Although I'm too far gone to have second thoughts now. Dammit, '_ Scarlet tried to make sense of the professor's words. "Assuming say, a student _was_ molested by a tentacle-thing-whatever, what would happen? I mean, if one of my friends was molested, I'd hate to hear her getting deported or something…"

"Knowing General Ironwood's general attitude towards things like this, I would consider a swift bullet to the head and-or a dissection in some shady Atlesian lab to be more likely. All for scientific purposes and for national safety of course." Oobleck noted. "It would fit with Atlesian m.o when regarding potentially city-threatening events, as he seem to think Grimm tentacles are in fact, Grimm Infiltrators, when in fact in fact, there is no definite proof as of yet the tentacles being infiltrators, or infiltrators being tentacles. Or perhaps there is, and I don't know it yet."

' _Ugh, I should have known this was a bad, bad idea. In retrospect doing 'that' was absolutely crap idea… I should just make a personal rule to never make decisions in a shower.'_ Scarlet held to her head as she tried to keep herself calm despite Oobleck's rambling speech. Luckily the man was facing away from her so he didn't see Scarlet having a small mental breakdown. ' _So… if Atlas finds out I have 'this' thing, and that I did… things with it, they are going to kill and dissect me. Awesome. I'll have to lay low for a while, perhaps take a vacation or something while this blows over. Hopefully Atlas gets this done fast, perhaps writes the tentacle off as escapee or something and things settle down so I can come back.'_

A chilling roar caused her follow-up questions to come to a halt, and caused something to lurch in her stomach. ' _Oh? What… happened?'_

The professor's free hand stopped Scarlet from advancing. "Miss Scarlet, I hate to say this to you, but I fear I need to ask you to leave."

"Wha- Why?"

"Your enthusiasm is commendable, but please remember you are fighting for two people right now. Retreat and take care of your young one." Oobleck noted while he waved his baton in the general direction of Scalet's stomach, causing the girl's face to turn as red as her namesake. "The next generation must live and so on. Off you go, get out from the immediate area. If you feel compelled to perform heroics then help your fellow students or retreat to Vale City and recover. However, try to stay in the dorm until the battleship above is dealt with, as Ironwood has likely ordered it to prevent people from leaving. With artillery barrage, if you need specification."

"R-right." Scarlet recognized the dismissal and turned away. ' _I can use this time to figure out a place to hide, or at the very least, dump the tentacle somewhere private so Atlesians can't figure out I had it… Do I want to leave the tentacle behind though? Yes, yes I do.'_

She blinked as she made her way out of the dorms through the way that Oobleck pointed at, which was presumably already cleared by either Oobleck or by his fellow teachers. ' _Why am I arguing with myself about the tentacle? It's a Grimm, not worth risking my life over. But why do I feel so… empty when I think of separating with it?'_

 _'Ugh, I should... I should... probably keep it with me, for now. It's not hurting me, so I guess it doesn't matter...' Scarlet_ shook her head as she half-ran half-wobbled to hide in the atrium that looked like it had been hit by a tornado, waiting for her chance to escape. And also to send the news to her teammates via Scroll.

And perhaps update her profile and relationship status in Remnet from 'open' to 'busy'. And make few other social media updates as well, since she was likely going to go offline for a while.

* * *

Glynda dodged as a massive crash accompanied a chilling howl.

The second after she dodged a dorm-room wall, against which she had been leaning, exploded in splinters as over seven feet tall creature of bone and muscle burst through it..

She dodged some of the wood and concrete rubble that accompanied the creature, and waved her crop to direct the rest of the flying shrapnel away.

The rubble converged into a pillar which swept the creature off its feet, giving her some breathing space. Beside Glynda, Ironwood stood up from the floor as he had gotten knocked over by the blast.

The creature tried to get up and Ironwood used the chance to aim his handheld cannon at its head, but a gust of wind threw off his aim and a shot aimed at the Grimm monster's head impacted against one of its tentacles.

The creature returned fire with forearm-length bone-spikes that struck the opposing wall with violent thuds, largely thanks to Glynda's attempt to destabilize the projectiles flight path with her Glyphs. Luckily Ironwood dodged all of the projectiles, and used his gun to swat one off the air before it could hit the man's stomach.

The creature, Jaune Arc, let another chilling howl that seemed to come through the scorched, slowly re-knitting fist-sized hole he had in the middle of his bone-mask. The exit hole of the handheld cannon's shot had already closed, but the gross display was making it extremely clear that the monster would not die easily

"Glynda! The situation is far worse than I expected!" Ironwood displayed his tactical genius by analyzing the situation as the group fought against the creature- Or rather, Ironwood tried to fight Jaune, but Glynda was hampering the man from attacking Arc as much as she was trying to prevent Arc from causing further damage. Port had been separated from the group during the initial stage of the fight and was currently busy keeping the Atlesian strike team from interfering with the 'fight'.

"I can tell that the situation has gone bad! Pull back! Get out of the dorm!" Glynda shouted at Ironwood as she was forced to dodge a brutal-looking tentacle that tried to skewer her through the chest. She used her crop to crack the floor under Arc and throw him off his balance again. "Let me lure Arc out of the dorm and release Rose, Schnee and Belladonna! They can help get Arc under control!"

"No, we must kill him or we risk losing Beacon!" Ironwood denied. "Penny!"

A series of flashing blades caused Knight-form Jaune Arc to stumble as he sprung up from the floor like missile made of bone and flesh aimed at Glynda and Ironwood, but a chain of blades skewered him from behind and caused the shapeshifter to stumble.

Ironwood nodded at Penny who had hopped through the hole in the wall Arc had made in order to join the fight. Ironwood's gratitude was short-lived though, and was replaced with rage as Jaune's tentacles flowed backwards and grabbed Penny's leg while she was balancing herself on the rubble. The tentacle jerked her off her feet and flung the petite girl out of the window like a doll before she could react or pull her blades off Jaune's back.

The Arc-Knight let a howl as he tried to follow the Atlesian girl, presumably so he could finish her off, but Ironwood managed to land a solid shot on the creature's knee and caused the Knight to come to a halt with explosion of bone-shrapnel and blood.

Glynda seized the opportunity to kick Ironwood in the back of his knee and disorient the Atlesian General in favor of channelling her Glyphs and create one directly below Arc, and one directly in front of window- the first one to repel gravity, and the second one to do the opposite.

As a result the heavy Grimm-human beast was turned lighter for brief moment and the opposing gravity well managed to grasp him and suck him out of the window like a black hole, before losing its strength to hold onto him when he exited the first Glyph's range.

Or, as it was more visually apparent, Knight-form Arc was sucked out of the window and blown clear off the dorm.

Glynda slapped her crop down and made another gravity-repelling glyph just outside the window and hopped out, allowing the glyph to slow her fall and making her descent far more graceful than Arc's 'flight' that had ended up burying the man-monster up to his waist in the ground, face-first.

She had no time to waste though, as the creature had began to burrow into the ground. Another few flicks of her crop created circles and circles of gravity around the creature, lifting the beast up from the ground as the gravity well negated itself around the creature and caused Arc to start bobbing around weightlessly, trapped in a gravity bubble fifteen feet in the air.

The tentacles were lashing around the rolling Arc-Knight but were unable to disrupt the glyphs that had started to form a semi-solid seal around it, like the legends told of ancient runes prisoning a dragon of darkness inside the moon.

After few more seconds the seal was complete, trapping the Knight into a floating ball of zero-gravity with crushing walls that prevented anything inside from exiting- and also prevented everything else from everything.

Glynda let out a breath as the situation seemed to calm down… until she saw another wave of assault transports detach from the Atlesian battleship that was hovering above the dorm.

"Good work, Glynda!" Ironwood told her as he jumped out of the dorm's window and landed behind her with a sizeable thump and billow of dirt. The man pulled out his Scroll instantly upon landing. "We can eliminate Arc when he's vulnerable! Battleship, prepare to fire while we…"

Glynda hissed at Ironwood while she patted the dust off her pencil shirt, and a flick of her crop caused the Atlesian General's Scroll to snap off his fingers and land on her hand. "Ironwood, we're going to talk about your methods in Beacon. In fact I'd like to respectfully request you to remove that battleship from Vale, right now. And remove Atlesian presence in Beacon with it."

"Glynda, I can't do that while Arc still poses a threat to Atlas and Remnant!" Ironwood replied. "Return my Scroll."

"No!"

"Glynda, I…"

"No, you bull-headed buffoon! Can't you see all this devastation was caused by your idiotic charge? Release Arc's team and we can get him under control and put him back to a Grimm holding cell while we figure out just what is going on! I don't care if he's a Grimm Infiltrator, the wraith of mid-winter feast or the god-king of Mistral himself in disguise! We need to stop this madness before it spreads to Vale!" Glynda hissed at Ironwood and pointed at the sky where the Atlesian battleship was disgorging its smaller transport craft from its belly. "Call those assault boats off, we don't need more Atlesian strike teams on the ground to cause more issues. The Hunters are already on the verge of starting to kick your precious troops out of Beacon, and that was _before_ your assault on the fourth-year students dorm! Don't give them- no, don't give _me_ more incentive to kick you out of Beacon through Emerald Forest!"

"...I can't do that. Glynda, I told you about the Grimm Infiltrators, how they operate, you must see that…"

"No, you don't see that your actions have consequences! You're not in Atlas, you can't just brush this under the floor and expect us, expect _me_ to just take your invasion of our facilities in a stride!" Glynda growled. "Order the battleship away!"

"I will not do that. I am sorry." Ironwood lifted his arm to press something beside his head, and Glynda heard a small click. At the same time she realized Penny was nowhere to be seen, despite her being flung out of the dorm in the same direction where Glynda had thrown Arc.

' _Wait… oh crap, Ironwood mentioned having a info-link in his skull, connected with Penny, who can then communicate with the battleship! She must have retreated so she can start the data transfer, that whole Scroll request was just a show!'_ Glynda paled as she saw the assault boats detaching from the battleship starting to converge towards Beacon's grounds while the Valean interceptors around the Atlesian battleship pulled away from the larger craft- away from the battleship's massed short-range anti-air guns.

Glynda realized what it meant- Vale's air control was incredibly confused over the sudden movement of the ship and was ordering the aircraft to pull range so they could engage if they were given the order. "Ironwood! Stop this, you're going to start a war!"

"A small-scale conflict at best, the diplomats can apologize later. This conflict is preferable to extinction. Considering Vale council's average decision-making speed even in emergency situations, we'll be extinct by the time we can start removing the strain hosts with their blessing." Ironwood's tone was resolute as he let his hand fall to his waist, his orders likely sent and confirmed. "Arc- no, Arc's _master_ can and will destroy us all if we allow the hosts to survive. Hell, it will destroy us all if we allow _any_ part of the strain to survive. We must inspect, and if necessary, purge everything he's touched, everything he's interacted with. It is the only way to stop the infection from spreading in Vale- and from spreading across Remnant."

"Ironwood, even if that is true you can't just start rounding up our people like this! If you choose to go with this path, I have no choice but to take custody of you and your men, and destroy that battleship if you won't be persuaded to remove it from out airspace!" Glynda tried to call Ironwood for his bluff. She hoped it was bluff- that the man could be persuaded to stop. "Doing things your way will just provoke another war! I won't allow it! We have our own ways to deal with things!"

"Would you stop me to protect Arc? After all you've told me of your opinions about him?" Ironwood called Glynda out for bluff, but she was resolute. "As for your methods, I must confess my doubts. While I... respect you, Glynda, all I have seen in Vale is incompetence in various forms. I would not insist so heavily on my involvement if it merely concerned Vale, but something like this has very real chance of spilling over to Atlas!"

"Arc is no model student nor do I have a bond with him, but he shows potential- potential to end the Grimm threat as much as you say he's going to end us! Even Ozpin realized that, surely you must realize it as well! But that is not the point- even if he's what you say he is, you can't just start locking up people indiscriminately!" Glynda replied while she reached for her Scroll under the disguise of stashing Ironwood's Scroll to her belt. "Moreover, what you're implying is something far more radical than just killing Arc- what _exactly_ do you mean by 'purging'?"

"It is as you hear. Lock his hosts up and unless we find how to separate them from the strain, we must destroy the hosts. It is the only way." Ironwood seemed to grow frustrated. "Glynda, why won't you see the threat? Vale is not invincible, and it may very well be in the verge of destruction- which comes insidiously in the quiet of night, unseen, and from _within_ while our eyes are in the enemy outside the gates! We must sort out the hosts, go through the entire city if need be, and filter out the taint before it has spread too far! Glenn showed us twice now that no city or outpost is safe! Hell, if what my researchers tell me is true, losing Vale would start a domino effect that will wipe out all the remaining kingdoms as well!"

"I…" Glynda paused to gulp. She could already see the scenario unfolding before her very eyes- Atlesian soldiers going from house to house, pulling the residents to streets and flinging the 'tainted' to the corpse-carts after executing them in cold blood. ' _What he told me in that Scroll conversation in my office… if that's true, then that apocalyptic scenario is possible, but at the same time I can't just let him start killing our people…'_

Glynda knew what inevitable backlash would result from the 'purge' Ironwood detailed. A purge that was far too reminiscent of Atlesian actions of old, back during the Great War. The 'purge' sounded like one of the systematic man-hunts Atlas had performed on the populace of northern Vale in order to reduce partisans and hamper guerrilla warfare- and people of Vale would remember. Vacuo would likely cry for war as well when their old allies were threatened by the very same white-clad oppressor they threw from their land long ago, and the conflict would only escalate from there.

Glynda's hand moved from Ironwood's Scroll to her own and gripped the device in her waist-pouch. ' _I… can't let that happen. And as long Ironwood has the battleship above Beacon, he won't be persuaded otherwise- he's in position of power, or so he believes. He thinks I'm bluffing, that I won't retaliate…'_

"...I see. So that's how it will be, huh." Glynda spoke softly as she tried to feverishly think of a way to get Ironwood to settle down. ' _What exactly is the reason he doesn't believe me, that I can take care of this? Hm... Could it be that he doesn't believe in my ability to safeguard my students, my people… Or he thinks that I've grown as indecisive as Ozpin was during my career in Beacon… or he started to think of me as 'his woman' after that elevator 'incident'.'_

' _Or… Atlas has chosen to go with the flow of things, taking advantage of the chaos in Vale.'_ She froze as the last theory came to her head, except this one was far more chilling and realistic as she knew Ironwood was no fool who would be led by his emotions more than his rationale. ' _I know for a fact he's more loyal to Atlas than to any single person, well, beside Ozpin perhaps. In that case Atlas would be trying to poke at Vale, see how far they can go before we retaliate, how much they can get away with. Taking over police duties, arresting students, now full-scale air-to-ground invasion… All that escalation, and we haven't retaliated. But he's is right in one sense- the diplomats can apologize later.'_

"Ironwood… no, James. Why are you doing this, really? Did Atlas tell you to do this?" Glynda felt faint but she wanted to give Ironwood the chance to come clear with her, so she hesitated for one more time. "I… I don't want to do this, I don't want to stop you. But I will, if you force me to."

"Atlas?" Ironwood furrowed his brow and motioned to the ball of energy that sealed the Knight-form Arc in the air behind Glynda. "No, Atlas did not order me to do this. However you are correct in that I am doing this for Atlas- and for people of Remnant. I do not need orders to do so."

"I… see."

"Glynda, I… do not wish to harm you, but if you continue to hinder my advance, I have no choice but to take you into custody alongside the infected students. I will do my best to get you released as soon as possible… as soon as I am done with the threat." Ironwood's face was uncharacteristically pained and indecisive as he lifted his weapon at Glynda. "I… am sorry. I do not want to do this, not to you of all people. But I see no alternatives if you choose to stand in my way. In time, I hope that you realize I do this only to protect us all."

' _So, even in the end, we're at impasse. He won't stop, and I can't let him continue.'_ Glynda felt faint as she grasped the Scroll in her pouch.

"I'm sorry, James." The Headmistress of Beacon's tone was quiet and her hands were cold. Her face was pale but resolute as she pushed the button that finalized the firing orders in Beacon's tower-batteries.

"What are you…" Ironwood furrowed his brow at her but was cut off by the sound of emergency air-raid sirens echoing through Beacon.

And a deep, booming crackle of emplaced cannons accompanied Beacon's defence towers turning and opening fire on the Atlesian battleship's belly, nearly point-blank as far as aerial warfare was concerned.

The steel behemoth above them let a high-pitched humming sound as its energy shields activated and blocked the artillery.

The craft stood defiant of the assault, but was clearly not built to sustain the combined barrage from Beacon's entire emplaced anti-air arsenal. Within seconds the shield had been wiped out, exposing the hull of the ship to the barrage. The large-caliber Dust-forged rounds made to destroy massive Grimm Goliaths tore into the ships's superstructure and within moments the proud Atlesian battleship's lights started to flicker and its hull turned into scarred, blackened mess of twisted metal and fire.

The sky turned black and orange as the battleship skid across the sky on its damaged hover-engines, the light-blue hue of anti-gravity Dust becoming replaced with gouts of fire and smoke, until the massive craft finally crashed to the forest bordering the cliff to Emerald Forest with a massive, resounding boom and sent gout of fire that illuminated the sky.

General Ironwood of Atlas stared speechlessly at Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon.

"I… wish there was another way. It didn't have to end like this, but… you gave me no choice." Glynda pointed her crop at Ironwood as the ground shook from the after-effect of the battleship's violent but semi-controlled descent. "James Ironwood of Atlas, you are under arrest for illegal attack against Beacon."

 **An: Two chapters again (10k and 12k words), took two times two weeks to get out so I guess I'm somewhat still on the schedule?**

 **Next chapter in two weeks or so. I'd suggest following the story if you want to be notified when a new chapter goes live since the update schedule is somewhat erratic.**

 **Do review.**

 **Oh yeah, by the way, things are going to get fairly weird soon.**


	52. Containment doctrine

"Glynda…"

"Surrender!"

A gunshot echoed and in response the very ground of Beacon rose to intercept the round from Atlesian hand-cannon, aimed squarely at Glynda's knee.

The same gravel formed together to shape a gigantic sword which swung down at Ironwood of Atlas, forcing the man to dodge by rolling to the side as the stone-made sword dug deep into the ground before shattering.

Glynda lifted her crop once more as the battle in front of Beacon's fourth year dorm continued all the while the sky was turning darker red and brighter yellow as dusk was approaching while the fire from the crashed Atlesian battleship was raging ever higher- even more so as the burning embers spread into the forest and started to light the top of the trees on fire.

Gunshots and distant sounds of barked orders started to ring from the direction of Beacon's main facilities, causing Glynda's teeth to grind together as she fought against the desire to break off her fight with Ironwood. She wanted to go support her students against the Atlesian troops that had landed on Beacon from the battleship just before its destruction, but as long as Ironwood was in front of her she had no choice but to fight- or try to convince the man to call off the attack. "Ironwood, you must stop this!"

"Glynda, you must surrender!" Ironwood howled back at Glynda. "Have you not done enough? You destroyed our Battleship! It was our only way to cleanse Beacon if Arc-"

"Enough about Arc! He is my student, my responsibility, I will take care of him, and you can stop ruining _everything_!" Glynda snapped her crop, causing a Glyph to form in front of her and send a sphere of condensed air at the man. Ironwood swapped the hand-cannon to his organic arm and used his mechanical one to punch the sphere in flight to break it before it could concuss him. "Surrender, call off your troops, do whatever, but…"

"Glynda, it is you who must surrender! I swear you will not be harmed unless you possess Arc's strain!" Ironwood growled at Glynda. "We have the upper hand and Atlas's approval!"

"What do you mean 'Atlas's approval'?" Glynda screamed at Ironwood as she propelled herself backwards, away from the man who was charging right at her as she recharged her crop-shaped Dust-caster with a refined Dust cell. "And your terms of surrender are unacceptable!"

"It is the best I can do!"

"Then your best is not enough!"

Glynda and Ironwood paused to growl at each other as the fight came to a standstill in front of the dorm's main entryway.

Ironwood's clothes had suffered battle-damage and he had a thin sheen of sweat on his brow, but other than that he seemed no worse for wear. However Glynda's clothes were in worse shape, and she was bleeding from few scratches while her legs were somewhat unsteady and her arm felt heavy.

' _Dammit… My Aura fluctuates… I am using too much energy...'_ Glynda cursed the situation as she glanced towards the center of the dorm's front yard where a black hole-like orb floated ten or so feet off the ground. ' _Jaune Arc… Maintaining Arc's prison of gravity is taxing me. But if I let him free, he's going to continue his rampage, if I maintain the grav-prison, I will lose to Ironwood because of the added strain, and prison dissipates anyway, leaving just weakened Ironwood to deal with him…'_

Glynda felt as her teeth came close to cracking as she ground her teeth in frustration. "Ironwood. Why?"

"To protect everyone." Ironwood responded with calm, if a bit out of breath tone. "Every… Every commander must be ready to spend the lives of his troops wisely. I failed Winter, but her loss is not in vain as her sacrifice made me realize the gravity of the situation. The Atlesian research on Glenn was the final underline- The sudden change in Winter's behaviour after meeting Arc should have been a clear enough of a sign for me, but I foolishly ignored it- summed him just as one of Ozpin's tricks and schemes."

"You speak of Winter as if she's dead. And you still claim that Jaune is somehow responsible for Glenn? That he is a Grimm Infiltrator and could spread it to Vale somehow? I do not like him, nor do I consider him a model citizen or model student, but executing _everyone_ he's come into contact with is a step and a hundred too far, Ironwood!" Glynda tried to buy time to come up with a strategy where she could come on top. As it was, every scenario she came up within her head ended up with either her defeated, or both her and Ironwood defeated- and with Arc on the loose. "Port assured me the Infiltrators were not…"

"Port is a fool!" Ironwood growled. "And as much as I respect and lo- As much as I respect you, you are as much a fool if you believe Port more than Atlesian research teams! Our accuracy, analys-"

"I care little for your boasting!" Glynda cut Ironwood off. "I call you as much fool as you call me, for you would sacrifice Beacon, sacrifice Vale, sacrifice your own _people_ because of a single analysis from your precious researchers! I trust Port's professionalism as much as you trust your teams!"

"I would make the sacrifice, even if it cost the lives of my troops and myself. Even though I wear Atlesian colours, I serve humanity and ensuring our survival must take precedence over all else. This was what Ozpin told me when I joined the very same group we both belong to. And unlike you, I still follow his guideline. Everything else is secondary to ensuring our survival as a race, and this marks the first time the true enemy has used weapon like this- a insidious cancer from within rather than a enemy without. It requires a drastic change in doctrine to fight." Ironwood growled at Glynda. "The Schnee sisters… it is a pity they came into contact with Arc like they did. Weiss is beyond redemption as you must realize, you saw the _creature_ she had became a host to after Glenn. I wish I could spare Winter of the same fate, but there is little I can do- Atlesian researchers wanted both of them alive for testing."

"And despite that, you speak of Winter as if she's already dead. And for the record, Weiss is going nowhere unless she wants to." Glynda snapped.

"She was held aboard the battleship you shot down." Ironwood's calm facade cracked. "However, by destroying the battleship, you also destroyed the original tissue samples we recovered from Glenn even if their scans were sent to Atlas already…"

"Wait, is that why you sent the battleship to escort the repair cruiser to assist in repairing the CCCT?" Glynda blinked, pretending shock to mislead Ironwood while she contemplated the situation far more calmly inside her head. "You used it to deliver troops to Glenn, retrieve Infiltrator samples!"

"...Yes. We managed to retrieve samples before Vale sent the interceptors to escort the battleship." Ironwood admitted and glanced almost sadly at the inferno in the distance where the battleship wreck burned. "Iceclad was equipped with state-of-art analysis and data transfer…"

"I care little about its specifications, Ironwood! Why?! I sent Hunters to recover samples as well, I sent copies of the scans to you-"

"Glynda, Atlas- no, _we_ cannot trust the intel Beacon sends anymore, not when neither of us took the samples and thus has proof of their originality." Ironwood's tone was heavy and Glynda noticed the slightest shake in the man's organic arm. "The recent events regarding Cinder Fall, Ozpin… it is clear Beacon has infiltrators in its midst. Likely of both Grimm variety and a more traditional variety. Someone is feeding information to _her_ agents."

"..." Glynda's eyes widened while her brain was working overtime and her hand was beginning to shake from the combined strain of keeping her Semblance active and containing Arc, all the while her Aura was starting to wane and wax like candle-flame in a wind. ' _Ironwood is as tired as I am, he is just hiding it well… but a infiltrator in the school? Someone else than Cinder Fall?'_ "What proof do you have? Wait, why haven't you told me that already?!"

"The information is fairly recent, however considering Fall's actions it shouldn't come as a surprise. Not to mention… hm?" Ironwood's eyes narrowed as he seemed to hear something, and he swung his handgun to point at the dorm's entryway. A pair of Dust-carrying shots arced from the weapon at the wall beside the main door, followed by twin explosion of combining ice and fire Dust that shattered and burst the wall.

Glynda spotted something vibrant red before it was buried in rubble… but more importantly she spotted an opportunity.

The Dust-caster was flicked once more as Glynda charged and and struck the weapon squarely on the side of Ironwood's head as he was distracted, aiming to knock the man out cold in one fell blow…

And Glynda's eyes widened.

The strike did nothing, other than causing a sharp slapping sound to echo across the grounds.

The second after the blow connected she realized her Aura had dropped to low enough that she couldn't reinforce her weapon with enough strength to overcome Ironwood's remaining Aura- which was likely far higher than she had anticipated. ' _Crap. He pretended to be weakened to catch me off guard. I miscalculated.'_

Ironwood grabbed Glynda's arm, twisting her wrist and causing the Dust-caster to fall off her fingers. "Glynda, rest assured, I will set you free if you are untainted. No matter what."

Glynda's eyes widened as Ironwood flicked his pistol around so he was holding its barrel in his hand almost as if the gun was some sort of club. The butt of the gun was swung at Glynda's head… and a heavy, meaty thudd rang in the fourth-year dormitory courtyard.

And almost immediately afterwards, another similar meaty thudd echoed through the grounds.

Ironwood fell forwards and flopped on the ground.

Glynda Goodwitch looked slack-jawed at Peter Port who was half-lying, half-kneeling behind Ironwood. Port was out of breath as he had whacked Ironwood in the back of his head with the flat end of the double-headed axe after jumping out of a window and landing on top of the Atlesian general. The slightly overweight man was covered in dust, ash and glass shards as he flopped down on the ground next to Ironwood. "Jolly good distracting, Glynda!"

Glynda nodded weakly before sinking on her knees, completely spent and equally confused. "Distract...ing?"

"Yup, whatever you did with the door was enough to distract Jimmy long enough to let me jump out of the window and give him a good old whack on my way down!" Port waved at the ruined dorm-front before clapping his hands together merrily, ignoring how silly it looked as the man was lying on his back. The moment passed and Port climbed up on his feet in order to take a look at Glynda. "Now, let's get him tied up and we can focus on dealing with the rest of the Atlesians. How are you feeling, Glynda?"

"I'll… I'll be alright. Wait, Peter, we need to subdue Arc as well!" Glynda struggled to get up on her feet, but Port grabbed her shoulders and pat her back down before she could try to stand up and fall over again. She glanced up at the black hole-like prison that was wobbling and fluctuating wildly, clearly indicating that it was about to break. "We need to…"

"Indeed, however, I do believe that the chance exists that we can use, how do you say this, mr. Arc's previous entourage to assume direct control over mr. Arc." A third voice entered the scene and Glynda glanced towards the ruined entrance to the dorm. She resisted the urge to sigh in relief as she saw Oobleck climbing over the ruins while carrying completely unconscious Ruby Rose on his shoulder. "I have finished excising the Atlesian presence in the dorm, and recovered the students General Ironwood's troops had attempted to capture. Regardless, if my theory holds, then seeing mr. Rose, miss Belladonna or miss Schnee or any combination of them is likely to be enough to 'calm' mr. Arc, and if not, I have formulated three hundred and sixty different stratagems which result in victory against equivalent Grimm…"

Oobleck's rambling speech ended as the gravity-sphere broke, allowing the caged, transformed teenager within to fall to the ground- except what fell wasn't exactly the shapeshifted, grotesque 'knight', but something that appeared more like mini-fied Grimm Tyrant only slightly taller than a man in its hunched shape. "Well."

"We might have a problem." Port nodded his acknowledgement. "Deploy the Rose?"

"I am prepared to make the offering." Oobleck heaved Ruby in front of him and held her like some sort of sacrifice being offered to the gods. "Hm, historically it is often said that this pose…"

"Jolly good idea!" Port cheered on, and Glynda felt as yet another vein snapped in her forehead.

"No." Glynda growled as she grabbed Ruby from Oobleck's arms and stood her up on her feet. The unconcious girl flung around like a doll with its strings cut, but the headmistress made short work of the girl's state by placing her hand on Ruby's forehead and channeling what little remained of her Aura into her Semblance and conjuring a glyph of ice… or rather, slightly frosty water as that was the best she could do with her current strength.

Ruby gasped for air as the ice-cold liquid splashed all over her face, followed by panicked sputtering and coughing as she breathed in the icy water. "A- I'm awa- _cough_ … don't… _cough_ …"

"Easy, miss Rose." Glynda pat Ruby's back as she blinked and looked around in complete confusion and shock. "Listen, I know this is sudden, but I must ask you to…"

A hollow, enraged roar cut Glynda off and she glared at the direction of the Grimm-thing which had spotted Ruby and let a threatening roar. However it seemed that Glynda had a moment before it could attack as it was still in the middle of growing blades out of all four of its arms.

In the background Port and Oobleck nodded to each other and prepared to receive and redirect the minified Grimm Tyrant's charge.

"Wha… But…" Ruby blinked at the Tyrant, whose blade-growth slowed as the girl's eyes were directed at it. "Whu?"

"Mr. Arc was enraged, we intercepted him, Atlas wanted him killed, but we stopped Ironwood." Glynda recounted quickly and pointed at the Tyrant who began its slowly building charge towards the trio of professors. "But all that is irrelevant right now. Can you stop him?"

Ruby blinked in complete confusion and it didn't seem Glynda's words truly registered in Ruby's head.

"Well, I suppose we have to entertain him for a while?" Port asked Oobleck as he swung his axe on his shoulder, striking a pose like some sort of lumberjack eyeing his next tree as he moved to intercept the Grimm shapeshifter. Oobleck nodded as he finished restraining Ironwood (or rather, detached his mechanical arm with a whack of his weapon and tied the man's organic hand against a visible support beam in the half-collapsed dorm-front).

"The restraint should hold for a while, but we need to employ one of our own Aura-restraining devices in order to hold Ironwood for long duration or put him in a cell." Oobleck nodded again at Port as he walked beside the jolly professor, and nodded for the third time for good measure. "Atlesian devices must have some sort of failsafe or identification unlock in ther restraining devices to prevent it being used against them…"

A third and final roar cut Oobleck off and the pair became far more occupied with parrying and dodging the charge of the mini-Tyrant as it reached the pair and almost skewered Oobleck with two of its blades. The professor chose to counter-attack rather than parry as he fired his weapon in its flamethrower configuration to the Tyrant's face, causing the strikes to miss as the creature's inhuman face caught on fire.

' _Crap, crap, crap…'_ Glynda thought as she observed the fight while she tried to pat Ruby's cheek gently in order to try to get more sense into the girl, but her efforts were quite ineffective. At least the fact the girl was conscious and was looking at the Tyrant was making the creature- or rather, _Jaune_ hesitate and slow down.

Glynda used the time to check on her Scroll and try to contact Vale, to start coordinating response towards the remaining Atlesian troops, but she resisted cursing out loud as she saw that the local Scroll network was being jammed, likely with Ironwood's personal air-cruiser's electronic warfare systems.

She realized that her decision to use the Beacon's tower-guns against the battleship had been made at the last possible moment, as the cruisers had engaged their disruptors mere minutes after the beginning of the invasion to deny Beacon the early warning and to disrupt their communications. The jamming also meant that if Glynda wanted to use the tower-mounted guns again, she'd need to get access to a physical node, that being her office in Beacon Tower or the data-core underneath the tower. And more importantly, while the Scroll network was down, she couldn't use her Scroll to issue orders to boost the tower's signal strength remotely in order to overtake the disruption from the air-cruiser (which would eventually lose in terms of raw power) which in turn would re-enable Scroll based communication. The real damage of the communication loss would come in stages though, as Glynda had no idea how wide the disturbance was... and if using it so close to the Beacon Tower meant that the disruption also affected the rest of the kingdom or if the disruption was restricted to just the local area Scroll network.

However, to make matters worse, Glynda realized one person was missing from the scene. "Wait, where did Penny go?"

* * *

"Hm, hmm-hmhm…" A cheerful humming accompanied sharp footsteps on stone floor while electronically locked doors opened in front of the neon green-lined shape stalking through the Beacon's halls.

Penny Polendina adjusted her route to avoid detection by a group of students who were charging at Atlesian fireteam. The team was overwhelmed in few seconds, but a crossfire from two supporting fireteams forced the students to flee and drag one of their comrades with them as the boy's Aura had failed during the charge and had led to a chain of gunshots in his stomach.

Penny didn't miss a step as she stepped over a body of a Atlesian bot. Her mission was not to catch the students nor was it to help the Atlesian troops take control over Beacon's facilities- or even help Ironwood apprehend Arc. The amount of troops the Atlesian battleship managed to launch before its destruction would have to be enough in suppressing the populace before a organized resistance could be mustered, and Penny had to assume that Ironwood knew Glynda Goodwitch well enough to persuade her to order her troops to stand down- or take her out of action until the rest of the Atlas, or rather, Penny could secure and lock down Beacon. Since the battle had escalated out of the dormitories, Ironwood had used his neural implant to order Penny to disengage from the fight, relay Ironwood's orders to the battleship, and then make her way to the Beacon Tower.

According to Penny's calculations, once she reached the CCCT, the core of Beacon Tower which also served as the facility's data-infrastructure hub, she could hack in and disable Beacon's gun batteries and override the lockdown that had clamped down Ironwood's personal air-cruiser and the repair transport ship to the air-dock, both of which would hold reinforcements that were currently boxed into their ships. At the same time Penny could assume direct control over Beacon's defensive weapons to use against potential threats- while Beacon had made their own modifications to the guns and the cannons, they were originally designed and made in Atlas, giving Penny a backdoor into the systems once she gained physical access to the central interface.

Thus, the lockdown that had taken Atlas by surprise would be turned around to contain Beacon's personnel, and the potential Grimm Infiltrator infiltration that set off the whole chain of events would be, according to Penny's calculations, contained to the Beacon's grounds at least for the moment. Granted, the report sent from Atlas detailed that the Infiltrators discovered in Glenn could spread by physical contact, so it would be necessary to spread the lockdown to Vale City as well once the purity of Beacon was verified and then move on to the rest of the kingdom.

Containing the Grimm Infiltrator infection would be a challenge as Beacon didn't have walls which would naturally contain people attempting escape on foot. The near-cliffside location of the facility made such defensive structures both waste and difficult to build, and instead it had focused on extensive camera- and locator network covering the facility and the surrounding areas including the Emerald Forest. When the surveillance tech was combined with the precise long-range artillery batteries, it would be simple to deter and 'remove' potential escapees in somewhat literal sense.

Having avoided most of the fights and conflicts that sparked across entire Beacon, Penny finally reached the root of Beacon Tower and the main elevator leading upwards to the Headmistress's office, and downwards to the 'hidden' underground facilities where the main controls, servers, data-banks and interfaces of the tower were.

Unfortunately there had been a group of first-and second year students guarding the elevator (or attempting to find the Headmistress in order to ask what the ruckus was about as the Scroll network was being jammed by combined power of the two Atlesian cruisers in trapped in the dock), and Penny had been forced to take down the students in order to continue her mission as it didn't seem that the students were going anywhere anytime soon. She avoided killing blows as Ironwood had ordered the Atlesian personnel to avoid killing, unless the presence of a Grimm Infiltrator could be verified in the combatant or killing was necessary in order to win the fight.

Penny stepped over the unconscious body of a light-blue haired female student and reached to press her hand against the CCCT elevator's door control. The door panel light up, indicating that the elevator received the call to ascend to ground level from its lockdown position at the bottom of the shaft… and the door panel turned red to indicate that the lockdown was in effect, thus making the elevator unavailable to anyone with insufficient credentials. Penny nodded to indicate that the refusal was expected, and placed her hand against the door again while accessing the door's Scroll-port with her other hand- or rather, with a Scroll-type connector that extended from her palm and allowed her access the elevator system more directly.

She tilted her head to indicate her confusion as the elevator refused her credentials, and she repeated the request after a moment. The second, third and hundredth attempts of legal entry were denied, and Penny nodded, realizing and documenting that Beacon had patched up Atlesian backdoors at least to systems surrounding CCCT.

A query was sent towards the elevator's control mechanism for possible error report which would allow her a surface sweep on potential ways of circumventing the firewalls and security systems, and the query was refused because of missing credentials. The second, third, and two thousand queries in chain were also refused while Penny prodded the control panel of the elevator with her free hand's finger to indicate her desire to enter the elevator, should someone be looking, and at the same time deployed her cyber-warfare suites through her occupied hand's connector in order to force her way through the unexpectedly thick layers of security that had activated after her basic surface scan of the system. She contemplated forcing a more physical entry into the elevator shaft using her blades, but disregarded the option as the elevator shaft itself would have blast door blocks just before the underground facility entry, meaning that a forced physical entry methods would need heavy-duty tools and approximately sixty hours of time to use them.

Penny tilted her head to appear confused on the outside as she waged a war of extermination against the elevator's systems… and widened her eyes to indicate surprise as she realized she wasn't just fighting a isolated security system, but rather, something much, much more complex. Someone had connected the entirety of Beacon Tower's security systems to the elevator's control systems- and at the same time she realized Beacon's security systems were more robust than what Atlesian intelligence had estimated.

However Penny wasn't deterred by the presence or by the strength of the security system, and instead focused more computational power to her cyber-warfare tools. A firewall was met with a data-worm, a lock algorithm was met with a brute force approach, a encryption was countered with logging and decryption, and through each failed attempt Penny gained another shred of information on the system's capabilities… as did the system gain information of Penny's cyber-warfare neural networks.

Penny waved her hand at her head to indicate that she was suffering slight overheating. The physical attempt of cooling down did little to actually calm her down, just as Penny had calculated, but her doctrines decreed that she should attempt to display her 'mood' in physical ways whenever possible to make her seem more human- even if no-one was looking. However it looked like that Penny would have to override that feature, as the fact that Battleship _Iceclad_ had been downed by Beacon's gun batteries was starting to hamper Penny's capabilities- she had been linked to the ship, allowing her to use its computational resources to aid her own. Thus she had lost a definite edge when it came to multi-tasking physical motions and active cyber warfare.

Without the ship's computational support she was starting to feel low-powered and overtasked when fighting what she now knew to be Beacon's entire cyber-warfare arsenal at once. However, she estimated that she had approximately seventy-five percent chance of breaking Beacon's security for long enough time to allow her to use the elevator, after which she could access Beacon Tower's and CCCT's systems directly, allowing her to bypass quite few security systems and allowing her easier root access to the entire system. Even if she failed to break into the system, she estimated that there was one hundred percent chance of breaking connection with Beacon's security systems without adverse effects to her as long as she maintained her current processor overclock speeds, so she had a way out even if she failed.

The simple act of a short, ginger-haired girl smiling and staring at a stubbornly red-blinking elevator button betrayed a raging data-battle between Atlesian Artificial Intelligence Penny Polendina and Beacon's main cyber-warfare defensive suite. However the battle soon took a drastic if outwardly unseen turn as the facility's neural networks responded to Penny's continued attacks by concentrating even more computing power to combat her from other processes in the facility- shutting down simulation rooms, reducing defensive weapon process cycles, logging out and shutting down public services, cutting off CCCT communication streams to remote villages and so on.

Thus, while Penny's data-core processor was state-of-the-art, she was starting to lag behind in computational cycles as the individually inferior data-processors of Beacon added their computational powers to each other, and began tracing Penny's intrusions back to her systems. The odd design clicked in Penny's systems as she matched the pattern and realized that Vale's cyber-security had been modified to follow the very same creed with which CCCT's were built-

That the entire system would stand together, or would fall together.

And was thus designed to add one part's computational power to other processes should they need it, making it exceedingly effective at countering a single, concentrated threat. Penny frowned to indicate her uncertainty and she adjusted her victory and loss percentage estimation accordingly.

And as Penny's intrusion expanded its roots to Beacon's firewalls, Beacon's firewalls learned of her patterns, adjusted their algorithms and countered her as she learned of the system's capabilities. Thus the battle was as much a fight between a fake key and rugged lock as it was a fight to see which one learned the other's capabilities faster than the other… and Penny realized that the battle was turning against her.

"And what might you be doing here...?" a arrogant, pushy voice sounded in the corridor in front of the Beacon Tower elevator entrance, and Penny registered the voice, ran a local area check for Atlesian identification, found none, and thus came to a conclusion that the voice's owner was hostile without needing to use process cycles to use her eyes- machine vision and pattern recognition to match facial features to existing data required far more computing power than just running a wireless local check.

Penny unfolded her combat-blades without further prompting.

The male voice were cut off as the green-lined blade hit the broad shape with a meaty thunk and slid off, allowing Penny to return the blade to its place behind her back.

"...Gha…. y-you thought that'd be enough…" the voice sounded again and Penny furrowed her brow to indicate her annoyance before turning to identify the male shapes properly.

"I… don't know what you're doing… _cough_ … trying to enter tower, but… We will not allow it!" the voice of Cardin Winchester echoed in the hallway, accompanied by the cheers of his three teammates. "We will not… _cough_... allow you… to enter… _cough_!"

A quick visual analysis and even faster wireless cracking of Cardin's Scroll security told Penny that the man had lost approximately one-fourth of his Aura from the direct hit he had taken to his throat. Penny frowned as she realized that the information she had received from the boy's Scroll was too insignificant as tactical advantage that it justify using her own electronic warfare suites to punch a signal through the Scroll-disrupting weave the two Atlesian cruisers were projecting from the air-dock.

Penny tilted her head and performed quick query on the team's status from the CCCT public network, forcing her way through the weaker, less stable firewall guarding the public data as its security had been largely rerouted to fight her intrusion on the Beacon Tower's elevator, and she found out that team CRDL had been browsing sites related to human reproduction in the CCCT's reading area. The team had checked out recently- to be exact, the check-out had happened few minutes after the battleship _Iceclad_ reported critical failure of AI core due to physical trauma suffered upon unexpected emergency landing.

Penny furrowed her brow again as she contemplated options available her, disregarding diplomatic solution due to the urgency, due to her initial attack, and due to how she had a group of unconscious students at her feet with clear signs of broken Aura and blade-shaped bruises.

Team CRDL seemed to hesitate as Penny merely looked at them with zero apparent concern despite being outnumbered four to one, and the time allowed her to evaluate the combined data on team CRDL's combat prowess- thus she came to the conclusion that she had ninety-nine percent chance of victory if she engaged the team in direct combat, with zero point ninety nine percent chance of a stalemate and zero point zero one percent chance of losing. However the calculation was based off data where she wasn't burdened by her breach attempt against Beacon's systems, and thus there was a unknown factor- whether or not she could disable team CRDL before the reallocation of her processor cycles to physical combat tasks would allow Beacon's defensive systems breach Penny's own firewalls.

The chance of losing Penny's state-of-art Atlesian hardware to Beacon was unacceptable to both Penny's Atlesian doctrines and to Penny herself. Not to mention that there was a potential loss of credibility Atlas would face should a top-of-the-line Atlesian artificial intelligence die after attempting to hack a door, failing at it, and dying as the door hacks the AI back.

Moreover Penny didn't have a option to flash-clone her memories into the Atlesian battleship's servers, and thus her artificial body's destruction would lead to her actual death. All in all, she estimated that her chances of victory were not ideal under current circumstances.

Penny nodded to indicate that she changed her mission parameters from direct entry to Beacon's CCCT into attempting indirect entry later on. And she nodded again as her mission changed once more: General Ironwood's tracker implant informed Penny that the man's Aura suffered a critical failure and was reduced to zero, followed by a report informing Penny that the man had suffered a loss of consciousness, and finally the signal was cut off altogether. The Atlesian military signal could penetrate the wide-area Scroll-jamming caused by the air-cruiser due to having far higher frequency range than regular Scrolls, which ruled out any chance of the communicator malfunctioning because of potential friendly-fire jamming.

Thus the logical priority mission for Penny changed from seize-and-control of Beacon's systems to search-and-rescue of General Ironwood.

"What's the holdup? A… _cough cough…_ a-afraid?" Cardin asked but chose not to wait for answer as he urged his team to attack and Penny responded by flinging her blades at the team, landing each of the strikes and launching the charging boys back to the direction where they had come from. She pulled the blades back while pulling her hands off the elevator's control panel.

The connection between Penny's system and Beacon's security system broke, freeing Penny to fight or make her getaway, and she chose the latter as attempting re-entry through the same access port would be impossible. Beacon's security system would have locked down and disabled the access port the instant Penny disconnected from it.

She flung her weapons behind her to distract her opponents while hitting the now-useless elevator control panel with one of her blades to create a large shower of sparks which would mask her escape. Penny sighed to indicate resignation as she ran quick calculation and concluded that wasting power and Aura to defeat the entire team CRDL for good measure would be inefficient when it would no longer serve a purpose, and it would be more effective to hand over the suppression duty to the Atlesian soldiers who were about to enter the Tower.

And so she shot off towards the last known location of General Ironwood, leaving the previously defeated, unconscious students lying in front of the elevator and the conscious part of team CRDL, that being its leader, charging at the patch of air Penny had occupied a fraction of a second prior.

…

Cardin Winchester resisted the urge to flee or soil himself as he saw his three teammates getting absolutely devastated by a petite, ginger-haired Atlesian girl… with all three of his teammates being defeated at the same time, in a split second, with a single attack each executed at the same exact moment.

The initial sword-blow the girl had inflicted upon Cardin's throat stung and he resisted the urge to bend over and cough, or flee in terror as he hadn't even noticed the strike before it had connected.

The Atlesian girl smiled- no, _grinned_ at Cardin while frowning at the same time, making the girl's face appear unnatural as the upper half of her face conveyed annoyance and lower half conveyed happiness, both appearing completely natural and honest yet expressing at the same time, making the girl appear _incredibly_ creepy. When she tilted her head to the side the unnatural outlook became even more pronounced as Cardin could have sworn a human neck couldn't bend quite so far without snapping.

The fact the girl's eyes were literally radiating neon green light which illuminated her face with eerie green glow didn't help Cardin's attempts of keeping the contents of his bowels internal instead of external. The row of incredibly sharp neon-green lined steel blades that looked like wings around the girl's back made the attempt even harder.

Cardin resisted the urge to gulp as it would convey weakness, and instead gripped his mace with numb, cold fingers while his teammates were lying on the floor, completely out cold. ' _A-... A W- w- w- Winchester doesn't… f-fear… w-whatever that t-thing… is….'_

Cardin let a roar (or rather, a near-panicked squeak) as he put one of his feet forwards in a valiant but shambling charge-slash-hobble… and the Atlesian she-devil let a shower of sparks as she disappeared, leaving a devastated-looking elevator door control panel behind her alongside a sizeable stain appearing in the front of Cardin's pants.

Cardin blinked as his stumbling charge came to a halt.

The silence that followed was absolute, if one ignored the sizzling from the elevator, groans from the students on the ground, small dripping from Cardin, or the gunfire and shouts from the distance. Cardin tried to keep himself from breathing to maintain the silence. ' _I-is it over? Did it leave?'_

He took a hesitating look around himself and saw no neon green Atlesian demons. ' _I- it fled? No, escaped?'_

"Y… you drove her away…" a faint, weak voice almost caused Cardin to disengage his bowel-movement based jet on power of fright alone, but he managed to recover in time. He turned towards the source of sound and saw that a blue-haired girl on the floor was slowly recovering from the trashing she had received prior to Cardin's arrival, alongside the rest of her team. "S-saved us?"

"Uh… yes, yes I did. It is only natural that I, Cardin Winchester, saved… uh, you." Cardin swung his mace up and rested it on his shoulder as his hands were shaking too badly to hold the weapon up in a guard stance without betraying his nervousness. He straightened his back while leaning back into a outwardly carefree but strong stance while relaxing his shoulders to assert dominance. After all, he true power of his patented 'heroic stance' was to be incredibly easy to hold while one's hands were shaking and buttocks needed clenching, while also appearing daunting and unbreakable to the outside viewer. Unfortunately his front was unsalvageable but as long as he didn't make a fuss of it, it would be easy to brush under after the fight calmed down.

The way the girl was looking at Cardin like if he had _actually_ saved her (and by the looks of it, saved her team as well) made him somewhat uneasy though. ' _However… it is only fitting. I am a Winchester after all. So it's natural and expected that I save people!'_

His confidence seemed to rub off on the girl and her team, and the realization gave Cardin courage in turn to continue as he picked his teammates off the floor and slapped them awake.

And so, Cardin Winchester forgot his earlier terror in a heartbeat as he employed his truest, not-quite-hidden power in front of his grateful audience:

Boasting.

* * *

"Bwub bwub?"

"Rose!"

"Ubuh."

Ruby Rose was confused.

One moment she had been motorboating Weiss's (admittedly not very motorboatable) boobs, the next moment someone had thrown a flashbang at her, the next moment someone had handcuffed her and she had faint memories of Penny saying something, and of some Atlesian guy waving a big gun (which had coincidentally taken all of Ruby's attention when she had spotted it, alongside a internal debate whether or not she should pick up a secondary weapon because hand cannons were _cool_ ), and the moment after that Ruby had lost consciousness and woken up to Glynda Goodwitch waterboarding her with ice-water glyphs.

The string of events had thus left Ruby in a state where she struggled to put together spoken alphabets while Glynda was alternating drying Ruby and casting a icy water glyph around her head which splashed water all around the pair.

While Ruby couldn't truly appreciate Glynda Goodwitch's wet shirt contest (Ruby had a hunch Weiss might have appreciated the sight more), the act was making it clear that she needed to wake up. And after a while she had finally gathered enough of her scattered brain-cells together in her head to start forming simple sentences. "Bwub wbub?"

"Ruby Rose, this is not the time! Wake up! Please!" Glynda half growled half begged and submerged Ruby's head into the water once again. Ruby was ready this time though, and managed to breath in _before_ her head hit the water.

"Hwaa! S-sorry m-miss Goodswittich!" Ruby stammered through clacking teeth. "I- Imh awakeh, p-please stohp, water cold, cold!"

"Ah… finally." Glynda sighed in relief. "Miss Rose, I need your aid. All will be explained later. Can you contain mr. Arc?"

"Jaune?" Ruby blinked and saw the Grimm Tyrant who was currently using Oobleck as makeshift club to try to swat at Port who was running away, only for Port to dive for cover while a what appeared to be a unfoldable bear trap clacked shut around the Tyrant's hooved ankle, snapping the relatively thin bone and ligament, and severed the hoof from the body entirely.

Oobleck was flung at the dormitory's half-collapsed exterior wall as the oddly small Tyrant fell over like a log… and twitched as Port whacked it in the neck-area with the flat of his double-bladed axe. Unfortunately the creature's armor seemed to mitigate the effect of the flat side of Port's axe, not to mention that the spot was somewhat hard to reach, and the overweight professor had to dive for cover in order to not get skewered by the Tyrant's sword-like head-spike as the creature objected to its treatment.

"Uh?" Ruby blinked at the sight, looked around, and saw the same Atlesian man who had been pointing the cool hand-cannon at Jaune was tied against the dorm-front's support beam- which was when Ruby realized that she was currently in front of fourth-year dorms while the whole area around them looked like a battlefield. "What happened? Where's Blake and Weiss?"

"They are fine. I'll explain more later. Now, suppress Jaune?" Glynda seemed to get frustrated and Ruby let a small eep as the stern and scary headmistress was apparently nearing the end of her patience.

Ruby stepped carefully out of Glynda's reach and the headmistress let her go, allowing Ruby to breath out and start staring at Jaune.

"Miss Rose…"

"I'm doing it." Ruby confirmed while staring unblinkingly at the Grimm Tyrant who seemed to start slowing down just a tiny bit. "Juuust have to stare at him a bit and he gets shy or something. We figured out that if I look at him he just kinda freezes up and stops being angry."

"...I see. Did Ozpin tell you abou- I mean, go ahead." Glynda stopped herself mid-speech and motioned for Ruby to go on. The Tyrant- or rather, Jaune looked at Ruby, and Ruby kept staring at his red-glowing eyes while trying her hardest to ignore the fact the boy's current form was just a _smidge_ intimidating even if Ruby was _fairly_ sure that it- he wouldn't attack her. ' _Uuuh… the glowing eyes aren't helping…'_

The monstrosity blinked once, paused, blinked again and finally got up from the ground as its ankle and hoof regenerated.

Ruby saw from the corner of her eye as Glynda made few sharp motions towards Port and the older professor stopped trying to aim a cleaving strike at the mini-Tyrant's sluggishly waving tail. Port looked somewhat down after being denied the right of tail-cutting or suchlike, or at least Ruby interpreted it so as the professor twirled his moustache in disappointment while walking (or rather, sulking) out from behind the frozen Jaune-rant. The professor kept himself busy by going to dig Oobleck out of the pile of rubble the Tyrant had thrown him into, all the while keeping an eye out on the beast and retreating with his axe ready.

Ruby´s face was starting to turn red from exertion as she stared at the Tyrant. After a while the beast was starting to wind down… and it flopped against the ground, seemingly as frozen as Glynda looked exhausted, which was around the same level of exhaustion as the one Ruby felt herself.

She hadn't performed demanding physical activities of late (or rather yet, anyway), but oddly enough Ruby felt like she was starting to tire from just concentrating her eyes on the Grimm-formed Jaune.

The feeling wasn't entirely new. Lately whenever she had used her eyes to calm down the boy she had started to feel a bit tired in turn- almost as if her eyes used Aura to 'power' itself, draining energy from her to function. Ruby had discarded the odd feeling as either her own delusion or just lumped it up with exhaustion from physical activities generally associated with her needing to calm Jaune down, as there was no way she would tire out merely from looking at something. But as her Aura was nearly exhausted due to Atlesian cuffs effect, the small drain her eyes caused felt much more pronounced (even though someone had removed the cuffs from her hands when she had been unconscious). She had no idea if she could have used the power in the first place if her Aura was completely out, but she didn't really want to test her theory out in a potential combat situation.

Luckily the effect had been enough to stun the Grimm-fied Jaune-rant (and Ruby _really_ disliked the name Port had given to his other shape since it made the boy seem like some sort of evil warlord), meaning that the situation was effectively over as far as his rampage was concerned.

Or should have been over, except that the ground shook with impact of heavy cannon shells, and the Tyrant-form Jaune disappeared into smoke and flying gravel.

"Wha- what?!" Ruby's eyes widened and she looked up to see a pair of Bowhead assault transports flying overhead, passing the ruined dorm from above and continuing on to open fire on something above Beacon's grounds with their spinal-mounted cannons after getting shot at by something behind the Beacon Tower. A explosion rang in the area and Ruby saw as a burning Atlesian air-transport came crashing down from behind Beacon tower, its side bearing massive gaps where the cannon rounds had impacted. One of the Bowheads shook as what appeared to be anti-air missile hit its belly, originating from somewhere near the Beacon Tower, and causing the pair of aircraft curve off and disengage with one of them leaving a thick black smoke trail alongside twin streams of heatseeker-disrupting flares.

The sounds of battle seemed to intensify as the more immediate situation calmed down, allowing Ruby to take in the fact that something was going _incredibly_ wrong in Beacon. Fortunately enough the fight was happening somewhere near the center of Beacon rather than in the dorms where the fight seemed to be over, allowing Ruby time to contemplate the situation and more importantly, allowed her to regroup with her teammates and help Jaune back to his human self. She refused to believe that the strafing run had killed the boy, but she figured that he might be hurt so she nodded to herself and put aside the need to go find and help Weiss and Blake for now in order to help Jaune.

Ruby tried to run towards the boy, but a death-grip someone had on her wrist stopped her on her tracks. She turned towards Glynda who was as pale as Ruby was, and Ruby let a small whine to try to get Glynda release her grip on Ruby's arm. The attempt was ineffective as Glynda's eyes were glued on the retreating Bowheads.

"Vale… they sent soldiers? This is... Don't tell me that they're escalating? No, they disengaged as soon as they were shot at by Atlas, after decimating the attacker according to the Valean air-to-air combat doctrine… Did Vale think that we're under attack by Grimm?" Glynda seemed to talk to herself more than to Ruby, making the girl quite concerned for the mental state of the woman as the headmistress wasn't in the habit of making idle conversation with herself. "Did they think that Grimm somehow took the battleship down? Vale must be as much in turmoil as Beacon is. Is that why they didn't they send the anti-ship interceptors? Makes sense, the interceptors would be next to useless when dogfighting flying Grimm... This is bad…"

"Bad? I can kinda tell but uh..." Ruby asked while trying to pry Glynda's hand off her wrist. She needed to go help Jaune, make sure he was alright, and the older woman's grip was also starting to cut off blood circulation in Ruby's hand. "P-please, professor…"

"...Oh. Miss Rose, you must keep Arc under control. Under no circumstance should he leave this place. Have him hide in the dorm or somewhere out of sight." Glynda seemed to snap back to reality and released her grip on Ruby's wrist after giving her orders. "Port and Oobleck already grabbed Ironwood, disabled his Scroll and communication electronics, stuffed him into a bag, and started to haul him towards Beacon Tower. I'll follow them once I have regained enough Aura to fight properly. We'll see if we can whack some sense into Ironwood, and get him to broadcast orders for the Atlesian troops to cease hostilities, get this whole situation to calm down… oh? I thought the cruiser had jammed Scroll communication..."

The headmistress's Scroll rang, and Ruby used the chance to sprint off towards the slowly settling dust cloud. The outward shape of the Grimm Tyrant- or rather, Jaune, was somewhat unharmed except for some deep holes that had burrowed into the creature's thick carapace. A quick inspection told Ruby that the creature's small size had worked to its advantage as the hits had not quite managed to connect, likely due to how the aircraft's speed had worked to hinder its aim, and thus only shrapnel managed to actually hit the shapeshifted boy.

By the looks of it, Jaune was regenerating quite quickly and Ruby realized that the food Jaune had managed to gulp down in preparation for 'other' things was working to heal him, and was likely the reason he managed to shapeshift into the mini-Tyrant form the first place.

A pair of red eyes looked at Ruby emotionlessly while she struggled to stare unblinkingly at Jaune's eyes, although the look Jaune gave back might have been more caused by how the was lying on is side with half its face buried to the ground with Ruby kneeling on top of its shoulder. "Uh… can you erm… stop being that and start being, you know, you?"

Jaune let a growl which Ruby translated as 'yes, I will definitely change back, and I love you, Ruby' despite the sound coming off more like he was about to die from thousand cuts (which, considering the amount of holes in the armor, wasn't all too far off).

Ruby nodded at Jaube and pat the creature's armor, pleased that she managed to get her message through, and that Jaune's the human side had re-taken hold of the monstrous body.

She wanted to sigh in relief, but the situation was far too weird to allow her to relax. The fact her friend, teammate and maybe-sorta-kinda-something-more-eek looked more like a mangled and horrifying Grimm monster made Ruby a _bit_ jumpy, even if she had become sort-of used to it by now. "You know, I'm always scared that someday you shapeshift into a Grimm and lose control, but won't turn back… eu, sorry, i-ignore that, um… so uh, according to Glynda, Blake and Weiss are okay too…"

The creature's chest fell slightly, and Ruby translated it as relief. "The headmistress uh, told that we should stay in the dorm, get you inside and out of sight. Apparently there's something happening in Vale and something is definitely happening in Beacon. Actually, should we ask if we can help with whatever's happening right now?"

Before either of them had time to ponder on the issue in detail (or in Jaune's case, growl something vaguely appropriate), a crash and explosion interrupted them. Ruby turned towards the source of the sound, and… saw Penny standing over the now-unconscious headmistress who was lying on the ground, face pressed against the rubble by Penny's feet.

Ruby's eyes widened as Penny stomped on the already weakened headmistress's head, driving it deep into the ground and thoroughly breaking the woman's Aura.

"Friend Ruby, please step away from the Grimm Tyrant and re-equip your restraining device." Penny chimed cheerfully, the contents of her words and tone of voice clashing spectacularly with her emotionless, well-practised and almost inhumanly precise movements. She lifted her hand and ten or so of her green-lined blades rose from the pair of steel wings that had formed behind her back, and the blades leveled themselves to form a deadly row arc of steel above her shoulders- clearly ready to fly off and strike at the Grimm Tyrant, at Jaune.

Ruby let out a growl that almost matched Jaune's in its ferocity. Unfortunately however, she was unarmed and her Scroll was nowhere to be seen so she didn't really have an option to call her weapons locker. Port and Oobleck were gone as well, presumably hauling Ironwood off like pig in a sack, leaving just Ruby and disoriented Jaune-rant to combat Penny.

The way Penny acted made Ruby's skin crawl in a way that sort of reminded her of her first meetings with Jaune's shapeshifting- like there was something inhuman within Penny's cheerful exterior. "J-Jaune… can you fight?"

The Tyrant gave a muted growl which Ruby translated as 'yes.'

"Right…" Ruby braced herself and turned towards Penny. "Listen, Penny, I don't know what is happening right now, but you aren't acting like yourself. C-can we all calm down and resolve the situation uh… what's the fancy word Weiss uses… uh, resolve our issues rationally?"

"Friend Ruby, you have ten seconds to re-engage your restraining device or you will be treated as hostile entity towards Atlas." Penny replied cheerfully, completely ignoring Ruby's attempt to broker a timeout. "Any offensive attempts towards this unit will be countered with lethal force due to urgency of the situation. However! I must demand that you reveal the current state and the current location of General James Ironwood of Atlas. I have lost his locator signal, but the last known position led me here. Disobeying this query will result in me deploying interrogation tools towards your person, friend Ruby!"

"Uh, what?" Ruby tilted her head in bafflement. "What?"

"Evaluating… answer is not sufficiently accurate! General Ironwood cannot be in the state of 'uh, what' and he cannot be located in 'What'" Penny chirped, and the row of blades shot off towards Ruby.

Ruby dodged, cringing as she head the blades sinking into flesh and realized that by dodging the swords, they hit had landed on Jaune. Offering a unspoken apology to the boy, Ruby charged towards Penny. "Penny, no! Don't do this!"

"Friend Ruby, I have my orders and doctrines I must obey. Please surrender!" Penny chirped as she jumped backwards to avoid Ruby's weak and clumsy charge. Ruby had trained with Yang in hand-to-hand combat when she was younger (or rather, Yang had forced her to train), but to say that she sucked at it was a dire understatement.

The low state of her Aura didn't make the situation any easier as it prevented her from using her Semblance to its fullest potential. And when she head a sharp, slicing sound come from behind her, she tried to dodge… and stumbled while biting back a cry of pain.

Ruby collapsed on the ground while holding her leg, and tried her best to stay conscious as she saw a sharp, neon-green lined blade poking through her thigh, having pierced through the entire leg after breaking through her weakened Aura. "A- Ahh!"

She tried to roll, but the blade pushed deeper while she was moving, digging the blade against the ground and sending a massive jolt of pain up Ruby's leg. "Pe- Agh! Penny, s-stop! Please!"

The ginger-haired girl's cheerful smile stayed the same. "Friend Ruby, please cease all resistance and re-equip your restraining device. In case you have discarded the device, please remain still while I fetch one."

"Nghh…" Ruby's vision swam and she glanced towards Jaune, feeling her eyes strain as she was out of Aura. She closed her eyes as she saw that the blades had skewered the boy-creature's body like they had Ruby's- except the binding was far more severe in his case, aiming for legs, tendons, muscles and pinning the Grimm form against the ground. ' _Crap, crap crap… I can't look at him, I can't look at him or he can't really fight… He's still weak from being pulled back into control of that body, me looking at him is only making matters worse….'_

She realized that the only way to win was thus to shove the Shadow, the ugly and violent part of Jaune, back into control of his body and have it rampage again… against Penny. ' _And… something caused him to run amok the last time… Glynda said… oh.'_

Ruby gulped as she remembered the flashbang in the dormroom. ' _He went into a rampage-mode because we were hurt, didn't he?'_

A threatening roar came from behind Ruby, signalling to Ruby that Jaune had seen her state, but at the same time she knew that it would be hard for Jaune to retaliate effectively. Few bone-darts flew at Penny and she parried them mid-flight with her remaining flying swords, and she returned fire by gathering the swords in front of her and using them to fire what appeared to be a energy beam at the shapeshifted boy.

Ruby bit her tongue to cope with the pain. ' _So… if we… I get hurt again… badly… could…'_

She nodded internally as she found her resolve, grabbed the blade sticking out of her leg, and with almost inhuman effort pulled it out of her flesh by the handle… and swung the blade back, aiming to throw it at Penny.

Penny's expression didn't change. The Atlesian girl opened her mouth, presumably to deliver a warning, but Ruby didn't hear it as her vision was starting to swim and her hearing had become oddly muted.

Ruby saw as Penny turned her head towards the dormitory after delivering the warning, almost as if she was talking to someone else. Seeing her chance, Ruby threw the blade at Penny and braced for the inevitable repercussion of her attack. The blade flew straight and true despite the wobbly aim and even wobblier arm that had thrown it, which didn't surprise Ruby as she had expected something like that to happen- that the the throw would be ineffective as actual attack.

Just few inches before hitting Penny, the blade slowed down mid-flight and turned around to rejoin its brethren behind Penny… and four of the blades launched themselves towards Ruby, one of them stained red with Ruby's blood and three stained black with Jaune's blood.

Ruby braced herself for pain while hoping against hope that her plan might work and that she would survive it… but the pain never came.

Instead, she heard four sharp thuds, followed by brief silence, and then two simultaneous, soft thuds.

Ruby hesitated opening her eyes, instead just taking a small glance in front of her with squinted eyes… and her eyes widened in fright and shock.

Weiss was on her knees in front of Ruby, facing towards Penny.

And there were four steel blades, each lined in red blood, the tips of each poking out of Weiss's back after skewering the girl through her stomach.

Ruby screamed.

 **Kept you waiting huh.**

 **Next chapter: In few minutes.**


	53. Assault on the Control Room

Port huffed as he lugged the sack he was carrying on his shoulder to a better position. And then flung it against a tall, half-broken spiral support pillar that decorated Beacon Tower's central plaza, the plaza that served as the heart of Beacon and often saw massive crowds of students and civilians going about their business around the CCCT.

The area was a battlefield now, with scars of explosions, gunfire and weapon strikes maring the white marble and breaking paved ground. Fortunately though, most of the bodies lying around the hastily made barricades and battlements were Atlesian, both robotic and organic, with few students and civilians alongside them.

Port had checked few of the injured students and had done the the best he could when it came to first aid, patching up biggest holes and making quick assessments of health. In the end he concluded that only couple of the students were in immediate mortal danger, with most of them just bearing wounds to their stomachs, legs, arms, and other non-vital areas- making it clear to Port that Atlas had been avoiding killing as the well-trained soldiers could have easily aimed for heads and chests instead. However, the few fresh wounded were clear indication that Atlesians were losing ground- instead of neat disabling shots, the students and civilians bore wounds to their chests, face, and more vital areas. Quite few of the civilians had perished by the time Port had managed to reach them, but hunter-students were sterner bunch and clung to life even with punctured lungs and such.

The sack Port had lugged around twiched slightly and Port grabbed his axe just in case. The twiching died down however, and Port allowed himself to relax slightly while taking a look ahead, where Oobleck was busy spraying a group of Atlesian soldiers with scalding-hot water. The history professor was leading the charge towards the Beacon Tower itself, accompanied by a group of Hunters and students he and Port had gathered on their way towards the center of Beacon.

Some of the Atlesian soldiers were already rolling on the ground in pain after getting hit, as the water was hot enough to cause third-degree burns, or pain equivalent of one while their Aura still held, while some were firing at Oobleck and the students while retreating to a more advantageous position. The thick fog Oobleck was causing made the accuracy of the soldiers questionable and the heat radiating from the fog made Atlesian standard-issue helmet's thermal optics next to useless. Thus the superior Atlesian firepower was rendered somewhat useless against quick-moving students and Hunters who were cloaked in fog, allowing them to close in and break the well-practised Atlesian firing line in few spots.

A massive Atlesian robot guarding the entrance to the Tower kept firing at the students who dodged the Dust-enriched shells, but were forced to take cover as the mechanical monster fired salvo of rockets that scattered the group of students around the plaza- the kinetic shockwave-delivering missiles had been designed to force apart thick Grimm formations during massive assaults, so flinging aside a student weighing barely third of a Beowolf was trivial task. It had been quite unfortunate that one of the dropships which had managed to detach from the battleship before its destruction had been carrying a upgraded Paladin 290, a cargo-folding version of the prototype deployed by Roman Torchwick during the incident in Vale Square.

Port reached to play with his moustache as he looked at the struggle. While it might have seemed cowardly to stay behind while his comrades fought, Port knew better than to charge into a battle where he had little chance of winning or making impactful change: His strength was more aligned towards taking down Grimm, not so much when it came to avoiding shots or rolling around to avoid missiles, and outside few pot-shots from cover, his high-caliber but low-penetration weapon was fairly useless against Atlesian heavy armor as well. Oobleck on the other hand was more suited towards fighting such enemies, with the man's weapon turning easily heat-conductive armor against its wielder and obstructing the aim of ranger attackers with gouts of fire, with arcs of lightining, with puffs smoke, fog, and finally with delicious coffee aroma.

Oobleck folded his flamethrower into a bat and used it to fling aside a rocket fired by the Atlesian Paladin. The robot locked onto the teached and aimed all six of its laser-sights at the man… and waved the sights wildly as Oobleck clicked the bat back into a flamethrower and puffed another scalding fog to confuse the robot's thermal and laser vision systems.

Instead the robot prepared another array of rockets, and for a moment it seemed as if the battle had come to a standstill… until a vaguely squeaky and frightened battle-scream sounded from behind the robot and something that appeared like flung battle-mace hit the back of the robot's 'head'. The massive walker-robot tried to turn around to answer to a new, unseen threat from behind, but the small opportunity was all the students and Hunters needed.

Before the robot could react, few of the Hunters had already charged up the Paladin's back and started to stab, hack, and slash at the massive steel behemoth's plates, exposing systems, coolant tubes, wire harnesses and other vital parts which were destroyed as relentlessly as the weapon of war had wrecked Beacon's beauty.

The brief skirmish was thus nearly over, and the remaining Atlesian troops abandoned the barricades while the massive Paladin fought and fell, buying the soldiers time to retreat. However, just as the group of soldiers managed to retreat up the steps of Beacon Tower, a group of students burst out from the Tower itself and collided with the retreating soldiers, effectively catching them in a pincer maneuver.

Silence enveloped over the square as the last of the Atlesian soldiers fell. The perceived silence lasted only for a moment though, as soon the moans, screams and cries of the wounded and dying overpowered the after-combat stupor.

Port twirled his moustache with his free hand as he dragged the sack he had been carrying, making sure that it hit each and every rock he could find. He stopped briefly beside faunus student to apply first aid, and moved to the next. A stag-horned girl whose Aura had failed her was sitting in a daze, staring at her arm which had been stripped into shreds of flesh and bone by hail of Atlesian gunfire, and Port pulled the near-comatose girl's belt off in order to tighten it to a tourniquet around the destroyed limb. A civilian who had been caught in the blast was buried in the rubble, gurgling with clear panic in his voice. Port moved on as the man had been crushed in so deep and so hard that only adrenaline kept him still alive, but would not hold for long.

He passed by a Atlesian soldier who held to his stomach, paused, turned around and kicked a gun away from the soldier's hand before he could aim it at Port's back. The soldier couldn't stand on the account that his legs had been crushed, but the man was clearly intending on fighting to death. Port sighed and swung his axe down as the Atlesian soldier reached for a grenade, and pulled the weapon up with new coat of red maring the weapon's blade. The professor paused to pick the now-dead soldier's half-empty first aid kit from the ground and toss it at another Atlesian soldier who appeared to be bleeding out while crying to his mother.

"Port!" a shout came from near the tower entrance and Port looked up to see Oobleck standing on the steps while the students and Hunters were starting to spread out, clearly intending on seeing to the wounded like Port had. The moustached professor nodded at the over-excited but grim professor, and Port started to drag the sack he had been carrying towards the Beacon Tower.

"It seems that team Cardinal has proven to be more competent than their test scores might suggest. It appears they took care of the Atlesian presence inside the tower, supported by a group of fourth-year students, and intercepted a Atlesian specialist mechanical she-demon-monster-creature, according to their description, and allowing us to retake the tower without much resistance." Oobleck chattered on despite the grim battlefield stretching around them. "It seems that Atlesian doctrine changed from 'capture' to 'kill' as they started to lose ground. Predictable, but unfortunate. However, unless something drastic happens, we should have the situation under control for now."

"They still have bunch of troops in the two cruisers in the docks, right?" Port lifted his eyebrow at the teached while nodding to team CRDL who looked more than little shell-shocked after getting as much positive attention as they had, after having cleared the tower single-handedly and after distracting the Atlesian Paladin.

"Yes, however, they are locked down by the security systems Glynda activated when she took down the battleship. Thus they should not pose an issue unless the lockdown is released, which we will not do." Oobleck confirmed as he reached to grab the other end of the sack. "Curious. Why is there so much rubble and stone-shards on the carry-bag?"

"Clumsy fingers." Port confirmed as the two professors hauled the bag deeper into the tower. Oobleck had left the graduated, experienced Hunters in charge of taking care of the wounded and in charge of securing the area while the two professors would move on with their current mission.

The elevator to Beacon's underground had been damaged in the fighting inside the tower, or so it seemed, and the lockdown prevented anyone from entering via other routes. Thus the two of them had little choice but to use a more convenient method of securing the sack's contents while waiting for the underground access to be restored.

Port pulled their prisoner out of the sack, lifted General Ironwood of Atlas against a support pillar in the Headmistress's atrium, and Oobleck tied the man against the steel and stone structure.

"Well, I suppose we need to guard him until Glynda gets here. Speaking of which, what is taking her so long?" Port mused as the two professors contemplated on their next action.

Oobleck was about to answer something, but stopped and turned towards the pillar as their captive twitched for the last time… and opened his eyes. "Ah, good evening, General Ironwood!"

"...Release me." Ironwood growled weakly while closing his eyes to deal with what appeared to be a massive migraine. "W… What have you done?"

"Broke several servo motor locks, removed secondary non-critical system battery and…" Oobleck began recounting the list of changes he had made to Ironwood's half-mechanical body, but the general growled over the teacher.

"That is… not what I mean… you imbecile... " the general seemed to be in state of disarray and disbelief. "I… can't contact… Atlas…"

"Yes, unfortunately, or fortunately in our case, non-critical systems includes wireless transmission and communication suites." Oobleck confirmed. "Would you like to read the patch notes?"

"You…"

"Now now, there may be some bugs in the system so we should be careful, just in case." Port nodded at Oobleck. "Speaking of which, Atlesian forces have been defeated in Beacon. Unfortunately for all of us, it didn't come without a cost."

"All this… because of your incompetence." Ironwood spat at Port's feet, causing the pudgy man to pause. "Because… you didn't… see the Grimm Infiltrators for… what they were. No. You knew. I see it now… You knew this would happen all along, you… you… traitorous bastard!"

"Ironwood, old pal. You're claiming all this… is somehow my fault?" Port furrowed his brow in confusion while he felt his blood boil over the accusation.

"Calm now, Port. He's trying to get a rise out of us." Oobleck warned quietly as Port clenched his axe.

"I… see it now. I knew… there was a mole in Beacon. Someone must have been… on Salem's side… on the dread queen's side… for all this to happen. Someone made it possible for Cinder Fall to infiltrate Beacon. Someone made it possible for Jaune Arc, infected with Grimm Infiltrator, to enter Beacon. And the perfect candidate… you. Port. The Grimm studies teacher, who should have realized what kind of monsters those two were. You mislead even Ozpin to believe that Arc's 'power' could be harnessed. I thought of your failure to see Arc for who he was as mere incompetence on your part… but now it clicks. Now it makes more sense." Ironwood growled. "I recall you were always on Arc's side. Someone must have helped Cinder Fall escape, to help her kill Ozpin if only indirectly. Back then thought it was someone else. Someone outside Beacon…"

Port furrowed his brow at Ironwood's rambling. "Ironwood, old pal, did you hit your head one too many times? I did aim for the rocks, but I figured steel is tougher than stone."

"Silence, traitor!" Ironwood raged at Port while trying to struggle against the bindings which tied him to the support pillar. "Omitting the details about Infiltrator was your last mistake! I knew something was wrong, I knew something was off! When I received the report from Atlas regarding the true nature of Infiltrators, I knew something was wrong, I knew someone had betrayed us. _You_ were the mole! You were trying to let the Infiltrators spread through Beacon, through Vale, like they did the White Fang in Glenn! Was that your test run? Was SABR sent to Glenn to collect the results of your sick experiment? What did the dread queen promise you, Port? Betray your comrades, people, nation, even our race? And for what? Power, strength, women, recognition, _competence_?"

"I really don't know what you're on about, old pal." Port sighed at raging Ironwood. "Perhaps a nap might help clear the old brain bucket? Oobleck, if you don't mind?"

Oobleck looked at Ironwood, at Port, and tilted his head at Port in clear sign of 'uh, no thanks, you do it'. Port shrugged, lifted his blood-stained axe, flat first, and aimed a blow at Ironwood's temple.

Something faint blue flashed in Ironwood's eye before the blow connected, and the hit sent the general back to fairy land of unconsciousness.

"Huh. I feel a bit bad now." Port twirled his moustache once more. "Oh well, he'll get over it."

"Coffee?" Oobleck offered his weapon and Port shrugged, nodded, and grabbed a cup from a nearby water cooler that was miraculously in semi-decent condition. "We should probably wait for Glynda to get here. The veteran Hunters can take care of the rest, now that they have been briefed and consolidated."

"I feel I'm forgetting something." Port confessed and Oobleck shrugged in turn.

* * *

"No, no…" Ruby crawled towards Weiss in blind panic. Her heart beat like it was about to burst, and the pain in her leg was forgotten even if it stubbornly refused to carry her weight.

She reached Weiss just as the girl was about to fall, and managed to avoid skewering herself on the blades poking out of Weiss's back by grabbing her from the side.

The white-haired girl's eyes were wide and her face had frozen into a confused expression, almost as if she didn't understand what was happening, that she had thrown herself in the way of the swords meant to pin Ruby to the ground.

Seeing the red-clad girl seemed to bring a semblance of life to Weiss's eyes though, and she reached towards Ruby with shaky hand. Ruby grabbed Weiss's hand while the girl's white and blue combat-dress was starting to turn red from the blood pouring out of her wounds. "W-Weiss, just… hold on, I…"

The four blades in Weiss's stomach moved, and Ruby's face turned from pale to deathly white as she knew what followed. She tried to stop the blades, but the swords pulled out of Weiss's body in a four arcs of blood, allowing the wounds to bleed freely. "Penny! No!"

"Friend Ruby, please step away from friend Weiss." A cheerful voice announced as the blades flew towards their master and continued to hover around the ginger-haired girl. "Unfortunately, friend Weiss was infected during Glenn mission and as Atlas cannot capture her right now due to insufficient Grimm holding cell space, she must be exterminated in order to…"

The ginger-haired girl's voice was cut off as a twin roars echoed the grounds- from Ruby, a shrill, panicked scream telling Penny to stop, and from somewhere behind her, a far more guttural and inhuman one.

Ruby almost turned to look behind herself, but stopped herself with a herculean effort and instead focused entirely on Penny, hoping against hope that her eyes would work, that they would freeze _everything_ in her way of getting Weiss out, like they did with Jaune. Her hesitancy, her desire to convince Penny to stop flew out of the proverbial window as she realized that the Atlesian girl, no, the Atlesian _soldier_ wouldn't hesitate to kill Weiss- that despite claiming to be friend to Ruby, she was more loyal to her orders.

Unfortunately Ruby's eyes didn't work on Penny and her legs failed to carry her so she couldn't carry Weiss to safety. Ruby shook her head at Penny, but the girl's ever-present smile didn't waver as she lifted the four blades to strike again. The swords flew at the pair, accompanied by four buzzes of steel slicing air, all the while Penny started turning towards something that was behind Ruby like if she had already written Weiss off as casualty.

And as the four blades careened towards Weiss again, Ruby was out of options. And so she threw herself in front of the blades like she knew Weiss had done for her, to protect her like she had done for her…

And four thuds rang in the grounds.

Followed by silence.

Ruby opened one of her eyes hesitantly… and saw white bone before her.

She saw sheets of plate carapace, ribs of white partially covering fur. Saw a cloak of gross, aggressively waving tentacles that should have made her disgusted, but right that moment the cage of flesh writhing in the air around Weiss and her felt safe.

The four blades Penny had used to attack Weiss and Ruby had pierced partially through the shield of bone that had grown out of one of the creature's hand, but the shield had stopped the attack from running through Ruby and Weiss.

The Grimm Knight let a hollow, enraged roar and charged at Penny.

The neon-green lined blades which had been disabling the Knight, Jaune, had pierced right through his chest and had come out of the back, but had gotten caught by their hilts. The hilts had been encased in bone, rooting them in place, while the blades were poking out of the Knight's back like swords from a undead revenant risen from a battlefield.

Ruby looked away, knowing her eyes would only weaken Jaune, and focused back on Weiss… whose confused expression had made way for almost beast-like rage. And more importantly, Ruby saw something far more concerning in Weiss's eyes.

Hunger.

Ruby's eyes widened as Weiss's mouth opened, and she saw that the girl's teeth had become sharp, _too_ sharp.

…

A knight's charge was supposed to be valiant, pure, defending the lord and the lady with lance of silver-like steel, born on a steed as noble bred as the knight itself.

The charge of a Grimm Knight, the exterior Jaune Arc wore, was shambling, disgusting, savage, twisted parody of nobility. The visage of beast, defying the will of the Hunter who tried to slay it by wearing its weapons as trophies on its back.

Four floating silver-like blades lined with neon green faced his charge, a visage of a calm and cheerful girl betraying the emptiness inside that only Jaune could feel- the kind that made him feel that the cheerful facade was merely to cover a equal but opposite monster inside.

One of the floating blades flew to the right, one to the left, and attempted to swing from behind Jaune to hamstring him. He flung some of the tentacles to intercept the swords, losing quite few of them in the process. However the blades were stopped, and then engulfed in the appendages, and finally the blades merged into the tentacles as the spines within the tentacles grew through their flesh, attached to the hilts, piercing and corroding the internal mechanisms of the blades and tapping into the anti-gravitational Dust which was allowing their flight. The thin, almost invisible wires connecting the blades to the ginger-haired girl were corroded and severed, denying her the blade's control.

Jaune felt almost jolt-like shocks passing through him as he fed on the gravity-affecting Dust, a sub-variant of magnetic Dust, and channeled it into his body from the blades like some sort of Dust-vampire. The imbued power did little to help him however, as the feeling of lightness only made his charge feebler and Penny didn't hesitate to take advantage of it.

A leap that should have caused him to pounce on the girl instead carried him too high, and Penny responded with a high kick that launched him into the air. He managed to fling his tentacles at Penny before he got too far away though, and tied them around her upraised leg before she managed to pull it away. Beside her, the sword-bearing tentacles were too slow to bring to bear during the maneouver, and instead just swiped at the air in front of Penny instead of hitting her throat.

Jaune pulled himself at Penny using the tentacles around her leg to re-launch his attack, just in time before Penny swiped her two swords along her thigh to sever the tentacles which dropped on the ground like some sort of headless snakes. The power from the Dust changed mid-flight like polarity of a magnet, making him heavier. The increased weight worked to enhance him, however, and as Penny tried to kick him away he landed on top of her like truck lands on top of a doll.

Something let a sickening crunch and clang, and Jaune brought his bone-sword and shield to bear against Penny who was now lying below him, clearly taken off-guard by the sudden change in Jaune's weight. Before he managed to slice her apart however, the girl used her two swords to stab him in the chest and twist the blades upwards, cutting flesh and tearing tendons. Jaune's arms lost their strength, the muscles and tendons connecting his arm to his shoulder cut, and Penny tried to squirm her way out from under him, pulling one sword off his chest in order to swat away a sword-bearing tentacle which tried to skewer her through the chest. She didn't quite manage to parry other similar tentacle, and paid for it as it slammed against her shoulder, draining a chunk of her Aura but managing to leave a long streak of sparks that caused the grass beneath them to smoulder.

At the same time, Jaune saw through his red, fury-tinted vision as something sparkled near Penny's thigh and knee… and noticed shredded, mangled wires and twisted steel instead of a leg. And on closer inspection, saw that as he had fell on top of the girl her leg had given, caved in partially, and broken while her other leg's knee was just twisted to unnatural angle- her Aura had given in under the weight of the attack, letting quite bit of the damage to bleed over to her tissue, to her mechanical parts.

And as Jaune took in the extent of the mechanical augmentations the girl wore, he started to get a creeping feeling that the unnatural part he felt in Penny was far, far deeper than he had initially thought. Pondering over the feeling had to make way for combat though, as the girl managed to sever one of the sword-bearing tentacles with her free blade, and almost decapitated Jaune with a swift strike that fortunately landed against his facemask-slash-helmet and merely grazed it. The close calls were starting to weight on Jaune's control over the Shadow, specifically as he had almost lost control over it again when he had seen Ruby and Weiss get wounded.

The rage he felt as he saw his teammates, his _mates_ getting wounded was almost enough to push him back to the maddening, chaotic grip of the inner devil. The urga was tempered as he pulled from the need to defend, to protect the girls, to protect his pack, instead of giving into the need to destroy and avenge. However at the same time, the urgency, worry and rage pushed him to destroy the enemy as fast as possible, so that he might turn and help Weiss.

Penny's stab almost hit him square in the middle of his temple, but he managed to pull his face back and the blow merely glanced. The blow was followed by another, and Jaune realized what Penny was trying to do, to guide him away from her and make him give her space to retreat and fight properly. He realized that while he had Penny pinned under his weight, he had the advantage. The tentacles and swords surged forwards in the realization, forcing the girl on the defensive and he used the chance to pin her ruined legs against the ground. The metal of her augmentations let a tortured groan as the already broken appendages were crushed further by the gravity-dust enhanced weight of Jaune's body.

Boldened by the weakness she showed, Jaune leaned forwards to crash himself on top of Penny while guiding her blades to his chest, intending on removing the girl's two remaining weapons from the equation while his tentacles attacked the girl from all sides. The twin blades joined the others poking out of his back as they slid through his chest, and even though the swords were still twitching and moving as Penny attempted to do as much damage as she could, she was starting to lose offensive options. With Penny's legs broken by the fall and all blades tied to Jaune's body in one way or other, Jaune regenerated the connection between his muscles and arms and tied them around the girl to further tie her up. Some of his tentacles melded their spines into their flesh, giving them ability to compress and split, and the appendages started to crawl inside Penny's mechanical augmentations to immobilize her entirely while her weakened Aura still held and prevented major damage. The grotesque act didn't faze Jaune as the rage and worry for Weiss made him capable of cruelty he normally would balk at.

He started flowing the appendages into the coolant pipes, between wires, and between the fake skin and mechanical parts that formed the girl's legs, corrupting and corroding the mechanical parts to cause as much damage as he could… and Penny's cheerful facade broke.

The girl's normally cheerful expression which hadn't changed during the combat began fluctuating between emotionless, neutral state and utter horror, and her sharp, practised movements turned more wild and far more panicked. The two swords still stuck to Jaune's chest started to saw back and forth wildly even if she couldn't pull enough distance to attack properly, twisting and churning the blades instead of doing true damage by slicing and stabbing. Her eyes stared at his mask with her irises widening and dilating to size of saucers and back. their faces mere inches away from each other which made it easy for Jaune to see the pure terror in Penny's face before it disappeared almost immediately, and then returned like if there was some sort of internal struggle in the girl.

The blades kept twisting in his chest despite his attempt to subdue the girl, and Jaune's patience reached its end.

…

Penny had been calm as she retreated from Beacon Tower after unsuccessful takeover, leaving the soldiers to take the ground with more conventional means.

Penny had been calm as she reached the dormitories again, and searched for the last location sent by Ironwood's wireless communication suite before being taken offline.

Penny had been calm as she interrogated the members of team SABR after taking Glynda Goodwitch out of action, distracting the woman by calling her through the Scroll interference by punching a signal through like she had done with team CRDL.

Penny had been calm as she was forced to fight against weakened Ruby Rose, and disable her mobility with precise sword-strikes to her legs. Penny had been calm as she had seen a strain-carrier designated 'Weiss Schnee' attempt to shield Ruby Rose, and she had adjusted the blade's flight vector to hit the girl in the stomach where the main concentration of the strain was.

Penny had been calm as the strain-carrier designated 'Jaune Arc' had engaged her in close combat. She had been calm as she registered a change in the carrier's abilities, adding ability to bend one's own mass to the list, discovered so when the carrier had crashed on top of Penny after she miscalculated the force needed to kick him away. She had been calm when the mistake had cost her legs.

Penny had been calm when the tentacles and biological material had engulfed her, striking, rending, tearing, and she had responded by slicing at the carrier form in attempt to free herself, even if her mobility had been severely reduced by the loss of her legs.

However, when she received a weak, garbled transmission from general Ironwood, her calm broke.

A signal, boosted by emergency measure of linking life-support system to communication system, showed a shadowy man lifting a blood-covered axe. Penny ran cycles upon cycles of image clarification, data clarification and patching to make sense of the transmission, and finally read the message, all within the span of single second.

The simple message read 'Penny, escape. Port is the traitor…' and was cut as the axeman slashed his weapon towards the recording device, Ironwood's biomechanical eye-augmentation.

And with the loss of signal, Penny's mechanical approach to things was overtaken by more chaotic, more irrational side that made frequent mistakes of judgement. The side which surfaced from time to time, when what humans called 'emotions' were running high. The side which was suppressed by Atlesian artificial intelligence doctrine during combat. The side which had screamed for Penny to stop when Penny had utilized interrogation and kinetic force trauma to extract information from Ruby Rose. The side which had cried when Penny had stabbed Weiss Schnee.

And that side knew what the loss of signal meant. It processed the information as more than just as a loss of a commander. It realized that Ironwood, her father, was dead.

And at the same time, 'Penny' realized what was happening to, and in her body. She felt, both via sensors and via more irrational means as disgusting, writhing flesh invaded her legs through the crushed and splintered pieces of synthetic skin. She felt as it advanced inside her body, _violating_ her systems like a physical manifestation of the worst kind of virus. Spreadings its tendrils inside her thighs, waist, and gripping the batteries and coolant cyclers inside Penny's chest from the inside.

Penny's audio systems screamed static as her computational systems went through the AI equivalent of a panic attack, all the while a horrifying, emotionless monster stared at her while it violated her, its face mere inches away from hers. The two swords Penny had stabbed into its chest seemed to have no effect on the monster. Instead, the swords were twisted off her hands and absorbed into the monster's body. Her hands had not responded in time either, and Penny's eyes widened as her hands were absorbed into the monster as well… and the violating tendrils began flowing down her arms and into her body.

And at the same time the monster struck its blade at Penny's chest, breaking through her violently shaking Aura and stabbing the blade deep into her vital systems, spreading ruin in its wake. "P- PLwwwaa…. Pleas...www… stooo..."

The plea, delivered through malfunctioning audio system, was ignored and Penny's back was lifted off the ground as the monster kept absorbing her arms into its body, the mesh of wire, metal and plastic cracking and liquidating in the corrosive, organic kiln that was the creature's chest.

The creature leaned to press its grotesque face-mask against hers while the lower part of the mask cracked open to show rows of sharp teeth.

Penny opened her mouth. A Atlesian protocol dictated her to either deliver a ultimatum to attempt to escape a capturer, or attempt to self-destruct in order to deliver as much damage to the opponent as she could. But she could do neither as the annoying, emotional part of her took over as her processors failed.

"D… AAaad… I-i'm… sc-ared…"

The rows of teeth closed around Penny's throat, and with a threatening creak and finalistic crack, her world went black.

…

Ruby let a surprised yelp as she pulled her hand out of Weiss's reach, only for the girl to attempt to bite her in the neck.

The white-clad girl had jumped on top of Ruby and had started to hug and bite her. The lack of Aura in Ruby's body made the bites hurt, and the white-haired girl had managed to draw blood multiple times even if her sharp teeth didn't quite manage to break her skin instantly, likely due to having less strength in her jaw than what was needed to utilize the teeth properly. However, the strength was clearly increasing as the bites had grown in ferocity, and the latest ones had no trouble breaking Ruby's clothing and skin.

Ruby was already bleeding from bite marks in her arms, and her eyes were wide in fright and surprise. In comparison Weiss's blue eye was dull and lifeless while her red, Grimm-like one was glowing bright, much like the eyes of the black beasts. The sudden change in Weiss's behaviour scared Ruby, as it reminded her too much of Jaune when he had lost control of his body... and of the puppet-like monstrosities in Glenn.

"Weiss! Stop! Your wounds!" Ruby tried to plead to the girl as she knew that the sword-wounds in Weiss's stomach were bleeding profusely… yet as she looked at the girl's stomach, she saw that the blood flow had started to halt. But before Ruby could sigh in relief, she saw that instead of unmarred flesh, Weiss's stomach had turned partially black and had small patches of bone-like growths on it.

The sight did _not_ make Ruby's panic any easier, and neither did the fact Weiss had buried her teeth into Ruby's forearm and was biting down _hard_. She tried to get herself out from under Weiss, but her wounded leg failed her again and caused her to perform a violent twitch instead of kicking herself away from the frenzied white-haired girl. The twich caused Ruby to slide slightly out of Weiss's hug though, so while the attempt wasn't a success, it wasn't a complete failure either.

The wound caught Weiss's attention and before Ruby could stop her, Weiss had grabbed the red-clad girl's thigh and had hugged her shin while biting on her thigh in almost perverse fashion, like a dog that would at the same time hump a leg and bite it.

Ruby kicked Weiss's face with her uninjured leg while apologizing profusely inside her head, and managed to pry the white-haired girl off her leg. She crawled away as fast as she could, and heard a cruel-sounding crack from the direction where Jaune was busy subduing Penny.

Ruby hesitated for just the briefest of moments before looking at the struggle and opening her mouth to plea Jaune to help her with Weiss… and instead she let a sound that was somewhere between gasp and half-scream as she saw the ginger-haired girl's throat getting ripped apart by Jaune's sharp, beast-like fangs. Almost immediately afterwards the beast looked at Ruby, alerted by her scream, and seemed to hesitate for just the briefest of moments as his red-glowing eyes met Ruby's weak, panicked ones… and he rose from on top of the Atlesian girl to reveal her miserable state and showed the extent of augmentations the girl bore in her body.

Ruby's breath caught as she saw the tangled wires, corroded steel, melting synthetic skin and blue 'blood' that constituted as Penny's lower body and arms while her throat had been torn and rend asunder. The girl's empty eyes seemed to glance at Ruby as the girl's broken body was flung aside by the monstrous Knight, by Jaune, before the destroyed body crashed like a broken doll against the rubble that formed the fourth-year dorm's front.

The distraction cost Ruby though, and she felt a weight settle on her back and then felt familiar grasp of Weiss's arms around her shoulders. She managed to toss her head backwards and hit the back of her head against Weiss's face before the frenzied girl could tear Ruby's throat apart like Jaune had done for Penny, and Ruby rolled out of her reach while the white-haired girl was recoiling. However, Ruby's injured leg twisted during the roll, and the jolt of pain that followed caused the girl to let a muted cry of pain and grasp the limb to lessen the sting.

She tried to lift her uninjured leg to try to kick at Weiss when she would follow… only to see that the girl had frozen still, staring at Jaune's bestial, twisted form.

The Knight rose up from the site of its kill and began its march towards Weiss while she stared at it, almost as if in trance. Before he managed to reach her the white-haired girl let a small, eerie sound and charged at Jaune, completely fixated and completely forgetting Ruby whom she had been chewing on mere moments prior.

The white-clad girl pounced on the Knight and latched onto his neck like he had on Penny's, and Ruby saw as Weiss's jaws struggled to push the sharp teeth through the thick hide and fur covering Jaune's neck. Yet, with a sickening squelch, she succeeded as the corners of her jaws started to blacken like the flesh of Grimm's.

Black blood began flowing down from the wound as the white-haired girl latched onto the Grimm-shifted boy like a leech and drank her fill while the Knight stumbled and halted, clearly ill-prepared for attack like Weiss's. Fortunately, it seemed that Jaune still maintained control over the body as he didn't retaliate to the attack. Even while the brutal tentacles, some of which seemed to wield Penny's blades, were waving about and stopping any sane person from approaching, the white-haired girl was unharmed by them, and the boy's sword and shield, both formed of blood-red bone, hung limply from his arms.

"What… is…" A weak voice came from nearby and Ruby looked over to see that Glynda had woken up after getting stomped by Penny, and was looking at the exchange taking place in the middle of the dorm's front yard. "...What is happening?"

Ruby could not answer.

 **Next chapter: in a day or so.**

 **As for why it took so long to update this story, basically, work related delays cropped up. That is to say, a month+ of 12-hour work days which essentially killed all free time. Anyway, we should be past that now.**


	54. Escaped and caged

" _Breaking news! A full-scale assault and firefight in Beacon! Atlesian battlegroup assaults Beacon's dorms and air-dock, arrests Hunters!"_

" _General Ironwood of Atlas surrenders himself to Beacon's custody after a brief battle during which Atlesian Battleship 'Iceclad' was taken down by Beacon's main battery. Beacon's airdock locks down two remaining Atlesian Cruisers in Vale while Hunters apprehend remaining Atlesian troops in Beacon, resulting in several wounded on both sides. Current death toll is unknown. Atlas condemns actions and calls for the Headmistress responsible for..."_

" _...Vale Council condemns Beacon's actions against Atlas, public sources cite fear of Atleasian response but official sources claim Beacon didn't have authority to make the decision to defend itself against what appears to be a sudden full-scale assault…"_

" _...Vale Council calls Glynda Goodwitch to stand down as the Headmistress and release General Ironwood, allegedly due to Atlesian pressure threatening to reduce or even cut off Dust trade across continent of Sanus should Vale and Beacon fail to comply. Atlas also demands Beacon to release the surviving Atlesian troops and pay reparations for lost lives and lost equipment. Hunters stand conflicted and many civilian sources fear civil war in Vale as a large portion of civilians and multiple high-ranking military officials disagree with the Council's decision to turn Goodwitch over for a trial in Atlas. However a coup seems unlikely…"_

" _Beacon refuses Vale's demands! However, as a compromise, Beacon allows General Ironwood to leave Beacon alongside his captured troops. In a shocking move General Ironwood refuses to leave Beacon, citing possible 'Grimm Infiltrator infection' within the ranks of his troops after the confinement, chooses to fortify himself and his troops into his personal air-cruiser for pending health inspections in Beacon's air-dock. Atlas claims Goodwitch is blackmailing General Ironwood and is forcing him to stay in Vale despite 'releasing' the troops..."_

" _...Atlesian government threatens Vale with trade embargo if their demand for reparations is not met and have began to close its borders to Vale's citizens, citing 'Vale is unwelcome in Atlesian soil as long as the criminal responsible for the loss of brave Atlesian troops still walks free.' In more shocking news, Atlas claims that a trial was held in absence, and Atlesian Court of War has found Glynda Goodwitch guilty of unprovoked act of terrorism against Atlas, and has sentenced her to lifetime of jail if she turns herself in willingly, or execution if she refuses to surrender. Independent sources level criticism against Atlesian justice system. Vale threathens Beacon with supply embargo and possible armed response if Glynda Goodwitch doesn't stand down as headmistress and turn herself over to Atlas…"_

" _Total death toll of the recent conflict has been released: One hundred and seventeen of the two hundred and ninety eight combatants Atlas deployed to Beacon died during the fighting despite Beacon's alleged attempt to stay from using lethal force. Atlesian property damages include approximately two hundred sixty destroyed Atlesian combat bots. Beacon's losses haven't been disclosed fully, however Glynda Goodwitch reports that at least sixteen students were injured but so far only one student, a reportedly pregnant fourth-year Huntress-student in Beacon, has been reported as 'missing'. Secondary insider sources assume the fourth-year girl in question and the child she was carrying were executed by Atlesian troops in cold blood while she was attempting to escape the battlefield..."_

" _...Twenty-two of the two hundred policemen were injured during a mass protest held in front of Council Chambers of Vale. The riot was dispersed by Vale's rapid response troops, resulting in over sixty lightly injured and thirty severely... "_

" _...Army of Vale stands divided as many feel conflicted between Vale and Beacon..."_

" _...A rift is opening in Vale, and unless we, the Hunters, stand together with the people, stand as one, then we will all fall… together…"_

" _...On other news, Atlesian Specialist Winter Schnee, the eldest heiress of Schnee Dust Corporation, who at the time of the firefight in Beacon was third in the company's line of succession due to her personal request, has been reported 'killed in action' during the destruction of Atlesian Battleship in Beacon. A extensive public inquiry was made by Jacques Schnee, the current head of the Schnee Dust Corporation, but Atlesian government and Atlesian military have been tight-lipped regarding the issue at least in public. However Vale's press managed to contact few Atlesian troops for statements during their release from Beacon's custody. The trooper interviewed by Vale Press claim that 'Winter Schnee died painlessly and instantly with a bullet to the head'. Beacon and Vale have not commented on the loss of the prodigious member of the Schnee family whose life was cut short by the hostilities. However it is likely that both sides are attempting to cover up the loss of the prodigious woman who was the sister of Weiss Schnee, Beacon's alleged 'Grimm Controller' and possible saviour of Remnant, depending on the results of her current research regarding mastery over Grimm. While Atlas's and Vale's relationship is tense, we offer a moment of silence to the casualties both sides have suffered and offer our sympathies to Weiss Schnee for the loss of her sister..."_

" _...This whole situation is completely ridiculous, and the fact our 'rulers' chose to side with Atlas instead of their own people just highlight their incompetence. "_

" _Yes, thank you for the input mr. Grayson. However, as today's guest in our show, and as a decorated Hunter who has served the Kingdom for thirty-five years, what is your take on the impact of the current situation to the people of Vale?"_

" _Bloody good question, thanks for asking! Atlesians just want us to fight amongst ourselves before ordering us to bend the knee to them. I'm guessing they want to restart where they stopped eighty years ago, except this time we don't have a warrior-king to lead us to victory and Atlas knows it. Instead we have a bunch of white-collar pansies we call Council with Atlesian [redacted] down their [redacted], and our 'graceful and just rules' are running scared of their Atlesian sugar-daddies being upset with the quality of their recent sucking…"_

" _Ahem, yes indeed. how would you suggest the Kingdoms should resolve the situation?" "I'd tell Atlesians to gobble on a fat [redacted], piss off from Vale, and leave Goodwitch alone! She's ten times the man Vale's council and Atlas's [redacted] are, and she's a woman for Oum's sake! General Iron[redacted] barged into Vale, attacked our little 'uns, and I heard the [redacted] was planning on executing the younglings like they did with civilians eighty years ago! Hell, they killed that pregnant girl in cold blood, I heard that from your news! Goodwitch ain't gonna let that stand! And neither are we, who still have the blood of Vale's Lion in our veins! This I swear to all fair folk of Sanus!"_

" _Th-thank you for your valuable input, I am Lisa Lavender, signing out… Mr. Grayson, please stop waving your weapon!"_

" _Goddammit, you hear me, Atlesians?! Howl all you want, it won't break our courage, you've stepped on the tail of Vale's Lion and soon you'll hear his roar! You [redacted] hurt our young 'uns, and I swear I'll stuff this sword up your…"_

" _S-security!"_

"…"

"...The quality of Vale's news has taken a nosedive." A hooded figure commented as she put her mug down on a wooden desk and pulled her eyes away from a wide-screen panel television showing Vale's 'news' into a small but somewhat homey bar. It was a small miracle that the Beacon Tower's signal even reached the relatively isolated trade post resting between the mountain ranges separating Vale's western and eastern sides. The remote location meant that no-one really complained when the television occasionally buzzed with static, although the lack of proper signal was giving the whole place a slightly run-down feel.

The trade posts served as resting places for land-bound trade convoys and allowed traders, Hunters and travelers moving around the kingdom a place to rest within a relatively strong walled 'settlement' before heading back out. Some of the travelers paid for the rest with goods, some with Lien, some with service like Hunters taking out bothersome Grimm, and most ended up buying supplies from the trade post to last the rest of the journey, further funding the post's existence. The few popular and safe trade posts had later grown into small villages and towns, but as they were heavily dependent on trade instead of produced goods, they were still by far one of the smallest forms of permanent settlements across the Kingdoms. Nevertheless, it proved a good place to take a breath for travelers.

"'A trooper claimed'? 'Insider source assumed?' Those kinds of claims should have no place in nation-wide news reports." The hooded figure noted as she waved her hand in the direction of the television while she sat in a secluded corner of the trade post's bar.

"Well, I suppose so. I honestly don't watch news too often so I can't really comment on the quality…" A second hooded figure noted mutely as she pushed her mug from one hand to other alongside the table's wooden surface while she was sitting opposite to the first hooded figure. "Well, at least no-one has declared war on each other, so that's a plus. Or at least hasn't declared a war on paper anyway."

"Yet."

"You're a ray of sunshine, aren't you?" The second hooded figure sighed heavily while looking out of the bar's window at the trade post-turned-village's muddy main road. Normally the range of mountains that effectively split Vale Kingdom in two were a impressive and, to some, uplifting sight. However, the impending fall and the recent news were making the scene a drab and dreary one even to most high-spirited of folks. Fallen leaves had covered the ground in depressing layer of brown and orange from which the trunks and branches of trees rose like skeletal hands gripping the steel-gray and hostile sky, which wasn't helping with the dready mood.

The second figure sighed again. "You know, I took a risk in pulling you out."

"I am aware, and I'm still not entirely sure if it made things better or worse." The first hooded figure waved her hand above her hood, and a waitress appeared next to the bed with swiftness of an eel to place (or rather, drop) two mugs of stale beer. The second hooded figure sighed even heavier and put few lien chips on the table, and the waitress swiped the chips with the speed and accuracy of a scorpion before leaving just as swiftly as she had come.

"Ugh… The drinks are…" The first hooded figure groaned after taking a long gulp.

"Bad, and watered down, with more water added with each refill, but I presume that ordering just water would get us something even worse. One of my teammates did that mistake in one of our earlier missions. The waitress served water with dog piss in it…" The second hooded figure commented in clear attempt to jest before spasming from the taste as she downed her mug in one go. Unfortunately the jest didn't seem to help with the first hooded figure's mood. "Brhg…"

"Haa… I presume it would still taste better." The first figure commented after putting her mug down and rubbing her bandaged hand after her wounds had apparently started to sting. "...Fine. Thank you for rescuing me, even if it was against my will."

"So I won't die today because of your temper tantrums?" The second hooded figure sounded more bored than concerned. "That's a relief, I guess."

"Haa… Weiss must be so worried." The first hooded figure let her hood slip a bit to allow her white hair some air, and Winter Schnee sighed heavily before lifting her hood back up. It was questionable if she needed the hood to hide her face in the first place as her entire face was nearly unrecognizable due to it being covered in bandages and burn salve. "Dammit, why did this go so wrong…"

"Eh, I could ask you the same." The second hooded figure commented as she adjusted her hood so that the long, red hair wouldn't fall out of her hood. Scarlet Honeydew hated when her hair was bound up, but she had little choice on the matter, at least for a while. "I think you owe me a favor though…"

"Really? In that case I change my earlier 'thank you' to 'curse you for kidnapping me after the airship I was on was shot down.'" Winter growled at Scarlet.

"Ugh, you had literally just shambled out of that burning wreck when I was making my getaway, and I found you passed out in Emerald Forest. You couldn't defend yourself from Grimm or even bandage your own wounds. Plus that conversation I recorded between that guy I-ran-weed…"

"General Ironwood of Atlas…"

"Yeah, I took a record of the conversation between that guy and Glynda Goodwitch." Scarlet nodded. "I was hiding in the dorm at the time so I managed to catch that conversation before making my getaway, er, after I almost got shot anyway. Just as a friendly reminder, Irondude wanted to execute you. Or I presume the Specialist he talked about was you, but I'm faaairly sure it was you, judging by the fancy nametag you wore when I found you. Kinda nice Atlas makes the tags out of flame-proof material, but I guess it makes sense since it's easier to identify corpses if prison gets set on fire or something."

"...I'd rather not talk about it." Winter fought down a angry blush with visible effort. "...And you haven't told me why you are running away from the battlefield, abandoning your teammates and presumably family…"

"I have… personal reasons. I tried to send a message to my team but Scroll network was offline, but they probably won't worry either way. They know I can take care of myself." Scarlet waved Winter's concerns off. "Erm, regarding to why… well, there are some very personal reasons."

"Is it related to… haa. Nevermind, it was thoughtless of me to ask." Winter glanced down at Scarlet's stomach. "I suppose if a war was looming on the horizon I wouldn't want to risk being forced into field duty while pregnant."

"I… uh, hope so as well." Scarlet nodded and adjusted her hood so it obscured her face better.

Scarlet had tried to make her escape through Emerald Forest as she had heard General Ironwood's claim of going through Vale City and 'purifying' everyone, which made the prospect of hiding in a frontier town a lot more attractive even if it meant a loss in living standards. She had made a run for it after her hidey-hole had been discovered by the General somehow, tanking the one good shot he had landed on her back with her Aura… but before she had managed to get out of Beacon's vicinity, she had run into Winter who had been essentially looking like extra-crispy piece of bacon who had just crawled out of the oven.

Luckily the burns had concentrated on the woman's back, knees and hands, indicating that she had been forced to crawl in the battleship's tight interiors when it had turned into inferno. Presumably there had been a thin layer of air still left on the floor level while the heat scorched everything above it. And as the ship had multiple decks, the lower levels had heated the upper ones, meaning that the floors must have turned red-hot, resulting in massive burns to hands, to back, and to lungs- although fortunately Winter had been able to tank the damage her lungs suffered with her Aura. The light bruises on her hands and chest suggested that someone must have attempted to undress her, likely violently, and Scarlet had later found out that it had been the reason how Winter had escaped her cell in the first place- the jailers hadn't left her cell when the battleship had been hit, allowing her to escape in the confusion.

Scarlet had been conflicted whether or not she should help someone from Atlas, much less someone wearing scraps of burnt prisoner fatigues, but she had come to a conclusion that she shouldn't abandon someone in need. She had used most of her field-kit to bandage Winter, but a problem had risen when the woman had woken up in the middle of the procedure.

Initially Winter had tried to fight against Scarlet, tried being the main word as she had been incredibly weak after crawling out of the battleship wreck, but she had stopped struggling after the younger woman had clued Winter into the recent events and had played the recording stating that Ironwood had effectively written Winter off as casualty- with her being classed as 'infected' and pending a 'purge.'

The shock had been enough to send Winter into unconsciousness (or maybe the painkillers just kicked in), which had been quite the relief as the pain Winter had radiated had been enough to cause all sorts of stirs in Scarlet's stomach when the Grimm tentacle had woken up and sensed pain. Luckily the emotion died down when Winter was passed out, allowing Scarlet to start dragging the woman away on a rink made of few thick branches and cords from Scarlet's dress.

The next concern had been that Winter was as vicious about the safety of her younger sister as she was about her own safety, and the part of Ironwood's speech that stated Weiss was 'tainted' had effectively enraged Winter beyond any reasonable degree. Although Winter had been fuming with all-consuming rage, it hadn't been hard to contain the woman as she was essentially one giant third-degree burn-wound after the crash. Bigger problem turned out to be the tentacle, which became agitated whenever Winter had one of her anger-fits. Scarlet had thus plenty of practise with controlling the Grimm, and tried to focus on positive emotions to offset Winter's negative ones, eventually causing the creature within to calm down.

Few Grimm stragglers had followed the Atlesian woman's negativity (or her howling) and Scarlet had disposed the creatures without too much hassle, even if her 'concealed carry' was making it _far_ harder than it should have been. Fortunately the main 'mass' of Grimm in the forest had been pulled to Vale's immediate vicinity thanks to the negativity swelling up in the city, leaving Emerald Forest relatively clear of Grimm, at least for a while.

Eventually the Atlesian woman's Aura had healed her enough to let her stand on her own feet and closed most of the big burns.

Naturally, the next thing that followed was a clash of authority and intent as Winter had wanted to go back to Beacon and save Weiss from Ironwood and get to the bottom of the whole debacle while re-joining Atlesian troops.

Scarlet had been conflicted over the whole issue: She didn't have a bond with the Atlesian woman (and due to Atlesian stance on the whole tentacle-issue, Winter might even try to apprehend Scarlet should she learn of the red-haired woman's 'concealed carry tentacle monster'), but Scarlet remembered that Oobleck had mentioned a Atlesian Specialist being molested by a tentacle prior to whole dormitory fiasco. Considering what Winter had on her prisoner clothes name-tag, it wasn't hard to connect the two and guess that Winter might know something about the odd creature Scarlet was currently harboring in her stomach. Plus, she could use a second pair of hands and more importantly blades if she was going to make her way to some remote and secure village in Vale to hide until the whole situation with Atlas blowed over and she could return to her normal life.

Winter had been less than thrilled by Scarlet's suggestion of just letting go of Weiss and Atlas, and had done a counter-offer which contained pulling Scarlet's head off her shoulders and beating her to death with her own spine. Scarlet hadn't been too intimidated as Winter had been both unarmed and so weak that the Atlesian woman had troubles standing without letting her knees shake from strain. Pointing the weakness hadn't helped out initially as Winter seemed to harbor some misconception that Atlas would just listen to her and offer medical aid before letting her rejoin the Specialist troops, and possibly arrest Ironwood as well. Scarlet figured that the Schnee likely also hoped that magical unicorns would fly down from the heavens and take her to the land of love based off the ludicrousness of her statements.

However considering that Ironwood had essentially told that he'd 'purge' Winter, Scarlet had been forced to just knock Winter out cold. She didn't exactly _want_ to send Winter back to her death when she was still in weak and stressed state, as it felt too much of a douche move to send a weakened and clearly delusional woman to die even if she could be a potential enemy.

The stream of verbal abuse and rage that had followed once Winter had woken up had been legendary, but eventually the anger passed and turned into rejection, into depression, and finally into _incredibly_ hateful acceptance. The news that Beacon hadn't suffered casualties helped to lift Winter's mood, as any news about Weiss's health would have likely jumped into the nation's number one news-list. Or possibly, and more likely, Beacon had managed to keep anything that had happened to the younger Schnee under strict confidentiality.

After all, as far as the news outlets were concerned, the younger of the Schnee daughters, the 'Grimmromancer' as she had been dubbed, was a journalistic goldmine for selling news and getting readers. Thus no news regarding Weiss's health was essentially something between good and neutral news, and the fact Winter's apparent 'death' had gone past Weiss's health in journalistic reports spoke that Weiss was still alive and likely unharmed. Winter had wanted to send a message to Weiss and let her know that she shouldn't worry about her older sister. However, Scarlet had persuaded Winter to use a public call-post and delay the message until they were about to leave their current hideout in the trade post-settlement so that it would be harder to track the message back to them if someone intercepted it. Scarlet had brought her Scroll with her, but she had disabled its tracking, disconnected it from CCCT and turned it off, reserving the device for emergency use only.

Scarlet had been grateful when she saw in the news that she had been marked as missing in action, likely reported so by Professor Oobleck, and then somewhat angry when that status had been downgraded to being killed in action (at least in the public eye) with a brutal and sensationalistic execution in cold blood, presumably reported so by journalistic gold mine for hack journalists that was Beacon's rumor-mill- she didn't want to become a martyr-icon for the anti-Atlesian movement because some two-pence reporter wanted to go with a easy route of reporting baseless hearsay.

Thus Winter had chosen to continue accompanying Scarlet and had agreed to lay low for a while, and had agreed to continue the pair's status quo at least as long as their goals aligned. That is to say, at least until the situation would calm down and Winter could resurface with some convenient excuse like being captured by extremists after the airship crash and Scarlet could come up with a excuse of her own before returning to Beacon.

Scarlet already had one excuse planned that might even work, considering her somewhat inflated stomach which was visible even though she wore a worn travel cloak. She had bought her current clothes from a local trader in the first village on their way out of Vale City's immediate vicinity, alongside other essential supplies. After all, the risque dance dress she had worn when she escaped would likely attract _wrong_ sorts of attention from the fellow travelers, specifically if she spent time in taverns and bars. Thus she had bought two of travel cloaks and given one to Winter, alongside some generic grey clothes that fit Winter somewhat loosely. Winter's preference on skin-tight skin-tight clothes would have to wait as tight clothes would result in a _lot_ of problems with friction while her back was still covered in burns and blisters. Other important shoppings included a full medical kit as patching Winter's wounds had consumed pretty much every piece of medical gear in Scarlet's field-kit.

Granted, the wounds might have been a small blessing in disguise as the bandages and linen wrapped around Winter's face and body made her effectively indistinguishable should Atlas, Vale or SDC start distributing 'wanted' posters, not to mention the fine ash and dust from the battleship's wreck had turned the woman's brilliant, almost bluish white hair into dirty gray colour. Granted, the hair colouration wouldn't last longer than few long showers, but every bit counted in the earliest stages of their temporary exodus.

"Ugh… My money is not unlimited, you know. I pulled as much as I could from my account in the first village since my Lien card could be traced. And while I do have quite bit stored in there, the prices in here will shred through the savings fairly quickly. And you don't have access to your Schnee accounts if you don't have your Scroll or cards." Scarlet complained as Winter motioned for one last pair of drinks, and Scarlet paid again. "Plus, the further we go from the City, the heftier the public transport fee becomes. The first town was like, few hours of walking away from the City and we managed to hitch a bus convoy from there and land here without much trouble... but I doubt I have the money to get us transported over the mountains the same way, specifically when there's this talk about possible wars and whatnot. We could try posing as Hunters to get a free ride. But if, when, they ask for credentials we're out of luck. We could pose as freelance hunters or mercs at best, perhaps get a pity or investment discount, although I doubt I pose a threatening enough figure to pass as freelance with my stomach as it is."

"Your point?"

"Ugh… I mean, we're going to need money for the rest of the trip, and probably need to pick up work as well. Makes no sense to waste all of our Lien on booze, specifically when it's this expensive and this poor quality, no matter how much you miss your little sister…" Scarlet hissed at Winter's almost petulant answer. "I get it, you're upset, mad and hurt over what happened but get yourself together! Weren't you in some sort of super special forces?"

"...Haa. You're right, plus you can't even get properly drunk off something this watered-down." Winter grumbled loudly as she downed the mug and ignored a angry glare from the barkeep who was without a doubt trying to eavesdropping on the pair's conversation- after all, two hooded people conversing in hushed tones in dark corner of the somewhat populated bar must have looked suspicious. Although judging off the barkeeper's looks, he wasn't having much success with the listening in as the pair kept their voices muted and the rest of the bar's background noise muffled out the rest.

Winter burped in very un-ladylike manner but recovered somewhat graciously. The motion seemed to cause something that had been knocked loose by the recent events to lock back in place, and Winter blinked like if she had just woken up. The act caused Scarlet to lift her eyebrow at the woman.

Winter looked at her hand... and took a napkin from the table and tapped the corner of her mouth with it, wiping the beer froth from her lips with far more elegance than she had shown thus far. "...I realize I need to apologize both for my recent behaviour and for recent attitude. I must have picked bad habits from Qr… I mean, from the recent events."

"...I don't think I can fault you. Your career literally went up in flames." Scarlet commented dryly as she tried to focus on her drink and noted silently how the Schnee woman's mood seemed to change somewhat quickly, making Scarlet suspect that there might be something loose in the Schnee woman's head- although considering the circumstances, she couldn't really fault the woman without coming off as a hypocrite.

Scarlet grimaced as she put her mug down. "Bleh. The next trader group should come by in few days. There's a chance that we can offer protection to them and hitch a ride to some nearby village that way, at least if they take us. If we get lucky we might even get paid, although I wouldn't bet on it since we can't really tell who we are."

"...The risk of someone figuring us out is too big when so many groups pass through this trade post. I agree. I presume you know some remote village where I could heal my wounds and you could… well, deliver?" Winter leaned closer to Scarlet and she nodded after a moment. "From that look, I'm presuming it isn't a particularly nice place."

"Well, not really. But the local Hunter should be able to help us. We became er… friends I guess when my team had a mission to assist him in clearing nearby Grimm Arachnid nests after the creatures had started to nab lumberjacks. The place is pretty far away from everything and kinda avoided by travelers because of the… well, nature of the place, but I figure we should be okay to just hang around for a while since they know me." Scarlet tapped her fingers together. "The place is pretty creepy and people aren't exactly welcoming, but on the other hand…"

"...Once they accept us as part of their group, then they will likely hide us well from anyone trying to look for us. Fine." Winter finished Scarlet's conversation with a sigh. "I've seen the sort before. Just in case though, I need to buy a weapon."

"Er, right. I'm not sure I have enough money to buy a Hunter-grade gun from the caravans or something, plus the guns aren't sold to someone without credentials…" Scarlet scratched the back of her head through the hood, causing Winter to groan. "Ugh, figures someone like you of all people isn't used to being poor…"

"No, I am merely not convinced by the idea of going to a potentially hostile community to beg for asylum while being unarmed and without defences. However, since we lack time and supplies, I suppose I can settle for some regular steel rapier or a sword. I can reinforce it with Aura, although I doubt I find anything even remotely comparable to my old gear in here." Winter rubbed her face past her hood and hissed as the touch caused the half-healed blisters in her cheeks to sting. She adjusted the bandages on her face to cover the skin before continuing "I'm not entirely familiar with how Vale's countryside operates their supply logistics, well, without forced acquisition of goods anyway. Do you think we can access some Dust, preferably Ice variety? My Semblance, Summoning, requires Dust to work as power source, otherwise I'll drain my entire Aura with single use. I can't use my Glyphs either without a Dust-Caster and refined Dust."

"Erm, we can probably get some Dust from the local convenience store, but not military-grade, more like freezer and refrigerator-grade… Plus you'd need to show your Hunter or military credentials in order to get access to the Dust sold and supplied by gun dealers. Assuming they were the honest kind." Scarlet shrugged while she rubbed the back of her neck, blinked in confusion, and pulled her hand away in order to shrug properly. "I mean, there are illegal arms dealers out there but they will usually charge premium from non-regulars and I can't afford that…"

"Urgh…" Winter resisted the urge to order another pair of drinks with visible effort.

' _Hm… I should probably start prodding her about the tentacle-thing soon…'_ Scarlet thought as the pair went silent. ' _Ugh, I don't really want to bring that topic up right now. But I need to let it out soon, preferably in a shower so I can wash it. It can't smell good when it's been in my stomach for like, half a day… sheesh, I can't believe how quickly this went downhill'_

Scarlet sighed as she bit down on her bread and gulped down her meat and potato broth that she had order in addition to the initial beverages, and squirmed slightly as the tentacle reminded her of its presence by adjusting its position in her intestine. ' _Guh… I'm probably going to starve without realizing it if it keeps eating what I eat… Kinda creepy, actually.'_

Something lurched a bit near her butt and Scarlet stabilized herself before the line of thinking could 'eject' the creature in the middle of the bar. ' _A populated place like this isn't exactly good for a emotion-controlled creature, even if I had plenty of training on controlling it when Winter was still recovering from the battleship crash… I need to find a way to breach the subject soon with Winter, I hope she doesn't find it too weird… then again, she was supposedly molested by it as well so we can probably just be, er, be sisters-in-tentacle-caused-post-traumatic-stress-disorder or something? Ugh, that sounds weird…'_

Scarlet patted her stomach to calm the appendage and it's squirming died down.

"You look happy." Winter commented and Scarlet blushed. "...Out of curiosity, does the father know you're… well, running for it?"

"...Uh, I-I don't know?" Scarlet hid her face behind her hands to calm her blush and analyze her emotions- which were oddly askew. ' _Why am I blushing this hard? No, why am I… happy that I have this thing inside me?'_ "Er, not that it matters, I'm kinda stuck with it so…"

"It's alright, I shouldn't have asked." Winter's voice became carefully neutral and Scarlet realized what her words insinuated.

"I-it's n-not that someone just popped their sausage in the oven and ran, leaving me to take care of the mess. It's kinda… er, complicated." Scarlet tried to correct the issue, but something struck her like a revelation. "Actually, why don't I tell you in detail later today? We could share a room and, er, talk. There's got to be two-bed rooms for rent in the village motel. Perhaps even a chance for a hot bath."

"...Certainly?" Winter seemed to be confused over Scarlet's words. "I must confess that I need to rest soon as my wounds are starting to catch up to me, although I managed to get a brief nap during the ride to here. We should probably look into renting the room soon and spend some time figuring out our plan for the future in detail."

"Yes, yes we should…"

* * *

Jaune sighed.

The library corner in his 'guest room' in the Shard Mountains was effectively the last spot in the room that _wasn't_ bearing stains from his recent hump-streak, and he had taken refuge in it in order to get his thoughts in order. To try and figure out what exactly he was doing and what he should do, and how his recent deal with Salem could bite him in the butt as he had a good hunch that Salem's generosity had more than one hook buried in it.

Salem had assigned three maids to serve him after Jaune had dined with her, and he had effectively plowed them for almost five hours straight after waking up- which was a thing that had come around to proverbially whack him in the back of his neck now that he had come off his lust-high. Granted, the activity had been quite good at relieving his stress, helped him with fine-tuning his Semblance to sense positive emotions as well, and was generally fun, but the fact he was blatantly cheating on his already-confusing group of sort-of-girlfriends weighed heavily on his mind. Even more so after he had come off his lust-high and the weight of his recent actions became clearer to him- and he realized that he had committed the treacherous act willingly. The sudden surge of worry, rage and feelings of loss that had appeared almost out of thin air weren't making things easier for Jaune either.

"Sheesh… I really can't let Ruby, Blake and Pyrrha know about this… No, I shouldn't try to keep this secret, I need to find a way to come clean with this the next time I see them. But how?" Jaune mumbled as he felt more and more like a massive jerk as he wrung his hands, sitting on a cushy chair with a randomly picked book in front of him. The pictures within clued him that the book contained something about Grimm physiology, but trying to study in order to divert his thoughts hadn't worked and his other alternative for stress relief, humping the girls, wouldn't exactly help to resolve his issues.

The fact he wasn't exactly sure if his team was still alive didn't exactly help his thoughts, even if he realized that there wasn't much he could do when he was effectively held in a golden cage in the middle of nowhere, and if the red sky was anything to go by, the tower was nowhere near Vale or Glenn. As it was, he figured his best chance of going forwards would be to see what his captors, or as he _should_ call them now, 'new allies', had in store for him.

' _Haa… I just have to hope Ruby, Blake and Weiss are alright and made it out of Glenn somehow after I got trapped in that metro and… I guess I passed out after healing Cinder? Somehow I don't 'feel' like that the girls are dead though, but perhaps it's just my hope getting the better of me. Salem said that Cinder would find out if they are alive, so I just have to wait... and try to think of a way to keep them from knowing about this.'_ Jaune sighed. His ears perked up and relaxed as he heard faint sounds of mild splashing, and realized that he had become high-strung again as he had time to think.

The three maids, Shir, Larua and May, were taking a long and well-deserved bath after 'accompanying' Jaune for the duration of his lust-filled daze. Jaune had poured out a bath for the three girls after taking a shower (during which the thoroughly filled girls had rested, or rather, tried to recover from their after-sex daze that was more like after-sex coma), and he had carried the girls into the large bathtub when they had been conscious enough to bathe. Granted, the girl's legs (and hips) had proven to be unreliable in their current state, which had proven to be a bit of a problem. However, May had assured that, in quote, they were 'alrifht… lordh c-ahn! Ahhn… gho and rhesth too… mhn...'

Considering how hard Jaune had humped the girls, May's exact words had been somewhat descriptive of their state, which was quite frankly, 'completely screwed silly'.

Naturally the vulnerable state had prompted Jaune's protective instinct to activate and he had opted to sit in the main room and eavesdrop on the girl's bath in case something went wrong- staying in the bathroom with the girls would likely just end up with him hopping in and continuing where he left off, restarting the cycle of humping until the girls would truly break.

The thought of it made Jaune even more ashamed.

' _I can't believe this… but I made my bed, so I have to sleep in it…'_ Jaune rubbed his face in exasperation. Another small splash from the bath caused his ears to perk again, and he rubbed his ears as he realized that his earlobes had started to resemble those of a Beowolf, or rather, a wolf as his Semblance was feeding from his self-loathing and had started to activate. He pulled his hands off his ears after they had turned back to normal ' _Guh, I really don't need another Shadow-induced rampage…'_

Luckily there was something in the tower that felt almost… comforting for the Shadow and outside the odd and almost unnatural level of lust he had sunken into, the Beast within had been surprisingly easy to manage. ' _It feels like… home, I guess? No, something more. Something like a sanctuary perhaps? It's almost reverent feeling…'_

"Phew… I thought I was going to break…" A faint sound of speech caused Jaune's attention to plink off his current line of thoughts and he turned his head towards the bathroom door.

' _Hm? I guess the girls are recovering just fine if they can talk normally already…'_ Jaune felt relief as he listened to the idle chatter. ' _I'll just listen for a while, just in case…'_

"...Eh ...You've always been a massive slut, Shir. It's not like Queen Salem just plucked it out of you. Seeing you acting all cute and shy was kinda nice though."

"...Oy, May, do I need to remind your nympho ass that at least _I_ didn't pass out from just..."

"..."

"...Aw, don't be sad, Larua. Hug?"

"..."

"...Mwah, Larua you're soo cute when you pout… Makes me want to gobble you up!"

"...You two are just closet lesbians, aren't you… oof!"

"...Shir gets a hug as well! Now, Larua, charge!"

"...Oy vey, I'll smack you if y- ngh! Oof!"

"...Good thinking, Larua, that'll hold her up! Wait, holy crap, you got your entire forearm in! How loose are you, Shir?"

"...Ngh! Guh... May, I think I could have fit a football in there after Lord Arc was done with me, but it'll close up eventually… What's gotten int- Guh! S-stop moving your fingers in there Larua! H-hey, May, you're looking at me funny..."

"...Mhn! Shir's lipsh tashtes like cum…"

"...Ahn! ...S-shtop it!"

"...Neh, Shir, you wouldn't be grinding your hips against Larua's... uh, elbow, actually, if you didn't like it…"

"...Hnng! Hyah! Ahn!"

"...Mmh… Shir's super cuddly when she's screwed silly…"

"...S-shtohp humppingh m-mhy thigh…"

' _Uh… I might have been a bit hasty in thinking that they were sane. Or perhaps they were like that from the start and I didn't notice? Just what did I stick my fork into…'_ Jaune blushed and decided against listening further as the splashing intensified and he tried to imagine anything else than what was happening in the bathroom. He would have been concerned for Shir's state if the girl wasn't letting out feelings of pleasure which Jaune could pick up faintly with his Semblance. ' _...Although I'm glad they're somewhat alright, I essentially forced them into a relationship with me, took advantage of them… Man, I should be grateful they aren't actively plotting to kill me.'_

Jaune sighed and leaned back on the chair.

And topped over the chair as the guest room's main door exploded into splinters of wood and metal with a resounding crash.

"Wha-" Jaune managed to let out a small, vaguely confused sound before he froze up as he saw what occupied the destroyed doorway.

A massive figure clad in bronze and brown, with glowing red veins criss-crossing his exposed, heavily muscled and tanned arms the size of Jaune's waist. The creature stood in the room's now-broken doorway like a vengeful god, peering into the room and looking for something specific. The creature crashed through the remains of the door into the room and let a bellowing, enraged roar that shook the room to its foundations while the creature's red-glowing eyes turned into small stars of rage that seemed to leave trails of baleful red light behind them. The monster looked around the room, saw the nearly-ruined bed, noticed the lack of people in the room, and finally saw Jaune who was on the floor after flopping over in surprise.

Gout of steam billowed out of the creature's mouth as it let out it's battle-cry.

" _WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"_

* * *

"Quite interesting. I trust you had something to do with this?" Salem asked idly in her laboratory while turning another page on the newspaper freshly imported from Vale. She liked to read the physical medium from time to time instead of using electronic devices, the smell of freshly-printed paper brought good memories to her head. "Watts?"

"I may have… hm… intercepted the Atlesian research division's report transmission in order to introduce some embellishments." Watts confirmed as he sat on the other side of Salem's laboratory. "It seems that the imbeciles never found the backdoors I installed on the CCCT network. The very network I designed… although it heartens me to see that the research division did not forget to claim that achievement as theirs. Let's see if they take responsibility for the 'Grimm Infiltrator' mistake, or if they will once again pick one of their own to take the blame."

"Hm-hm. I seem to recall that you never liked them."

"My lady jests. She knows I absolutely loathe those self-important, credit-stealing, back-riding little shits." Watts put a finger on his lips almost daintily. "I apologize for the outburst. I am truly ashamed."

"Oh, please. You've made your stance towards them quite clear in the past, and plain dishonesty does not suit a man of your caliber." Salem smirked at Watts who nodded his head minutely.

"My lady knows me well."

"Hm, hm." Salem hummed and put the paper aside so she could looked over barely conscious Cinder who had been flopped over on a operating table nearby and was groaning in pain. "Well, it looks like my prediction was correct. But to move on: Cinder. How are you feeling? A silly question, I know, but I'd rather hear your version."

"A-argh… everything… hurts… help…" Cinder groaned and her regrown black wings flapped slightly. "I… can't take this… anymore…"

A gaggle of Salem's maids had carried the incapacitated winged woman to the Grimm queen's lab, and two of the maids had stayed behind in case Salem had more tasks for them. Salem had performed basic examinations on Cinders regrown wings and on the state of her health, all the while Cinder looked and sounded like she was half foot in the grave already. The woman had passed out in the middle of the examination and Salem had chosen to just hook her up to the life support and let her sleep, allowing her rest for whole six hours or so before she had woken up again, pumped full of painkillers and other pain-relieving drugs. It seemed that Cinder's state had grown even more dire if she could feel pain even through the drug-haze.

"Well, unfortunately if I just pulled your wings out like I did last time, thy would just grow again. Same result would come sooner or later if I just pulled your head off your shoulders and put it in the flesh pond to regenerate, again." Salem stood up and walked to Cinder. She began stroking Cinder's chin as the flame-caster squirmed on the operating table. The sky outside had turned even darker crimson, indicating that the dusk was fast approaching- and if the look Cinder had was any indication, she likely believed that her end would come with it. "Cinder, Cinder… so little faith. Hmm… Well, this will help with the pain, even if temporarily."

Salem slid her forefinger into Cinder's mouth and the flame-caster bit down instinctively, causing the woman's mutated, needle-like teeth to puncture Salem's pale skin and let her black blood flow down the flame-caster's throat. Cinder let a groan as the liquid froze and burnt in her throat, but the groan turned into a moan as the liquid started its work.

"The blood merely works as painkiller in this case, beside few other things, but do try not to overindulge in it." Salem advised Cinder. The flame-caster's amber eyes had turned dull and intoxicated almost as if she was drunk and her face had gained a slight but noticeable blush as she kept sucking on Salem's finger.

"Mhh…" Cinder moaned past the finger and her thighs rubbed together almost unconsciously, which was intensified even further as Salem pulled the woman's lips apart and used the rest of her fingers to caress Cinder's cheek. Cinder responded by licking the pale finger in her mouth in daze-like state, causing Salem's hand to stain in saliva and blood. Salem suppressed a grin as she heard the two maids hiss in jealousy at Cinder from their spot next to the lab's exit (as Salem had told the maids to remain in the lab case Cinder needed food or transport).

"Over-consumption of my blood in its current state may be somewhat… problematic. To be more precise, my blood has a pain-neutralizing, slightly narcotic and slightly aphrodisiac effects when consumed by humans, in addition to its normal effect, improved healing speed. Do not get addicted to it." Salem told the woman as she pulled her finger out of Cinder's mouth, allowing the wound on her finger to close almost immediately. She continued stroking Cinder's cheek as the woman stabilized. "Just a friendly reminder, in case you forgot. You've been away from here for a long time, you know."

"...Ah… are… you mad that… I didn't… report often… enough?" Cinder's eyes widened slightly while she panted like a cat in heat, likely trying to lessen the effect Salem's blood was having on the woman's psyche. "Did… I… is this reveng-"

"No, you were just so formal with your reports." Salem huffed. "A simple 'hi mom, how are you' never hurt anyone…"

"Ah…"

"I am merely joking. Try to stay conscious until Jaune stops ploughing my maids and remembers he has something scheduled for today. Do forgive me for letting him tarry, but I doubt hurrying him up as he is would help anything or anyone as he is. At best he'd just start humping you as well like some sort of dog in a heat." Salem rolled her eyes at Cinder. "It appears that the maids I sent are at least doing their job, but I expected them to remember to remind him of his schedule. Well, I suppose you can thank him personally for tarrying after my 'reminder' reaches him."

"Remind… er?"

"I expect Hazel will serve as a nice wake-up call, specifically if he happens to see what mr. Arc is doing with the girls Hazel rescued. Or if he happens to hear the rumors Watts may or may not have started regarding Arc's… alleged preferences for food."

"My lady, such shocking allegations!"

"Watts…"

"My lady, I must confess there may be a kernel of truth to the rumors." Watts nodded his head minutely and Salem turned back towards Cinder as she mumbled something.

"Why… him? Why… Arc?"

"Because I presume that Jaune can heal what ails you better than I can, seeing that he is the root cause of it. Well, to be more precise, he should be able to heal you without causing adverse side effects. I could heal you, if you happen remember that did it earlier, but my previous statement applies if you still remember that as well." Salem tilted her head at Cinder. "If your parasite was just a regular Grimm there would be no issue with me removing it, but as it is, it is… a bit more complicated. The creature in your body that causes your… growth spurts, so to say, is somewhat delicate and I'd hate to see, for instance, that it gets frightened as I remove it, attempts to escape, tears your brain to shreds, consumes the remains, and rebirths you as another mr. Arc. Of course, that applies only in a hypothetical scenario where I make mistake when repurposing your lovely little corrupted spinal cord and the parasite inside your brain~"

Cinder froze still, although her legs continued to move ever so slightly.

"Oh, stop looking at me like that." Salem huffed and crossed her arms at Cinder. "So, you told me that you started to feel pain almost as soon as you went to sleep?"

"N-no, not pain… arousement." Cinder groaned out while she looked like she wanted to strangle something. That something caused the flame-caster to twitch, and she forced the feeling away with visible effort all the while Salem was lifting her eyebrow at Cinder. "T-the parasite… doesn't like when I think… ill of Arc… hng!"

"Haa… what a bother." Salem sighed while grabbing Cinder's head and putting her forefinger back into Cinder's mouth. The woman bit down on it and drank the black blood greedily, causing her amber eyes to dilate slightly while her legs crossed themselves. "Oh, and Cinder... If you start to rut in my laboratory, even if you are affected by my blood, then I will throw you back into the flesh pond and restart from scratch."

Cinder's legs calmed down with visible effort.

"Good girl. Now, stay." Salem pulled her finger from Cinder's mouth and walked to her desk, sat down on the chair and continued her research while the flame-caster passed out on the operating table.

A crash and enraged howl echoed from somewhere far below the laboratory and Salem nodded. "Well, it appears that the two of them are bonding alright."

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait, I..."

"UGHRAAA!"

"H-hold- Ow!"

Jaune flailed his arms as the massive, enraged man kept charging around the room like a rhino in a porcelain shop, wreaking terrible havoc on the furniture and walls of the room. Luckily enough Jaune's lessons with Yang had come to bear fruit and he managed to dodge most of the blows, all the while he was completely uncertain whether or not he should attempt to counter force with force of his own or try to flee. The latter option was somewhat unavailable though, as it would mean leaving the trio of maids still in the bath to the enraged man-monster's mercy, which was something Jaune was completely unwilling to do.

 _'Dammit, perhaps if I use the tentacles?'_ Jaune concentrated on his Semblance while giving a silent thanks to whoever had thought to stuff the room's refrigerator full of food, which had helped to contain his hunger during and after his hump-streak, and he felt as his back sprouted black tentacles while his skin turned deadly pale white.

The massive man seemed to pause for the minutes while as he took in Jaune's changed appearance, and that was enough for the shapeshifter to act and fling his appendages at the man.

Unfortunately, the enraged man was strong enough to just tear the appendages apart with almost ridiculous ease, snapping bone and rending flesh like it was twigs and wet tissue.

Jaune winced as his attack fluked, but kept trying anyway as it was at least forcing the man to pause his charging.

"Wait, hold on, can we talk this out?" Jaune took advantage of the distraction and tried to communicate with the man. He noticed that his words came off like human's, and the Shadow was almost… docile as Jaune pulled from the madding reservoir he called his Semblance. 'Odd… This place is seriously weird...'

"GHAAAARRR" The man let a mad, enraged roar as he tore his arms free of the tentacles and stood tall in the center of the room. The man's muscles bulged even further and his already strained shirt and pants let tortured groans as they ripped apart, showing the man's almost ridiculously muscular body and glowing veins that criss-crossed his skin like fractures on bronze. Before Jaune managed to recover from the loss of his tentacles, the man reached for a belt-pouch that still barely clung to the man's waist and pulled a massive red fire-type Dust shard… and stabbed it to his own shoulder.

A cloak of flames covered the man in an instant while his mouth and eyes turned into blazes of crimson and fire, causing Jaune to instinctively flinch and pull back while his remaining tentacles around the man caught fire and boiled.

"...Wow, that's hot. In more than one way." A amazed, girly voice commented and Jaune glanced to the side to see that May, Larua and Shir had stacked up on the bathroom door to ogle at the near-shirtless man-to-tentacle wrestling match and subsequent muscle-bulge-stripping. "Erm, no offense, lord Hazel."

The flame-clad, Dust-injected man blinked, causing the twin suns that were his eyes to dim slightly as he turned around to look at the bathroom doorway.

May waved at the man.

Larua smiled at the man.

Shir winked at man.

The flames around 'Lord Hazel' calmed from inferno to slow flicker and he seemed to realize that he had effectively stripped himself- and Jaune sensed that the man was almost... embarrassed.

"Uh, L-lord Arc, may I introduce you, lord Hazel Rainart." May introduced the man to Jaune as the situation seemed to calm down into a standstill. "Lord Hazel, may I introduce lord Jaune Arc."

"H-hi." Jaune waved at the man who seemed to be calming down now that he'd seen the girls in full-ish health, but he was clearly hesitating letting his guard down. Jaune tried to make the man's decision to calm down easier as he undid his transformation while the shredded tentacles on the floor started to sizzle and melt as he forced himself back to his human shape, removing the now-useless appendages. "Uh, nice to meet you?"

"Ghru… Arc. I heard you abused, killed and ate the maids Salem sent you." Hazel growled with a voice that was akin to two rocks grinding each other to dust. "It seems that the latter two are mere rumors, thank the gods."

"So um…" Jaune tried to comment but Hazel was having none of it.

"Arc! Hear me, for I won't mince words nor will repeat myself" The man looked every bit enraged even as his flame cloak had dissipated. "If you do so much as touch them, I'll grind you into mincemeat and feed you to a Beowolf!"

"Uh… by 'them' you mean the girls, right?" Jaune felt sweat forming on his back as he tried to buy time with pointless questions. "Erm… what exactly do you classify as 'touching?'"

The tanned man's expression darkened.

"Lord Arc claimed that we are to become his concubines." May supplied helpfully, causing Hazel's expression to return to the one he had worn upon bursting through the room's door. Jaune felt somewhat intimidated as he looked into Hazel's red-glowing eyes, showing clearly just how much Dust the massive man had injected into his body.

The fact the man was wearing just shreds and strands of clothing after ripping them off didn't make the image easier to swallow, although the three naked girls were ogling Hazel's half-naked body with complete lack of shame.

"Explain what do they mean by 'concubines?'" Hazel growled at Jaune.

"Uh, Salem told that I should uh… erm…" Jaune tried to defuse the situation. "Er, uh… get myself sorted out and uh… do things in order to…"

"He 'did' all three of us for hours!" May supplied helpfully. "It was amazing!"  
Hazel looked at May's expression which was positively glowing while Shir looked somewhat pensive and Larua had regained her usual, expressionless look.

Black smoke started to rise from the corners of Hazel's mouth.

"Queen Salem ordered us to obey Lord Arc like his orders were hers." Shir commented as it looked like Hazel would continue his attempt to pull Jaune's head and spine out of his body and beat him to death with them. "He wanted to use us as his concubines, and what he did is entirely within his right."

Hazel let a growl that sounded more indecisive than angered as he motioned his shovel-sized hand at Jaune. "Salem ordered you to obey... that?"

"She did." Shir nodded. "Lord Hazel, while I… we appreciate your concern, please do not get yourself in trouble for us. We'll be alright."

"..." Larua nodded and May sighed.

"You're making it sound like Lord Arc is some sort of monster." May clicked her tongue at Shir.

"...Very well. If Salem truly ordered so…" Hazel let a growl and turned towards Jaune. "My promise still stands however. If I hear that you hurt the girls…"

"I won't." Jaune interrupted Hazel and the man's face grew darker.

"I doubt that." Hazel's growl became more violent. "Rest assured, whether or not Salem has you under her wing, I will tear you into pieces if you hurt the innocent!"

"L-lord Hazel…" May stumbled from the bathroom doorway to pat the enraged man's back in a reassuring manner. "Truly, you shouldn't offer such sacrifice for someone like us…"

"I will not tolerate anyone hurting the young and innocent. Never again!" Hazel growled over his shoulder at the girl in a far more soft tone. His tone grew more exasperated as he took in the three girl's worried and conflicted expressions. "...Fine. But if something, anything, happens, then you three know where to find me. Do not hesitate to seek my aid, again."

The man turned around and walked towards the thoroughly trashed rooms exit. "...Arc. Salem has summoned you to her laboratory. Do not tarry."

Hazel left without further ado, completely ignoring the state of his clothing or how much of his swole he showed through the rags.

Jaune looked at the doorway, at the destroyed room, and at the trio of girls. "I've screwed up somehow, haven't I?"

 **Next chapter: Around a week or so is my best guess.**


	55. Fleshforge

Pyrrha blocked a devastating blow with her shield, digging her feet to the ground to stop herself from getting flung into the air like a ragdoll from the impact. She guided the rest of the strike aside, allowing her attacker to impale itself to her spear.

Her opponent let a pained roar as the hit connected, but instead of going down the creature let a furious howl and swiped at Pyrrha, aiming a blow directly at Pyrrha's throat. The red-clad Mistralian champion dodged by falling to a low stance… and the wind caused by the blow caught her and flung her aside as she hadn't expected the shockwave of the blow to cause so much updraft.

Pyrrha rolled and stood up, unfolding Milo into a rifle and firing few potshots at the attacker before something _massive_ impacted against her back, driving air out of her lungs and almost concussed her as her head impacted against thick, cold grond.

Before she could recover from the invisible blow made entirely out of wind, she was picked from the ground with same invisible force that tussled her hair and clothes, and she was flung at a nearby tree with enough force to crack the tree in two. Pyrrha tried to recover by using her greaves to magnetize herself to the very world's magnetic field, rooting herself in place… and screamed aloud as lightning struck her out of overcast sky, almost breaking her Aura and causing the girl to slam to the ground.

"Match!" A gruff voice declared and Pyrrha shook her head to clear her disorientation. She took the hand offered to her and looked up to see red-eyed Yang Xiao-Long, the Fall Maiden, grinning at her. The golden-blonde hair flowed like lion's mane imbued with almost aetheric energy as wind danced in it… and fell as the buxom girl blinked, causing her eyes to return to their normal lilac colour. The blonde hair seemed to grow slightly dull without the aetheric energy swirling around it, which made the girl's appereance fit better with her brown and yellow clothes and with the brown, dying leaves of Mistral's forest.

Winter was soon coming to Remnant, and it had already started to snow lightly and inconsistently while the team had been making their camp in a patch of uninhibited woods few tens of miles away from Mistral's populated areas, just next to area known as Wind Path. The area had generally unstable weather, so it fit their needs perfectly- even if someone was looking at the general direction where Yang trained, seeing a localized thunderstorm wouldn't be too far out of the ordinary.

Pyrrha had wanted to visit her parents while they were in Mistral, but Qrow had put quick stop to that idea as they needed to maintain their incognito cover- and Pyrrha had to agree that she had a tendency of attracting crowds. Her sort-of stealth-training with Blake helped with that, but she had a fairly decent guess that her disguises wouldn't work on people around whom she had grown up, and could probably tell who she was based off her footsteps alone. She hadn't been all too happy with the outcome but she figured that the mission was to help Yang come to terms with her affliction rather than to sightsee Mistral, and had thus marched onwards.

"You're starting to get the 'ang of it." The gruff voice repeated and Pyrrha looked to the side where Qrow was overseeing their match while Nora and Ren were spectating. Nora bore few bruises and her hair had enough branches and brown leaves in it to build a small bird's nest while Ren was effectively unharmed, both having trained with Yang before Pyrrha's turn. The red-haired champion had a feeling that Yang had deliberately thrown the match with Ren in order to avoid Nora's ire.

"Good game, good fight." Yang commented to Pyrrha while rubbing a spot between her breasts where Pyrrha had managed to stab her during the brawler's devastating charge. "I need to watch out for those spear- uh... techniques."

"Spear-bracing…" Pyrrha commented almost reflexively as she cleaned branches and leaves out of her hair. "I… lost. Again."

"Don't fret over it, I'm just that good." Yang flexed her left hand and smirked… and her head bobbed down as Qrow whacked the girl in the back of her head. "Ow!"

"Don' get too cocky now. That's how the last Fall maiden died." Qrow's tone was grave as he reprimanded Yang. "Focus on yer training. You'll hafta fight against your teammates one-by-one, then all at same time, then all four of you against meself, and then against a pack of Grimm…"

"...And then against a Grimm in its nest, and against a stronger Grimm alone, and so on and so forth. Chill out, I got this." Yang repeated their training schedule to Qrow while rubbing her neck. "You worry way too much. I'm already getting the hang of this whole 'maiden' business."

"Yeah, but you still sucked hard when you tried to use it for the first time, and compared to Amber Fall, you still suck. And she got ambushed and killed. I don't want to see that happen to my lil' sunny dragon." Qrow's tone turned softer and he flinched as Yang hissed at the man. "Heh, forgot you don't like when someone other than yer dad calls you that, eh…"

"When that 'someone' happens to use it to manipulate me emotionally, no." Yang growled while her eyes turned red. "You know what, how about I stuff that scythe of yours where sun doesn't shine?"

"Yang, your mood..." Pyrrha commented from the side, carefully, as she spotted that the buxom girl's mood had shifted radically again. Yang's mood seemed to shift on a dime, again, and she almost cried as she turned towards Ren and Nora.

"I- I'm sorry, I don't know… It's the maiden again… ugh…"

Qrow sighed at Yang's stammering. "See? Yer not ready…"

Yang looked at Pyrrha while wiping her tears. "S-sorry… A-at least this didn't happen in the middle of the training, eh? I… ugh… this is so pathetic..."

"Well… that's why we are training, right?" Pyrrha tried to cheer Yang. She ignored her lower back which stung after getting tossed through a tree in order to pat the girl who seemed to gradually recover from the emotional shift.

Pyrrha felt sympathetic towards the buxom blonde's plight, she really did, but at the same time there was a tiny, miniscule niggle of a ugly feeling that threatened to take root in her heart after seeing Yang grow so ridiculously powerful in mere days… surpassing even Pyrrha, who until then had been effectively undefeatable in one-versus-one combat, and had spent her entire life training to get to the point where she was.

The ugly emotion was very reminiscent of the ugly feeling that swelled in her heart when she had fought for her place by Jaune's side, and had been only partially calmed when she had become one of the boy's 'special someone's'.

The fact she had to 'share' still caused the ugly feeling to fester in her heart, but she tried to reason with it as the alternative would have been to lose Jaune to Blake and then to Ruby, and then to Weiss as well- and she tried to ignore the suggestions the ugly feeling brought to her mind on how she could have… removed the issues. Most of which were slightly altered versions of Nora's plans, and none of them good.

Pyrrha shook her head to expel the emotion and instead offered her hand at Yang. "Um… you did well, Yang. That was probably the most decisive win you've scored against me so far."

"...Right… Sorry... Haa… Yeah, whatever. Ugh, I'm starving. I want pizza. And ice-cream. Preferably both at once. Blame Ruby for introducing me that that." Yang's tone seemed to shift again, this time towards needy arrogance, and Pyrrha had to stomp on the ugly feeling in her heart again as Yang turned away from Pyrrha's offered hand in order to deliver her demands to Qrow.

' _She's not like that, not really, it's just the Fall Maiden speaking…'_ Pyrrha smiled at Yang's direction while keeping her eyes shut so that her glare wouldn't betray her true feelings. ' _I shouldn't think like this… I'd be a horrible friend if I ignored her or shunned her when she's vulnerable, still getting used to her new, well-earned, justified, completely fair 'power'... yeah… right...'_

She stopped herself again before her thoughts could continue towards dark places… and almost got a heart attack as someone pat her back.

"Is everything alright?" Ren's concerned voice was welcome as it allowed Pyrrha to think about something else than her own petty internal struggle.

"Y-yeah… I'm just… well, coming to terms with our new Yang." Pyrrha confessed. Ren nodded and then shook his head. The mantle of leader of team RYNN seemed to grow on the boy as time went on, allowing him to gradually come out of his self-imposed shell to aid his teammates as more than just as another blade in a fight.

"I understand what you mean." Ren sighed. "However I want to point out that there is no new Yang to come to terms with. She's just… going through a phase, as Qrow put once."

"You mean when we were just starting to train, Qrow said that, and Yang punched him into a tree?"

"Yes. And when she subsequently caused a forest fire with lightning storm and then almost flooded the lowlands by crying and apologizing so hard that a monsoon formed above us." Ren nodded. "It is still just a phase in our life, however, only around until Yang has reached mastery of the power entrusted to her. Yang will be Yang once more. But until then, we need to stick together- we are a team, after all."

"You're right… We need to stay together." Pyrrha sighed, contemplated for a brief moment, and steeled herself to reveal the ugly feeling to her team leader. "It's just… well…"

Ren waited patiently for Pyrrha to speak her mind… and she locked up. "Erm… I just… feel a bit hungry. W-we should probably look for food?"

"Very well. We've trained enough for this morning, I'm sure Qrow would agree." Ren nodded easily, allowing Pyrrha to breathe freely. "And whenever you feel like telling what is really bothering you, I am willing to listen."

Pyrrha's smile froze on her face. "U-um…"

Before she managed to come up with a convenient excuse or a white lie, Ren had already left (likely because Nora was looking at the two of them with a distinctly suspicious expression) and was heading towards the small camp the team and Qrow had set up in the forest.

Pyrrha looked to the camp where Qrow was looking at his Scroll, and furrowed her brow as the man seemed to grow pale as he read something. She used the odd sight to pull her thoughts away from her inability to tell about her true thoughts in front of Ren.

Qrow had ordered the team to shut down their Scrolls prior to leaving the outskirts of City of Mistral where they had landed aboard a unmarked Bullhead. A cloaked man had been waiting for them, and had ushered the team into a likewise unmarked transport… and the cloaked man had revealed himself to be headmaster of Haven.

The headmaster, Leonardo Lionhart, had then instructed Qrow to the remote, undetectable location that had been prepared for Yang's training, providing them the sturdy van-like transport loaded full of food, fuel and Dust which would last them the duration of their training.

Pyrrha sighed as she remembered that Nora had almost gone through their supply of wheat, butter and eggs in just two days by requesting constant stream of pancakes, and Yang had not made things any easier by demanding her fill as well, alongside occasional extravagant requests whenever her mood tilted towards 'arrogant snob' mindset. Qrow had his Scroll online and could request occasional supply drop-offs from Haven, but Pyrrha had a feeling that having a steady stream of supply transports and Bullhead flights dropping parachuted crates _might_ draw some raised eyebrows should someone actually pay attention to the area.

' _I wonder if Jaune has it any easier…'_ Pyrrha looked at her team, brushed away few dead leaves stubbornly clinging to her dress, and moved to fill her bowl with what appeared to be a soup made of wild greens and ration meat.

* * *

"...And as for the latest report from Vale…" Port mused as he looked over a page while Oobleck was busy snoring over a hefty pile of letters with a comfortable pillow under his face.

"Please, no more." Glynda groaned while sitting on her chair in the Headmistress's office.

"A break might be in order, true." Port mused. "While Oobleck and I took rotations answering Vale's questions and demands, you have not had such luxury."

"I can't afford to be weak at time like this. Vale's council is wavering and if I show weakness or cowardice, they will side with Atlas and have Beacon prosecuted for what they call 'unlawful aggression against Atlesian peace-keeping force.' If only Ozpin was here, he could pull some of those 'strings' he always talked about to get the council off my back." Glynda growled. "I… just need a small break. Five minutes. And then we'll continue."

"Yes, just five minutes. I am almost done with going through the Atlesian report on the Grimm Infiltrator issue, so at least that should be done soon." Port promised while grabbing the pillow Oobleck had been using, letting the professor's head impact against the papers and waking the man up. "Here."

Glynda took the offered pillow gratefully and put it behind her head, leaned back, and was out cold in mere seconds.

Port twirled his moustache as he took a stack of papers from in front of Glynda and moved them in front of Oobleck who was busy drinking coffee straight out of his coffee thermos-flamethrower-bat, whacking the man few times in the back after the still sleepy professor tried to talk while drinking and almost drowned himself on steaming-hot coffee.

"I doubt we can just write this off with letters, but we should at least try." Port sighed at Oobleck.

"If history proves right, and it often does, we'll likely see escalating stages of transgressions from Atlas until Vale either retaliates or caves in and allows Atlesians to do as they see fit." Oobleck agreed after coughing his lungs clear of the black liquid. "Either way, at that point Vacuo will likely chime in as well, reminding Vale of old pacts made to defend the continent in case of invasion from other nations, and Atlas will likely escalate so as well to do the same with Mistral. If Atlas just walks over Vale, what's stopping them from doing so to Vacuo as well? After all, Vale is Vacuo's greatest trade partner when it comes to food, so if Atlas can dictate the terms of the trade..."

"Vacuo has no choice but to either allow civil unrest from starvation, resulting in weakened nation before Atlas's possible invasion attempt, or try to seize Vale's more fertile land… which would then belong to Atlas. Much like how Mistral and Atlas hold similar deals, except with icy waste instead of scorching desert." Port nodded. "And if Vale retaliates, it could spark a war. Thus, no matter what happens we cannot resolve this situation peacefully alone. Atlas… if they want war, we can't afford to _not_ give them one. Or rather, Vale can't, so they are grasping straws to try to avoid making the decision… Like trying to see if handing Glynda over would placate Atlas."

"I truly wish it hadn't come to the point where Vale is openly demanding such." Oobleck sighed heavily. "Yet, it seems it has. After all, throughout history we have seen examples of overwhelmingly strong attackers besieging defenders and demanding the head of the defender's commander. Most often than not, if the attacker appeared powerful enough, the defenders executed their own commanders in order to surrender with their lives…"

"You speak of 'game of kings,' a feudal war lasting hundreds of years, which led to the formation of Vale's predecessor nation." Port nodded. "I doubt that particular example holds as much relevance as you say, but it does have a striking similarity to our current situation. Nevertheless, Vale Council may find themselves on the minority if they push their luck- while they hold command of the army, most of the high-ranking officials and Hunters assigned to assist the army with Grimm still hold quite bit of respect towards Beacon. Even if Ozpin is… gone, the school still holds."

"Indeed." Oobleck looked towards Glynda who slept like a log while nuzzling the pillow in a manner that could have been almost called 'cute' if there wasn't a underlying wrongness in seeing the normally stern and strict task-mistress acting even slightly girly, even if she was unconscious when doing it. "Port… it's been five minutes. Shouldn't you wake her up?"

"I'll give that honor to you, old friend." Port nodded minutely at Oobleck who nodded back.

"Oh but I insist, old friend."

"...Glynda does look tired. Perhaps we should allow her to sleep for few hours? I doubt Vale is going to explode if she gets some rest. She does deserve it."

"And neither of us deserve her ire after she wakes up after too short nap." Oobleck agreed with Port.

"And we can only hope to survive her wrath once she finds out we let her sleep. Women are truly cunning." Port nodded once more while looking over a paper in front of Glynda. "Well, I suppose the council can wait to receive answer for what we did with the battleship wreck. Not that we have done anything with that bugger other than extinquish it before it could set the entire Emerald Forest on fire. Although I have no doubt the council will try to spin the forest fire as our fault."

"Indeed… The bill they expect us to pay for it..."

Glynda twiched in her sleep as she heard words 'bill' and 'pay', causing Port and Oobleck to fall quiet and make a unspoken pact to not tempt fate.

* * *

Ironwood stared at a ruined piece of equipment aboard his air-cruiser docked into Beacon's air-dock. The craft was completely free to detach from the dock at any time, but Ironwood knew he couldn't leave. He couldn't just let what had happened be buried under layers of bureaocracy.

Not when there was so many things that had gone wrong, that needed to be set right.

Not when the abomination still walked free, threatening the very Remnant he had sworn to defend.

Not when Ozpin's betrayer, _the_ betrayer still stood by Glynda's side, axe held high above her neck and prepared to commit one more treachery before slinking back to his true, hidden mistress.

Not when Atlas's council was internally debating on what to do with the whole Vale issue: The council of Atlas couldn't afford to condemn Ironwood as he was _the_ arm of the council and carried their authority- condemning one of their own would make Atlas appear weak which would attract political predators like blood in water. Instead, they locked onto the route of war, but were likely attempting to use it to puff their chests until finally accepting some sort of trade deal or suchlike from Vale and Beacon to keep face while avoiding war that neither side wanted.

What was making the possibility more likely was that the council was scrambling to redact the information and instead provided Ironwood with a new, less alarming report while they were getting to the bottom of the 'misinformation'. However, Ironwood knew that the first report from the research division had been accurate. The council knew that Ironwood was quick to act, so they sent the censored, modified report after the first one in order to calm him down, to keep him from continuing his war against the Grimm and their sycophants, to keep him from creating more 'political incidents' like the one which had blown over Beacon.

Yet, he couldn't stop when the only alternative was to allow the entire human race to be snuffed out by a new, horrible disease created on the lap of humanity's greatest enemy.

"Ozpin would have known what to do… even if that 'doing' would have been just to sit on our hands until situation somehow resolved itself as he pulled strings in the background." Ironwood sighed as he reached to clean some dust and ash off the broken Atlesian equipment in front of him and then reached for put on his general's coat. "...I will not surrender. I will save you, Glynda, even if you do not yet realize the danger you are in."

Ironwood's eyes regained their usual determined look as he left his bedchamber aboard his air-cruiser, leaving the destroyed piece of equipment on his desk. He needed to oversee the inspections of the troopers who had survived from the fight in Beacon, making sure that none of them carried the taint of the Grimm Infiltrators on their bodies.

It could not, _would_ not be allowed to enter Atlas and fester the nation from inside like it had began spreading in Vale.

Ironwood hesitated for just a moment as he glanced back at his room, hesitated to open his mouth, to say something, but finally shook his head and moved onwards while pretending that his eyes weren't lined with red veins and his cheeks weren't bearing dried stains from tears.

Ironwood knew that he had to steel his heart, or he'd lose sight of his goal, lose what he held dear. And he had lost too much already.

The door closed, leaving Penny Polendina's disembodied, mechanical head lying on Ironwood's desk, staring into nothingness with unseeing, dull green eyes.

* * *

Ruby sighed and stretched.

As the battle in Beacon had unfolded Weiss had been mortally wounded by Penny's blades, and as a result she had gone into a very Jaune-y rampage... during which she had attacked Ruby, who at the time was completely out of Aura and thus unable to defend herself or use her eyes to calm Weiss like how she calmed Jaune.

Fortunately the white-haired girl had managed to latch onto Jaune after the boy had finished off Penny, and Weiss had come off the berserk state by consuming Jaune's blood… followed by falling completely unconscious.

Glynda had seen the spectacle and had ordered the entire team to stay out of fighting and focus on staying alive- and focus on keeping Weiss and Jaune contained. Luckily the woman had found a first-aid kit from Penny's corpse and had used it to Aura-boost Ruby and patch the wound in her thigh before leaving.

Thus Ruby had dragged unconscious Weiss and nonresponsive Jaune back to the ruined fourth-year dorm. She had found Blake within the dorm, propped against a half-broken wall and still in the state in which she had been dragged out of their private rendezvous- which is to say, completely unconscious, out of Aura, and naked.

Figuring that the team was completely out of action, Ruby had obeyed Glynda while the headmistress had departed towards Beacon Tower. At that point the sounds of battle had already ceased, and few hours after Glynda's departure, the Scroll network came back online.

Ruby had skimmed the news while looking over the team, occasionally slapping away one or few of Jaune's tentacles that had started to creep towards Blake's naked body, and found out that the Scroll jamming had apparently affected Vale as well… and that the whole nation was pretty much in chaos after the sudden Atlesian attack.

She had kept her shock to the minimum with conscious effort in order to not antagonize Weiss and Jaune further, although it didn't look like either really realized what was happening around them.

And when Glynda returned, she had ordered the team to stay in the ruined dorm, picking a still structurally intact room as their temporary abode while ordering the team under a house arrest while Atlesian claims were investigated. The headmistress left after making sure Weiss didn't need a doctor (seeing that her wounds had closed already and from previous experiences knew that sending someone to look at her 'other' affliction would end up badly), and the headmistress had posted a full rotation of Hunters to guard the dorm- both to prevent the team from leaving, and more importantly, to keep anyone from entering.

Ruby had found out that for some reason water supply through the pipes had been cut as well, and instead the team had been supplied with food, water and clothes through few separate drop-offs delivered to the front of the dorm by the Hunters. Initially Ruby had no idea why the Hunters had been surprised by seeing Ruby take the supplies the Hunters carried. After conversing with the Hunters (her small-talk attempt failing spectacularly), she discovered that the men had been sent to guard a 'extremely dangerous and potentially realm-threatening monstrosity caged into the dorm'… and seeing Ruby emerge from the dorm, bruised, covered in dust and ash had been quite a shock.

It had taken all of Ruby's diplomatic prowess to convince the men that she was supposed to be in the ruined dorm helping the 'beast' and that her wounds were from Atlesian invasion (which, granted, hadn't exactly helped the Hunter's mood), but finally they had allowed Ruby to return to the dorm, struggling to drag the food and water with her as her leg-wound was making carrying heavy things hard. The frustrated looks from the Hunters who stayed at the exit weren't making things easier, but Ruby didn't fault them for not helping as she knew that the Hunters were not allowed to enter the building itself.

She had delivered the food to the dorm-room where she and Glynda had dragged, carried and hauled Ruby's teammates… and found out that Weiss had woken up, but was stuck in a daze-like state where she just stared at nothingness with dull eyes.

Apparently Weiss had fallen out of a bed where Ruby had put the girl, and was kneeling on the floor, resting her back against her fur-covered guardian: Jaune had woken up as well, but his shapeshifting had turned him into what appeared to be maskless, bone-spikeless Beowolf.

Ruby had found the sight odd, not because of the appearance but because the boy had curled around Weiss's kneeling body like some sort of overly affectionate dog trying to warm and protect its owner. What was making it odd was the fact that Jaune had been quite hesitant when it came to initiating physical interaction in the past so seeing him initiate it felt odd to Ruby.

She had pushed past that though as it didn't seem that Jaune was about to lose control of himself- In fact, the dog-like appearance looked almost cuddly, specifically considering that the boy had been shaped like grotesque tentacle monster mere moments prior. Ruby had patted the boy-wolf's head, and had been rewarded by flapping ears and tail, making her think about how Zwei used to display that petting was of acceptable quality.

Ruby was secretly glad that Zwei was in their actual dorm still, so even if something happened to them, the dog would be alright and could continue Ruby's legacy and become a Hunter-dog himself if Ruby perished, making a Hunter-dog family and siring twelve adorable Hunter-puppies to cleanse Remnant of the Grimm threat. And she blinked as the oddness of that thought struck her, making her conclude that even she might have something loose in her head.

In fact, the only even remotely sane person in the team seemed to be Blake, who was by all accounts suffering a catatonic breakdown while lying on her back in the bed, half-covered by a bedsheet which Ruby had flung over the girl to give her at least some degree of modesty. It seemed that Blake getting flashbanged while she was about to 'bang' in a completely different sense had knocked the literal senses out of the black-haired girl, and she would likely need some sort of therapy once she finally stopped staring at the ceiling like it was about to fall on her.

Ruby sighed as she sat down to pet Jaune, listening to the faint, almost purr-like growl coming out of the boy-wolf's chest. She warmed her hands on the almost scaldingly hot fur, and realized that the only reason the dorm-room was still warm was because the boy was radiating enough heat to warm the space. It seemed that even electricity had been cut from the dorm, which sort-of made sense since the collapsed side of the building likely had crushed wires that could potentially short circuit and start a fire. And while the dorm was quarantined, the repairmen and electricians couldn't really get in to selectively cut off the power, so the power had been cut from the entire building.

"Haah…" Ruby sighed as she rubbed her hands together while trying to stare Weiss awake. Unfortunately her eyes just caused Weiss to freeze deeper into her stupor. "Figures nothing can go like how we planned… I hope you'll be alright, Weiss… Blake…"

Weiss seemed to twitch minutely as she heard Ruby's voice, but the movement was so faint that Ruby couldn't tell if the movement was real or if she imagined it. Either way, Ruby was getting tired and sleepy, so she pulled bedsheets down from nearby closet, flung few over Weiss and Jaune just in case, tossed the rest over Blake, and climbed into the bed with Blake in order to keep the girl warm as she seemed to shiver despite the room being warmed by Jaune's body.

"I bet Yang is having fun training in some exotic, pretty spot abroad in Shade or wherever…" Ruby grumbled as she checked the state of the bandage around her thigh before putting her face against the pillow she shared with Blake. Ruby exhaled, letting the day's struggle catch up to her… and by letting her guard down, she allowed the memory to return to her mind.

"Penny…" Ruby's grumble tried to stay neutral, uncaring, but she couldn't stop few drops of water falling down her cheeks as she thought about the girl. Penny had been weird but friendly, and Ruby had gotten along nicely with her… until the Atlesian girl's behaviour had shifted abruptly, like if it had been flicked like a switch from 'friendly, socially awkward teenager' to 'murder death kill' mode. "Penny… why… why did you do that? Why did you force Jaune to… "

She tried to stifle her sniffs, knowing that being sad would affect Jaune negatively, but couldn't quite stop herself from feeling depressed over Penny's death…

And a sudden pull from beside the bed caused Ruby's eyes to shoot open as she was pulled off the bed by some external force, collapsing on the floor…

...And she fell on top of a fluffy mattress made out of black boy-wolf who had nabbed the edge of the bed's mattress with his jaws and had dragged the occupants on the floor.

Before Ruby could protest or do more than to squeak in surprise, a pair of fur-covered arms engulfed her and Blake, dragging them along the bedsheets into the creature's warm hug.

She froze, staring at the Beowolf-form Jaune as the boy returned to his slumber after making sure Weiss was propped up in a comfortable position.

Ruby blinked and looked down at the massive arm that was tied around her waist, and resisted the need to fall into complete insanity by pretending that Jaune had shapeshifted into a big, burly and clueless mega-zwei, instead of taking the likeness of a massive beast of war whose only goal was the eradication of human race… which was cuddling Ruby.

She placed Blake's head into more comfortable position against Jaune's shoulder, pulled the scattered bedsheets better over the group, and tried to clear her head of stray thoughts so she could fall asleep.

While she was at it, Ruby attempted to ignore that Jaune had started to lick Blake's cat-ears in his sleep.

And she tried to ignore that Blake was starting to let slow, almost purr-like sounds in response, indicating that Jaune's licking had started to get through Blake's catatonic state.

' _Yeah, I've had enough weird for the day…'_ Ruby pulled the sheet over her head, nuzzled against the creature's black fur, and fell asleep.

.

..

...

Larua let a small, almost depressed-sounding whine as Hazel left the thoroughly wrecked room in the Shard Mountains, leaving Jaune and his trio of maid-servant-concubines to sort out the mess.

"Lord Hazel should have inquired about our state before attacking. This will take some time to clean up." May huffed at the display and turned towards Jaune with her fists firmly against her hips and legs apart in a wide stance (likely to hide the shaking of her legs), completely ignoring the fact she was completely naked. Jaune tried his best to keep himself from staring. "Regardless! We have recovered, Lord Arc. However if I may advice, please allow us to prepare your clothing and dress you so you may meet with Queen Salem."

Jaune looked down and realized that his clothes had been effectively torn into shreds as well during the brief 'fight'. "Uh… right. About the room…"

"I'll request some servants to come and help replace the destroyed items. Rest assured, we will have this situation under control by nightfall." May tried to bow, but Shir had to step in to stop the girl from falling over due to her legs giving under her. Jaune stepped forwards and helped the two girls stand as Shir's movements looked as wobbly as May's were, almost causing the four of them to topple over as Larua, presumably feeling left out, joined in as well. "Erm, thanks Shir, Larua… E-excuse me for my weakness, lord…"

"I-it's alright, don't worry about it." Jaune mustered his resolve and nodded to the trio. "Um, so if you are alright for now, I need to get going if S- Queen Salem is waiting for me. Clothes?"

May tried to walk to a upturned dresser but Jaune stopped her before she could stumble and fall over. "Listen, I can clothe myself, and you three can go back to bath until you can walk properly again. Just point me in the right direction, what should I wear when I meet Salem?"

"I- if lord so dec…"

"I do. Now go."

"Y-yes, lord. Thank you." May nodded at Jaune and the three girls retreated back into bathroom after giving brief details on what kind of clothes would be appropriate when he went to see the Queen of the Grimm.

Jaune sighed before starting to go through the ruined dresser in search for a fresh set of clothes. While doing so he couldn't help but overhear the girl's conversation through the bathroom door as water ran and splashed, indicating that the girls were pouring a new hot bath for themselves.

"...Did my eyes fail me or did Lord Arc have tentacles when he fought lord Hazel?"

"...he did, and he looked like Queen Salem…"

"...Ohmygosh, what if Lord Arc is Queen Salem's son or something?"

"...Did we just become concubines to a _prince_?"

"...Wow… Well, there goes my days as a walking dishrag. Welcome luxuries!"

"..."

"...That's right, Larua. Shir, do you think the tentacles could, you know…"

"...I should totally try that…"

"...Shir? Wait, hold up, shark faunus, tentacles… wait, are tentacles your 'thing'?"

"Well…"

"..."

Jaune blushed, stopped eavesdropping and hurried his search for clothes. ' _Yeah, time to go…'_

.

..

…

"...And you _allowed this?_ " a half-restrained, familiar voice came through the sturdy door leading to Salem's laboratory as Jaune approached it- or rather, the head maid led Jaune to it. The stern woman gave Jaune a evaluating gaze from his shoes to his haircut, clicked her tongue and muttered something ominous under her breath before knocking politely on the door.

The head maid opened the door precisely two seconds afterwards and gave Jaune a sideways glance after announcing their entry to the occupants of the room. Jaune gathered his courage and stepped into the laboratory, focused his eyes entirely on Salem who was standing in the middle of the laboratory, bowed his head and… ' _Crap, crap, I forgot what I needed to say… erm... '_ "H-hi, queen Salem?"

The head maid let a barely audible groan as she heard Jaune's 'greeting' and Jaune could quite literally feel the pulsating headache that started to form in the frilly-clad woman's head. ' _Uh… I guess that wasn't it…'_

"My my. I expected slightly more… different tone, considering the circumstances." Salem lifted her eyebrow at Jaune and motioned for him to lift his head. Jaune glanced to the side to see Hazel Rainart leaning against some sort of sturdy machine that seemed to shuffle vials while Watts was doing something behind the said machine, presumably operating it. The huge, tanned man responded to Jaune's look with one of his own, and Jaune had to avert his eyes as he could quite literally feel the man's all-consuming rage that was only barely restrained under his bronze skin.

"...Although I imagine you'll learn the proper etiquette in time." Salem finished her speech and clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Arc."

"Ah…. sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I was think- Ow!" Jaune snapped his attention back to Salem and felt as sudden burning pain coursed through his head like if a handful of rusty nails were forced into his eyeballs and ears at the same time. He fell on his knees as the sensation intensified, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the sensation went away. "A…. w…. wha…."

"Mr Arc, I may have to reconsider our arrangement if you feel like I am not worth your attention." Salem told Jaune with neutral tone while the head maid let a small, almost panicked sound behind Jaune. Salem lifted her eyes from Jaune to look at the maid and sighed at her. "I do not fault you for this. However, I would appreciate if you took time from your busy schedule to assist mr. Arc in reaching the very minimum required for social interaction in our little community."

The head maid let a barely audible sigh of relief and responded to Salem in a determined voice that Jaune ignored completely in order to focus his attention on Salem. The pain seemed to dissipate as he did so until he could stand back up and hide his shaky arms behind his back. "I… I ap- apologize, q-queen Salem…"

"I accept your apology. Now, to matter at hand: I had originally intended to have Cinder show the layout of this tower to you and afterwards let the two of you converse, perhaps come clear of each other's motives." Salem sighed at Jaune's awkward apology and waved her hand to move the matters forwards. "Unfortunately, it seems that…"

" _Queen_ Salem. If I may, our matter is not finished." Hazel growled. "In fact, Arc's appearance is most fortunate…"

"Yes, I am aware you do not approve of Jaune's decision when it comes to manner in which he is employing the maids _I_ sent to serve him." Salem tilted her head at Hazel. "However you should also consider the fact the maids have chosen this task voluntarily. I understand your frustration, but I have made my decision."

"You asked for those girls specifically, and we both know they will not refuse you- even if you asked them to feed themselves to your Grimm." Hazel seemed to ignore Salem's warning. "As far as I'm aware, that was more or less the sacrifice they expected they needed to make."

"I always give them the option to refuse."

"So does Ozpin."

"Enough." Salem's eyebrow twitched and Hazel fell silent. "We will talk of this later. Right now, someone else needs rescuing and unfortunately your talents are ill suited to saving them, Hazel. That happens to be why I summoned mr. Arc here in the first place."

"...What?" Hazel turned to look at Jaune with a expression of clear scepticism. "You? Are you even capable of things other than fornicating with defenseless, vulnerable women?"

"Hazel, tsk tsk." Watts clicked his tongue at Hazel from behind the vial-shuffling machine. "Show little faith in our new _ally_."

"...Fine." Hazel wasn't convinced and Jaune could pick the emotion clear from both the man's tone and from his state of mind.

"Uh… Sorry that I uh… caused things to be sorry for. But if someone needs helping, I will help. Did something happen?" Jaune tried to convey his message in a somewhat convincing and, in his mind at least, polite way. He felt strange emotions from somewhere nearby, but since the blackstone tower had odd impact on his Semblance, he wasn't entirely sure if he should trust the results of his emotion-sense.

"Somehow I feel that you know what I am talking about already. Cinder requires your aid." Salem lifted her eye at Jaune. "My dear… hm… adoptive daughter seems to have fallen ill and requires a knight in shining armor to save her."

"What, really?" Jaune blinked. "Like in the stories?"

"Quite, except I'll have you perform brain surgery on her cranium using your fists, and she needs to survive the procedure." Salem's tone was bland. "I am not sure you realize this, but you left quite the impression on Cinder. A physical one, and one that continues to grow and overtake her body as time goes on."

"E-excuse me?"

"A part of your Semblance, as I believe you call it, is embedded in Cinder and has grown again. I'd prefer if you removed it before Cinder is reborn as another copy of 'Jaune Arc', or failing that, she becomes some sort of flesh-abomination. Again." Salem motioned for Jaune to follow her. He followed the woman past Hazel, ignoring the hateful gaze the man sent at him, and arrived to a side-chamber that looked like surgery room.

To be honest, Jaune had half-expected the room to be the stuff of nightmares with blood on ceiling and walls, detached entrails everywhere and coated in other sorts of nightmarish objects typical for evil overlord's 'surgery' rooms. More shockingly though, the room was immaculately clean and was furnished with what looked to be state-of-the-art Atlesian surgery tools and stations, making Jaune pause for a while as he adjusted his expectations.

More importantly, he noticed Cinder lying on the surgery table, completely unconscious and breathing heavily through her mouth. If Jaune didn't know better, he could have sworn that the woman was moaning instead of groaning.

Jaune used his Semblance for a brief moment to make sure, feeling the pain Cinder radiated and also felt oddly… askew emotions that were something between what the girls in his bedchambers had radiated and what the odd abominations in Glenn had radiated.

It seemed that the act had triggered something in Cinder as he breathing grew laboured and Jaune curb-stomped his ability, pegging it as the fault as the timing was too convenient otherwise..

"Hm, so you felt it too." Salem's tone was neutral, analyzing, as she looked at Jaune and crossed her arms. "So, Jaune, what do you know about Grimm?"

"That they have something to do with healing Cinder? Erm, I mean, uh… that they are uh… mindless beasts?" Jaune felt sweat gathering in his back after his mind registered the dread queen of Grimm's voice. "Um… no offense?"

"Some taken. Regardless, I'd prefer your answer instead of one quoted from 'Mindless Beasts and How to Hunt Them' by J-K Strolling." Salem's eyebrow twitched. "If I may point out, Cinder's life may very well depend on the answers."

"Uh…" The stream of sweat flowing down Jaune's back intensified. "I-is this one of those kinds of… games?"

Salem buried her face in her hand, swept few strands of her white hair away from her brow and looked at Jaune with clearly unamused expression on her face. "Mr. Arc. I am not going to kill Cinder if your answer is lacking. But I see we are not going to get anywhere by asking and answering so pay attention."

"Y-yes, ma'am." Jaune flinched as he felt the annoyance Salem radiated even without his Semblance. He had a sneaking suspicion that Cinder felt it too, somehow, as she had frozen completely still and even her panting had slowed down. "U-um, so what _are_ the Grimm?"

"Quite few things. But for now, you should know that Grimm are quite simple little things." Salem crossed her arms at Jaune. "A Grimm, in its barest possible form, is a offset without a purpose. It knows nothing, it serves nothing, it _is_ nothing but a mass of negativity manifested as reality."

"Uh… so like, how the 'Mindless Be-'"

"However, that state is not what a _Grimm_ is. A Grimm is that negativity given purpose, something to coascele around and finally rise as one of those you know as Grimm. Without that purpose the mass of manifested negativity is as much Grimm as a rotting corpse is a human." Salem spoke over Jaune. He spotted a vein began pounding in the dread queen's forehead and Jaune got the message.

' _Right uh… don't interrupt the villain during a monologue, right…'_ Jaune sweated even harder, not wanting to repeat the scene he had made in the laboratory. ' _Uh… s-should I apologize?'_

Salem continued despite Jaune's internal ponderings. "...As such, a Grimm requires something to take shape, something to coascele around- a purpose. A Grimm is mindless in sense that it cannot truly exist by itself- it requires something to latch on, something to focus on, something to drive it forwards."

"E-erm, I didn't really get that." Jaune confessed. "Uh, Grimm are indecisive?"

"They are not so much indecisive as a manifestation of a concept." Salem clicked her tongue. "As such they require a core, a center to form around like a drop of water in rain requires a speck of impurity in air to form. That combination of manifested negativity and purpose around which it forms creates the concept you know as Grimm."

"Uh… you're talking like Weiss…" Jaune grumbled, and flinched as he realized he had spoken aloud. "E-erm, I mean, Weiss was… is my teammate, and uh... she is very smart, knows a lot about uh… things. So um…"

"I can only dread the amount of _socializing_ lessons my maids must push you through before you can be released back into the wild." Salem's tone was somewhere between exasperated and slightly, minutely amused, but the emotion passed and turned to annoyance. "Do not stammer at me. Speak your mind, and I know you did not mean your initial words as compliment. Either be honest, or lie properly. Do neither, and you'll only come off as a fool."

"S-sorry…"

"And do not merely apologize, but learn from your mistakes. I have already raised one daughter in this century, do not force me to raise a son for I have little patience left over raising Cinder." Salem's strict tone caused Jaune to cower in fright that was almost familiar. It reminded him of… home.

For a moment the image of a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes passed by his mind, and Jaune tried to fight back a almost teary breath as he recognized his mother in the image. And afterwards, the image was combined with the last sight he had of the woman- in Shion. The tears that for shortest of moments threatened to fall were dried instantly and were replaced with cold rage that left him feeling weak. "A-ahm… S-sorr- I mean, I just remembered something… It's nothing..."

"Your family. Do you truly consider them 'nothing'?" Salem commented almost offhandedly, causing Jaune to freeze. "As I said, either lie properly or speak honestly- and you need to be _far_ better at lying than what you are if you aim to deceive me. But that is a subject for another day. Focus."

"R-Right… Grimm?" Jaune tried to gather himself and realized that the moment had affected him more than it should have. ' _I haven't really recovered from it, huh? Figures, It would have been too easy to just move on and save my sisters, and not think about it the loss… That there are some I can never get back... No, right now, Cinder needs me. I can still save her. I need to focus.'_

He pushed the thoughts of his family aside, again, and tried his best to ignore the depression that stemmed from realizing how easy it had become to ignore the issue. "Cinder… needs something. Grimm need purpose, so… are you saying that Cinder needs a purpose? Is… err… Cinder a Grimm?"

"No. However, something in _you_ is, and you placed that something in her as well." Salem tilted her head at Jaune. "Or should I say… hm… that you are a fountain of purpose."

"Uh… fountain?"

"Or a ever-spreading cancer chained by will that can redirect it, if only barely. Whichever you prefer. Something that grows without limit, without purpose other than to live. But at the same time, chained by something that diverts that goal." Salem tilted her head. "Something that consumes everything to sustain itself, until it is overridden by something else once the survival is guaranteed, only to resurface near the moment of death when that will is taken away and only purpose remains."

"So… If I understand correctly, I'm a human which has purpose to… live?" Jaune blinked. "Or uh, I have something 'Grimm' in me, and I'm alive because… uh, I want to be? That… um, doesn't make sense. Aren't humans alive by default? Wait, am I even a human? I'm confused…"

"Finally you begin to show honesty. Good." Salem nodded. "If we focus on Cinder's ailment for now, we should concentrate on the 'Grimm' that is within her, and is eating her from the inside."

"R-right."

"Now, from a Grimm's perspective, being alive _can_ be a purpose. It is not a _good_ purpose, as there is very little required to do in order to be alive." Salem seemed thoughtful as she looked at Cinder's pale face as the woman lied on the surgery bed. "After all, a cancer cell _is_ alive. A blade of grass _is_ alive as well, but you don't see either of them composing the anthem of the generation. No, it requires more- and that is precisely what Cinder lacks."

"Wait, so… why does Cinder have a Grimm that just wants to be alive?" Jaune blinked.

"You placed one in here, did you not?" Salem reached to place her hand on Cinder's abdomen. On a very specific spot on the woman's body.

"Uhh…. Did I… put a Grimm… in there?" Jaune blushed.

"Why yes."

"And… now I need to take it out, yes?"

"No, that would kill her as the corruption has reached her very brain and nerve system. Instead, you need to change its purpose. Can you recall what you felt, what you _wished_ to happen when you placed your… hmm… 'seed' in her?" Salem asked. "Judging by Cinder's shape, it might not have been well thought-out feeling."

"E-uh? I just… wanted that she wouldn't die, that we'd all be together, that we'd all get out of Glenn." Jaune blinked and turned pale white as the meaning hit her, combined with what Salem had told him about Grimm, and after taking a careful leap of logic. "Wait, so… what I thought, er, felt when I healed Cinder in the Glenn metro tunnel before I blacked out… that's what the 'purpose' of the Grimm in Cinder is? Like a chicken getting imprinted to first thing it sees?"

"To put it simply, yes, but with few asterisks which we'll cover later to ensure this… incident… won't repeat itself by accident. Although I'd prefer if you used less… insulting… allegories in the future." Salem's eyebrow twitched as Jaune compared Grimm beasts, the very monsters which had been helding humanity under siege since time immemorial, to helpless newborn birds.

"S-sor… erm, I mean, uh… so… if I, well, p…"

"What did I tell you about stammering?"

"T-to stop doing it, queen Salem." Jaune gulped. "So to heal Cinder, I need to… have the 'thing' in her do something else than whatever it is doing now?"

"Yes. Although I must commend you on your choice of 'purpose' for the Grimm within Cinder. That very purpose 'to escape' allowed her to escape Ozpin's clutches once reached Vale and was imprisoned in the wizard's tower. That same purpose gave her strength to reach me. Yet the need to 'escape' and 'be together' may be what's causing Cinder's current affliction." Salem crossed her arms. "Hm… Not only is it a contradiction to be 'together' with what I assume to be 'humans' while 'escaping', the creature within Cinder may consider 'being together' in a more… literal… sense than what you might have thought."

"Is it that simple? To command Grimm, you just need to order it around?" Jaune blinked. "Uh, it kind of makes sense, you know, order it and it obeys, but uh… I mean…"

"Quite. After all, until now no-one else had been capable of giving, taking and altering the purpose of the Grimm. Which makes you quite interesting specimen in my eyes." Salem raised her eyebrow. "Indeed, given enough time, will, and a working spine, you might be capable of becoming something of a lord within Grimm. Regardless. Your current concern is Cinder."

"Back on topic, got it." Jaune nodded but made sure to remember Salem's words. "So, I need to somehow make her, er, whatever's in Cinder to _not_ want to escape and to _not_ be together?"

"Not quite. To be specific, I want you to focus on just feeling of being mortal, of being _human._ " Salem tilted her head at Jaune. "I understand that it is quite… abstract concept, but you must understand that Grimm have absolutely zero understanding of context. A joke is a instruction is a order is a law. However, due to Grimm being born out of condensed, materialized _emotional_ negativity, it responds best to negative emotions and purposes that feed into that feeling. Thus it is almost impossible to make a Grimm do a task that doesn't involve negativity."

"But… what should I do then?" Jaune blinked as the contradiction confused him. "I mean, if it's impossible to give a Grimm a 'happy' purpose…"

"Oh, it is indeed almost impossible to order a true _Grimm_ like that. However, your… creation… is something more mixed. After all, it was not created from the condensed negativity that makes all other Grimm…" Salem reached to stroke Cinder's temple. "What affected Cinder was a creature that was a mixture of Grimm 'being' that was made out of flesh and bone of dead animals instead of the mass of negativity."

"Wait, so… I somehow made a Grimm that is just that 'purpose', without being made of the manifested mass of negativity?" Jaune's eyes widened. "So… what's in Cinder is not a Grimm made of purpose combined with the mass of negativity or whatever you spoke of, but a Grimm made out of… er, purpose and mass of meat and bone? Or something like that? Am I getting hotter or colder here?"

"In essence, yes. The flesh and bone allows the 'living' Grimm within Cinder to take purposes other than 'kill those' or 'hunt that' or 'bring a rock to me while destroying everything in your path'- The 'Grimm' you created is manifested negativity of Grimm 'flesh' which is partially merged into and suppressed by the living flesh that accompanies it." Salem hummed. "Am I making sense? Do you realize now how your ability allows Grimm flesh to be used in addition of normal flesh?"

"Uh, no, so…"

"...What makes _you_ and your _creation_ a special case is that normally the manifested negativity overtakes the flesh, killing the host when it merges with it. Humans generally document that as Grimm flesh being poisonous, but it is far, far more complicated than that." Salem lifted her eyebrow at Jaune. "Indeed, flesh-shaping is quite interesting field of study that has fallen by the wayside ever since the invention of modern medicine. Mostly since necromancy and creation of homunculi has become a somewhat… taboo subject alongside things like old gods. And Grimm are quite closely tied to those concepts."

"Uh… Aren't those things just made up?" Jaune blinked. "I thought necromancy was just a thing for fantasy novels and whatnot…"

"Oh? And here I was thinking that the 'Queen of the Grimm' was just a bedtime story told to keep kids straight and narrow." Salem furrowed her brow. "My, I still remember when people of Remnant called Dust as 'Magic Crystals.'

"Point taken." Jaune raised his hands in surrender. "So… I essentially made a ho- hamon- hurmon…"

"A homunculus: A creature mimicking the likeness of life, shambling monstrosity made to serve a single purpose, created through alchemy of life from flesh of another. Or that was how few dusty beards described it few thousands years ago." Salem rolled her eyes at Jaune. "Indeed, such art could be described as foundation of Grimm, but instead of tapping to the decaying flesh and bone of another, it instead draws from the manifestation of…"

"...Negativity, but since the Grimm I put in Cinder was made from my flesh, it… uh… didn't work like regular Grimm. Is that right? I think I get it now." Jaune sighed. "But I ate Grimm before that, so shouldn't that convey negativity since it's not real flesh, is it? Moreover, shouldn't I… I don't know, become negative when I eat Grimm?"

"And you don't?" Salem lifted her eyebrow. "Part of you is _made_ of that manifested negativity when you devour its physical body, and thus is imbued into every part of you… including the parts which you place in others. When you 'eat' Grimm 'flesh' and use it, do you not feel the overwhelming negativity bearing down upon you, demanding, commanding, _forcing_ you to destroy, hurt and kill?"

"..." Jaune fell silent. "...The Shadow… but… it's not entirely like that. Sometimes… it's almost sentient. Like if it _knows_ things, like… it's actual person. When I came here, it stopped being violent and instead became… I don't know, peaceful? Reverent? Doesn't that contradict what you said about the negativity?"

Salem fell quiet. "Interesting. I'll have to inquire about that further in more detail later. But right now, do you now understand the 'Grimm' you made enough that you can begin healing Cinder?"

"...Yeah. Kind of." ' _Or at least I hope so…'_ Jaune braced himself. "So… I re-enter Cinder, give the part of me in her a uh, different purpose, and then get out?"

"Yes. Focus on being neutral, of being tranquil, then focus on positivity like, let's say, reproduction since that appears to be your favorite subject at least if my maids are to be questioned, and let that positivity offset the negativity inherent in the Grimm material within your body and the body of the parasite within Cinder. I removed the part around her waist, but I couldn't remove what was stuck in her brain, so we'll focus there." Salem directed Jaune as she took his hand and placed it against Cinder's neck

Jaune tried to ignore the odd, tingly sensation that flowed up his arm as Salem held it, and instead focused on Cinder. ' _Right… here we go…'_

The skin between Jaune's fingers and Cinder's body grew hot… until Cinder's skin turned black as dark veins spread in her pale flesh where the two met, followed by feeling of sinking as Jaune's hand merged with Cinder's flesh.

And with that feeling, a dam broke.

Jaune felt as the equivalent of a physical manifestation of a panic attack flowed up _his_ arm… and felt as the bottled-up feelings of fear, rage, loneliness, frustration and all other human negative emotions battered against his mind.

However, the assault was barely a blip on the radar when compared to the Shadow in its worst… and the reason became apparent as Jaune looked at the spot where his hand had submerged into Cinder's neck

Salem was holding her forefinger against Jaune's arm, and her finger had merged few inches into Jaune's flesh.

"I will hold the negativity in check while you work. I believe I have _far_ more experience when it comes to that. I'll also see if this… 'shadow' is as you say." Salem explained as Jaune struggled to open his mouth. The whole situation was already starting to strain on his mind, and for some reason he was starting to feel as if he was sinking into a cold lake of ink as he sunk himself further into Cinder. "Arc. Focus on Cinder. Not in me."

Jaune gulped and nodded. He closed his eyes, allowing Salem to absorb the negative feelings radiating from Cinder, leaving just the garbled, panicked mess of need to get away from something, the desperate need to stay alive no matter what… and finally the almost parasite-like need to be _together_ with _something_. ' _Ah… so... It's as Salem said… It festered and became something else than I wanted… No, it became exactly like I felt, not like I wanted.'_

He went through each 'part' of the emotions, absorbing them _back_ into him… and allowing a feeling of more muted, more gentle state remain in their wake. Jaune realized that allowing such tranquility exist might have been impossible for him if Salem wasn't helping him to cope with the negativity within and without, and thus allowing him to focus on what he was doing without inside interference.

' _...Right… I need to offset the remaining Grimm-mass-something made negativity like Salem said… So a positive feeling that can't be turned against her… hn... '_ Jaune tried to think of a positive feeling that couldn't be turned against Cinder. Incapable of thinking of one, he latched onto the one Salem had suggested in a throwaway sentence ' _It should work…'_

He returned his mind to the heated moments in his bedchambers, to the feeling of skin against skin, to the heated kisses and lust while pushing away the regret that popped up alongside the feeling. ' _Ugh… I'm sorry if this causes something bad, Cinder... '_

With the 'purpose' planted, he began undoing the connection between him and the woman… until the connection between them broke with a jolt.

Jaune rubbed his hand where his fingers and skin was regaining its usual state after merging to a single blob of flesh. "Ouch… I… I did it?"

"We'll find out. For now, I'd like to go over what I discovered in your body while you were healing Cinder." Salem told Jaune as she pulled her hand off the boy, reached for a cabin beside the medical bed, and pulled out a sizeable meat cleaver.

Jaune's eyes widened as Salem lifted the weapon… and she swung it down to cut off the finger with she had sunk into Jaune's flesh.

He blinked at the dread Queen.

"I like to take no chances." Salem explained, showing her hand to Jaune and he saw that the bleeding stopped in mere seconds while a new finger began growing in her hand while she collected the finger and put it to a freezer. "Now then. I have some material to research, Cinder is healed, and I believe that you have some… etiquette lessons… to attend to. My head maid will see to them, so do try to pay attention."

Jaune felt sweat forming on his back. "Er… is that truly necessary?"

Salem looked at Jaune.

"P-point taken." Jaune shivered before turning towards the unconscious, waist-winged woman whose breathing had grown far more serene compared to her earlier pained panting. "But, before that, have you found anything about…"

" _All_ members of team SABR have survived their mission in Glenn and are currently in Beacon." Salem told him before he managed to finish his sentence, causing Jaune's shoulders to droop in relief. "As for your missing sisters, I have a lead, but no concrete information yet."

"I… I see. Thank you." Jaune felt like crying as the relief over the team washed over him. "I… I need to tell them that I am sorry, that…"

"For now, I'd prefer if you kept low profile as far as contacting them is concerned. However, rest assured that team SABR knows that Jaune Arc is alive." Salem smirked at Jaune in a way that felt almost as if the woman was making a joke that went right over Jaune's head.

"...R-right, still, thanks for telling me." Jaune sighed. "If they know I'm alive, everything should be fine at least until I rescue my sisters. So uh… get well soon, Cinder?"

"I believe she will. For now, I will leave the rest of the parasite in her to see if your treatment was successful. If not, I'll just do with Cinder what I did with my finger, and shave off some excess before we try again." Salem told Jaune lightly as she led him out of the surgery room.

"Um, you're joking, right?"

"Oh, what gave you the impression that I was?"

Jaune gulped. ' _Yeah… Mental note, don't get hospitalized here…'_

 **Next:**

 **A bit over week ish.**

 **I realized later that the scene-structure in recent chapters could have probably used some improvements to make the story flow better. Then again, this is pretty much my first attempt at following multiple viewpoints.**

 **Review, etc. Thanks for reading!**


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